MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 70, 30 December 1863, Page 2 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Mysterious Affair.—An inquest, partly held yesterday by the district coroner, near the lunatic asylum, presents some features of mystery which require further investigation. A young girl stated that on the previous Monday she saw three men fighting on the banks of the Yarra, near the place where the body was found. She watched two of these men tie the third hand-and-foot, and throw him into the Yarra. She heard the body splash in the water, and saw that it sank; and although she continued at the place far half an hour afterwards, it never rose again. She remarked that the man thrown into the river wore spectacles, and the body recovered had spectacles on when found. There are, indeed, marks of violence found on the body—a contused wound on the forehead, and a congestion of one of the eyes. But these had been done during life, and the injury to the eye could not have been while the spectacles were worn without breaking them. Yet the spectacles were unbroken, and not displaced. The wounds were not sufficient to cause death, and one of tiiem might have been inflicted some time previously. The medical gentleman examined, considered from the state of decomposition in which he found the body, that it had been in the water for a week. Had it not been for the evidence of the young girl, there was nothing to distinguish the present case from many in which a simple verdict is returned of " Found drowned." The girl is about ten years of age, and although unacquainted with the nature of an oath, seemed to give her evidence in a manner not deficient in intelligence. Taking her evidence as strictly correct, the question of its applicability to the body found may be open to serious doubt, in spite of the identity of place; for the deceased was a week in the water, instead of less than two days, the time from when she saw the occurrence to the discovery of the body. She saw them, she says, tie the man's hands and feet, but no cords were visible on the deceased—no sign of such cords having beeu used. But then the man that she saw had spectacles, as the deceased had. Under all these conflicting and dubious circumstances, the inquest was adjourned, to give opportunity for further inquiry into this mysterious affair.— Argus. Rifle Match.—Natives v. Europeans.— The long-talked-of match between native and European volunteers came off at the rifle range on Saturday last. There were a considerable number of gentlemen present during the afternoon, and a good deal of interest was manifested in the firing. The weather was favorable, although the wind was rather uncertain, blowing occasionally in fitful gusts, and rendering it extremely difficult to judge as to the necessary amount of allowance to make. The match commenced at eleven a.m., and was fired in squads of six men, there being twelve competitors on either side. The ranges were 200, 300,400, and 450 yaads, five shots being allowed at each distance. The shooting was throughout remarkably good, and would no doubt have been surpassed if the target had been better placed than it is. At the shorter distances the position for firing is considerably to the left of the target, at 400 yards it is nearly in a line, and at 450 yards again, the position moves away far to the right, so that it is impossible to judge precisely as to what allowances should be made for peculiarities in the wind and weather. The men who competed in the match on Saturday, are, with one or two exceptions, the same who have figured in all matches for some time past, and the effect of practice is beginning to exhibit itself in a marked degree. The highest score made was by the champion, Cadet Kirman—namely, nineteen hits for fifty-five points, and these went to the credit of the Europeans. On the side of the Natives, however, the Champion was nearly equalled by Mr Pitt, who scored eighteen hits fifty points. Several other competitors also made good scores, and the general average was highly creditable, being out of twenty shots 13*37 hits for 33*17 points. The match was concluded at about six o'clock, the result being in favor of the Europeans by seven hits for sixteen points.—H. T. Mercury. The Invercargill and Lake Railway.— The Invercargill Times, on this subject, says " Workshops are being rapidly constructed, in which the greater part of the plant will be manufactured, as it is the intention of the contractors to have everything connected with the railway made on the spot, except the engines and wheels for the carriages. According to the weekly report, furnished up to the 12th inst., there were 200 men employed on the line —70 in bush clearing, 71 ditching, 26 in earth cutting &c. This number has been since greatly augmented, and we are given to understand that before this week is over there will be at least 400 men employed. Operations have been already commenced at Win-

ton, the terminus of the line. The site for the station in the bush is being rapidly cleared, workshops have been commenced, a steam saw mill erected, all within the space of a week. In a fortnight's time, we believe there will be 300 men employed at that end of the line. The posts for the telegraph are being laid down along the line. Every advantage is being taken of the fine weather we are experiencing to push the ditching along the whole line, and although grave doubts have been expressed as to the likelih nod of the railway being finished before winter sets in, we are sure it will not be the fault of the contractors if it is not completed within the specified time; and as there is abundance of labor at their command, we have every hope that it will. The steam-whistled, however, of the railway engine is already heard in Southland. Messrs Davies and do., having taken the contract to pitch and metal part of the Bluff Road—from the Green Hills, Mokomoko, towards West's—have laid down a line of wooden rails parallel with the road, and the Lady Barkly Engine may be seen trundling along with the trucks filled with the metal broken by the steam crusher belonging to the same firm. Gilbert and Ben Hall.-—The Lachlau correspondent of the BathurU Times says: — " Since the affray at Coimbla, the whereabouts ot these bushrangers par excellence has apparently been lost sight of; for while the Sydney Mail states as a fact in one of its leaders, that' Gilbert had gone to Victoria,' a circumstance occurred on Saturday last within a mile of Forbes, by which it would appear that both the chief and his remaining companion were at that time, at any rate, not far from us. The following information is derived from the toll-keeper of Kirkpatrick and Twaddles Bridgt, Lachlan River, and from other sources. The toll-keeper states that about the hour referred to, hearing horses rapidly approaching the bridge, he hastened out to collect the toll: and that two men galloped up, each having a led horse. He stopped them and demanded the toll (2s), when one of them took out a pound note ana tendered it. The toll-keeper had to go to his hut to get change, when the other party followed him at once, and narrowly watched his movements until the silver was handed over, when both men again galloped off. Shortly after, a party of police came up and made inquiries at the bridge, with regard to the persons who had passed. They said they (the police) were from Coimbla, and that they had sighted the two men described several times on the road, but were unable to overtake them. They believed them to be Johnny Gilbert and Ben Hall. Both wore ponchos, a favorite article of raiment apparently amongst bushrangers, and their appearance generally bore out the idea that they were the men. I have not heard that any parties answering this description have been elsewhere : but there are certainly reasonable grounds for suspicion in this case that the parties were Gilbert and Hall, making tracks for a new section of country from the scene of their late dangerous exploit." The Moeraki Diggings.—The number of miners on this place at the present time is about fifty, some few of whom are getting gold in payable quantities: the majority of them seem very unsettled at present, neither disposed to turn to work nor to move off to other places. The principal workings at present are in a small gully at the head of a river, situate about 2f miles to the south of the Township of Hampden; there are a few miners working on the sea beach, near the mouth of the One River, and I have no doubt but that payable ground will be found in places all down the One River Flat to the beach. The gold obtained is very fine and mixed with black sand ; the present mode of working is principally sluicing ; the sinking in the gully from four to six feet. There are several parties out prospecting the district, but I have not heard of any new ground having been opened up. In respect to local matters, the jetty is at last completed as far as the contractor is concerned, but to the dissatisfaction of the settlers of the district, for in its present state it is entirely useless; and a wish is generally expressed that the Provincial Government will lose no time in the extension of the present one in the right direction, or the erection of a new jetty altogether.—D. Telegraph. A Cruel Commentary.—A tradesman closed his doors, and affixed outside the following notice:—" Gone to Mersea Regatta: open again at seven o'clock." The hour having passed, and the engagement to open at seven having been broken, some cruel wag appended to the above notice, in large characters—" Drunk, and can't get home."