TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4387, 12 April 1875, Page 4

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

[Per Press Agency.] Auckland, Saturday. An inquest was held to-day on the body of an infant, the child of a laborer named The mother of the child has been mentally afflicted for the last twelve years. On Thursday, in a state of restlessness, she turned her sister-in-law out of doors, using strange menaces and threats. A short time afterwards—within the space of an hour—Barton’s little girl, who had been playing with other children, cams in-doors, and found her mother in bed, and a newly-born dead baby on the floor. The inquest was adjourned till the mother is able to attend.

The shoemakers have formed a trade society. A Maketu telegram says the departure of Sir Donald McLean last night was celebrated with almost Vice-Regal magnificence. He was accompanied to the beach by nearly five hundred people. On the Luna reaching the head of Kaituna River she was saluted with six thirty-pound guns from the shore. On Sir Donald reaching the vessel Captain Fairchild illuminated the whole ship, and the illumination was returned with ardor and deafening cheers from the shore. About seven p.m. the Luna steamed away. So ends one of the most successful meetings ever held here, with a thousand natives, mostly composed of bouncing Arawas. Sunday.

A fire took place last night in the shipyards of Henderson and Spraggon, and David Gork and Armstrong, Custom-house-street. It destroyed sheds, spars, ships’ knees, tools, &c. The loss is estimated as follows :—Henderson and Spraggon, £6OO ; Gouk, £3OO ; Armstrong, £3OO. The vessels on the stocks were all saved. The pitch and the dry materials burned with great fierceness. The houses on the cliffs above were threatened, but by the exertions of the people were saved. The engines, as usual, did not arrive till the fire was half over, but then kept it from extending, the yards being on the water’s edge. The flames illuminated the whole harbor and shipping. Thousands of spectators were present. An engine coming up through a crowd knocked a -woman down, but she was not seriously injured. The fire originated in Henderson and Spraggon’s yards, but the cause is unknown. There was no insurance on the property. Grahamstown, Saturday. The extension of the goldfield, gazetted in Wellington yesterday, comprises 100,000 acres, all Crown land but two small blocks. The proclamation was issued owing to the representation made to Dr. Pollen, through Mr. Mackay, that a rich reef had been foimd. It appears that the discoverer has been prospecting for some time. A mine manager from Grahamstown went to inspect the reef before the proclamation was issued, and he brought away forty pounds of stone, and had it crushed here. It yielded over five ounces of gold. There is considerable excitement. A number of persons are leaving for the locality of the find, which is about twenty-five miles from Grahamstown on the east coast side of the dividing range. Wanganui, Saturday. The writ for the Bangitikei election has arrived, and Monday, the 19th inst., has been fixed for the nomination, and Saturday, the 24th, for the poll. Gheyjiouth, Sunday. A very interesting foot-race against time took place this afternoon. Delaney, the pedestrian, from Wellington, undertook to run ten miles within an hour. The ground was very uneven for running, but, notwithstanding) Delaney accomplished the distance in fifty-nine minutes thirteen seconds, and was loudly applauded at the finish. Christchurch, Saturday.

At a meeting of promoters of funeral reform, held yesterday, the sub-committes made the following recommendations ;—l. That an association he formed to be called the Christchurch Funeral Reform Association. 2. That all persons may become members by payment of an annual subscription of 2s. Cd., and by signing a declaration to the effect that at all funerals over which they may have control they will adopt a plain, inexpensive style of coffin, will discontinue the employment of mutes, and the use of palls, mourning coaches, scarves, hat-bands, and providing gloves ; that the hearse, if employed, shall not carry plumes, and the horses should bear neither plumes cloths, nor trappings of any kind. 3. That a further declaration shall be signed by those who desire to do so, to the following effect :—• That they will discontinue, and encourage the discontinuance by others, of unnecessarily expensive mourning. 4. That a committee be formed for the purpose of collecting information on the subject of funeral and mourning reform, watching the progress of the movement in other places, and conferring with undertakers and the like ; and that they be requested to report to a general meeting of the association. A long discussion was entered into as to inserting a declaration to entirely discontinue wearing mourning, but the matter ultimately was adjourned until it was known what is the opinion of the committee of ladies which has been formed to consider the question. The meeting then adjourned till April 30.

The Rev. Mr. Clark and Miss Christian left to-day per Ladybird. The enthusiasm which marked Miss Christian’s farewell appearance

last night was quite unprecedented. A committee has been formed to make arrangements for her return. ■Waihate, Saturday. A fatal accident occurred last night to a drayman named Thomas Brian. The dray capsized, and killed the man about a mile from this place. Port Chalmers, Sunday. Arrived : The s.s. Albion, from Lyttelton. Reports sighting large schools of right ■whales eight miles to the northward of Otago - Heads. THE LYTTELTON MURDER CASE. Christchurch, Saturday. The trial of the murder case was completed to-day. The following is a digest of the case : —On the day in question, the murdered girl, who resided in Dampier’s Bay with her parents, came into Lyttelton to get a ticket at the Colonist's Hall for the school pic-nic. Shortly after 5 o’clock in the evening the prisoner was seen with the girl by two persons standing at the Albion Hotel. He then spoke to a person standing there, leaving the girl to go on by herself. He was afterwards seen to overtake the girl, and proceed with her towards Oxford-street. The prisoner was next seen coming from the gorse hedge, where the body was afterwards found, with marks of blood on his apparel; and he was seen brushing his clothes, apparently to get rid of some dust_ The next trace found of him was just before the starting of a train for Christchurch, when he was noticed to have blood on his hands ; and also in the train, where those in the carriage remarked about his getting into the carriage in that state, when he said he had been killing a sheep. This was about 6 p.m., and after the train had gone, the body of the girl was (by two boys) found murdered in a hole in a gorse fence, in the locality towards which the prisoner and the girl were seen to be going. The blood on the prisoner’s clothes was microscopically examined, and found to be that of some animal which suckled its young, but it could not be sworn to as human blood. After the arrest a number of spots were found on prisoner’s legs. The prisoner, on being questioned, said they were only pimples, and that no gorse prickles would be found on him ; but, on a medical examination being made, a number of gome prickles were found where the skin was marked. Prisoner, when arrested, denied having had a knife on the day of the murder, but two witnesses swore to having seen a pocket-knife in his possession on that day, and identified a knife found in a coal-tub, on the vessel where prisoner was arrested, as the knife they saw_ The Crown prosecutor made an able address to the jury. Mr. Joynt, prisoner’s counsel, in addressing the jury, argued that the girl seen in prisoner’s company, just before the murder was committed, was not satisfactorily identified as the deceased girl ; that the identification of the prisoner with the man seen coming from the scene of the murder, soon after the murder must have been committed, was not sufficiently clear to justify the jury in taking away the prisoner’s life. The knife was not perfectly identified, and there was a discrepancy in the evidence as to the prisoner’s clothes ; and the prisoner himself was not proved to have been thoroughly recognised as the man who came from the paddock where the body of the girl was afterwards found. His Honor having summed up, the jury retired for the space of twelve minutes, and, returning to court, announced a verdict of “Guilty.” His Honor assumed the black cap, and passed sentence of death. Prisoner was unmoved.