Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 155, 2 July 1874, Page 2

The Palmer correspondent of the Cookiown Courier says : — V Thrilling incidents are anything 'but few and far between' in this part of the country.

Mr aod Mrs Cross, from the Towers, were travelling with a light cart of their own, .and bad camped one afternoon, some three weeks ago, d_ the bank of tbe Mitchell, which they i had just aucceeded in crossing, the water being thep at its lowest, end the time being immediately before the second rains set

in. They were taking things very comfortably, with apparently no one within * cooey ' or a good deal further, when they w^re alarmed hy the dogs.; barking furiouslyaad charging io^o ther bush. Scrutinising the bush closely they could perceive a number of blacks scarcely tweo ty yards away, creeping ' towards their camp on all fours, and carrying their boomerangs in their bands. On beiog discovered they made no attempt to get away, but crawled closer. Cross" had only a 7 singlebarrelled gun loaded with shot, and this he fired amongst thorn, hat apparently without even the effect of frightening tbe savages. They appeared rather to be frightened of the dogs, bat still crawled slowly on. In this terrible strait the poor terror-stricken woman got into tho dray and wrote with, a pencil in a book which she had by ber the names of herself and husband, where they were from in England, the address of her relatives, and stating that they were murdered hy the blacks on the Mitchell River, on their way to the Palmer diggiogs. At this moment she perceived, with what joy may be imagined, a couple of mounted end armed horsemen crossing the river in the direction of the dray, and, trembliog with fear and excitement, she slid from the dray and ran towards the river, perceiving as she ran some of the blacks; who were ignorant of the presence of the new comers, following her. With a shriek she threw herself in the way of the two men, and explained her situation. The party consisted of nine io all, well armed and mounted, and tbe seige being raised, three remained on guard during the night, but no attack was made. Next morning Mr and Mrs Cross made an early start, and were ten miles on the road before they were overtaken by their rescuers of the previous evening, the latter having lost their horses for a time. They received from tbem this information, however, that they had seen the blacks to the number of 200 in the neighborhood of their Jsst. night's camp, and that they bad been followed by thera for a considerable distance/

The Otago papers contain tbo prospectus of the Otago Paper makers' Company (Limited). The capital is to consist of £15,000, in 3,000 shares at £5 each, with power to increase.

The Melbourne Argus says:— -The sale of the wreck of the British Admiral, at the office of Captain Coffey, Shipping Exchange, Collfns-streer, attracted attention. Speculation was rife as to the amount the sale would realise, and with the knowledge of the large profit made by purchasers of previous wrecks, there were- many commercial' men eager to secure a bargain; At twelve o'clock Captain Coffey 'soffice was thronged, by such a large crowd that an adjournment had to be made to the quadrangle in the centre of the ..market-building ft. When Captain Coffey bad mounted his rostrum there must bave been at least 500 persons present, including a largo number of lumpers and laboring men, ready to proffer their services "to the purchaser. " The first bid made was £500, and the .nods gradually increased until £2700 had been , reached. This bid, however, did not turn out a genuine one, and tbe auctioneer had to start the sale de novo. From £300 tbe biddings slowly mounted up to £2000, at which stage there was a momentary lull. An advance of £150- on this offer was made by Mr S. Gardiner, who became the purchaser of the vessel and cargo for £2150. Prior to the sale protests were handed in to Captain Coffey by the survivihg passengers and those who bad cargo in the ship, claiming a lien on the goods as compensation for their losses. The hunters of King's Island nnd the owners of the ketch Kangaroo bad also, their claims for salvage handed in. An opinion prevailed that the purchaser will make considerable profit on bis venture, and he could have dis* posed of his bargain at a good advance. It was stated that Mr Gardiner represented Messrs Lyell and , Gowan, and the office of that firm was crowded during the day by laboring men eager for an engagement to work at getting the cargo at King's Island. It may be mentioned that the Susses brought £6,800, and nearly £8000 profit resuited to the Geelong Company who purchased the wreck ; and Messrs Goldsborough and others, who bought the wreck of the Loch Leven for £2,500, made a very large profit. The Victoria Tower was sold for £4,600; the Light of the Age, wrecked near Point Lonsdale, realised £350; aod the Netherby, £680. From nearly all the above purchases gppd results were realised. — The following Qoeenscliffe telegram, dated June 23, appeared in the Argus of Wednesday last :— The ketch Cygoet, R. Lawlor, master, arrived at one p.m. to-day from King's Island, with 51 hogsheads and 4 halfhogsheads of beer and 3 casks rum. Captain Lawlor reports tbat a large quantity of cargo had been washed ashore. Three more bodies have been found and buried. One was identified as that of the second officer. The hull of the ship has hot been discovered. The cargo brought by the Cygnet was recovered from the rocks near Curries Harbour.

The Chicago Times calls for a game law to protect tbe shooting of policemen at all seasons of the year.