SOCIAL AND GENERAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10240, 24 December 1894, Page 2

SOCIAL AND GENERAL.

PERSONAL. The Esy. F. Seth Eraitb, oE the'Oamaru Congregational Church, !aa resigned his charge, Sintl vacates the church in three montiis. We understand that Di? Charles Chilton is resigning the position of rector of tho Porfc Chalmers District His'u School —s position he faas filled for ever six years. It is Dr Chilian's intention to proceed shortly to the old country to study medicine, aad he will be leaving the colony tcr thi3 purpose early ccxi; year. "" 'Xhs ordination of Sir VI. H. Ash, who had received a call to the Rtweasbourno Presbyterian Church, took place at liiivensbonrae on the 11th innt. Dr Duniop preuirtcd upon the occasion, end there was a good attendance. The following members of the presbytery in addition to she chairman v/ere prfiOP.t : —'JChe Ke7S. A. M. FinkvEon, D. Bnnie, O. Dutton, and Dr %'atfc! i'he ohairmtiti preached the orclination EiaraoDj tskin^.tJai'tssii torn Horasna ii 9 13.

The Rev. D. Borrie subsequently addressed tbe minioter, and referred to the high office to | which to was called, and enjoined him to think i highly of it. The congregation were addressed by the Rev. A. M. Finlayson, who urged upon them to regard their minister in a special senße 'as the servant ef the Lord Jesus Christ, to rally I round him, and listen to him as one who had ' prepared himself as Christ's servant for their i sakss. I ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES. News has bean received by way of Te Anau ! that a roan uauwd Ratkbone, one of the roadj making party at Kilford Sound, died on Sunday, I 'He 2nd. liathbone was v resident of Westporfc, i where ha leaves a wifo and family. I A miraculous escape from death is reported ! from To Reinjra waterfall, Hawke's Bay. A | Maori while eel fishiag went near tbe edge and I yras carried over by tho current, failing fully 100 ft into the deep and boiling water beneath, .Ha was picked up unhurt saveforaiewbruiE.es. jOn the arrival on the 13th inst., at Gisborno. !of "the Monowai, from Auckland, it was reported ; liaaS at 1 a.m., when off Cape Runaway, a stssrage passenger, named John iSeehan oc I lVlcighan, booked from Napier to Sydney, | v/aa observed by a fireman to jump over- ! board. The alarm was promptly given, the ship stopped, aud a boat lowered, but after careful search the boat returned without finding any traco of the man. His effects consist of a swag covered with oilcloth, which I was handed to the collector of customs at I Napier, aad was found to contain, beyond I the ordinary outfiSj,a ticket of membership for the | New Zealand Shearers' and Labourers' Union, I Oamaru branch, and several addresses of wellknown sheepfarraers in the South Island. A number of tickets in a Melbourne Cap sweep were also discovered. Meehau had booked to Napier, but) is not known to hare any friends here. Charles Jacobs, a single man, living at Ekstahuua, was shot dead through his gun going off while he was getting through a wire fence. The remains of Mrs Schlitching, misaing sices the 28th September, were found in the bush near Rutherglen, West Coast. It is suppoced she died of exhaustion. A young man named AUporfc was found dead in his bed ia a boarding house at Inglewood on the 2nd inst. A young man, T. B. Evans, whoße parents reside near Christchurch, waa killed on the New Brighton tram line at 10.45 p.m. on the 14th inst. He was riding a bicycle, and in endeavouring to get between the rails after passing the tram he fell, either from his machine skidding ot twisting. He was close to tke horses, and before the tram could be pulled up they and the car went over him, disfiguring his face and mutilating his body. Death was almost instantaneous. At the inquest a verdict of "Accidental death " was returned. Three shearers crossing the River Tekapo, South Canterbury, were washed oil their horses I Two got ashore, much exhausted. The thir. landed with the horses on the Spit, mounted, and endeavoured to cross, aad was drowned. His name is O'Donald, aged 23, and his parents reside in Taranaki. A married man named George Elliot, a labourer, residing in Wellington, wasfouudhanging in a washhouee on the 27 eh ult. He had beea working recently at Levin on his own section, and it was not known that he had returned to Wellington till his body was found. He left a note in his pocket book declaring (hat his back was so bad he could not endure suffering any longer. * The body of William Moir, late puntman at Clydevale ferry, was on the 26th ult. found floating in the Clufcha river, 10 miles from i Balclutha. A maa named Burke, a gnmdigger, waa found dead in a whare, near Lake Takapuna, Auckland, one day in the beginning of the : | month. j A man nanißd Ashley was knocked over-1 board from the Auckland fUhing boat Night- j hawk, on the 27th ult., off Waiheke, and j ■ drowned. The body has not been recovered. [He leaves a wife and family in poor circumstances. The boat was making for Waiheke i Island. The night was squally, and tbe boom ! jibed and knocked Ashley overboard. A Native named Iwi was drowned at Whan--1 garei on the 28th nit. He and a companion had baen]drinking, and it is thought they were going homo. Iwi walked right ovsr the wharf and someone, hearing a splash, ran along and had hard work to keep the other Native from falling in. The body was recovered. John M'Leod, a single man, fell from his horse on the Taueru road, Masterton, on the 30th