INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1778, 18 August 1888, Page 2

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Mr P. Conning, a travelling Agent for tho Colonial Mutual Life Assur mce Society waa setaed with a fit on board the Davenport ferry steamer on Thursday, and died a few minutes afterwards. The Otago Educ tion Board, on Thursday negatived resolutions for a periodicl exchange of inspectors, but by a bare majority carried a resolution that inspectors should meet at Wellington triennially for exchange of views. Peter Hansen, a Dine, aged 27, employed in building a bridge over a creek at Waitntarei, Auckland, was found dead'. on Wednesday iu the bed of the creek. He was subject to fits, and it is supposed he fell from the bridge during the absence of otlor workmen. It is reported that the coal and shale measures till recently held by. theOrepuki Coal and Shale Company, and now by Mr Albert Cashells, Southland, have been sold to a Sydney firm for £12,000. They will erect works for the distillation of kerosene and other oils from the shale. Orepoki is the western terminus, of the railway system. The coal is of the ordinary brown kind, but the shale Ivjb been proved to be of excellent quality, producing .fifty gallons of oil per ton. It exists in great quantity near the surface. On Tuesd iy night three men employed at Mr fi. Sutherland's bakery at Richmond, near Ohristchurch, went to bed about 9 o'clock and left a bucketful of coke burning in their room, wbieh is closely boarded, and when the door and window are closed almost air tight. They have been in the habit of doing this for some time, but owing to there being a broken pane in the window no seriouß effects had hitherto resulted. Thif) pane has been mended, add consequently on Tuesday night when the coke fire burnt up, the fumes could not "scape. The head baker went co wake them at 2 a.m., and found them insensible. He opened the door and window and sent for Dr Stuart, under whose treatment two of them recovered, bat the third Frederick Collins, is still in a precarious state. At a meeting of the Presbytery at Djnedin on Wednesday a letter was read from Professor Salmond, in which he stated that no new edition of his pamphlet would be published, and he had ceased to have » desire to issue it, and that hu views were misunderstood. A motiou was carried that as the professor had implemented resolutions of the Presbytery, the matter' should now terminate. Another case, was brought up in tho form of an appeal from the First Church Session, where attention had been drawn to a speech made by Mr Kei:h Ramsay during a recent meeting of the Presbytery. Mr Ramsay had been naked to say if the report of his speech was correct, and if so how he considered it consistent to be an elder of the church while holding such views. The Presbytery passed a resolution that it was undesirable to proceed further in the matter, the general opiuion being that they should cease hunting round to prove each other guilty of this or that heresy. At tbe R.M. Court, Ohristchurch, on Wednesday last, Mary D. Keith was charged with deserting her infant in a manner calculated to endanger its life. Evidence was given to the effect that from March, 1887, to the date of the abandonment the accused, who enrned .10s per week, had paid 8s per week for the support of tbe child. The accused left, the child at the bouse of a gardener, named. Lambert, and whose son she had waiked out with, where she had stayed two years before, and a paper with the following words was pinned tc its c otriing Y—" Be kind to the poor little thing, us iVbelongs to your sob, and I have paid for it long enough, He can tike care of it for the rest of its life." Accused stated that she watched outside the house until the child was taken in. The charge was dismissed. The Supreme Court at Ivsrcargill was occupied ail Wednesday with the trial of Sophia K'dd, Southland's premier horsewomaa; on a charge of cattle stealing. The family is in good circumstances, and own three farms. It is alleged that she mole and drove a small mob 13 miles during the night to a sale at Mataura. The evidence of identification was . strong, e pecially that of the/ bank clerk who cished the cheque given for the oattle. On the other hand, the woman's relations and servants of the family swere positively that oa the day she was said to have been at Mataura selliog the eattle she was on hsr mother's farm driving a reaper. Sensation was .caused iu Court tewards the close of the trial by the fainting of the accused, which stopped proceedings for half-an-hour. The jury were unable to agree, and wer?'locked up for the" night. On the following morning they were still unable to agre*, and ia discharging them Mr Justice Williams said that-it was a great misfortuoe to ciuso a fresh tiial r with delay and expense to the public. Really, in another case of the kind, one would be almost inclined to resort to the old practice, only recently changed, which at auy rate had the effect of making the Jury agree—that of keeping them together till they did agree. By this means a verdict, was at any rate assured. The case wilt come on again on Monday.—Edward Albert Maher and Harry Treen were sentenced to three yeares' imprisonment for housebreaking. „