AUSTRALIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11188, 9 February 1897, Page 5

AUSTRALIA.

PPer Press Association.] ATTEMPTED MURDER. THURSDAY ISLAND, Feb. 8. Mr Cockburn, manager of the mining battery at Horn Island, was twice shot by a man named Harris, who afterwards shot himself. Cockburn’s wounds are not serious, but Harris cannot recover. Harris was recently discharged for drunkenness. QUEENSLAND NATIONAL BANK. BRISBANE, Feb. 8. The negotiations with the depositors of the Queensland National Bank are proceeding satisfactorily, and there is every probability of an early acceptance of the proposals, which open up to the bank good prospects of renewed usefulness, and the ultimate payment of the creditors in full. DISCHARGED PROM CUSTODY. MELBOURNE, Pbb. 8. At the inquest on the body of Hurst, a verdict was returned in accordance with the medical evidence, which showed that death was due to syncope, the results of wounds accidentally inflicted by himself. Mrs Hurst was discharged from custody. HEAVY RAINS. Heavy rains have fallen, and the Gippsland rivers are in high flood, causing great destruction of maize, hop and potato crops. Railway and telegraphic communication is interrupted, SMALLPOX. The steamer Nineveh, from the Cape, passed the quarantine authorities and discharged her passengers, but subsequently it was found that there were three cases of smallpox on board, including the second mate. All but nineteen of the passengers were hunted up and quarantined.