AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 70, 23 March 1910, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

C-TTt.T. CEUIdJLIiY TREATED.

At the Bimyip (Victoria) Court, an Tona farmer, George Xieklen, "was, on Wednesday last, charged ■with inflicting ' frrievous bodily harm on Elizabeth Bid■well (15), his niece. Evidence -was given i by two neighbours that 2\kklen was in i the habit of beating the girl nnmerci- . I fully, and the case had been brought '. J under the notice of the Society for the • I Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Dr. . Withington said the girl was covered . -with welts and bruises. She had ap- . parpntly bppn subjected to a severe i handling;. Lizzie Bidwell, the <rirl in <rup=ti«n. said her uncle. Nicklen, had . I chained her to a bed for days at a i ! time, and on one occasion threatened to , j hanjr her with a rope. He had given her a thrashing with a gTeenhide whip. She ■ was compelled to run a-way to Mrs. I Guilds place, and that lady took her •! to the doctor. Kicklen denied givra!, ' |' the girl rrrore than she deserved. He | : I -was fined £ 10. with. £5 5/- costs, or , three months in gaol. j A£RO?IrANXr?G IH AUSTRALIA. j The monopla.ne lately imported to ; I Adelaide by Mr. T. H. Jones, was badly ■ damaged last Wednesday while ma--1 noeuvring in a paddock at Bolivar. It : ' had bepn arransed to carry ont a 1 ■ series of trial flights, and Mr. Jones and ' Mr. F. C. distance removed the mono- ' piano from its shed. After trying the ' i rno-ine. and finding it worked satisfac- '.: torily, Mr. distance made the first at- - 1! tempt to raise the airship from the ! ground. Previously, by small runs. he I had obtained a knowledge of working \ the monoplane. After covering about i 'j 18 yards, the machine rose 12ft. in the; ! air. and at this heicht madp a treble j ] rrrcnit of the paddock, a total distance j j of about three nilps, in sm. -25sec. This. j it may be remarked. created several records. It was the- first airship flight in I South Australia, and the first monoplane ! flight in Australasia, and the Australa- ; sin-n duration record. After successfully ; completing his course, the aviator I bronsrbt the machine to its startinjrj place. and refilled the petrol tank with j a view to attempting a ffisjht at a! J greater height. In this second attempt i J the machine came to grief. A start I j was made at (5.15 a.m., and the machine , rose to a height of 50ft.. when it was! ! lot ont at full speed. Unfortunately, | : the aviator made a mistake in manipu- ■ ; latin,? the elev-atrnjr lever, with the rt~! ! suit that the airship descended head! I forerro?t at a great pare. The heavy i impact with th» ground twisted the i light undercarriage, and splintered the propeller into hundreds of pieces. The occupant was uninjured beyond several \ braises to the face and body. BARQXTB JOT A HTJRaiCAIEE. Three sailers arrived in Sydney from across the Pacific test Thursday, and ! were all off the Heads together. They i were the baTque Pharos, from Antofai gasta, the barque Max from Hastings ; Mills, and the barque Dagmar from Va!- ---] paraiso. The Pharos made a long pas- : sage of 96 days., and had some exciting experiences. She fought her way through terrible weather most of the time, and J although she came through the ordeal practically unscathed, she was on two ] occasions in a precarious condition. She was in the vicinity of the Cook Group about six weeks ago, when a hurricane, " burst upon her. and before much could be done to shorten sail, a good deal of j her canvas was blown into ribbons, and j only the roping was left attached to the j spars- Mountainous seas were soon J charging down upon the barque, and she j was thrown on her beam-ends. The balJ last shifted, and: added to the danger i of the situation. After a few hours there j came a lull, and thn, without any j warning, the blow chopped round, and j blew with terrific force from another I quarter. The Pharos was in the centre of the storm, and fared very badly for 24 hoars. Then, as she got "beyond the grip of the hurricane, the ballast was retrimmed, and she made fair way until reaching the Australian coast, where very heavy south and south-east gales , -raged almost incessantly for a whole j fortnight Again the ballast shifted, and the 'barque -wallowed in the big seaway at a. nasty angle. She stood the Jong and. savage assault of wind and sea.-'welL however, and suffered no material dataage. Captain Tonkin reports titat bis I crew were fortunate enough -to all escape injury, but a. lot of canvas will have to !be replaced. TH v. LAST PEHAITY. John Ito-blns paid the last penalty of the law at the Adelaide gaol last Tiaraday for having murdered Robert Owrtsworih, whose throat he cut in Moontastreet in the early hours of December 24. None ■but the officials of the gaoi were allowed at the final scene. They state that Eobins was calm and steady, and thai death was instantaneous. Robins received spiritual comfort from the Rev. J. Pearee. who yesterday administered the communion to him. Robins was most attentive to Mi. Pearce's teaching, and professed the utmost contrition. He handed to Mr. Pearce, for tne governor of the gaol, on the Tuesday night, the following confession:— confess to doing the deed. It •was the drink. Nothing concerning my wife. Believe tins to be —-Yours faithfully, John Robins." The condemned man also -wrote a letter to the governor of the gaol, thanking him and his staff for their kindness ■to him during his incarceration. WORKMAN'S WrSTDFAIX. A recent arrival in Lithgow, Donald A. Marshall, met with a stroke of good fortune last week such as does not often cross the path of the working man. Through the Perpetual Trustee Company, oi Sydney, acting under a power of attorney for a Glasgow firm, solicitors at Litbgow received a letter indicating that he was the principal beneficiary under the will of his uncle, the senior member of the firm of Marshall. Stewart and Son, engineers and shipbuilders, of the Clyde River, Glasgow, Scotland. The deceased left real and personal estate valued at about £40,000, in addition to his interest in. the shipbuilding busness and shares and stocks in some West Australian gold mines. He was unmarried, and bequeathed his property to Marshall and Ms sister, -who resides in Sydney. D. A. Marshall formerly resided in Glasgow, but about 16 years since he came to New South Wales, and, with the exception of the', time taken in twq , trips to his native land, in the interval he has been employed as an engineer's fitter, and in other manual occupations in Sydney and Newcastle, A good part of the time was put in at Mort's Dock and Engineering "Works.. Hβ came to Lithgow a little over a "Week■ -.jraewnyftj, ■j^.lfa^n^^iiTijjjjfoji

meni at the ironworks. Marshall proposes to invest a considerable portion of his new-found wealth, in tbe purchase of a station property near Coonamble. It will be necessary for Marshall to return to Scotland in order to deal personally with matters connected with the estate. Afterwards he will probably return to New South Wales.