WELLINGTON.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2873, 1 May 1878, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

Tuesday.

William Light, landlord of Barrett's Hotel, laid an information against Wm. O'Connor, formerly Sergeant of Police in Canterbury, for attempting to poison him by putting poison in a glass of liquor. Light was drinking with him on Sunday night before going to bed. Light said poison was put in his glass while his back' was turned attending to a customer. The case came before the magistrate. The circumstance seemed so incredible that it was thought there was some great misapprehension. The sediment in the glass was examined by a chemist, who pronounced it morphia. It was then sent to Dr Hector for analysis, and it was understood it would not be tested until Mr Skey returned to town. It is now stated that Dr Hector has analysed it, and pronounces it strychnine, and that there is enough in the glass to .kill over twenty men. The case will come on again on Thursday. The Customs revenue ' collected in Wellington for this month amounts to £13,661, or about £1500 more than for the corresponding month last year. This day. ' The following is Doctor Hector's analysis of the matter supposed to be poison placed in a glass of whisky which Light, landlord of Barrett's hotel, was about to drink:—" The crystalline sediment was examined by various tests and found to be strychnine, the quantity present exceeding two grains of strychnine, half a grain being sufficient to be fatal to an adult." The evidence collected by the police regarding the surrounding circumstances gives the case a serious aspect. Telegraphic communication with Port Darwin has been interrupted near Port Augusta at the head of Spencer Gulf since yesterday afternoon. Sir George Grey leaves to-day per Hawea at 2 p.m. for Auckland, via East Coast.

Sailed : Hawea for Napier and Auckland at 2 p.m. Passengers—Mrs Montgomery, Sir Geo. Grey, Messrs Mitchell, Le Aick,-Young, McKennan, Foley, Dickson, and 18 in the steerage.