MELBOURNE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 789, 28 June 1864, Page 5

MELBOURNE.

I (from our own correspondent.) Melbourne, June, 1864. It is with doe? regret that I have to open my letter of this.day by announcing the death, in the prime of his asre, and at a moment when he can ill be spared from the political arena of "Victoria, of one of the most earnest aiid most sincere, if not of the most talented, of our colonial statesmen —Mr Richard fleales, M.L. A., Commissioner of Lands and Survey. That lamented gentleman, after severe sufferings,1 and occasional brief intervals of such apparent improvement in health as to give his friends some delusive hope of his ultimate recovery, expired at his residence, at Elsternwick, about noon on Sunday last, aged fortytwo years. Mr Heales wa< preeminently a self made man, his first start in colonial life in 1842 being in the humble capacity of a journeyman coa-jli-maker, at wriges of six shillings a day. By industry, integrity and strict economy combined with a rigid adherence to teetotal principles, he gradually accumulated the means of setting up in business for himself, and in 1849 he made his first app arance in publi: life, by becoming a successful i'an<!itite for a city councillorship. He retained his seat in the Oity Council for severat years and while there signalised himself by his advoeaev of liberal and anti-publican principles and identified himself with the first introduction in'o the colony of the ay>tem of voting by ballot. He became a member of Parliament in 1857, having been elected for the district of East Burke- Three years afterwards he was called upon to tike office as Chief Secretary, when he initiated several liberal measures, but lie had a strong opposition, headed by Mr O'Shanassy, to contend against, and after a tenure of office, extending over a few months only, he ultimately found himself and his col--1 agues in a minority, and in accordance with constitutional practice tendered his resignation, wtiieh was accepted. On the fall of the O'Shanassy administration, in 1863, Mr Heales again took office, occupying the post of President of the Board of Lands, and serving under the present Chief Secretary, Mr M'Culloch, and it, is to hk physical and mental, exerlions. and his anxieties in connection with the amended Land Bill, of the session jut over, that the origin of the pulmonary disease, which resulted in his death, is generally ascribed. Such is a brief summary of the political history of the leading politician who has jut been taken from amongst us. and however much the legislation originated or supported by him may have excited the opposition of a certain portion of the Victorian press in the course of 'as public career, journalists of all parties and shades of opinion | now come forward and with one voice testify to his sincerity as a poiitimn, and his striking excellence as a private citizen.

