AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 215, 10 September 1908, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The Rev. C. H. Nash, the, cleric over whom there has been gnashing ot teeth in Victoria for months ■past, had j the unique experience of a full house on the occasion of the first sermon preached by him since the renewal ot his license. He preached a* tot. Phillips' s Church, Collingwood, which holds 600 people comfortably, but extra seats had to .be brought, in. Every inch of space was occupied, and in addition an overflow meeting of 300 people was held in an adoommg. school hall. It is not often a parson has that sort*pf an experience; and it shows that the advertisement or the press of the man who was accused of doing something or other, is as useful to a parson as an aristocratic scandal is to Dolly Footelites.

In the huge crowd in the streets of Sydney on the night of the arrival of the American Fleet, the larrikin element was promptly suppressed^ by a strong fore© of police. A highly humorous scene occurred.m George Street, when a larrikin got the sur•prise of his life. He had been mdulgms in a little horse-play, and was inclined to be offensive to women. A rather massive member or the police force, partly concealed by a post, was watching the youth's progress. As the latter got right abreast of the policeman he was Indiscreet 'enough to seize a girl by the hair and try to kiss her. The man in blue said nothing. Me just stretched out one long leg with a particularly thick boot at the end or it, and administered a vigorous kick. The larrikin kissed the ground instead of the girl, and the incident ended amid roars of laughter.

The body of a woman; named Vaughan, who had evidently been dead some days, was found in a house at Darlinghurst on Sunday, August 23. She had for some time lived alone, and was last seen alive by a rent collector, who called for rent about a fortnight previously. Gn going to the house \on Sunday he found it locked, while there was a strong smell of gas. The police were summoned, and forced the door, when they found the woman lying in "her nightdress, half on and half off the bed. The bedclothing was disarranged, as if there had been a struggle, and. gas was escaping from the chandelier in the room. The woman had apparently been dead for some days. The body had been sent to the morgue. 'No suspicious circumstances are known to the police.

The mysterious Australian tiger has

home on Sunday, August 23, _a strange animal of dark or brown color, with glaring eyes, made a spring afc the horse's head, then followed toi about twenty chains and snapped at the horse's hindquarters AferwM^ the animal was lost sight of.^he mail arrived home in a state of collapse, and the horse was terrified. it is stated that another ™Mdent ot the locality recently saw a wild bear .01 tiger tying down asleep. The police investigated the matter, but no trace ot. the animal was discovered. The police do not consider it neecssary to pursue inquiries further, although a request has been made for half a dozen rifles to be sent to the locality.

An inquiry into the death of a married woman named Minnie O tfrien at the Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, was held in Sydney last week. *Rom the evidence it appeared that the ae>ceased had been suffering .for some time from rheumatism. Her husband received a prescription for medicine, which he was told was good for rheumatism. Deceased took several doses, and then became ill, and at a subsequent stage, died. The medical evidence showed that the prescription contained arsenic in excessive doses, and that her death was due to arsenical poisoning. The Coroner, m finding to this effect, added that chemists should be more careful in making up that contained poison ot I any kind, especially in dangerous I doses.

The following report, indicating a shipping mystery, has been made by the sub-collector of Customs at Broome (W.A.) to the Collector at Perth: — "Captain H. Hilliard, in charge of the Dutch vessel Concordia, now trading in the beche-de-mer fishing industry, near Imperieuse Beef, has reported that there are indications of a vessel having been on Imperieuse Reef some time between November 18 and March 18. She appears to have been stuck on the west side of the reef, where everything was taken out of her, and she was evidently then floated into the lagoon, and afterwards worked out through the passage by sticking up oars on each side. jOn one oar was a woman's petticoat, and on the other the British ensign. They le.ft akedge anchor, and a six-inch Manila rope, also some wire rope, all of which had ben used for kedging the vessel out through, the passage.

