ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES. [From August 1 to August 31.]

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2840, 1 September 1866, Page 5

ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES. [ From August 1 to August 31.]

A MAN named William Hearndon has been apprehended, and brought before the Resident Magistrate, on a charge of stealing £280 from Captain Austin, of the brig ' Reliance,' now lying in the harbour of Kaipara, Auckland. Hearndon has been committed for trial. On the morning of Sunday, August 5, a fire occurred at Onehunga, by which eight dwellings were consumed. On the morning of Auguit 6, the saw-mill of Mr. Marshall, Queen-street, Auckland, was burned. Three houses were burned inParnell on the morning of August 7. On the sth instant, the residence and farm building! of the Rev. Mr. Edger, at Port Albert, were burned, during the absence of the family at ohurob. Mr. Edger's loss will be considerable, and great sympathy is felt for him in Auckland. We mentioned in our nummary that a man had been drowned in the harbour, on the night of the 21st July. The body has since been found, and identified as that of Daniel Russell, a private in the 2nd Battalion 14th Regiment. A man named James Pearn was severely injured in August 6th, by the breaking of a orane used to lift atones for a building in course of erection in Queen-street. A ratker exciting chase and capture of a thief took place in the harbour •& the 21st August. Two Maoris had gone into the shop of Mr. Isaac Phillips, Queenstreet, iv the forenoon, with reference to a watch which had been left for repair. They sat down in the shop, and, while there, Mr. Phillips took a diamond ring, worth £10, off his finger, and laid it down while he washed his hands. Immediately on the Maoris going away, Mr. Phillips missed the ring, and pursued them down to the wharf. By this time the natives bad got into their boat, and were sailing quickly down the harbour. Mr. Phillips and constable A. Clarke got into a waterman's boat, taking a native with them who said he had see the ring. The Maoris were overhauled beyond the Bastion, and the ring found concealed in the boat. The two natives, whe are named Keremeneta and Haora, were given into custody on the charge of stealing the riug. On being brought before the Resident Magistrate, the charge against Haora was withdrawn ; Keremeneta pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. Ou August 11, a man, named William Page, a bushman, fell dead in the shop of Mr. Watts, chemist, Onehunga. The coroner's jury returned a verdict that the deceased die 1 of apoplexy. A melancholy accident occurred in the Manukau harbour on the afternoon of Monday, August 13, by which ten persons were drowned. Tha ferry-boat running betwe&n Awbitu and Onehunga left the former place with twelve persons on board, at eleven o'clock on Monday, and was upset about two o'clock. Two persons were saved — >homas Reed, a lad, who •sflinte.t in managing the boat, and Mr. Spauldiug, of Onehunga. On board the boat was the corpse of George Webtfall, a bushman, who had died suddenly at Awhitu. The remans were being brought up to Onehunga for interment, and ware accompanied by deceased's wife and family, consisting of three children, deceased wife's sister (Mrs. Reynolds), her husband, aud one child. The other passengers were — Mr. Spauldiog, grocer and draper, Ouehuuga ; Mr. Lucas, carpenter, of Parnell ; and Mr. Murphy, buthmau, of Onehunga. Henry Mitchell, the boatman, was drowned. Mrs. Weatfall aud her three children had crept inte the small cabin of the vessel, and their bodies were recovered with the vessel. The coroner's jury, in their verdict, stated that the boat was unfit for the service, and that Henry Mitchell, the ferryman, was not a proper person to have the license, having the use of only one hand. The Waikato steamer 'Pioneer,' while descending the river at the narrows near Hamilton, on the Waikato, struck, and made so much water afterwards that she foundered. She has not yet been got afloat. A discharged soldier of the 65th Regiment, named Patrick Cunningham, was found dead partially immersed in a stream near Wangarei, on August 10. He had gone to the stream for water, and had apparently fallen forward in a fit. A soldier of the 12th Regiment, whose name we have not learned, was drowned at Tauranga on the 14th August, by the upsetting of a boat in the harbour. A man named James Bryan died suddenly at Howick on the 15th ultimo. A sad accident occurred at Mangawai breakwater on the morning of the 13th August, whereby three men, named Lawrence MeWatt, Alexander Duncan, and William Craig, were killed. The deceased were at work in the quarry, when an immense man of stone fell upon them and killed them instantaneously. A fire occurred in Hobson-street on the night of the 20th August, by which two hotels and the dwelling-bout* of Dr. Cowan were destroyed. Most of the property was insured. An inquest was held, but it was not discovered how the fire had originated. The homestead of Mr. J. Holman, Wangarei, was totally destroyed by fire on the 19th August. The premises were not insured. A fire broke out in the premises of Messrs. Niccol, shipchandlers, or in the saiMoft of Mr. Malcolm, on the evening of the 28th August, totally destroying the Wairetnata Hotel ; the premises of Mr. Messenger, butcher ; Mr. Moore, wine aud spirit merchant ; Messrs. Niccol and Sons, ship chandlers; offices of the Panama St«am Navigation Compauy ; the store of Messrs. J. and D. Comrie ,* aud the offices of Messrs. Butt and Anderson. The buildings themselves were of very little value, but the stocks were some caies very valuable. The buildings were all of wood, and the fire was only stoppel by brick stores at both ends. The materials consumed being mostly of) a highly inflammable nature, the flame and heat from the fire were excessive. Several times the warehouses on the opposite side of the street caught fire, but wtre each time extinguished by the members of the Auckland Fire Brigade. The total damage done by the fire is roughly estimated at £20,000. The insurances amount to about half that sum. Mrs. Edmund Stratford committed suicide by drowning herself in the Waitemata, on the morning of August 26. Mrs. Stratford had been confined about three weeks before, aud had become affected with puerperal mania. When the nurse fell asleep. Mrs. Stiatford rose from bed, went out to the river, and had apparently laid henislf down in the shallow water, where shortly after she was found dead. A man named Charles Phillips, formerly in the 58th Regiment, fell down in the Karangahape Road on the evening of Sunday, A ugust 26, and died in a few minutes after. A post mortem examination showed that the cause of death was heart disease. John Campbell, a surveyor, fell down while standing at the bar of the hotel wlitre be was residing on August 27. and died shortly after. It was found that serous apoplexy was the cause of death. On the Bth of August, ayonng man named Charles Edward Stuart, a sou of the Rev. David Stuart, of Dublin, was drowned in the river Waikato, by falling out of a canoe. A boatman, named William Johns, was drowned in the haibour on the 28ch of August, by falling from the deck of the cutter on board of which he was employed.