ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8732, 19 February 1890, Page 5

ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

A young woman Darned Eliza Nicholls, dressmaker,|living by herself at Carterton, Wellington, was found in her residence strangled, it beiug evidently a case of suicide. From the appearance of the body when discovered ie is believed death occurred a fortnight ago. No cause is assigned. Deceased was a stranger in the district.

The infant son of George Osborne was drowned at Obristchurch on the Bth by falling head first into a tub of waier near an artesian well.

An elderly man (William Braddon) was drowned in the river near Hokitika, He has been missing for days, having gone out fishing aud not returning. It was a very dark uigbt, and he is supposed to have Blipped into deep water.

A lad named Herbert Goldie, nephew of Mr D. Goldie, M.H.8., fell from a horizontal bar at Auckland on the lOfch, and received injuries which resulted ie death.

Our Lawrence correspondent writes that the 18 months' old sou of Mr G. O. Taylor was suffocated on Monday evening by a piece of hard biscuit he. war. eating becoming fast in his windpipe. Dr Withers was called in, but al! attempts to remove the obstruction failed.

An elderly man named Nicho'l, night watchman for the Lyttelton Harbour Board, was missing on the 10th. His lantern was found cftpsizsi! on the wharf, but nothing could be fouud of the body, though the harbour was dragged all day. Nicholl formerly coininauded

several coasters, iucludiug the steamer Mullogh and schooner JeDnic; Duncan, The search for fue body was continued next day, and it was ultimately found in the afternotiu washed upon the rocks under tbu bresstwork, 60 yards from whore his lantern was found on Monday. The coat, was off, but the hat was still on his head. His watch had stopped at seven minutes past 3.

A Mrs Nicholson, wife of a newspaper runner, residing at Selwyn, North-East Valley, committed Euieide on the 30th ult, by tak-

ing " rough on rats," about 8 o'clock. DrMacpherson was sent for as soon as ConsUb'.a Walker was communicated with, :iud the usual reiaadiert applied, but at an early hocr this morning the woman died. She is believed to have been drinking ratuur freely of late.

The jubilee celebration at Wellington on the 22ud ulfc. was marred by a distressing accident which resulted in the death of Mr Kebbell, sen., a well-known Wellington resident. He is owner of the yacht Florence, which was engaged in the principal race, and was ou bonrd steering her. He stood up, and by soraß means lost his balance, the rope slipped through his bauds and he fell overboard. Mtane were at oace taken to secure him, and he was dragged from the water after two or three minutes' immersion, but all attempts to revive animation were futile. He does not appear to have been in the water any length of time, and he could swim, so that death would appear to be the result of shock rather than of drowning. Deceased was au elderly maa. To make matters worse news had only just been received by his son-in-law, Mrßrandou, of the death also by drowning of two of Mr Kebble's grandchildren the same morning.

At Gisborue, Hawkes Bay, a sad accident —which ultimately proved fatal—happened to the Rev. John M'Ara, Presbyterian minister, on tho 25th. He was driving with his little girl in a buggy, when the horse was startled and became unmanageable. The carriage swerved and capsized, and the rev. gentleman with the girl were thrown out on to the road. Mr M'Ara had his skull fractured aud collarbone broken. The child is riot severely injured. Mr M'Ara regained consciousness on Friday. His body was however partly pavalyfed, and he died on Saturday. A youDg msn named Raven was drowned at Kurow on the 30th ult. He had crossed a branch of the Waitaki river ou horseback to drive two borses off an island. In recrossiag both horse and rider were swept away, and have not been Been since.

Thomas Jones, a miner, woiking od the Canton reef, Waiporj, was killed on the 2ml inst. The timber gave way, m;d he was struck by tbe falling mullock. He leaves a wife and grown-up family. A boy about 12 years of ege, son of Robert Park, aud nephew of the well-known canoeist, was drowned at flokitika on the 2nd inst. He was in a boat with his father and another. The current carried the boat over the bar, and deceased was drowned in the surf. The two men were rescued. Tha body has not yet been found.

A man named K. Palmer, a settlor, was killed in Orapi Bush, near Tauranga, by the falliug of a tree.