The story of a man's ruin by mining speculation was revealed, among the strange circumstances surrounding the

trial at Ballarat (Vie.) of Edward Bond on a charge of attempting to set fire to the residence of W. ±±. Sewell, at Redan. The evidence went to show that acting upon information obtained from a man, named Sewell, Bond bought BritLh Lion shares at from Is 8d to Is lOd. Within ten days they fell to 4d. Bond made a statement admitting having placed the box on the verandah, but denying that he had any intention of damaging Mr Sewell's property. It was as harmless a parcel when lie put it there as it was when produced in court. He put the bark m the box and placed some burning sticks in it m order to give the appearance of fire. He then emptied the box out, put more materials and charred sticks m it, and when it was quite cold poured kerosene over the stuff and put an unlighted piece of candle in it. He then nailed up the box, wrapped it up m a piece of flannel and some brown paper, carried it to Sewell's place, and placed it where it was found. His object in so doing was to direct attentionHo Mr Sewell. He stood before the Court a ruined man, having lost £7000 in mining. The jury found Bond not guilty, and he was discharged.

Two men, father an son, James Winton, aged 50, and William Wallace "Winton, aged 16, have been committed for trial at Winton (Q.) on a charge of murdering a blackfellow named Jacky Jacky at the end of last January. It appears that Winton occupied an area of country in the vicinity of Bedourie, and is a fencer and contractor. In January last Winton and his son were out at the goatyard, accompanied by Jacky, who refused to assist the son to round up the goats. Winton, senior, chastised him, and Jacky retaliated by throwing a tomahawk. He made off into tie bush, and returned later on apparently friendly terms; The son was suspicious, and while the father slept he kept watch with a loaded rifle. In the middle of the night the son saw the blackfellow stealing on the camp. He tried to rouse his father, but was unable to do so, and as the blackfellow continued his advance the boy fired, and snot Jacky dead, the bullet penetrating his heart. Alarmed' at the result of the shot, father and son set about the disposai of the body. Clasped in one hand was a large stone, with which, it is presumed, the blackfellow intended to make his attack. The body was buried in the goat-yard, and the rifle was also, hidden, all traces of the occurrence being apparently obliterated. A dilly-bag belonging to the dead man was, however, discovered by the other blacks. The police were informed, and the Body was found.

A depressing tale is told by the directors of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company n their report presented at the half-yearly meeting, which was to be held in Melbourne on Friday, August 28. The depreciation in silver and lead has reduced the profits for sis months from £137,642 to £22,776. This is equivalent to a fall in the profit from a ton of ore from 8s 9d to Is Bd. A Is 6d dividend, absorbing £72,000, disbursed during the six months, was paid in February. In the interim two quarterly dividends have been "passed." The reserve funds stand at the same amount as before, viz., £260,000, but £29,112 of this sum is for the present used in the company's business. The surplus of liquid assets has been reduced from .£497,000 to £452,000. The costs at the separation plant show a slight depreciation, while the zinc concentrates have now been raised to the standard of 45 per cent, zinc per ton. The directors state that, after very careful review of the subject, they have decided to proceed with the erection of a plant capable of producing about 8000 tons of spelter per annum. The total cost is estimated at £100,000, of which an outlay of about £19,000 has already been incurred. The increase in the aggregate output was due to the purchase of ore and concentrates from other Barrier mines.

At Adelaide on Monday, August 24,; a daring robbery was committed by three masked men. As the watchman of the Unley tramsheds was cleaning one of the cars he was held up by two masked men, armed with revolvers. A third stood a little way off in the yards! Telling him that they were desperate; and intended to have money,, they took him into the car-shed, and tied his hands and searched him. Having obtained the keys of the office, one of the intruders kept Dickson under cover. The others, having obtained an entrance, secured the key of the small safe, which was hanging on the wall, and soon had in their possession 13 or 14 bags, which the conductors had left when the cars ceased running on Sunday evening. Each bag had its share of cash tickets, and Dickson states that the robbers carried them into the car-shed;, where, before his eyes, they emptied the contents into one recep-

tacle. They then returned to the office, where the .safe was locked, and the key returned to i^nail, the door properly fastened, and the keys handed back to the watchman. It is believed that about £17 in cash and a fair supply of tickets was secured. Before leaving, one. ot, the thieves threatened Dickson iMie gave information to the police before they had time to get away, they would return some other night and '-'pot him.