ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4506, 30 August 1875, Page 7

ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

The Ferry Inn, Porirua, was totally destroyed by fire on Friday morning at 2 o'clock. The place was occupied by Mra. Nelson, who kept an ac-commodation-house, as it was not licensed. As the fire spread so rapidly, nothing was saved. No cause has been discovered as to how the fire originated. None of the outhouses were injured. The telegraph post which stood in front of the house was burnt, and as a consequence, all telegraphic communication with the West Coast was cut oif. This, however, was remedied by one o'clock the same day. The house wa3 insured in the South British for £3OO, the furniture for £260. A coach accident occurred on Saturday 14th inst., by which a child lost its life. It appears that at six o'clock p.m. Hastwell's coach left Taita for Pakuratahi, and proceeded in safety till within a mile of its destination, when the leading horse shied at some object which was on the'road, and the other animals, taking fright, bolted. The result was that the coach was smashed to atoms, and a child, aged five months, the daughter of a carpenter residing at Pakuratahi, was killed instantaneously. The deceased infant was sitting on the box with its mother and the driver, but, strange to say, the mother was very little hurt. The driver has been committed to take his trial for manslaughter at the next sittings of the Supreme Court. The fire-bell rang out an alarm in the early part of the evening of the 25th. It turned out the chimney of the dining-room at the rear of the Besident Magistrate's Court, used by the police, was on fire. It is needless to say that it was promptly extinquished. As this is a decided breach of the Municipal Corporation Act, the question arises against whom are the proceedings to be taken. It has been suggested that the Resident Magistrate, in his capacity of sheriff, is liable for the breach of the law, a 3 the premises are by a legal fiction said to be in his possession. Failing this, a wiseacre has suggested that the police do summon each other in turn ad infinitum. On August 17th a horse fell over an unprotected part of the Terrace in the rear of the shop occupied by Mason, the blacksmith. The animal fell a distance of some thirteen or fourteen feet, and became jammed between the face of the bank and the back wall of the house. The police and several men were occupied for some seven hours' in trying to extricate the poor animal, but without success, and at last it was found to be necessary to strangle it. The loss of the horse is severely felt by the owner, who is a working man. E. S. Fox, an old resident at Greymouth, was drowned while attempting to ford the New Biver, five miles south of Greymouth, on Saturday, July 31. Deceased, who wa3 formerly a member of the County Council, and well known in various parts of the colony, was the gold buyer in 1866 for whom the Burgess and Kelly gang lay in ambush near the Arnold, Grey Valley, when they mistook and murdered Dobson, the district engineer. The body was found on the sth on the beach, I twelve miles north of Greymouth, and was interred with Masonic honors. Mr. Pizey, of Hokitika, younger brother of Pizey & Co., brewers, committed suicide on 4th August. His body was found in the office of the brewery, with a pistol shot through the head. No writing has as yet been discovered to show, the deed was premeditated. The pistol shot was heard in the adjoining premises. Deceased had not been drinking. He was a sober industrious man during his two years' residence here, and much respected. At the coroner's inquest the jury brought in a verdict of suicide with his own revolver while in a state of temporary insanity. A child that happened to be crossing the road opposite Mr. Owen's, establishment on Lambton-quay, was knocked down by a waggon, the wheel passing over the leg and crushing it. The name of the little sufferer did not transpire. In Wellington lately it seems that thieves suffer the qualms of conscience after their depredations. Recently we instanced a case in which a cashbox had been abstracted from a dwelling-house, but within a short timo

was fouml in the immediate vicinity of the place whence it had been taken. Another case comes under notice. The other day a sailor named Evans went to the police-station with a tale of distress as to a watch having been purloined from his. cabin. The police at once set .to work to detect the thief, but have now been surprised by the watch having been found by a lad named Shaw opposite the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, at the corner of Willis and Manners streets. In reference to the mysterious abstraction of the cash-box from Hodder's at PaUuratahi, it will be remembered that it was found in an adjacent paddock, and that the contents had been abstracted. A thorough search was made for the money, but without success. Scarcely a day, however, had elapsed from the finding of the box before the whole of the contents, consisting of cheques, notes, and silver, were discovered near where the box was found. It is supposed by the police that the thief was a new hand, and that he replaced his booty from fear of detection. An inquest was held on the sth August at the Morgue before the coroner, Dr. Johnston, on the body of Mrs. Maria Cockle. Dr. Diver stated in evidence that he was sent for the previous evening by Mr. Cockle, and that on his arrival at the house, he found Mr s. Cockle to be quite" dead. He was not acquainted with the deceased. He had made a post mortem examination, which led him to believe that the deceased died from serous appoplexy, accelerated by excessive drinking. The husband made a statement to the effect that : he went to his work in the morning, leaving his wife in bed, and that on his return home at night, he found her dead. She had complained of illness during the past fortnight, but would not permit him to send for a doctor. The jury ■ returned a verdict that the deceased died from natural causes. An inquest was held on the 3rd August at the Panama Hotel, before the coroner, Dr. Johnston, on the body of James Hawkins, who died suddenly last Sunday afternoon. Henry Cheesemah stated in evidence that he lodged in deceased's house. He was in the house when deceased was suddenly taken ill. Deceased became unconscious, and appeared to breathe with great difficulty. Witness sent deceased's son for a doctor, but deceased died before medical assistance could be procured. Hawkins died at three o'clock, soon after he was taken ill, and apparently without pain. Deceased was involved in pecuniary difficulties, and suffered much anxiety of mind in consequence. Witness never heard him complain of illness. He had been married about six months, and had five children by his first wife, who survive. A post mortem examination was made by Dr. Harding, who stated that disease of the heart was the cause of death. The jury returned a verdict that deceased died from natural, causes.