The Westport Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 538, 3 August 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1869.

An unfortunate fatal accident happened yesterday afternoon at Addison's Plat. By a fall of earth in one of the claims there a man named Eichard Donoghue was killed. An inquest will be held to-day. The condition of the road to the Orawaiti w as the cause of an accident on Friday last. Mrs Hodges was seated on a quantity of timber placed upon a dray, which was being driven to the Waimongoroa. Near the St> Ivilda Hotel, one of the wheels went down in a rut in the road, and Mrs Hodges was thrown to the ground, breaking one of her arms. She is now at the Orawaiti Bridge Hotel, attended to by Dr Thorpe. The departure of the steamer Murray yesterday evening was more than usually interesting as a shipping event, as she had on board about thirty passengers for Wanganui Inlet, their destination being the recently reported diggings to the north of Bocks Point. A number of men have during the week proceeded to the same locality overland—by no means an enviable

journey. The Colonial Treasurer's Financial Statement was telegraphed to the West Coast journals voluntarily, promptly, and free of cost. The Grey Hirer Argus and the West port Times acknowledged the altogether unexpected attention and liberality of the Government. The Charleston Herald adopts a different course, and treats its readers to the following bit of unmitigated romance :—" In order that our readers might at the earliest possible moment be placed in possession of the financial statement of the new Colonial Treasurer, which has been looked forward to with more than ordinary interest by many of our follow colonists; both on account of the peculiar critical juncture in the history of the political affairs of the country, as well as the recent ministerial changes which have occurred; wo made arrangements to have the address of the Honorable the Colonial Treasurer telegraphed to us as it was delivered on Thursday evening last." The following paragraph, which appears in the Melbourne Argus, is understood to refer to a storekeeper who " levanted" from Westport a few mouths ago:—"A correspondent acquaints us with a case in which an absconding defaulter was stopped in his flight through the agency of Mr Otto Berliner. 'ln the month of February last,' he says, ' a storekeeper on the West Coast, New Zealand, indebted to myself and others in Melbourne in the sum of £1,200, left his business in the charge of his assistant, stating he was going to Melbourne to make purchases in the usual wav. It was, however, soon discovered that he had taken flight and left the colony, taking a passage in a wool ship from Lyttelton for the old country, with a large sum of money in his possession. On receipt of this information I at once applied to Mr O. Berliner, who took the necessary stops through his London agent for securing the delinquent. All requisite papers were sent by the following mail, and I am happy to add the person and money of the absconder were secured, much to his annovauce."

The following- account of the accident which happened at the Shamrock Lead on Friday is sent to us by a correspondent:— An accident of a very serious character occurred here this morning, about eleven o'clock, on a claim known as Maloney's. The horse that was working the whim fell, when the driver and two other men went to release him. These three men considered themselves able to hold the whim when the horse was adrift, but it was not so, for the heavy bucket of dirt that was in the rope began to descend, when two of the men— MTntyre and M'Mahon—let go, hut unfortunately Niel Dogherty still held on, and was swung round at a,terrible rate. He was lifted off tho ground, and, his right leg coming in contact with the uprights of the whim, it broke in two places, and the muscle of his left arm in some way caught in the hooks attached to the bow, tearing the flesh completely off the arm nearly down to the elbow. All the assistance that coidd be rendered was at once applied. Dr Peacock, of Addison's, was sent for, was quickly at the scene of the accident, and set the leg and did all that could be done, hut the poos fellow's mates desired to take him to the Wostport Hospital. All the men on the Lead knocked off work in order to go with aud assist in carrying him down. It is a singular fact that this is the first accident of any kind that has occurred on the Shamrock since it was opened, although there have been some very narrow escapes. One of these occurred on Saturday night last. Two parties were working in adjoining claims—M'Laren's and O'Eoork's—until late on Saturday evening, and three hours after they left a piece of ground about forty feet wide by fifty in length, and

sixty deep, sunk down bodily, with a tremendous crash, crushing into splinters the timbers with which it was propped. If it had come down three hours earlier, there is no doubt that some of the parties would have been buried and never could have been got out alive.

