AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 10212, 14 January 1897, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

—= —■ —i . i Margaret Beynon oommitted sttJpide at! Maldon, Victoria, some time during the afternoon of New \earfa fjjay jay shooting herself. She had evidently placed the > muzzle of the gun in her mouth. No shot had been put in the gun, bu.t the position in which it was exploded waa sufficient to cause death by laceration of the bloodvessels and shock to the system. Miss Beynon, who was about thirty years.of age, was housekeeper to her brothers, who drove to • Castlemaine on,. New Year's Day, but were unable to lake their sister, although she expressed a wish.to go, and it was suggested she should follow by rail, a suggestion with whiok she was apparently satisfied.

Margaret Scott, a well ; dressed young gnl, was presented at the Williamstown Police Court. The g!rl was subject to fits, and some time ago was under the treatment of Dr Shields at the Melbourne Gaol. The doctor had sii.ca written a memorandum to the effect that the case could be cured by an operation. Arrangements were made for carrying out Dr Shield's recommendation, but "the medical officer at .the Melbourne Hospital differed from Dr Shield's opinion. The Abbotsford Convent was next tried, but on account of her ailment she would, nob -be admitted. Good situations had been lost in consequence of her employers being frightened, as after an attack of the fit she was looked upoa as dangerous. Her two sisters would not take charge of her, and the result was that she was cast adrift, and only Recently was found by the Newport police wandering about in an aimless way. The Bench very reluctantly sentenced her to two mouths' imprisonment. The price quoted by G. and C. Hoskins for the manufacture in New South Wales from local products of 150,000 tons of steel rail?, fish plates, etc., is £7 14s per ton for rails and £9 43 for the other materials. The last Government contract for steel rails was at the rate of £5 f.o.b. in England, and when freight and cost of inspection are added the total coßt of rails landed in Sydney was £5 153, per ton. It is understood, however, that the price of steel rails has increased since that contract was accepted. • Walter Everett, a GeeloDg butcher, was crossing the railway line at Cowie's Creek in his cart, when a goods train from Melbourne dashed into the vehicle, burling the unfortunate youth several yards, but clear of the line,. Tho horse was killed instantan oily, and the cart was 'smashed to cplintera. Everett was found to be suffering from a severe scalp wound and several contusions but otherwise his injuries were not serious.

The nineteen-month-old daughter of T. Busst, the well-known cyclist, while on a visit to Bendigo last week, pulled a teapot of scolding hot tea off a table and was fearfully scalded. The child died next morning. A young man named Arthur Ernest Thomsoh, while diving iu the. Fig Tree Baths at Sydney in shallow water, struck hfs head with great force, and received a severe wound. Both his leg* were paralysed and his spine injured, aud he died two days later. Evidence showed that death was Ciused by fracture of the nock.