AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 64, 16 March 1910, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

■ ■ • ■ ;-■ ■•"- - PERILOUS TRAM . ACC-DE-T. . ____-__I___&____OT ON A BR-OGE.. -~. | MELBUU—NE, March 9. An accident ox a" t_ri__g __.i_ci.er occurred on the Pre_ton rai_w_y nne he- , itween <j_tton-i—U and _Lerxi btation, about 1_ o'clack on 'Jtues—iy. __a_ it was not actended w.tn {-—i". consequejices and great loss o_ property was. uue to the promptituae spi-.-ed oyxile driver (J. Vvaid/, who, -wita tie nreman (M'_ Lilian) and the guard . (<._a_tem), . ■was in charge of the down train which left the city at 11.45 pan. . . . . - There were about lo passengers in tie.: train when it' moved away from Oliftonhill station, and a few moments after-' wards the driver, when at the south end of Merri: Creek railway, -bridge, felt a ibuanp. He instantly applied .the brakes and, as the engine had not developed speed, the train was pulled, up within the length, of the engine and the guard's van. ! Then it was ,found- that the front wheels of the engine had. jumped the,. rails. There is no coping, on the bridge, •whioh is an iron structure, and one of . •the front wheels of tie engine was rest- ■ ing within 18 inches of the edge of the bridge, beneath w_ioh there is- a. chason some 60ft in depth. " ' '■ ; : If the engine had not <been so prompt- i ly pulled up, it must inevitably have- fallen into the creek. - : - - The ■ -hairbreadth character of the - escape ma. ibe gauged by the _rcumstance that a man could not-pass -along the outer side of the engine without <_hging tightly to it, to avoid falling iinto the creek. ' The alarm was quirt_y given, 1 and a telephone message was then sent to North Melbourne locomotive -sheds, and after the lapse of some" time._ie down" van arrived, with "all", the necessary appliances for feplacing the engine on the rails. But the work was not ac- ; complished until 3 ajn., and the tTa_l ' then proceeded on "its; journey.- -. I ' An official inquiry will be held into the accident. •'"-.'* '■""-'• '■ , •-■■■

TWO METERS , ■ KILLED.

A sad double fatality occurred ait Tasmania mine, Beaoonsfield, about 5 airon- March 9, when William T. Walters and Arnold Yates, both married men, -■were __Led iy"a "f-11-of-earttPw__e working in the stope above the intermediate level', 1200 feeth below- the surface. A •third man, named Parkes, was working •with tie unfortunate men at tie time, and was also iuried, hut the rescue party quickly extricated, him; and he escaped with a few cuts and bruises. He attributes his escape -to a piece of 'timber, under which he "was partly lying, keeping the earth from h_n. . Another large"' ■piece of timber was_ly—g""alm—, on "his" | chest, and it took two men -to remove it. Two, men, who were working near, heard the men cry out as the-earth came down, carrying two sets of . timJber : . .with "--. They ait once got assistaiicer and .the" •work of digging the men" out .'was'com-1 menced. -After a few minutes Parkes.' •was found, but nearly an hour elapsed ! before Yates and Walters were estricatI cd. .The. former .was quite-dead, and "thelatter only gave one. gasp... Parkes, after •being treated at the hospital,, left for his j home. '"•" : . ? ■

. IMPORTATION OF FEMALE 7" -•-■- ;' Xi-Jt A_tbU_ti.-""" ;.....

Mr Mauger, Ministerialist candidate, and secretary to tie Protectionist Association, declared himself at a women's. ■ meeting at- Melbourne last.-Week, as opposed to the scheme- of the-"Victorian manufacturers .to bring girls out from England. . (Cheers.) They ..had' no right to. bring girls out .'from \ England without the protection of their parents. (Cheers. If the girls came.out, with"-._eff7parents work would be found, for them,' and they would be welcomed, but he would oppose any suggestion to. bring out shiploads of unprotected girls. :(Cheers.)".', . ', :j

"A CONVICT-B-IT CULVERT.

An interesting discovery was made recently at Woodford.-dn" the Blue Mountains- (New Wales),.when a stone culvert, showing every ' appearance- ■ ofhaving been built during the times-of the convicts, was - unearthed.- According to the report of the discovery, it seems that : owing to "a great rush of storm-water on to the Bathurst-road, at a point near Woodford, the engineer of the Blue Mountains. Shire Council considered it necessary to run a- pipe culvert underthe roadway. After digging down to a depth of aiout _t for this purpose, the maintenance men came upon an old stone culvert in" a splendid : state of preservation.' ---■■= -' - i

AN ITA__A-PS JEALO-SY. 7

• Norma; Plush, a child of "12 years, "was shot at Nuriootpa, South Australia,-on Saturday, -. March" 5, by "a Portuguese', Carl Bonello, and.,died7 the folio win",' morning. . - Details show that Bonello objected- to the girl's attachment to "another employee named Otto, and . remarked -to- -Plush >on Saturday morning that ' she showed a marked preference, for the.latter. Plush' thereupon ordered him to leave the place." At' about 2.15 Bonello returned a jug Mrs. Plush had lent him, and turning towards the kitchen door,.fired ineffectually at Norma, who was sitting on a chair reading. T Mrs; Plush-and the child rushed into the kitchen, and Boheilo'." . after turning as if to go, pushed the door in, and, after a struggle with the mother, shot the. child, who was crouched in a corner. Bonello- h_3" been committedfor trial. ... ..--., ... ~', __

'>'.•-' A CASUAL PRISONER.;

About Christmas time a man was committed from Port,,Macquarie" to .the' •Kempsey Quarter Sessions ; on. a charge ■ of breaking into a shop and stealing-a coat and a pair of- trousers. The-Kemp-' sey Sessions do not sit till April, and the •man.was lodged in the-Kempsey lock-up . fox. avra.it _ his trial. On • January' he walked away, .but was easily.re-captured, 1 and -was then sent down' to: Sydney for ; ; trial on the original charge, and uipon a -. further <_arge of escaping; from custody. He pleaded guilty to hot- charges when > arraigned ibefore Judge Murray -at Dar- ■ linghurst Quarter Sessions last week, and 1 when brought up; for sentence, said he, was a fisherman, and being out- in the t -wet caught cold and got a. 'terrible i too—c_e."7 A dentist "nearly irp.ke 7 —te • jaw off him," and; he-went and got a drop i of ibrandy to _told'"__'-__ mouth.- "I . never intended, to swaller it, ...your '-, ■ ; Honor," he i "bat I ddd,~and..,when"l •woke • up in ' the morning I. foundvthis Jheie property alongside ime." As ±0' tie

charge p£ escardng_from gaol he said i_ looked upon "it as aTnatural thing to do. It was not very eomforta-ble in--gaol, and « he was worrj—ig Tabbut the long wait of' trial, and "suspec.e'd that" — he got ouit they would catch 'him again and send Mm to Sydney, as . they Jiad -done. Hi 3 Honor agreed that gaols were-not very comforta'ble;''ahd''that people; "as a rule, did like to leave"thi—HT'..'l-cannot look upon "present case as a very: grave offence," added .Ms 'Honor' 'Who sentenced the prisoner ;!te"~l4' : 'da_^'"_ard-lajb'oui on ' each charge, the sentences *o run concurrently. .',"__,."_ ".-.