ult. and fractured his skull, dying before medical aid could be obtained. Two fatal accidents occurred near Ohingaiti, Wellington, on the 29ta ult. Jonathan Lake Hayns was bushfelling at Hautapu, when a tree fell across his body aad killed him. The other person killed was one 61'Sweeney,"at the cooperative works at Three-log Waara; he was killed by a fall of earth in a cutting. At Falmerstoa North a man named Moore was knocked down by the train from Foxfcon, and died in the hospital. He never recovered consciousness, and nothing is known about him. Robert Redman, a sailor, aged 20, belonging to the btigantine Defiance, was drowned while bathing at Te Kopuru, Auckland, on the 10th inst. The schooner Fleetwing, from Norfolk Island, lost her cook (C. Hsasen, a Norwegian) overboard off Norfolk Island. He fell overboard through the vessel giving a lurch. William M'Farlane, while working in a gravel pit at Stony Creek, was buried by a slip. He was extricated and brought to the Inver- i cargill Hospital, but on the 9th died from his injuries. Two men, named Thomas Rundelland Janv s Coles, were drowned near the mouth, of the Waiau river on the 10th inst. by the capsizing of the boat in which thoy were fishing for flonnders. Rundell was married, and leaves a wife and six children in Invercargill. Coles was single, and a saw mill hand, residing at Colac Bay. Both were good swimmers, but the water was rough. Constable Patrick Leahy, stationed at Strat- i ford, died in the train on the 4th inst. while on his way to Wellington. He had been in New Plymouth Hospital for some time, and latterly, his brain having given way, he wad committed to the Wellington Asylum on the doctor's certificate, and was being brought down by Constable Roche. He was very violent on the way, and died near Otaki. Constable Roche, who was in charge of deceased, said he at times became violent, but he and the assistants were careful not to hurt him. Leahy had complained of being overworked,* having several departments to look after besides his own duties as constable. The medical evidence at the inquest attributed the death to syncope from failure of the heart's action, accelerated by softening of the brain and violent struggling. The man could not have lived long, and Dr Tripe said he could not suggest that anything could have been done by theattendants in the train to save life. The jury retained a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony, and added a rider calling the attention of the Police department to the apparent overwork from which Leahy suffered, and which seems to require that further assistance bo given in such canes. A miner named Barratfc was killed in the Talisman claim, Karangah&pe, Auckland. jE. Biddick, a two-year-old girl, was found ; drowned on the 7th inst. on Kohimarama beach, j Auckland, 200 yds from her home. Hawthorne, the magazine-keeper at Mount Eden, Auckland, was found shot, with a bullet through his head. At the inquest a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane was returned. Dr Robertson stated that he had attended deceased, and regarded him as properly sane. A boy named Oliver Cromwell, aged 15, who with two other lads appear to have lived for the last nine months with Hawthorne, deposed that he had seen him sometimes drunk, buc always able to do his work. Stevenson, assistant magazine-keeper, said he had never seen deceased drunk or incapable in the 17 years he had known him. The jury returned a verdict of temporary insanity in spite of the protest of the coroner, Dr Philson, who said it was not in accordance with the evidence. A phial with a preparation of laudanum and half j a bottle of whisky were .found in deceased's room. The wife of James Moyle, aged 28, was drowned while bathing in a creek at Mirands, Auckland. She leaves a husband and three children. A man named George Marsh, aged 40, single, was killed whilst quarrying on Bluff Hill, Napier, on the 7th. He fall 100 ft, bringing a quantity of i earth down, and was partially buried in the debris. An examination showed that Marsh was dead, having broken his neck in the fall. At the inquest a verdict of "Accidental death" was returned, attaching blame to nobody. At an inquest held at Napier on the 7th inst. on Mrs Patrick Tyne, who died suddenly whilßt ! undergoing an operation under chloroform for the arrest of hemorrhage, performed by Drs Moore, Cleghorn, and Thomson, tbe medical evidence showed that the operation was necessary if the patient's health was to he restored, and it waa completely and caref all? performed. A verdict was returned of " Death due to •syncope," and entirely exonerating the doctors. About half-past 12 on the morning of the 7fch inst. a fire occurred in a two-roomed house in Christchurch, and waa attended withloss of life. The brigade cheeked the fire, and when the place ■was entered a body was £outtd in a chair —that iof a mfiU named A. B. Rl'Gnrr, a widower, from near Ashburton. C. Taylor was badly burned, and taken to the hospital, where he died at 9 a.m. on Friday. The place was occupied by T. Upton, a single man. He and the two man named and others were in the liouae during the night smoking and drinking. The building was uninsured. At the iaqueat the evidence showed that four mon — Upton (owner of the house), Wilkie, Taylor, and M'Girr — were all the worse for drink. The three former lay down on a bed, and Taylor lighted a match, I threw it down, and it sot the place on lire. All 'got ouChutiM'Ciirr, who was. evidently.for.