Captain Lewis, tho master of the Janet Ramsay, made au attempt on the 7th inst, about half-past 9 o'clock to commit suicide by cutting his throat with a ri.zor. He appears to have been in it very desponding state for some time past, especially sinca a charge uf loavinif two of his crew on the Mucquaria Islands was brought against him, and has told his wife, rupeate'lly cf late that the sooner he wex out or' tho way the hotter. In corifeqaence of .this Mrs Lftwis took the precaution to eouochl his razor, while she kept a very oluse wa! oh over bin actions. On thu morning of the 7th he wr.s apparently in Iris usual lienlth. His wife becoming alarmed «',. hi., l^igMjontd absw.eui>i thu I buck yard, wuiife out to look for him, and found him with n (ia-li in his t-Uroar. The windpipe was partly cut, but t>u; arti-uos had escaped injury. He was removed to the hospital, aud has dob' nearly completely recovered. Sorao (ixcitcmci't was caused at the Rattray sii-Hut wharf on the 7th inst. by BU attempt at euioiile by drowning ujnOe by a woman named Mf.ud Booker, alias Hamilton, one of tho unfortunate class. Just as tbe Beautiful Star was leaving for Oamaru about 10 o'clock, the woman, %vho was standing among those o:i tbe wharf waiting to see the steamer depart, waa teen to throw down .-- lady's bag sho was carrying and jump over tho si<!o of the wharf into tho •raVir. One of tijfc crow of It.. Beautiful Star succßi'ded iv rescuing t'nc wimr.i. ' OimstuWc^ Stewart, aud Grey hearing of ilie occurrence, proceeded dowu the wbart, and took the woman, who was thpn in a semi-tincrinficious condition, to the hospital. Here she speedily recovered.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The uew Presbyterian church at Smith Dimedin, which was opeued on the llili inst., ia oaiiablo of seating 400 persons. Tho building, which ia of brick and cement with slate roof, ia s!)ft ill length and -U'ft Sit width. The wails are plastered) aud the ceiling, wiiich is uicely broken up, la diagonally lined with red pine, ;ni.l in fiuished with bold angle moulds aud cut f*cia ist the top of the plaster. The centre panels iv tho roof aro perforated for vuitiilation, and on the roof thore is a veutilatiug spirelet rising 82ft from tho ridge. This ia nictly worked upon, and is one of the outsido features of the building. Mr J. A, But-uuide was tho architect, and Messrs Crawford and Wf.ison t.hb conjrastors. The foundfttiou stove t.\-\s laid by Principal Rainy at tiio cud of August last year, so that the building has been pushed ahead as rapidly as possible. The railway revenue for tho first 40 woeks of the current financial year amounted t0£?03,774, as compared with £745,0(58 for tho corresponding period of ]Sj!S-3. The working expenses amouuted to £506,944 ns against £488,280 last year, absorbing 63 per cent, of tho receipts as apaiust C 5 per cent, the previous year. The passenger traffic shows au iucreasu of 129,457 persons (total, 2,4!)5,793); parcels ditto, au increase of £4678 (total, 308,014); live stock,

an increase of 43,381 (total, 082,773); goods, an increase of 00,502 tons (total, 1,537,109 tons). The mineral traffic ahoy/ed a decrease of 21,125 tons.

A very plurky action wai* performed on the afternoon of tho 6th by James Montgomery, 14 years of age, one of the pupils of the Albany street school. A number of tho pupils were at tho Policliet Buy baths, when » little fellow named Wilson fell into the v.ater, ft being high tide at the lima. A number of boys were undressed at the time, but tho suddenness of the occurrence appears to have unnerved them, aud noue of them offered to go to the assistance of the drowning lad. Kealising the position in au insiant, young Montgomery plunged in with all his clotbcu on and rescued the lad just iv time. It is to be hoped steps will by taken to make some recognition of the bravery displayed. H was a practical lesson of tho vr.lue of the Mviruining Ir.ssons ivhich the lads at the Albany street school receive.

The Wellington museum was broken into on a r3ceut night by sonio expert thieves, who appropriated oue of the most valusble collections of the iustikition — viz. tho gold aud .silver coinages and assortment of medals. Two glass show cases in which the coius aud med:»ls were displayed wore almost completely cleared. Some of the coins stolen are worthless except aa curio 3, inasmuch as they were simply casts gilded over to represent the original. The robbery seems to have been most cleverly planned. Nothing else but the cases described were in any way disturbed. Entrance was effected throngb n door at the back of the museum. The custodian of the museum did not hear any sound of the entry. The approximate value of the collection stolen is about £90.

After the Orangemen had preseuted their address to the Governors at Auckland duriug the jubilee celebrations, Grand Master Farrell (who is a city councillor) was waited upon by President White and the secretary of the Hibernian Society, who cordially shook hands with' him And expressed their concurrence with the sentiments contained in the Orangemen's address. Mr White further said that he was very much pleased at the largo assemblage of Orangemen, aud wished it to be understood that tho fueling of the Hibernians towards the Orangemen was ono of extreme cordiality, particularly on au occasion like the present. They were anxious that a feeling of amity should exist between the two societies. Grand Master Farrell said nothing had delighted him more than this expression of amity and goodwill, and he warmly reciprocated the good feeling shown towards his order by the Hibernians, and at the same time offered them his hearty congratulations,

Some relics which had been found at the Auckland Islands by the party who recently visited that locality in the Hinemoa have been ou view in the Wcliingtou Poat office, and have been identified by Kichard Macevoy, who was in the Derry Castle until she reached Melbourne, but received hi 3 discharge at that port immediately before she sailed on the voyage that led to her destruction. He recognises the cotton material as beiug that of a gay-coloured dregs which was worn by the vessel's cook in the festivities connected with "crossing the line" on the voyage to Australia, when he fulfilled the part of Amphitrite, the wife of Neptune. It is evident that in his extremity some member of the Derry Castle's crew had torn up the old costume and used the strips to lash himself to tho skylight to which it was found attached.

The N.Z. Accident iDsurance Company held its annual meeting at Auckland on 28ch ult. The report showed that £3000 had been capitalised, which increases their paid-upcapitalfrom £2000 to £5000, upon which latter amount a dividend of ! 2§ per cent, for the past year was declared. A vow of thanks was passed to the management.