WELLINGTON, Wednesday.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1579, 17 August 1882, Page 2

WELLINGTON, Wednesday.

J. W. Ellis, the convict who was sentenced at the last criminal, session to 12 years' penal servitude and, two floggings of 30 lashes each,' for felonious assault on a child in Wairarapa, received Jus first' whipping in the gaol this morning, in the presence of , Captain Hume, Inspector of Prisons. The punishment is said to have been very severe. ' It is understood that an action for defamation of character! in which damages are laid at £20,000, has been brought by Mr. Cook, late manager of the Colonial Bank in this city, against Mr W. J. SM. LarnacH. The case is to ,be heard' in Sydney, and evidence is being taken on commission in this city by Messrs Siev* wright and Chapman, as commissioners for plaintiff and defendant respectively. Mr Cook, after Jea\ing here, became manager of a bank in Australia-/ but Was dismissed in consequence,'it is stated, of a letter addressed by Mr Larnach to his brother in Sydney, and which^vas shown to the directors. It is this'letter which forms the ground of the present action. Damages to the extent of £500 have been caused by the floods during the late storms in Karori and Makara districts. A strong southerly wind is still blowing, accompanied with heavy rain.