gotten by the others. The jury, after half an hour's consideration, returned a verdict that M'Girr met his death by the accidental burning oE the houss of Thomas Upton, and that the fire was caused by the inmates while in a state of intoxication. The coroner commented upon the fact that the foreiaau of the jury wns the licensee of a hotel, and recommended the police in summoniug a jury in cassa where a question of drink was involved not to place a licensee on the jury.

i About half-past 6 o'clock on the raoiniog of the 17fch Aristidea Verral Brown, a clerk in tbe National Bank at Mosgiel, committed suicide by shooting him3elE ie the head with a revolver. It appears that he was sleeping on the bonk premises, and at the hour mentioned he partially dressed himself and then went into tbe banking charaber for a revolver. Returning to his room,' he next bandaged his eyes witf.i a handI kerchief and discharged the weapou just above j the right ear, the bullet passing completely ; through his head. No reason can be assigned j for the dead. The deceased only went to Mosgiel about a week ago to act as relieving clerk. It is said that he was then somewhat despondent, but had been more chaerful since. He was about 21 years of age, and a son of the liar. William Panton Brown, now of E!m row, Dunedin, and formerly ot Waikaia. It will be rememberod that a brother of the decsased disappeared suddenly and somewhat mysteriously from Kiverton tome time ago, having, it was supposed, fallen or jumped into the estuary. At the inquest the verdicb was "Died from a gunshot wound seU-inflictsd whilst temporarily insane." James Grant was killed by a fall from his trap at Papakura, Auckland, caueed by the wheel breaking.

MISCELLANEOUS.

While a number of children were playing' about the Waverley jetty on the 15th inai. a little girl, 10 years of age, nsmed Annis, daughter of Mr Gabriel Hodges, of Eskvale street, South Dunedin, fell into the water, aud would in all probability have been drowned but for being pluokily rescu«cl by Mr Andrew Russell, bootaaaker, of Dowling street. Mr 1 Russell went down to the jetty with the object of vraitieg for the steamer, and noticing the child in tha water proceeded to divest himself of some -of his clothing. As, however, it | appeared that the child was in imminent peril he plunged into the water when he had only got his coat and eno of his boots off and swam I out to the littls girl, whom he succeeded in | gatting hold of just as she was on the point of ! drowning. The child, as soon as he reached her, clutched him tightly about the neck, and, not being a very good swimmer, he had considerable difficulty in getting ashore. Mr George Brown, who happened to be on the jetty at the time, seeing the difficulty he was in, rushed down the steps and assisted him to land. The little girl subsequently seemed none the worse for her immersion, and was able to walk home with her brother shortly after the mishap. A plucky rescue was effected at Waverley on the 14th inst. by a High School boy named George Baird, son of Mr Wm. Baird, carver. It appears that several small boya were playing on the jetty when one of their number named Coyle, aged seven years, fell in. The cries raised by his companions attracted young Baird, who rashed to the spot, end sseiog how matters stood plunged in without waiting to take off any of bis clothes. It was high tide, and the water was deep with a strong current running, and Baird had a stiff job with his almost unconscious burden. He, however, managed to reach the landing stage, and little Coyle quickly recovered, and was soon none the worse tor his ducking. A peculiar feature of the case is that the little fellow's father was one of fcho men drowned at the Waiau in the preceding week.