LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 239, 8 October 1874, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

I nti'r provincial. %•' •;--' Chbistcrurch, Wednesday. The cargo of Derwent potatoes imported by Canningham & Co., from Australia, for seed purposes, sold at alction at aa average' of £9 p?r ton. Private advices intimate an advance in potatoes in consequence of the great demand on all Australian markets. In the Suprejne Court yesterday, the Grand. Jury threw out the bill against Captain Crawford, of the ship Cathcart, for shooting two sailorsjon the high seas. ~ Auckland, Wednesday. The Supreme Court has been occupied with ! the charge of wilful murder against Charles Dyer, an old Fakiri settler- The evidence showed that the deceased, Elizabeth Battersea^ | who was prisoner's r>iece, and co habited with him, was a poor, broken-down, wretched creature, Bi»rcely able to walk unassisted. The prisoner is a powerful man, and li<?ed on very I bad terms with her. On the morning of Batteraea's death, the prisoner was heard threateningto" roast her ali?e." In the afternoon he was seen carrying her, with her clothes all blazing, to a creek near their house and throw her in, and then dragged her out in a fearfully burnt and dying condition. She afterwards died. Dyer, when arrested, said she bad knocked her head against a kerosine can, which ppillei the oil over her, and he strik : ng a match, accidentally set fire to her hair. The constable who visited the house prior to the occnrrence, deposed that the kerosine can whs in the same position, and contained the same quantity of oil after the prisoner's arrest as before the occurrence. The oil was spilled all round where deceased sat, but not on the parts covered by her dres<«. It is alleged" that the prisoner threw the kerosiue over her and then set fire to her dres?, and afterwards carried her out and threw her into the creek. The case will probably last through to-morrow. The Steeplechase races to-day were well attended. The following are the results: — Handicap Swekp3T»kes, of 5 sovg each, with 50 Boys ad«ie<i: Mr C. M'Gee's Creeping Jenny, 1; Mr Young's Bedouin, 2; Mr W. Walters's Slander, 3. The Hunt Club SraEFLEOffASB, of 5 sots each, with 50 spvs added : Mr Perkin's Kus tic, 1; Mr Stafford's tiigl.flyer, 2. The Captain Cook Hubdle Kace, of 5 soys each, with 50 eovs added : Mr Perkin's Isleman, 1; Mr Kirk wood's Sultan, 2. ■ The Selling Steeplechase, of 30 soys, added to a^sweepstakes of 3 soys each: Mr Perkin's Kus tic, 1. ~* ' The Selling Hurdle Race, of 20 sove, added to a sweepstakes of 2 eovs each : Captain Goriog 's Middy Ashore, 1. Sultan led to the last bardic, when be threw Thorjfe, his rider, and roljed over him, dislocatinc/hia shoulder. • Middy Ashore then won etsib/.