NEW SOUTH WALES.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 105, 22 October 1858, Page 3

NEW SOUTH WALES.

Our files extend to the 24th ultimo: — A late Government Gazette contains a notice intimating that i>so reward will be paid for the apprehension, or such information as will lead to it, of three persons who have formerly acted as Crown" Lands' Commissioners, who all stand charged with having fraudulently and feloniously embezzled certain sums of money which they received in their capacity as Commissioners. The following are the names:—Donald Rankin Macdonald, Mudgee; John Gaggin, Singleton; and Alexander Macalister, Braidwood. The Divine case is to be again referred to the Privy Council. The Court in Sydney has restricted ■ the expense to be incurred in this appeal to £500. 'The costs on the previous appeal were .£790 for the defendants, and £504 for the plaintiff. The total costs up to the termination of the last trial were ,£7500. It is stated that the Sydney Club has been closed, and that a new club, to be called the Victoria, is about to be started, in its stead. The Government have determined to render the Registrar-General's department more useful than it has hitherto been, by transferring to it the Statistical branch of the Colonial Secretary's Office. This arrangement is expected to result in greater promptitude in laying before the public the very valuable annual statistics, and other such information, of a regular or casual character. The race horse Chevalier has been sold to Mr. Rowland Hassal for £346; he was bought, a short time back, from Mr. Redwood by Mr. Obee for ,£SOO. Templar has also been sold for £150 to go to Melbourne. The foundation stone of a building intended to be used as aichool for the education of clergymen's daughters, at Waverly, was laid by Bishop Barker on the 22nd ultimo. The house, as planned, will accommodate 40 boarders, and cost about .£3OOO, of which sum about one-third has been already collected. James Hutchinson has been sentenced to six months imprisonment, at the Maitland Assizes, for having caused the death of his wife by striking her, in a fit of passion, with his open hand in the face and in the side. She was enciente, and the shock of the blows caused her heart to burst. A verdict of guilty of manslaughter was returned. The deceased was mother of several children. The prisoner gave himself up to the police, and never denied the offence. It is said that the Government have purchased the steamer Lioness, steam tug, now at Adelaide, for service at the port of Newcastle. At the Maitland Assizes, Mary Seeming, a married woman, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment for having caused the death of her ( child, an infant, by overlaying it in bed, whilst she (the mother) was drunk. The official report of Mr. Gregory's recent expedition in search of Leichhardt has just been published by the Government. It is a very lengthy document, and is accompanied by a map. In reference to the immediate object, Mr. Gregory says :—" With reference to the probable fate of Dr. Luichhardt, it is evident, from the existence of the marked camp, neai'ly 80 miles beyond those seen by Mr. Hely, that the account given to that gentleman by the* natives of the murder of the party was untrue; and lam inclined to think only a revival oithe report current during Leichhardt's first journey to Port Essington. Nor is it probable that they were destroyed until they had left the Victoria, as, if killed by the natives, the scattered bones of the horses and cattle would have been observed during our search. I am therefore of opinion that they left the river at the junction of the Alice, and, favored by thunder showers, penetrated the level desert country to the N.W.; in which case, on the cessation of the rain, the party would not only be deprived of a supply of water for the onward journey, but unable to retreat, as the shallow deposits of rain-water would evaporate in a few days, and it is not likely that they would commence a retrograde movement until their strength had been severely taxed in the attempt to advance." The strike of the miners formerly employed by the Newcastle Coal and Copper "Company still continues, to the loss of both parties, without any appearance of an amicable settlement. Serious Accident to an Artilleryman.— During ball practice, which took place at Dawes' ! Battery, yesterday morning, John Weir, an artilleryman, sustained a number of serious injuries at the instant of completing a charge,—the lower jaw being slightly fractured, the face and neck wounded, and three of the fingers of the left hand so much damaged as to render it probably necessary to amputate them. The accident occurred, it is stated, in consequence of the word of command being given too hastily, or before Weir had time to withdraw the sponge' in the process of ramming. — Herald, September 21. ( A Snake Adventure.—A stockman in the employ of Mr. William Lawson, whilst riding in search of cattle through a scrub, not long ago, near the waterfalls upon the Belabula, where the country is rugged and precipitous, was thunderstruck upon accidentally looking backward, at perceiving a snake twisted round his horse's thigh, and with, crest erect and fiery eye, apparently in an attitude to strike. Although the ground was much too rough and steep for galloping, and bristled moreover with sapplings, quick as lightning it occurred to him, that the only chance of safety to himself and horse was by starting through the scrub and brushing it off. In a moment the rowels of the spurs were in his horse's flanks, and, neck or nothing, he gallopped down hill, a distance of 200 or 300 yards, when, upon pulling up, he had the satisfaction of perceiving that the experiment had answered the purpose intended, the reptile having been doubtlessly dragged off in passing through the scrub.* It is needless to add that the hoi'seman breathed more freely at the conclusion than at the beginning of the adventure.— Bathurst Free Press. Destruction amongst Cattle.—The earliest of our spring grasses is the trefoil, which, in favorable seasons, such as the present, grows most luxuriantly, and furnishes the first food for cattle. This year it early acquired a vigorous growth, and has, in numerous instances, proved destructive to animal life. A dairy-woman in the neighborhood of the town, informs us that she has, during the past two or three weeks, been compelled,to keep her cows stockyarded, and that, despite the utmost caution she could use, the knife being called into requisition, many have died from over-gorging. We also hear similar complaints from the I^achlan and elsewhere,..owing to the superabundance of' this highly sncculent grass. In a short space of time, however, the trefoil will become so rank that cattle wUI not. eat it, when, of course the danger of fatal consequences no longer exists.— Bathurst Iree Press.