ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES. [From December 6 to, January 6.]

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4180, 6 January 1871, Page 7

ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES. [From December 6 to, January 6.]

A sad accident) happened while the' 'Auckland' was at Russell taking in coal onDecemi ber3. Ayoungman named Edward Halcrows, the boatswain, fell from the rail of the steamer on to the kelson of the barge alongside, falling on his right temple, and receiving a fracttife so 'severe that, after lingering in great agony, he died from the effects of it at the Duke of Marlborough, about three o'clock .OH- -DdcdfiobeY 4. Deceased, is said to have left & wife in Sydney, to whom he had not long beeri married. On December 6, the mother of Mrs. Connor, on returning* to her house at Panmure, was , horrified to find that her daughter had been struck dead by lightning. Mrs. Connor, a young married woman about 21 years of age, j had been engaged in" preparing dinner, while her husband ' was at work outside. Sbe wa* fStind lying beside the fireplace, quite dead,' and black, while a portion of the chimney which had been struck by the lightning was violently driven outwards. The child, who was with his mother, escaped without injury, Mrs. Connor had only been married about two years, and was expecting to become the mother of a second child when she was so suddenly cut off. Thehouse of an industrious immigrant settler Mr. A . Lyon, of Kerikeri, was, on the 14th, burned to ihe ground. When the -accident happened, the whole of the family wag away fiota home, so that the furniture, bedding, and clothing were entirely destroyed, and the family left destitute. By the arrival of the schooner ' Sunbeam' from Whangaroa on December 18, we learn that a number of natives, 14 in all, left Whangaroa (which place they had, been visiting), with the intention of returning to their homes at the North Cape. When some three or four miles outside the heads, the boat capsized, and before assistance could reach them they were all drowned. On December 18 'intelligence was received of a boat accident, by which two Europeans are supposed to have met their death. It appears that the two men, who were sawyers, left Ngururu for Matapou, a short time back The boat has since been picked up near Ngururu, but nothing has, from the time of their starting, been heard of the two men,who it is feared have been, capsized, and ao met a watery grave. An inquest was held on December 21 at the Shortland Court-house, on the body of a man named John Moffatt, who died rather suddenly atPuriri on the same day. The deceased formerly occupied the position of colour-sergeant in the 99th and 40th Regi" ments, and had latterly been engaged gumdigging in the bush. A verdict of " Died from natural causes" was returned. Moffatt was about 58 years of age. On December 23 Sergeant Egan went up to Riverkead, to inquire into the circumstances attending the death of a gum-digger named Denis McManus. On arrival there he found ihatan inquest had been held that forenoon, at Riverhead Hotel, before Mr. Henry Richmond Sayce, J.P. A jury of fourteen was empanelled, and a considerable amount of evidence taken. The following verdict come to by the jury states concisely the particulars of the case : — "That the said Denis McManus on the night of the 21st day of December, 1870, being asleep in a whare near the dwelling known as ' Johnson's store ;' it so happening that, in consequence of a candle having been left burning after the said Denis McManus had retired to rest, the aforesaid. wliai'6 adttidfilitally, casually, and by misfortune, took fire, by means whereof and from the smoke of flamea arising from the said fire the said Denis McManus waa then suffocated and burnt, of which suffocation and burning tho said Denia MeManus tW instantly died ; and so the jurors aforesaid upon their oaths aforesaid do say that the said Denis McManus, in manner by the means aforesaid, accidentally, and by misfortune came to his death, and not otherwise." A Dane, named Wilson, met with a distressing accident at Kikowhakarere, on December 23. In working thecircular-saw his left hand came in contact with it. The front of (he hand was mutilated in a frighful manner. Messrs. Groth and Cowan skilfully dressed the injuries at Mr. Miehell's establishment, and the patient came up to the Auckland Hospital on December 24. The passengers on board the 'Challenger' liberally subscribed the sum of £4 Ba. for the unfortunate man, who expressed himself in very grateful terms at this spontaneous act of generosity. -We learn that on December 26, a man named Gilbert was drowned in the Waikato river. He was iv a canoe with some companions, and, losing Ms balance, fell into the water. The efforts made to recover the body were fruitless. Considering the great amount of traffic ■ on January 2 it is surprising that more accidents ' did not occur. The only accident on the racecourse was one which happened to the "black tiger" of the Duke of Edinburgh. The little fellow had come on, to the course , with Lord Charles Beresford, and while standing near a gateway close to the Grand Stand was kicked or rolled upon by a horae which took fright at a crowd of persons who had rushed to look at the boy. We believe he was not seriously injured. A correspondent send us the following :—: — " Saturday, December 17th, was one of the most boisterous days that we have lately experienced ; and though, at W hangar ei boat accidents are of very rare occurrence, especially considering the numerous fleet of small sailing boats continually scudding up and down our spacious river, on that day two oJ the largest of our sailing craft were unfortunately capsized. The first accident happened to a new centre-board yacht, owned by Mr. Peace,' of Parua Bay, and but lately arrived from Auckland. She was observed to be standing out of the bay about nine o'clock a.m., and about half an hour afterwards' returned; but before Bhe had reached her moorings, and when off Peach Point in Parua, a squall struck her abeam, and, the boat refusing to come to the wind, she .filled, and turned bottom upwards. There were three of Mr. Peace's sons in the boat at the time of the accident, one of whom swam ashore, the other two hanging to the bottom of the boat.' ' [Fortunately their perilous situation waa observed by Mr. Robert Black, a settler residing in the Bay, and he at once put out "in a boat to their assistance-and rescued them. : ' It appears that this accident is chiefly attributable to the main-sheet having' been made fast in such a manner that it waa found impossible ,to cast it adrift at the critical* moment^ and also to the ' fact of the boat nob having been sufficiently- ballasted. ■'The next accident happened 1 a little later in the day, near the hoad of the river,, ,at the bottom of tho Shorjt UcacH, 'and about a mile and a half iTotoitSie^Dwns'hip." A large "boat ponging ,to a native chief named Kamira, an<x trading between^ tK« j Patkia 'river' kiid Whangarei, was coming down y the river^freighted with waipir6' and other ChrisfcpiM delicacies, which the natives had just -procured from, the township. ' A native' tolled Graham was steering the boat, and,' being ' Bacchi plen.ua,' •was not to be indneed'to talc© V reef In, though, cautjpne'd and'*dviseft'to So so/by the other* The consequence was that, as aooa as the' boat got 'clea^of , t tha mangroves, t which' afford "great "shelter" in the narrow reaches of this river, the wiud*gstting,a oleaa sweep! at her fairly lovettuTttP^her'' seeing Maoris, waipii*dj«,nd >*U thl 4 &irjf*fema9 s 'commoditiesto"the hdttouiiiiaa^instijit ° This boat.w^rißo^^^^^ the occupittra ' were 'deeply ; filled. - Nearly the wM*'|&sw (Mwaiabitt!b!ii«ti^U^el! were Mp?« pened tof^^^kWS&f l^ WWJX fef?

a T Nothing is known of the fat© of the^ two men . who embarked in her, but the boat was 1 found bottom upwards, and it is ( expected f that they both have met with watery 3 grave. One of them was a pakena-Maori, 1 commoaly known by the soubriquet, of 'Jack a Smith' or 4 Maori Jtwk, ' " 2 ' ' - II IF mm i