NEW SOUTH WALES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1265, 19 July 1864, Page 2

NEW SOUTH WALES.

We have our files from New South Wales to (ha 94th ult. Accounts continue to be received of the disasters caused by the floods. The Wilberforce correspondent of the S. M. Herald says: '• On Sunday last, upwards of thirty stacks—many of them very large—were seen floating down the stream over the Pitt town lagoon, and the water was strewn in every direction with loose trusses of hay and straw, on many of which dogs, cats, and poultry had found a temporary refuge. Horses, caUh, and a great number of pigs were drowned. An incredible quantity of furniture, bedsteads, bedding, chairs, tables, sideboards, couches, pictures, and kitchen utensils were carried down the river." Arrangements were being made to hold a large meeting for the relief of the distress in the agricultural districts at which his Excellency the Governor was expected to preside. . The devastation caused by the late floods in New South Wales appears to be much greater than was at first anticipated. Numbers of families who were formerly in prosperous circumstances have been reduced to the most abject poverty, and, in many instances, the greatest distress prevails. Meetings have been held in several districts for the purpose of raising funds for the relief of the suflerers, and, on the 27th June, a very large and influential one was held, at the Masonic Hall, Sydney, at which nearly all the leading men of the city were present. The chair was taken by his worship the mayor, and resolutions were unanimously agreed to pledging the meeting to do all that lay in its power to alleviate the distress which existed, and a committee was appointed to carry the resolutions into effect. Up to that time the total amount collected by the central committee was £1.505, but other sums had been promised to the extent of several hundred pounds. Keferring to the telegraph department of New I South Wales and Victoria, the S, M. Herald says : " it j« not only in the annual profits that our telegraphs compare advantageously whose of Victoria, there is a similar difference in the capital account. We have somewhere about .3000 miles of wire, and our invested capital is lens than £1-20,000. Victoria has about the same length of wire, but its invested capital is £222,846. This is an immense difference and shows that their lines have cost, 011 the average, very nearly double what ours have coat. We are not uwaro that there is any superior solidity to compensate for this very great difference. It has been owing, probably, to the higher cost of wages and material in Victoria. Comparing the two accounts, it is'clear that Victoria must make nearly twice as much profit as we do to pay the same interest on the invested capital; but, instead of doing this, its liucs are less profitable than ours. This consideration, if not very comforting to our friends across the border, is certainly consolatory to us and shows thiit there are at least some of our public works which have not been costly blunders." MORGAN'S MUItDEB OF M'OINNEUTY. The following account of the murder of Sergeant M'Ginnerty by Morgan we take from the Ovens and Murray Advei tiner. It will be observed that it is somewhat different to the reports previously received:—"On Friday, Sergeant M'Ghmerty and Trooper Churchley, returning to Tumberuriiba, near Copaballa, overtook Morgan on the road. Not suspecting him to be in the district, Sergeant M'Ginnerty cantered up alongside of him, when Morgan said 'You are one of those wretches looking for bushrangers,' and he at the same time pulled out his revolver and shot the sergeant in the breast. The wounded man, placing his hand ,on his heart, fell on the horse's neck, the horse trotting into the bush. Churchley says he tried to follow the sergeant, but his horse refused. He then rode into Tumberumba. In the meantime it is supposed that Morgan followed M'GinniTty, as lie had bfifin

brought back and his body placed closo to the road, with hU lint in the middle of it, to attract attention. Morgan took the sergeant's horse, ritle and revolver, lie then proceeded toward* Titmberumba. where he met O'l vra, a publican, and took his horse also, but abandoi .-d it at about a quarter of a mile. M'Ginnerty's l 'ody was found on Saturday. An inquiry concerning "the conduct of Churehley is going on."

