SOUTHERN NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4417, 10 January 1876, Page 3

SOUTHERN NEWS.

Thb Nelsom Colonist of .the 4th has the following respecting the dreadful accident at Wakapuaka :—Mr. Alborough's two ions, Henry and Willie, _Dixon Hood, and R. Lyford, went out on a shooting expedition to Wakapuaka Cliffs early on the morning of the Ist instant. On leaving his father's home, Henry Alborough was earnestly requested by his sister, Miss Alborough, to take care of himself, and not to be too venturesome; but unfortunately ' this caution was too soon 1 forgotten in the excitement of the chase. ! The lads about mid-day came upon, a flock of goats on the cliffs, near Mason's pah, and whilst in pursuit they separated. Several goats were shot, and Henry Albnrough was seen in pursuit o£ some others. Shortly afterwards the report of his gun was heard. They waited a considerable time for him to rejoin them, and his brother becoming anxious, they made a search, but without a rail; they, saw his dog on the summit of a very high cliff, but no sign of the deceased. They then, thinking that he had worked his way homewewards, gave up the search, for it was getting dusk. On their arrival at Mr. Alborough's residence, they found that he had not arrived I here, whereupon, fearing as to his safety, a party proceeded at about 12 o'clock that night, to make a systematic search. About noon on Sunday, a fresh party came up, of whom Mr. Wastney was one; they joined in the search, and soon afterwards, though not without considerable risk, they succeeded in getting down a ravine in the cliff, to a spot which commands a view, of the beach could not be seen from any other part of the ranges. On arriving at this poiut, Sir. Wastney, Mr. H. Flowers, and those with them, at once signalled to the others of the i>arty, "were some 500 feet above them, that they had found the missing body on the beach below. A boat in the meantime had been sent for to search the beach, and Mr. Wastney and another of the party went to the extreme edge of the cliff to signal the boat to the place where the body laid. The body was found in the most horribly mutilated condition, and was placed in the boat, which proceeded to the boulder-bank, where a trap had been taken in readiness, and in this the , body was conveyed home. The deceased .was sixteen years of age, and his untimely end has cast a deep gloom over the whole ; neighbourhood. The Wellington Evening Post says:— "The prisoner Sinat seems now now fully to realise his position. He is no longer the defiant being that he was when first : arrested. He has seen his victims on two different occasions, and he knows well that their chance of living is very small indeed. , He is fully alive to the fact that he has placed himself in a dreadful predicament, and the consequence is that he is now thoroughly frightened. During the hearing of the case in Court, yesterday, he kept his eyes constantly fixed on the floor, and never lifted them except when he was asked whether he wished to ask Kolet (the fourth wounded man) any questions. He does not seem to regret having committed the crime, but appears to be thoroughly cowed." The Otago Acclimatisation continues to carjy out its design of stocking all the suitable streams in the province with trout. Several hundreds of these fish were recently placed in the Wyndham, the Otaria, and other streams in the same locality; and last week Mr. Deans liberated a considerable number of trout near Lake Ohau and the , Upper Waitaki district. I In reference to a telegram that appeared in our columns some time since anent a boat being found with a dead man in it on Lake Wakatip, Otago, the North Otago Times says:—' * Sergeant Smith, who has for the past ten days been searching the country round about Lake Ohou for traces of Martin Cunningham, the supposed murderer of the unfortunate man Hugh Hannah, has returned to Oamaru unsuccessful, no trace whatever having' been discovered. Cuunningham is known to have had but one day's provisions when the two men left the station, and he does not appear to have obtained any subsequently from any of the shepherds' huts. As the shepherds are now out mustering, he may have entered some of the huts unperceived and helped himself, but if so it must have been to such small quantities 'as would not be missed. What has become of him remains a mystery. The murdered man appears to have been killed by a single blow, struck from behind and dislocating his neck; and it is conjectured the two men must have quarrelled, and that Cunningham, after striking the unlucky blow, set the boat adrift with the corpse and fled, or, it may be, drowned himself in the lake ; though, in the latter case, it is strange that the body has not floated and been found before this. Against this latter supposition it is, however, said that Cunningham bears a bad character, and, being well acquainted with the country, possibly made good his escape between the ' time of the murder and the search being instituted." • I

During a heavy thunderstorm at Hokitika on Thursday evening, the 30th ult., a phenomenon of rare occurrence was seen. Hitherto St. Elmo's light is supposed by some not to have been seen in N c\v Zealand, but that is an assamption for which there are no good grounds. However, it was distinctly visible that evening, its situation being nothing grander than the top of a sapling used as a clothes' post on the premises of Mr. Edgar Bastings, Bevell-street. Mr. Bastings called in Mr. Ingram and other neighbours to observe this unusual manifestation of electricity, atid they testify to its appearance. St. Elmo's fire, it should be explained, is the popular name of an appearance sometimes seen, especially in southern climates during thunder storms, of a brush or star of light at the top of masts, spires, or other pointed objects. It is sometimes accompanied by a hissing noise, and is evidently of the same nature as the light caused by electricity streaming of from points connected with an electrical machine. The phenomenon, as seen at sea, was woven by the Greeks into the myth of Castor and Pollux; and even yet such lights at the masthead are considered by sailors a sign that they have nothing to fear from the storm."—^NelsonDaily Times.