WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1717, 23 June 1884, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(mom our owk corresponds.) ■!-, ! , June 20. For some time past the business men of this city have been agitating against the excessive rates charged by the. insurance companies. The main excuse for the high charges made by the com-,' panies was the defective water supply,! but now that the Wainuiomata supply, is nearly and the pressure! in the waterpipes sufficient to tliro.v! splendid jets over tho highest buildings! in tho city, the companies have no' excuse whatever for continuing the! present high rates. A short time ago I the companies were requested by al deputation of policy holders to make! reductions in their charges, but the! only reduction offered was ten per cent. I The policyholders did not consider this v. enough, aud a Policy Holders' Associa- ; ; tion lias been formed to see what can be done by united combination. By some it is advocated that a Mutual Insurance Company should he formed here, so that "those insuring might reap 1 the benefit of all profits. A society such as-that advocated has been ut operation in Sydney for the last ten years, and at the last meeing of shareholders a bonus of 20 per cent was d£ claredontbe premiums of the polioj holders, notwithstanding the fact thai the insurance rates are very mucl lower than they are in Wellington, i Dr Simms, the famous physiognomisj has been lecturing here for several days on his popular subject, physiognomy, and has drawn large houses. He announces that he intends to shortly retire from the public platform and devote the rest of his days to writing on his observations of the effect of climate upon different nations of the globe, A sad case of, suicide occurred on Tuesday morning. A laboring "rnim named John Webber, aged 53 years, <JT Tasman street, killed himself by taking a dose ot strychnine, The unfortunate man's wife states that sho retired to to rest early the previous ovening,' leaving her husband downstairs.' About 1.30 a,m, he came ap for the purpose of going to bed. She noticed that he reeled about, and on asking him what was the matter, he replied" "kiss me, lam going to die," On asking him what was the matter he said he had taken poison, He then kissed his daughter, who is about 1 years old and said good-bye to both. Mrs Webber at once ran for assistance and after knocking up some neighbors she went for Dr Hutchison, but who did not arrive till some time after death had taken place. Deceased had been drinking heavily for some time past, and was frequently heard to say that he would soon die. Deceased and his wife had always lived on the best of terms. The house was searched by Sergeant_ Price and Constablo Grey, but nothing of any poison could bo discovered. An inquest was held on the body at tho Prince of Wales Hotel on Thursday beforo Dr Johnston, coroner, and a jury of thirteen. Dr Hutchison gave evidence as to being called in to deceased's house at the time of his death, and stated that according to instructions received afterwards, ho made a post mortem examination of the body, and found in it signs of poisoning. The stomach and intestines he removed, and placed them in a clean jar, to bo handed over to Dr Skey, for analysit. The report of the latter gentleman was road, which stated that strychnine was present in sufficient quantities to cause death. Evideuce was given by Mary Webber, widow of deceased, to the effect that her late husband had had no settled occupation, but used to help her a good deal with laundry work in the house, and that he was much given to drink. Very often ho would be very much inspirit, and threaten to makt/away with himself. When lie caule home on the night in question, and said he had taken poison she did not at first believe him, but as he persisted in saying he had taken it, and as there was something mvoo serious than there would be if ho were only drunk, she got one of the neigbbers to go for the doctor, but before he arrived her husband was dead. A small bottle of; strychnine was found in tho yard; the \ bottle bad an old label on it, apparently American, and all the chemists in town deny having sold such a bottle to anyone, so it is at presonfc unknown where deceased obtained tho poison. The jury returned a verdict to the following effect:—That the deceased, John Webber, died from the effects of poison administered by himself whilst undor the influence of temporary insanity.

On Wednesday afternoon a rather serious land slip took placo at the side of Mount Cook. The land had been cut away from the top of the hill and shot over the side, Owing to tho great amount of rain which has fallen during the week side of'the embankment slid down with a great crash into a Chinaman's garden, and did considerable damage to his property. It was rumored in town that several convicts were buried beneath the earth, but tho rumor proved to bo without foundation.

The Supreme Court sat on Wednesday iu its divorce and matrimonial jurisdiction, presided over by His Honor Mr Justice Richmond, when the case of Edwards v. Edwards and another was called upon. On the application of Mr Eitzherbert, for tho petitioner, a decree absolute was granted. Mr Gully, for the respondent, asked.that his client might have custody of the three children, who were issue of tho marriage, which request was granted. It was stated that the petitioner, who was once a resident at Culls, had left the colony, and the co-respondent was now upon the eve of getting married to a chemist at Rangitikei.