TUB HOI'Ml) HIM, MUUDF.K. This outrago of Morgan, the bushranger, bus | formed he subject of magisterial inquiry, which has b 'on ad ottrncd from time to time. The investigation wh.s at length brought to a close on Tuesday last. The evidence taken on this latter occasion possessed mldilioriul interest to lhat connected with the details already given. The enquiry was conducted before Captain Brownrigg, P.M., and A. Ileriot, Esq., J.P. Samuel Watson deposed as follows: —1 am superintendent of Round Hill Station, knew the deceased. Ou Sinn lav, the HUlt instant, about half-past two o'clock in'lhe afternoon, a man stuck up the station. Deceased was there. After remaining there about two hours, the man commenced to fire in among us. There were eleven of us, some inside and some outside a little shed where he had driven us. I was shot at that time through the right hand. He did not appear to aim at me, or at any one. He fired right and left indiscriminately. Mr. John Heriot was shot through the leg. No one else was shot at that time. Four hours after saw deceased in a wounded state. Was in my bedroom, when the person who shot me came in and said, " You had better come out and see the dying man." I went out and saw the deceased lying in a bed in the same room as Heriot. Asked deceased, in the man's presence, how he was. lie said, " I am full of pain." I staid a few minutes, and then returned to my own room. Next morning, about half-past eight o'clock, asked deceased how he was shot. He said, " I was shot on my way to Walla Walla for the doctor, about a mile and a half from the station, by Morgan. We had ridden on the road for some distance together, when he said, " You are going to give information," and shot me. I tumbled off my horse. He rode away and left me, but shortly returned, and gave me some brandy. Lifted me on my horse, and brought'nie home. That was all he said to me. He told me this previous to Dr. Stitt's coming, but he made no allusion to his state. I have omitted to sav that deceased said, " I asked Morgan if I might go "for the doctor." lie replied, " Yes, I am going that way myself," and we went together. I never saw the person who shot me before. He is a dark man, with very black beard and moustache, about five feet ten inches in height, well made, a prominent nose, and a very slow and deliberate manner of speaking. From this I conclude it was Morgan, and we all called him Morgan. He said to me, " I suppose Johnston was rather surprised when I dropped on hiiu." I said I supposed so. Knew there was something peculiar about the stirrnp irons he took from Johnston, and said as he was mounting, "These are the irons you took from Johnston." While in the act of mounting, one barrel of his revolvers went off, apparently accidentally. He immediately called out, " You wretches, you have fired at me," and at once shot right and left. This was about four p.m. Saw Mr. M'Lerie that night) but don't know if the police went out that night. About half-past seven o'clock next morning heard shots fired to the northeast. The shots appeared very near. About half-past one, the police returned with a brandyflask and a cap-box, but I did not see them. I am not aware of any dying declaration having been made. The body was removed by orders of the police, not by anything I said. I saw no one supposed to be an accomplice. I believe from all I have heard that he was single-handed. The dark man mentioned went away for the police, who went in search of Morgan. Morgan after shooting M'Lean, had stuck this coloured man up and took his horse from him. John M'Neil. on oath, said: lam overseer at the Round Hill station. I knew the deceased. On Sunday week I was on the station when it was stuck up. Was present and in the shed when the man supposed to be Morgan fired among us; deceased was not struck then. I ran through the kitchen into ! the stockyard. After dark I got a horse and went to Mr. Heriot's. I returned about midnight with s Sergeant Parry and three constables. Saw nothing of the man who stuck up the station. Went to see M'Lean; he and Mr. Heriot were in the same room, Deceased said, "Oh ! I tun done." Mr. M'Lerie was then in the room. I asked deceased how he w«3 wounded. He said, "I was going for the doctor, j Morgan rode with me. He said nothing to me, but I all at once, when about a mile and a half down, he said, ' You are going to give information to the police, you b wretch,' and shot me in the side. | He told me this before he saw Dr. Stitt, and repeated the same afterwards when he knew he was in a I d.yin"' state. He several times said, " Oh! Morgan, I Morgan, why did you do this." On Monday morning I saw some of the police after they returned The man had a red flask with him that I would know again. I believe the police have it. I saw no accomplice of Morgan's at all. I call him Morgan because he answered the description. I never saw him before. The Bench declared it to be their opinion that deceased met his death from a gunshot wound inflicted by Morgan, and directed a warrant for murder to be issued for his apprehension. Morgan Again. — Last Wednesday's Bathurst Times says "It was rumoured yesterday that information had been received that the wretch Morgan has added another atrocity to the long list of crimes which has rendered'him so infamous. He is said to have met a woman riding through the bush, and on demanding money from her which she was unable to give compelled her to dismount, and tying her to a tree stripped off her clothes, in order to search them more effectually. He had scarcely time to examine the garments when he was disturbed by the noise of a party approaching. Gathering the clothes in a heap, he set them on fire, and, jumping hastily on his horse, galloped away, leaving his poor defenceless victim literally naked. The poor woman's screams attracted the attention of the party, who proved to be three stockmen driving horses through the bush, and on coming up, they set her at liberty, and divested themselves of portions of their own clothing to enable her to resume her journey." The following is the description of the notorious Morgan, the bushranger, from the Hue and Cry of the Svdney Police Gazette " Daniel Morgan, age 35 height five feet ten inches, long black hair, long beard, with a brown tinge at the points; long straight nose very sharp ; sallow complexion, with brown spots like freckles. In figure, he appears and walks very loose jointed, and seems as if he had weak knees. His speaking is at times extremely slow, and at others very quick." Pursuit of Morgan.—ln addition to three parties of police who have started in pursuit of the bushranger Morgan, Mr. Zouch, junior (who was formerly in the police force), has, under the authority of the Government, selected a party of men, and is out with them in search of the murderer. The men were sworn in as special constables, and were fitted out at the expense of the Government. Several applications to the Government from parties desirous of going out in pursuit of Morgan have been declined. —Sydney Morning Herald, July 1.

