NEW SOUTH WALES.

West Coast Times, Issue 388, 20 December 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW SOUTH WALES.

An enquiry respecting the death of a man named Edward Maher was held before the City Coroner, at the Eoyal Arms Hotel, Liberty Plains, on Friday last. Deceased was about 6S years of age. From the evidence it appears that, on Thursday last, Maher left home with a horse and cart to get some wood, and as lie did not return information of the circumstance was given to constable William Napier, who on Friday went in search of the man. After searching for some time the body was found lying in a dray-track; deceased was dead, and his head had the appeai'auce of having been run over by the wheel of tho dray. The dray was found about a mile distant where the * body lay. • Tho horse, it appears, was a young one, and had only been broken in to harness for about three months. Dr Aitken stated that he had made an examination of the body ; he found a severe fraefcuro of the skull in the region of the left temple ; the bone was pressing on the brain, which must have caused extravasation of blood ; death must have been instantaneous ; ; the wheel of a dray passing over the head i would- cause such a wound. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that death had been ! caused accidentally by the wheel of a cart passing jover deceased's head. — "S. M. Herald," Dec. 10. During the breeding season magpies may be often seen wheeling in rapid circles round any person approaching their nests, and on these occasions they even, at intervals, swoop clou n within a few inches of the unwelcome visitants of the neighborhood of their young, if Ihe approach be persevered in. Until the other clay, however, we never heard of one actually pouncing down upon the head of a man. As he walked along through the timber at tho back of the racecourse a magpie swept swiftly through the air towards him two or three times, then wheeled off again. At length, becoming either bolder or more alarmed, the bird dashed violently against his face, actually knocking the pipe out of his mouth, and was off again before he had time to recover from his astonishment. It is supposed that the bird had its nest in the adjacent trees. — " Wagga Wagga Express," Dee. 1. Writing on the 30th ultimo, the Dungog correspondent of tho " Mercury" reports :—: — This afternoon a dealer named Hinch was bitten by a bla n k snake, about a. foot long. He was in Mr Tierney's paddock at tho time, down by the creek, trying to find a place for his hobbled hor3e to water at with safety. He trod upon tho tail of tho reptile, which tunied and bit him near the shin bone, about four inches above the instep. With presence of mind he made what instant use ho could of a blunt knife he had, and soon afterwards secured the services of Mr v J?ierney, who, with commendable alacrity, applied a ligature, and freely used a, razor, and afterwards gunpowder, and then obtained the professionol aid of Dr M'Kinlay. lam happy to say that no alarming symptoms have set in. He was once before bitten by^a snake up the country, when he escaped through the suction of a blackfellow. The blackfellow, however, lost his life in^consequence of having broken skin upon the inside of his mouth. On Iho 2nd instant, a meeting of the Catholics of Bathurst was held in St Michael's schoolroom, for the purpose of expressing an opinion upon the Matrimonial Causes Bill, the Education Bill, now before Parliament, and also to take into considei-ation the very important subject of Parliamentary representation. The meeting comprised between three and four hundred persons, and was presided over by the Most Rev. Dr Quinn, Bishop of Bathurst. The chairman, having opened the proceedings, was followed by the Rev. Father D'Arcy, who proposed tho first resolution, viz., ''That whereas the indissolubility of marriage is a dogma of Catholic faith, this meeting reprobates any legislation on the Matrimonial Cause 3 Bill." Tho motion having been seconded by Mr E. B. Whelau, was formally put to the meeting, and carried