The Grey Elver Argus notices that two additional auctioneering firms have commenced business in that town. Mr D. Girdwood has again taken out an auctioneer's license, and Messrs Nanearrow and Henderson, late managers for Messrs N. Edwards and Co. in Hokitika and Greymouth, are about to commence business. The Melbourne Art/us informs us that a number of fine pearls discovered at the fisheries carried on in the vicinity of Nieol Bay, Western Australia, have been exhibited in town. They are of great size and beauty, the most valuable of them resembling in shape and dimensions the eyeball of a large fish. This is said to be worth upwards of .£2OO. This collection of pearls is by far the richest which has been found in the Australian water 3. Precious young New Zealanders, who " will a-wooing go," may do well to note a decision recently given in England by MiJustice Mellor. An action was brought for breach of promise against a youth called Alfred Ruthven, a cook, who had promised to marry Caroline Hale, both the parties being infants. He did not keep the promise, but married somebody else, and pleaded infancy; against which it was argued that an infant can enter into a valid contract for necessaries. Thereupon Mr Justice Mellor laid down the important legal doctrine that" a wife is not a necessary for an infant." No doubt, remarks the London Spectator, it would be more plausible to argue that an infant is a necessary for a wife.

Gas works are about to be erected on tlie Thames Goldflelds. A gas company has been formed and a site secured for the proposed works. The undertaking is said to promise well. A share-list lately published in Auckland showed that amongst a total of 87 mining companies at the Thames, there was capital to the amount of £1,270.201. The advances on the selling rates of shares amounted in one week to over £531,175. Among the objects recently presented to the Otago Museum, says the Daily Times, is a very curious rifle. About 16 years ago it was in the possession of the renowned " Bloody Jack " at that time chief of the hapu of Maoris at Otago Heads. From him it was obtained by Mr J. Eeid, in exchange for a double-barrelled gun and son; e other tilings. Mr Eeid has now presented it to the Museum. The rifle bears the name of "Collier, London," and is numbered 120. It is very highly finished, and has a great deal of engraving about it, and must have been, when new, a very handsome piece. It has the peculiarity of being a live-chambered revolver, and is fired by means of a flint. The steel against which the flint strikes is hollow, and has a little arrangement attached to it, by which, when ready to be fired, it drops the proper quantity of powder in the pan ready for the spark. A smart shock of earthquake was felt at Urenui, Taranaki, on Thursday, July 15, at half-past seven o'clock in the evening. The reason of Messrs Broad and Keddell having resigned their appointments as Wardens of the Thames Gcidficld is that their salaries have been reduced to £4OO per annum, and because they did not get supported in the discharge of their duty by the Provincial Government. The site of the late fire in Hokitika is being rapidly built upon. The most noticeable erections in course of progress, says the Daily News, are those of Mr Cavell and Mr Johnston, both of which will bo handsome buildings and equal to any in Hokitika.

A painful accident occurred to a little boy ten years of age, the son of Mr Wagner, of the Shamrock Hotel, Hokitika. The poor little fellow, it appears, had picked up a small quantity of gunpowder, and placed it in a bottle. He was in the act of emptying the gunpowder out of the bottle on to a log, when the gunpowder exploded. The bottle burst in the boy's hand, lacerating it fearfully, and a piece of glass struck his left eye. Medical aid was at once obtained, and it was found that the sight of tho left eye was completely destroyed. The last place anyone would look for matchmaking is surely the City Police Court, says t '.e Melbourne Argus. However, a ease occurred lately which will, in all probability, lead to two persons being joined together in tho holy bonds of wedlock. A girl named Annie Collins was brought up on remand, charged with attempting to commit suicide. A man named George Collins, a surgical instrument maker, stated that the girl's friends were respectable people living in Callarat; that she had come to town to spend a few days with a friend, and had unfortunately got into bad company, and taken too much drink. Mr Call asked the witness what he had to do with the prisoner. He replied that he was acquainted with her friends, and would marry her if she was agreeable. Mr Call put the question to the prisoner, and in the most matter-of-fact way she accepted the offer. Mr Collins was bound over to return the girl to her relations, and the parties left the court.

A Southland paper states that the best paid " profession " at Queenstown just now is that of a chimney sweep. An expert can occasionally ma ke as much as £6 before breakfast, the current rate being 10s per chimney. A correspondent of the Otago Daily Times states that he has invented a machiue for brushing boots. " The brush is fixed upon the periphery of a small wheel turned by a hand crank. A few shillings would purchase the whole apparatus, including one brush for cleaning and another for polishing. It will be particularly useful for hotels, as a person

could throw in a cargo of dirty boots at one end, and they would come out cleaned at the other. All that has to be done is to work the apparatus by the foot." The Springbok, which arrived at Melbourne from the Fijis a fortnight ago, reports that matters are very dull in the islands. To such an extent was this the case, that the captain states that he took back with him to Melbourne the greater portion of his outward cargo and several return passengers.