The Sydney Morning Herald attributes the noncapture of Morgan by the police to the neglect of the people at Round Hill not forwarding earlier intelligence. That journal says:—" Three police parties for the last month have been scouring the district between Albury and Wagga Wagga in search of the scoundrel, but owing to his constant movement and the difficult character of the country, they have failed to catch him. But they were close to him on the day on which he stuck up the Round Hill Station, and with a very little assistance in the way of information from the mob of people at the station, the man might have been secured. There were two parties of police camped on two opposite sides of the station, the most distant being only sixteen miles off, and they had been seen by some of the people on the station during the previous day, and must have been known, therefore, to l>e not far off. Surely, if the whole eleven together had not courage to tackle the bushranger, one of them might have had the wit to slip away and give notice to the police. An easy ride of two hours would have done, for tho distance might have been walked-in four hours, if no hone were at the moment available. But, though tho station was stuck up at one o'clock in the afternoon, it was not till half-past nine at night that any information was given to tho police. They did not wait to pack up their traps, but, leaving their camp, started at once for the place, and arrived there at twenty minutes past eleven p.m., just in time to find the bird flown. The night was dark and wet, but, as soon as daylight allowed, tracking the pursuit was resumed, and followed up till the tracks were irrecoverably lost. The search, therefore, must begin da novo. But now that tho atrocities of Morgan have begun to excite general indignation, it is to be hoped lie will find no friends; and the next time he sticks up a mob of jnen, if they have not the pluck to resist him, let them at least have the seme to send prompt notice to the nearest police camp." The unfortunate man who was shot by the villain Morgan, was liuried On Friday last, in the Albury Cemetery. The Ovens and Murray Advertiser say g—"The was a very large attendance at the funeral. His companion, who was also shot, is likely to recover. Mr. Botterill, who was one of the party in pursuit of Morgan, has returned to Albury, and *s not complimented on the courage which he has displayed in coming back so soon. It seems that after Morgan shot M'Lean he first made one poor man,

whom he met, take off his coat and give it to him, and then stuck up a carter and took bis horse away, the only one ho possessed. The poor fellow said, " For God's sake, sir, don't rob me of my horse, that is all I have got in the world." Morgan, in reply, told him that ho must have the horse, and some day or other he would return It. lie then rode off. Mr. Bottcrill's companions are, however, in eager pursuit and it is hoped that the rufihin bushranger tuay be caught, before long. It is almost needless to mention that" the greatest excitement exists in Allmryand the neighbourhood, and nearly every one appears to entertain a dread that he may be the next one that the rulHuii Morgan will attack. We could wish that all bands would join in the formation of a vigilance committee, to disperse at once and for ever all of these wild beasts." lteferring to the atrocious crimes of Morgan, and the apathy with which they are regarded in the sister colony, the 0 and M Advertiser says : —" We may mention that a gentleman of high standing in Beeehworlh, and one likely to form a fair estimate, having lately returned from the Albury neighbourhood, quite corroborates the popular opinion as tothelnkowarniness of the New South Wales police, and also as to the squatters and others winking at the Bcoundrelisms of Morgan and his associates."