AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1750, 14 March 1874, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

The Pastoral Times reports that a squatter on the Castlereagh River went to Glen Innes to visit his brother, whom he had not seen for thirty- five yeare. He died on his journey, having passed his brother on the .road without,recognising 7 him. . 'The "boarding^out" system is succeeding admirably in South Australia, and there is one good feature connected with: it deserving of, special notice. Out of 43 children placed out during the last; half year no fewer than 36 were taken for adoption who cease to be a charge, to the country. . ..,.;"';" It is seriously proposed to establish a volunteer force in Deniliquin for the purpose of putting down larrikinism, as the nuisance ha 3 become almost intolerable. On Friday last John Lorden was again" brought up on remand at , the Wagga Wagga police court, on a charge of: complicity in the Pohlmann murder. He was further remanded to the 6th inst. The Gornivall UlironieU writes : — ".A rumor has reached us from such a variety, of sources that, horrible as its nature is," we fear there must" be some truth , in it. It is alleged that some of the sugar seized for railway rate has been deliberately poisoned ; that the bags were opened, the sugar mixed with arsenic, and the bags carefully sewn up again and left ready for the bailiffs to seize." The Ballarat Courier remarks that they do strange things at Buninyong sometimes. Last week the deputy-registrar of the "ancient village" registered his own death in due form. When the coffin, reached the cemetery, and the usual document, bearing the well-known signature of the deceased, was presented to the sexton, that officer despatched ■ a messenger to make inquiries at the registrar's office, where, fortunately, the registrar was discovered still in the flesh. r The South Australicin Register states that " the body of Mr J. L. Stapleton, late telegraph station-master at Barrow's Creek, who was speared on Sunday night, February 22, and who died from the effects of the wounds he received, was buried on Tuesday morning, : February 24 : ;: and.that. that whilst the burial wa^ taking place, the natives were watching the j building." A determined case of suicide is reported bythe Sydney Empire: A woman named Howard broke open a cupboard to get at some arsenic her husband kept there, and took enough to poison herself. When she: was pressed to take some hot water and mustard as an emetic by her daughters, she said she.wquld not take it for all the doctors in Sydney. At an inquest held, the jury returned a verdict that she had feloniously and wilfully killed herself by taking poison. : In answer to a question in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, the Minister for Lands stated that a gentleman named Mr Galbraith had called upon him and informed him that the watch, Leichardt took away with him was a large silver hunting watch, rather old fashioned, and that it had got out of order somewhere during his (Leichardt's) travels, and a gentleman named Thompson repaired it. This description of the watch does not at all agree with the description given by Hume of the watch he alleges was given to him by Classen, and afterwards stolen from his bag. The Kyneton Observer states that a fatal accident occurred in the Glengonner mine, Lauriston, to a miner named William Canning. The deceased was in the shaft when a bucket fell upon him, causing, according to Dr Langford's evidence at the inquest held the same day, probable rupture of some internal organ and consequent hcamorrhasfe. The deceased was conveyed to the Kyneton Hospital, but died before reaching that institution. The danger of boys playing with dynamite caps was exemplified, states the M. A. Mail, by a young .fellow named j Edward Chamberlain, nearly losing the, Bribers of . hh left hand through one. While at work on the surface at the North Caledonia mine he picked up one of these caps, and under the impression that it was an old one, began to scrape out the top with a pin; when it suddenly exploded. The effect was . a severe laceration of two of his fore fingers and thumb, Mr Candler held an inquest on the 3rd irist, at Sunbury, on the body of David • Lloyd, aged ninety years. Deceased was keeping a hut for a shepherd_ named Waring, on Mr W. J. Clarke's "estate, Sunbury. On Friday morning, the 27th ult., Waring left the hut at sunrise, and at ten o'clock saw smoke rising in the direction of the hut. He walked back, and coming in sight of it, saw that it was on fire. He ran up to the hut, and found the furniture outside, but could not see the deceased. After the , fire had; burnt ! itself out the remains of the deceased were discovered among the debris. The head, arms, and legs had been burnt off. Deceased was a cripple and in good health. From the removal of the furniture outside, it is supposed that he had entered the dwelling for the purpose of removing the, remaining articles of, furniture, a.ndy being a cripple, had stumbled and was burnt. A verdict of accidentally burnt to death was returned. . , At the Melbourne Fire Brigade station, • a respirator was tried by Mr Joseph Sullivan, the patentee. Mr Sullivan has for some time past been devising' a means whereby firemen and others could enter 1 smoke without being suffocated. At;the outbreak of a large fire, especially on ship board, the chief difficulty to coriteridwith; is the smoke, which prevents the ingress of the firemen to find out the seat of the fire. Could this fact be ascertained many, of the large conflagrations which have occurred in the city would have been prevented, as the Van Yean could have at once been directed to that portion of the t'le building ; where the fire was raging. The invention is a mask covered with flannel, which is placed over the mouth and nostrils ; and when this is saturated with Mr Sullivan's chemical solution the wearer is. able to remain in any smoke no matter how dense. Inside the mask the wearer is provided with . a pair 'of tightly-fitting protectors for the eyes. A' quantity of damp straw waj J ignited \n a' small room, and an intense smoke was produced.' Superintendent Hoad then directed several of : his. men to' enter tho smoke, and the door was closed. Each man remaiued in the "smoke for at least five minutesj 'arid breathed without the slightest , difficulty : and Superintendent Hoad pronounced the trial eminently siic3essful, and stated that it would' prove a ] very valuable discovery. f The! coroner's inquiry into the: qircum- J stances which led to the death of Mr Maxwell Reynolds, of ,the firm,. of -Messrs'

Reynolds and English, was concluded ; the Melbourne Hospital, before Dr You, when a verdict of wilful murder was rt turned against Augustus Ruperti Greer, At the inquest, the coroner, Dr Youl laid particular emphasis on the fact that all the materials of which the box was made were to ,_ke about"the office of Mr R^ynoiSs/and also.; that( -spme loose cartridges, of-dynamite found on the premises did not contain thr necessary .amount ;of;ni^-gly^grjpe. D^ was shown in evidence that some of thf* powder had;b'ee: A;: stored in the stable V the carter, and that it had remained theß for weeks during the. wet season of tie year, and it was suggested that the acrid of the wet on the powder would rob tb dynamite of its proper quantity of nitriglycerihe, and packages of these forwardd for chemical analysis would of course nit contain their proper component, part. Nothing transpired at the inquiry to ahoy that any ill-feeling had existed between Mr Reynolds arid Green; aAd:the' corontr in his, summing up hinted at Green as tie perpetrator: through!' feeliqg3"of revenje from probable loss of employrn^nt, thronjh the 'deceased giving up the, £ale of dymmite. One of the jury advanced as Hs reason for bringing in the verdict of wilfil murder that it would give Green an opportunity rof clearing, his" character at tie Supreme Court. ; i- :: ■•.;•.'..-. . (Forremaind9r of Ncw^see Wipage.)