unanimously. The next resolution was moved by Mr J. Cunningham, as follows :—": — " That Catholics disapprove of any system of education which docs not make religion its basis, and give ' v full scope for religious instruction." Mr J. B. M'Guigan, in a few appropriate remarks, seconded tho motion, which having been put from the chair, was adopted nera. con. Mr W. G. Stephens, as tho proposer of the third resolution, said ho felt some diffidence in addressing them, but they must take the will for the deed. The resolution was as follows :—": — " That a committee be formed for the purpose of securing worthy representatives at the next election." Mr J. DeClouet briefly seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously. A voto of thanks to the Bishop " for his efficient and dignified conduct in the chair," brought the proceedings to a close. — " Bathurst Times." Adverting to tho escape of Lawrence Ciunmings and John Southgato from Berrima gaol, the other day, the " Yass Courier" remarks :— " Cummings, who was apprehended in the Goulburn district for robbery under arms, is suspected,upon strong grounds, of having shot his brother dead while under escort for another robbery, in attempting to shoot the constable who had charge of him. He was not tried for this offence, as there was not sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction, but he received the heavy sentence of 15 years' hard labor on the roads for the robbery. About last April twelve months ho was transferred from Darlinglmrst gaol to Berrima, and while in custody of the gold escort succeeded in escaping from the coach at Bargo Brush. Fortunately, however, he was almost immediately retaken by two of the police, who remained behind at the inn after the coach had left, and to whom he surrendered on a threat being made to shoot him. John Southgato was apprehended in this district by Mr Sub-Inspec-tcr Brennan, on a charge of robbing, with arms, William. Grogan's, at Limestone Creek, and other places, and received a heavy sentence. Last Wednesday a shocking accident occurred at Pominglarna, near Wagga Wagga, to a lad of about twelve years of age, named Carrol. The boy was bringing a cow and calf up to tho yard, the calf being only a day or two old. He had a dog with him, and as he neared the yard he got between the cow and her young, when, annoyed possibly by the dog, she charged upon the lad and knocked him down, and then commenced goring at him with her horns. His clothes were much torn during the processs, and he received one slight wound upon the back mid another very severe one on the abdomen, through which the intestines of the unfortunate sufferer protruded in a mass twice the size of a man's fist. The cow was driven away, and Dr Morgan was immediately called in. Fortunately, the intestines themselves were uninjured, but they were covered with dust, and with great numbers of bearded grass seeds. After much trouble theso clinging seeds were one by one removed, and the intestines being thoroughly washed were, with some difficulty, forced into their natural position, and the wound was then sewn up. Tho poor lad still lies in a very precarious state. "Wagga Wagga Express." The " Illawarra Mercury" of 30th ultimo says : — The storm which visited us last Thursday appears to have been moro severe in the neighborhood of Wollongong than in the town itself. We hear of a number of trees that were struck by the electric fluid in the direction of Shellharbor, and towards Albion Park a large tree near the residence of Mr Bartlett was shivered to atoms. The telegraph line to Kiama was also struck, and, strange to say, six consecutive posts had a groove cut on either side of them by the electric fluid, but without doing any further injury. There were also two other posts which presented a similar appearance ; but the groove did not extend for more than a foot or two from tho insulators. Strange to say, the lightning struck the corner of Mr Williams's milking yard, of Murruniarang, killing two cows and shivering the wall plate into pieces. The shock to the parties milking in the yard was very severe, but fortunately no further injury was done. A report has reached the "Northern Argus," and from a tolerably authentic source, that a party of miners have been " dropped across" upon the Mackay run, belonging to Mr Mornish, and that they admitted to have been woi'king on the same spot for upwards of five months. When discovered, a considerable quantity of gold was to be seen drying on a piece of bask. The men stated that the sinking was, comparatively speaking trifling, not more than four feet at the most, and narrowing from the base range upwards. The gold at the foot of the range is fine, getting gradually coarser as the ground rises. From what we can learn the precious metal is unusually plentiful and easily obtained. At present there are about three dozen diggers at work on the ground. The "Yass Courier" of the Bth instant reports that, on the Bth of the month a very heavy rain fell in Yass and the surrounding district, accompanied with a good deal of lightning. During the "storm, one of the shepherds employed on the Douro estate, at a place called the Gums, was driving his sheep to the fold, and as the tail of the flock was passing a large gum tree, the latter was struck by the lightning and broken into pieces. The fluid also killed six of the sheep (fat wethers), leaving no outward trace to indicate the cause of their death. It was fortunate that the bulk of the flock and tho shepherd had passed the spot a few moments before the lightning struck the tree, otherwise the result might havo been of a much more serious character. The " Goulburn Herald," of the Bth instant, says : — Yesterday morning, about six o'clock, as the Yass mail was just reaching the top of Little Razorback, two men on horseback came out of the bush and ordered the driver to stop. The one was recognised as Tommy Clark ; the other was a young man with his face concealed with a white handkerchief. Both rode very indifferent horses, and the younger man's clothes were very ragged. There was only one passenger, Mr Watson, storekeeper, of Young, from whom the bushrangers took L 4. They returned him some loose silver, and also his watch. They then took all the letters out of tho various mailbags and onclosed them in two bags. While doing this Mr Watson represented that in one of the bags thero were three of his letters containing cheques and drafts of no use to the robbers, but the loss of which would entail some inconvenience on him. They therefore allowed him to pick these letters out of the rest, and the coachman took possession of them and posted them on his arrival in Goulburn. The robbers then made off, haying detained the coach only about a quarter of an hour. On the previous day, Thursday, we hear that Mr Blue's station, Caoura, below Marulan, was stuck-up, and also Bomballa ; but no particulars are to hand. On the same day two men, said to have been recognised as Southgate and Cummings, who lately escaped from Berrima gaol, stuck-up some place at Cotta Wolla, and stole a horse, saddle, and a double-barrelled gun. In this case also we are without particulars. Tho Murrurundi correspondent of the "Sydney Morning Herald" Avrites as follows

upon a new genus of* animal discovered in that district :— For two years past a slrango animal has occasionally been seen by people in the bush near the Murrilla Mountain, and various have been the descriptions given of the creature, so that wo have been doubtful of the reports, and fancied tho animal was nothing more or less than an old ' wallaroo,' as tho locality of the Murrilla is very wild and rocky, and tho wallaroo is found in such places ; but within the last few days two persons have seen the creaturo that has caused much alami to a wholo camp of stonebreakers and roadmakers, sixteen or seventeen in number. It is described as being three feet six inches high, standing on its hind leg 3, the fore legs or arms • could about touch the ground. It was covered with shaggy black hair all over. Ifc made a most horrible yelling when the parties rode in the direction of the'rock it stood upon, showing a very fine set of teeth. It made a spring at its disturbers, who put spurs to their horses and fled. The blacks in this district are awaro of the existence of these animals, and state that there were a great number of them some time ao-o. Tho place whero this creature was seen is 5 one of the wildest places that could be found on the northern lino of road, at tho back of tho Murrilla Mountain, or as it is generally called tho Murlow. This creature evidently belongs to the ape type. Has one of these creatures ever [made its escape from confinement, or are there any of such creatures in tho country? If so, it is strange they have not been spoken of before this. The utmost reliance may be placed upon the statement here put forward.