Another death which has occurred within the last few days is that of the Hon. Charles Vauchan, a member of the Legislative Council of long standing, who expired on Saturday last, aged 53 years. He was one of our oldest colonists, having arrived herein 1839, when he invested a considerable amount of capital in squatting pursuits, He was a politician of the old school and a consistent supp< rter of the pastoral interest. In a late communication I felt myse'f called upon to advert to the great increase in crime, of a bold and outrageous character wbic'i had taken place in and near this city within the 1 ast few weeks. 1 have now to inform your readers th*t this state of things has culminated in one of the most daring and brutal attacks upon persons and property ever perpetrated in a civilised community, the particulars of which are briefly as follows: - On Tuesday morning last, at half-past ten o'clock in the morning, the weather being fog>ry, a man of suspicious appearance walked into the Fitzroy Branch of the English, Scottish, and Australian' Chartered Bank, in the offices of which there were at that time Mr J. Dowiing the manager, Mr De Wrut the ledger-keeper, and Mr T Dowling a clt-rk and brother of the manager. The two first named gentlemen were in the front office when the suspiciouslookina character above mentioned, walked in, and went through it and into the manager's room immediately behind, muttering something to himself as he went nlong In this back apartment was the bank safe, and the manager not liking the man's appearance or behaviour, rushed in after him and caught him by the collar. Upon this the rut San drew a pistol from his coat pocket and attempted to shoot his assailant, when a desperate hand to hand struggle ensued between the two parties. While this was goint ou behind, two others of the gang entered the office, one of whom posted himself as sentry at the door, whilst the other, levelled a pistol at the head of Mr De Grut, the ledgerkeeper, and threatened to shoot him dead if he raised the least alarm. Having, as he thought terrified the ledger keeper into passive submission, th<>. scoundrel then beg-in to scramble iuto his pockets some gold and silver that was lying upon the counter, but no sooner was Mr De Grut in some measure free from his assailant, than he seiz-d him from behind, when a similar struggle took place in the front office to that which was going on simultaneously behind ; all that had passed hitherto, in fact, beiug tue work of a. very few seconds, and the actual occurrences taking up far less time than the reading and the writing of this description of them has occupied. Mr de Grut, although, the smal'er man of the two, was too much for the villain with whom he was contending'; but he had a very narrow escape of his life notwithstanding, for the robber, dt the close of the scuffle, fired his pistol over his shoulder at Mr de Grut, and scorched and blackened his face with the charge. Having done S3, the thief made a rush for the door, and got away, the third man nf the gang, who had taken an active part in the attack, running out at the same time. With great presence of mind, Mr de Grut then barred the door, and rushed to the assistance of the manager, who was still engaged in an unequal struggle with his powerful assailant in the back office. Seeing no other weapon at hand Mr De Grut seized a heavy brass candlestick and belabored the head of the ruffian with it without the slightest mercy or compunction. At this juncture the manager's brother, who had been in a comparatively distant, part of the premises, rushe t to the rescue, while a neighbor—Mr Ross, a grocer residing in the immediate neighborhood, having heard a noise in the bank came to the front door armed with a large cheese knife, knocked, and was admitted. Finding himself so out-numbered, the robber, surrendered at discretion, not, however, without first having inflicted some damage en the hands of the bank clerks with a dasrger which, in the course of the scuffle he drew upon them in addition to his pistol. The ruffian was of course given into custody at once, tnd it says much for the efficiency of our police force that within about four-and-twenty hours afterwards, the whol=: of the gang concerned in the outrage, and which it was found consisted of four ■ individuals, one remaining on the watch outside, were safely under lock and key The names given by the robbers are William Carver, Jeremiah Phillips, James Anderson, and Samuel Woods, the last mentioned man being the ruffim who was overpowered and taken in the Bank itself. Thty are all supposed to be old convicts from Tasmania or Western Australia, and the same gang that committed the late daring burglary at the store of Mr Bergin in Flinders Lane. The event has given an additional impetus to the anti-transportation movement in this colony, and will furnish a striking illustration of the evils of the system sought to be abolished, if appended to the next remonstrance upon the subject sent to the Home authorities. The manly conduct of the bank clerks in resisting the ruffianly attack made upon them by the thieves is the theme of praise throughout the whole colony, and at a public meeting of the inhabitants of Fitzroy and Collingwoid, held upon the subject in the neighborhood of the bank, resolutions eulogising their behaviour were unanimously agreed to. The money lying upon the bank counter at the time of the attack and which one of the thieves managed to pick up amounted after all to no more than about L3or L4. I am really ashamed to open up such a chamber of horrors for your readers, but my duty as a faithful chronicler of events passing in this portion of Her Majesty's dominions compels me to detail the particulars of an occurrence of a more tragical character still than that of which I have just concluded the narrative, and one in which, before the lact act of the sad piece is over, two human lives, those of men in even the prime of life, each with a wife and family depending upon him for support, will have been sacrificed, in the one case to the deliberate indulgence of pas?ion and revenge, and in the other to the stern demands of the outraged law. On Saturday last, at noon, two men, named respectively Harrison and Marsh, partners in a Government contract for clearing a portion of the road to the newly discovered goldfields of Wood's Point and Gipp's Land, met, by appointment, al the rear of the old Government House, now used as the offices of the Commission of Roads and Railways, in Stephen street. The contract in question had been taken several months previously, aad, as it

appears, win either partly or altogether flurried out but, t\ r>uj>h the whole afinir, there >eenis to have ''een a jiood deal of mi-understanding between the two men, Harrison a1 id Marsh, who had unde taken it; the latter, according to Hani f-on's story, refu-iag to sign certain vouchers necessary fur the obtaining of the money from the Government, and also throwing other obstacles in the way of a settlement with the laborers by whom the work was actually performed. H irrison, in the meantime, was much annoyed by the requests of these latter for payment, and it appears that the creditois of the firm actually followed him about the streets d - raanding their money. For somj rfa«on which does not at present appear, Marsh refused to come to any arrangement or to submit to any arbitration with respect to the matter. On the day already mentioned as that upon which the two men met for the last time, Harrison again asVed Marsh if he wulds'gn the Touchers, and the latter a»ain positively refused to do fo. Upon this, Harrison, saving- to one or two ere itors wlo were standing near the spot, "Do you tbink such a man is fib to live?" crew out a pistol and pointed it at his uaforfunat° partner. The latter endeavored to pet behind one of the bystanders, but in doing ?o fell down, when Harrison g re j and shot him through the heart. The victim cried out' h'. gave fispringand fell dead. The murderer then with a second pistol endeavored to shnot himself, but on the first attempt the cap fell from the nipple of the deadly weapon, and before he could fix a second cap on it. he was captured and secured. He was at once taken into custody, bnt neither then nor since dies he seem to have evinced theslightest compunction or remorse at the dreadful crime committed by him. An inquest was helfl on the remains of the murdered man yesterday, when a v«rdict of Wilful Murder was returned against Harrison who now awaits his trial at the next criminal sessions.

Mr Vaughan's funeral is appointed to take Haee tins afternoon, and that of Mr Heale's on Thurs ay. The latter is expected to assume the character of a puMic demonstration of respect for the memory of the late lamented minister of the Crown.