LATEST FROM OTAGO.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 48, 23 December 1871, Page 14

LATEST FROM OTAGO.

A man named James Newton was killed in Duncan’s Quarry on the 14th inst There were two stones, one overhanging the other, and while endeavoring to prise one away, the face fell, crushing him to death. A man at work in the quarry had previously cautioned him that if one of the stones came away, the whole of the material would follow.

Sharks have lately been uncomfortably plentiful in Dunedin harbor. The other day a few marksmen who posted themselves at the railway embankment across Pelichet Bay, gave a warm reception to a large number of these unwelcome visitors, that were swept by the strong current into the enclosed part of Pelichet Bay. One shark, about three or four feet long, was shot dead, and a number of others disappeared, each carrying with it a good skinful of shot. The Mount Benger correspondent of the “ Otago Daily Times,” writing on the 13th inst, says : —“ A most terriffic gale from the northward raged throughout the night of the 12tli-13th insts. Those who have witnessed a W est Indian hurricane declare that in intensity the gale fell little short of such a visitation. Great damage has been done to buildings about the Teviot and Moa Flat. In some places the road is covered with corrugated iron and other debris. The camp, among other places, suffered severely; the fruit gardens have been completely stripped, and it is to be feared the crops have not escaped scatheless. The river is rising rapidly, and a heavy flood is anticipated. One of the Maori prisoners, named Wiremu Tupito, who leaves a widow and three children, died of consumption in the Dunedin Hospital on the 13th, aged about 32 years. The deceased, who was a member of the Ngatiruanui tribe, arrived in the gaol on the 6th November, 1860, with his father and three brothers, to undergo a sentence of three years’ penal servitude for high treason. He belonged to the Roman Catholic Church,-and, since his admission to the Hospital on the 16tli Oct., he has been constantly visited by the Rev Father Condeh.

A narrow escape from drowning is narrated by the “ Oatnaru Times” as follows “At shortly after 10 p.m. on Friday, Mr T. Cunningham, who resides near the brewery, was aroused, after retiring to vest, by hearing screams. At first he did not think them cries of distress, hut, after listening awhile, recognised a female voice. I earing then that something was wrong, he hastily dressed himself, and, hurrying out, proceeded in the direction of the sounds, and on reaching the opposite bank of the lagoon ascertained that there was a woman in the water. Descending the bank, he succeeded in reaching her, but she was so firmly fixed in the mud that he was unable to extricate her. Assistance presently arrived, and she was drawn safely out, in a very deplorable condition, having been over a quarterof an hour immersed in the water up to her chin. The rescued woman proved to be Mrs David Gray. The night was pitch dark, and it is supposed that Mrs Gray must have missed the track and walked over the hank. According to the “ Bruce Herald,” there are not wanting signs that at: no very distant period Milton may yet be ranked among the goldfield towns of this province. The opening out of deep terrace workings at Manuka Creek, and elsewhere, and the more recent discovery of a well defined and highly auriferous reef at Table Hill, have forced upon the public the conviction that valuable permanent interests are being created, such as do not fall under the category of, nor are subject to, the same vicissitudes as shallow alluvial diggings. With respect to the weather and the harvest prospects in the Oamaru district, the local paper says :—Since our last there have been numerous warm and seasonable showers, which will have a most beneficial effect upon the crops. Harvest promises are indeed excellent, and, if we are only favored with a good in-gathering, our farmers’ prospects will be brighter than for years past.