AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 188, 22 January 1887, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Sydney, January 6. 'The cruise of H.M.S. Diamond has noti ; been a very eventful one. She went to several islands to inquire into outrages, but in nearly every case the natives decamped, and only on one occasion did she resort to force, at St Aignau, where the attack was made on Captain Marx, of the Swinger, and there the damage done was limited to a couple of huts and two canoes, which were destroyed. Captain Joseph Hawkins, of the three-maated schooner Fairlie, was fined for having two cases of firearms on board his vessel. The "Newcastle Herald," of December 31 et, regrets to have to repeat that the health of the Bishop of Newcastle is so seriously impaired as to preclude all notion of his being able to leave for any place necessitating a sea voyage for a very long time. After a lapse of a few weeks, should a turn for the better have set in, it ifl possible that Dr. Pearson may be able to repair to some inland town for change of air and scene. His health on the morning of last Saturday week was good, and the sudden nature of the nervous prostration by which he has been attacked has naturally filled his friends with the greatest apprehension.

A GIRL POISONED. A distressing fatality occurred at the Glebe on Monday night. At about 10 p.m. a young girl named Ellen Meeiey expired at the residence of her parents, No. 1, Catherine-street, from the effects of poison, supposed to have been accidentally imbibed. From the information to hand, it would appear that the deceased complained of feeling unwell in the afternoon, and that her mother directed her to take a doso of fluid magnesia, a bottle of which was kept in the house. Owing to an unfortunate similarity in the appearance of two bottles, the girl by mis- j take drank a portion of a compound used for cleaning electro plate ware, which proved to be of a highly poisonous nature. Four medical men— i)rs. Smith, West, Service, and McCor mack— attended the ill-fated girl, and used every means in their power to counteract the effects of the poison, but without avail, and their patient died at the hour mentioned.

MURDER AT KIMBERLEY. The Derby correspondent of the " Wesfc Australian" of December 20 states : — "Sub -Inspector Troy came dovrn rather unex pectedly from the fields about a fortnight since, bringiug with him a man charged with the murder of his mate, Anthony Johnson. The man accused was in Derby for some months boforejhe proceeded to the fields. He was then known by the name of Frank Hornig. It now appears that his name is Franz ErJman, Robbery is supposed to have been the object of the murderer. The police were informed of it the day or so after the murder was committed by a man who stumbled accidentally across Johneon's grave. Having exhumed and identified the body, the police immediately Started in pursuit of Hornig, suspicion at Once falling on him as the last man seen in the company of the deceased. They arrested him on the road to Derby, which heliad hoped to reach, and so get away. A night or two after his arrest Horuig made a determined attempt to do away with himself. Deprived of everything he had about him when arrested that would be likely to afford him any opportunity of evading justice, he contrived to wrench the handle off a pannikin in which he had been given a drink, and so cut a vein in his arm. It was not until his laboured breathing attracted the notice of the man on watch that anything wrong was suspected, and then the prisoner was found lying in a pool Of blood. Remedies were promptly applied, and he was brought round, but for several days the man was frightfully weak. It is believed that Hornig has made a statement to the police.

A LARRIKIN OUTRAGE. "What appears to be a most dastardly outrage is alleged to have been committed at the Mount Kombla Coal Mine, near Wbllcwgong, on New Year's Eve. From the information to hand it seems that in the early part of the evening some of the old miners, accompanied by several women, asBembled at a large boarding-house at the Kerosene Works, which they had wrongfully entered, for the purpose of holding a ball, or some such gathering. Mr John Evans, manager in the employ of the Mount Kembla Coal Company, happened to be passing at the time, and he remonstrated with the parties, and told them to leave the place. On their promising to vacate the premises, Mr Evans went up to the mine, returning to the Kerosene Works at about half-past 9 o'clock. On arriving at the latter place he saw a number of persons at the boarding-house aforesaid, and two mounted policemen who oame on the scene shortly afterwards were ordered to eject the offenders. The miners and the women were ultimately forced to leave the house, and their names were also taken. The constables then returned to Wollongongat about a quarter-past 11 o'clock as everything seemed perfectly quiet. A little later on Mr Evans was arouse^ by hearing people near the house, and the noise of firearms. He then left the building and proceeded towards the foot of the incline, when, to his surprise and consternation, he caw three of the laden waggonß running wild dgwn the line. A number of men were in the vicinity of the line, but he was unable to recognise any of them. Immediately the waggons were heard thundering down the incline, the neighbourhood resounded with '• hurrahs," and firearms were frequently discharged. Fortunately the vehicles kept on the road, and after running some few miles beyond the Dapto Road, they came to a standstill, causing no damage whatever. It is supposed that the outrage was committed by the men who were ejected from the house at the kerosene works. As the waggona bad been " apragged " when the men left work, it is evident that a number of persons must have assisted them in the operation of sending them down the hill. The lock of the safety points was also broken. The Wollonerong police are making every effort to capture the offendors, but up to yesterday afternoon the names of the persons who committed the outrage had not been divulged. It is stated that the Government intend to provide additional police protection for the mine.