O'FARRELL'S SUPPOSED ACCOMPLICE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 936, 21 April 1868, Page 3

O'FARRELL'S SUPPOSED ACCOMPLICE.

Moses Cai-son, alias Charles Stewart, charged with being an accessory to the attack made by O'Farrell on Prince Alfred, was bi'oiight up on remand before the Eaglehawk Bench on the Ist. It appeared that the prisoner had frequently avowed himself a Fenian, and had stated that the Prince would never leave Sydney, but would be detained as a hostage by the Fenians there. The story he repeated, with some slight variation, to several persons ; but the evidence of one will show the nature of the statements made by him : — James Barnes, miner, residing at' Myerstown, deposed : I have known the prisoner for two years ; he was a mate of mine. I had a conversation with prisoner about the Duke of Edinburgh in November last. I kept a boarding house at the time, and prisoner was one of the boarders. We also had a conversation about Fenianism, and prisoner said he was a Fenian. He said he believed in the Fenian cause, and that he did not believe the Prince would leave Australia ; and in answer to a question from mo as to what ho meant by that, he said " that he (the Prince) would visit the different colonies first, and a bet was made with Charles Trent in November last that the Prince would never leave Sydney, that he would be kept as a hostage by the Fenians in Sydney for the taking of the prisoners in Ireland." Prisoner went by the name of Charles Stewart ; but he gave me an order eighteen months ago for the post-office at Dunolly in the name of Moses Carson. We were living in Dunolly then-. """I heard him say that he was once a" writer for the Nation newspaper. I have also heard prisoner say that he had been in America. To the prisoner : You said you advocated the Fenian cause. I believe, but would not swear positively, you used the expression that the Prince would not leave Sydney alive. You stated that your father lived at Bambridge, in Ireland, and was a linen manufacturer. You did make a remark that you once wrote some poetry for the Nation newspaper. I recollect being at Dunolly in 1866, asking for letters. You stated then that you changed' your name to Charles Stewart because you did not wish your friends to know you were bullock-driving. It is next to impossible that you could hnvc held a correspondence with any organisation since I knew you in 1866 without my knowledge. To the Bench : Prisoner's habits are sometimes very irregular. He would be steady for a long time, and then he would get drunk. He held the same sentiments when he was sober as when he was drunk. I believe pi'isoner to have been sober when he made the remark that the Prince would not leave Sydney. Prisoner professed to be a Presbyterian. To Mr. Chomlejr : I once found an envelope" in the prisoner's tent atPnnolly, directed to Charles Stewart, which I knew nothing of before. The contributions to the Nation, judging from the following doggerel found in the prisoner's hut, must have been very poor stuff: — Then I'll go t.o ray native land, And join tlin Fi-iiians heart and hand; Pipeclay and surface thon be davnn'd, And the diggings of old Dunolly. The prisoner was remanded till 6th inst.

The Patent Slip.— On Thursday morning the Patent Slip deeds were executed at the office of J. Or. Allan, Esq., barrister-at-law. By these deeds the Messrs. JCeiinard release the province from all claims, and a new contract is entered into with Mr. .Edward Owen, of Messrs. Owen, Smart, and Co., to construct the Slip. — Independent, April 11. Southland. — The Southland papers report that, for several days past, there was experienced in tha.t province a continuance of heavy rains, which had filled every watercourse and drain to overflowing. The soil every where was thoroughly saturated. Tnland communication was temporarily checked by the swollen rivers, and the operations of harvest had been for the time suspended. Nelson Backs. — The Nelson Examiner says : — " Now that intelligence of v. definite character has been received that the Duke of Edinburgh will not visit New Zealand, the arrangements for the Nelson races will be made forthwith, and we have authority for saying that the programme will appear on Thursday next. As it will be more convenient to hold the meeting a week later than was spoken of, the time now fixed upon is the 28th and 29th inst."

N.Z.S.N. Company. ■ — In pursuance with an advertisement, signed E. Owen and <T. Martin, published in Thursday's Post, a preliminary meeting of shareholders in Ihe above company was hold in the Athenaeum yesterday, in order to consider the report of the directors, and also to arrive at some conclusive resolution as to the future operations of the Company. Mr. C. U. Carter having been unanimously voted to the chair, it was, after somo discussion, resolved "That in the opinion of this meeting it is expedient that the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company should bo wound up, owiug to the difficult position in which it is now placed, and the very remote probability of its being able to pay a dividend. — Independent, April 18.

Titk Wellington llaces. — The annual Wellington races will tako place on the Hutt course on Wednesday and Thursday next, the 22nd and 23rd instant, and are expected to be a great success., the entries being very numerous, and the prizes well worth the winning. All the horses entered for the different events have arrived, and each day, at eai'ly morn, the course is put into requisition for their final gallops. Many of the nags are old friends, but there are one or two " dark horses " which puzzle the book-makers not a little, and cause considerable excitement in the betting market. Much interest also attaches to the forthcoming race meeting, from the fact of several" Auckland and Napier horses being entered. Should the weather be fine on the day of the races, there will be an unusually large gathering on the course, a large demand for traps and hacks having already commenced. 'Vehicles of every sort and description, and hacks, the fat: and the lean, the spavined, the halt, and the blind, are being eagerly sought after, everyone seeming^ desirous to drown the disappointment of not seeing the Prince in the happiness of a two days' holiday.— -Independent, April 18.