AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2285, 14 July 1880, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

SAD DROWNING ACCIDENT. STEALING A MONUMENT. ATTEMPTED MURDER. VICTORIA. On Sunday, June 27, a lamentable accident, involving the destruction of four lives, happened in the Ovens district. The. Pev. It. B. Bayne, formerly of South Yarra, was proceeding to Frccburgh to preach. He was accompanied bv his two sons and a driver. Whilst crossing the Ovens river the buggy was upset and the whole party drowned. The horse was found on the hank, with the shafts attached. A large number of men wore engaged all day in dragging the river, and they succeeded in finding the bov'W of Mr Bayne. Towards evening the driver was found, with the eldest boy under his arm. The body of the other boy is still missing. The Bov, 11. Bickncll Bayne was a clergyman of the Church of England. For about two years he officiated as curate ofChrist Church, youth Yarra,and only a few weeks ago he relinquished that curacy to accept preferment at Bright, conferred upon him by the Bisbop of Melbourne. His sad cud will bo much deplored by his late congregation, who regarded him with affectionate esteem.

At Sandhurst, a, curious charge of larceny has been laid against Mr j. P. Car, lin, J .P., sewing-machine agent,and president of the local branch of the Reform League. He was served with a summons, charging him with having stolen a monument valued at X2OO, from the yard of Finn, Quinn and Co., stoneworkers. It appears lhat during the absence of Finn at Kchuca, Cardin proceeded with a lorry and tackle to the yard of the firm. After removing the gate from its hinges, and erecting the tackle, Caroliu, with the aid of seven men, raised the stone which is 22ft. high on to (he lorry, and removed it to his own yard where it now remains. The monument was made to the order of Mr Mathews, a squatter, on the Darling, fn explanation of Cardin’s conduct, it is said lhat there were some business complications between the parlies. In the. case of Wilson v. Symo, an application was made to the Supreme Court on .l une 21) (o change the venne ol: the trial from Geelong - to Melbourne. The action was - brought by Mr James Wilson, of the St. Albans stables, near ( icelong, against the proprietors of the Age, ’ lor an alleged libel relleoting on the manner in which he ran his racehorses at different meetings. Tlie Court decided that the case ought to bo tried in Melbourne,as nearly all the occurrences on which the defendants relied lor justification of the alleged libel lookplace in Melbourne, and most of the witnesses resided there—the defendants to pay any extra, costs incurred by the trial being held in Melbourne instead ul Geelong. About noon on June 2D an alarm was raised in the neighborhood oi: Lonsdale street west that a man had shot a girl in Ilartnng’s hotel. Inquiries being made it was ascertained (hat a man named George I Fucker, a. hakor by trade, had shot at a girl named Margaret Denny, who is employed as a domestic servant in the hotel, from a window of his bedroom. The girl at the time was washing clothes in the yard, and Dencker, who is supposed to have been paying his addresses to the girl, seeing her speaking to a man over the fence which separates the yard from the adjoining premises, bred a ball at her from a six-chambered revolver. Fortunately he missed his aim, and (he ball struck a post within a lew feet of ihe place where the girl was standing. As soon as the report of the shot was heard, a msh was made for I,Flicker’s room. He was secured, and was given in charge to the police, who convoyed him to the lock-up. No motive is assigned for the attempt except that of jealousy, but it is said that for some years past the prisoner has on several occasions shown signs of mental aberration.

_ The terms olfered to the applicants lor clerical employment at the Melbourne Lxldbilion was 7s per day. Over a thousand applied, and Hirer hundred are to he selected.

Some rather nasty political revelations are daily being made. In reference to some of the scandals the Melbourne “ Argus ” lias the following : —M’ilh reference to the olfor made by Mr Bent when the Service Ministry was formed, to share his salary with his disappointed friend, Mr Gaunson, we arc authorised to state that no member of the Ministry was ever consulted in the matter, nor were the Ministry aware of it until long after the offer had been made and declined, and the alfair was disposed of. The statement that Ministers thought of subscribing to pay Mr Gaunson the salary is without foundation. Such an idea, wo learn, was never mooted. Ministers did not take Mr Gaunson into (he Cabinet ; they refused to support him as Chairman of Committees, but they offered him the whipship with a salary of JJ-SUO per annum, and not TIOOO per annum, as the Opposition press has stated. This statement, it will be seen, disposes of all the charges and inucndocs directed against the Government in connection with this matter.