TELEGRAPHIC.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3038, 26 October 1888, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC.

-LAMENTABLE ACCIDENT, Ave Persons' Drowned.

INVERCASMLLi-p6iplier-25.

v A. laraeiitable accident;': occurred this morning at' Mataura, Island,on tko tliat maii named Audrey McFarkne,a:plonghiiig contractor, residing at Eden'daloj having got employment at-theOtaifa Dairy Paofcdry, hear Fortrose, started Avith a two-horsG teainfqrhis location yesterday,; tailing with him his household effects,*hiswifeahdchild, and .wife's brother 'arid; sister; 'together' with a boy who had been living ; with him. Thoy.reached, the island-ih tho afternoon, 7 the main course of the river,.whiehin ordinary dircumstauces - is; shallow, and no bridge is provided, .'but, heavy 'rams had iiiade it'datfgerous to :: cross/, and MflFarlano rafter -taking the ford, romained;oU;hisjand.ajl.mghL v Mr Sprafct, a farmer, -then advisetV him not to attempt to pursue his journey thatway, but return; and cross the river at Wynham Bridge. McFarlane demurred to make : this detour of .twenty'miiesi and early this morning: entered the river at:' the ; ford. : , The; team had only advanced a few yards when,the wheel dropped The'dray swung round; ; and its' occupants seated" among; tho. furniture';' which was not secured;' were swept into the river.. The lad slipped' out of: the dray to" the box, on which lie' safely floated to a' poinfrMoiit a quarter of a mile below,,where'he'got ashore. 'The occurrence was not seen by anyone from the banks,, but as none of the j other;'. occupants of the dray have been seen since,.it is almost certain they are all drowned. The dray did not ' capsize," and' the leader dragged it and the drowned shatter out of tho river. None.of the bodies aro yet recovered.. ;.

.. Jnveroarsill, Friday. None of the bodies of the persons drowned in tie Matuara Kiver have been recovered. Later news allows that McFarlane niade.a gallant effort to save his wife and her sister. He was swimming strongly close to the shore, when he saw them struggling 1 in the water, and he turned back to help them. They sank" before he feaohed'the spot, however, and ho Boon after disappeared. This heartrending scene was witnessed by the only one survivor, a lad of eighteen | years of age, who seized liold of a box and'part of a bedstead, and kept himself afloat till he landed some distance down the river. ..

Sly-Grog Selling.

Duneddj, October 26,

. Janet Oliver, a : boardinghousekeeper, was fined £lO and costs to: day for sly-grog Belling. ■

A Probationer's Experience.

Chrisiohuhou, Octoher2s,

To-day, James Buckley was • sentenced to three years' probation,, and to pay £lO expencea on April 9thj for larceny of a cheque. He, was brought before Mr Justice Ward in Banco, charged with not having reported himself to the police or paid any of the ; money.. He-pleaded he had been looking for work. Mr Marthe Crown solicitor, offered ■to give him workfor afew days. The Judge ordered him to begin his probation km date. This is the first case of the kind which has appeared in the Colony. :'."'■•■'.'■

Highway Robbery at the Diggings,"

Blenheim, October 26,

.. Constable, Franklin, stationed at. Mahakipawa, has just come into town, having.- effeoted- a very clever arrest at the Waikakahoe diggings. This morning three men stuok up a butcher in a dray while he was on his way from Cullenville (Mahakipawa) to the Mahakipawa Creek, and robbed him of £4 odd. The matter was reported to the police, aud Constable Franklin succeeded in arresting one of the trio at Waikakahoe this morning and to-night-lodged him safely in Blenheim Gaol The other two men are still at large, v ' " Action against a Corporation. Dunedin, October 25. A case was commenced in the Supremo Court to-day in which A. H; Logan, proprietor of the Fernhill Coalmiue, sought to recover' £IOOO damages from the Corporation of the City of Dunedin for negligently and improperly constructing the Silverstream water-race, from which a portion of the water supply is taken, The case is expected to last over Monday, as a great deal of expert -evidence has to be taken. ' FIRES, ... Auckland, Friday. A ten-roomed house, N.elaon streot, owned by P. Gleeson,: and occupied ! by Mr Maodonald, engineer, was destroyed by fire this morning. Insurance, house £BSO in Victoria Offioo.

Embezzling by an Ex Mayor-

New Plymouth, Friday.-' Gcorgo Victor Bate, an ex-Mayor of Hawera late J.P.j-and clerk to the Hawera ' Council who was found' guilty of' ehibeizlenient last night, was sentenced this morning to a year arid eight months imprisonment with hard labor.