SOCIAL AND GENERAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10263, 22 January 1895, Page 2

SOCIAL AND GENERAL.

PERSONAL,

Commissioner Coombs, who has charge oi arrivf* ™1? At? 7 th«">B.hoJ!Lt Australasia, arrived in Danodin on tho sth instant. He was accorded an enthusiastic welcome, and beuig conducted to tho Army Barracks was introduced to a large number of per»onn. New -Zealaud has just recently been attached to Australia, and the commissioner is paying his first visit to the colony. He mot with cordial receptions at all the principal centres, where ha inspected the Army work in all its branches Lommisßioner Coombs, who has been connected with tho army for 19 years, was praotically the pioneer of the Array work in Canada. Foe six years past he has boon stationed in Australia, his headquarters being in Melbourne. His work is not only conlined to the spiritual aims of the Army, but ha also identifies himself very i largely.with the efforts it puts fprth for the amelioration of tho miseries of, the masses. When the depression in Victoria was at its Height, and the unemployed difficulty assumed a serious phase in Melbourne, he was associated with Sir Frederick Ssrgood and Dr Bsvan in dealing with the matter on behalf of the Government. Their efforts resulted in the streets being practically cleared of men seeking work, for hundreds were sent to different parti ot the country. The members of Parliament were so pleased that in order to mark their appreciation of the Army work they collected I on its behalf, by passing the hat round, during a sitting^ of the House no less than £400. | As showing the extent of the Army work in ! Melbourne, it might ba mentioned that the 3*l' oß recent'y Purchased, at a cost v-nr A' °* th° buildi?S erected by the x.W.UA., ana which originally cost £53,000. They have also opened there the largest rescue home in the world, while they have purchased 600 acses in Packenty»m, Gippsland, which they have converted into a form. To the Utter place are sent persons discharged from the prisons and others rescued from evil lives, and these are taught fruit growing and farming in its different branches. " ' The Royal Humane Society's certificate has been issued to Constable Broberg, recently transferred from Dunedin, for gallantry in rescuing a man who fell off the wharf. A young lad named John Kihau, aped 17 a pupil of Te Aute College, son of Mr Alfred Kihau and grandson of Mr T. Parata, M.H R , died at his grandfather's residence at Pukel terafei on Sunday morning, the 6th inst. The deceased was a great-grandson of the famous warrior Tuhawaiki, or " Bloody Jack," one of the best friends of the early settlers. The body was removed on Tuesday for interment to Ruapuke, where his ancestors lie Large numbers oE friends of the family aasembled at the house of his grandfather on Tuesday, where the "wail for the dead" was J^t- 0 *0™' 11?™! 1 *- Amone *■*> "Bitors was W h'w ?i> ?*. Rua Pake- £ wh° fou*nt in the Tlra autiß36 hla *"* °f NM? ***** Mr A Grant, who has been transferred from the position of district traffic manager in the tS. f eoti? n °I raUwal ß «o the management by th 6 A2? kll»nd tc% was entertained by the officers and employees of the Railway department at a valedictory social in Watson's Hotel on the 28th ult. There werebetween 50 and 60 present. Mr T. Arthur, who has succeeded Mr Grant as district traffic manager m punedjn, occupied the chair, and Mr E R Ussner (dmtriot engineer) and Mr J. X Loraii (superintendent of telegwphs), repressing other branches of the Government service, were vice-chairmen. The gathering included tepren^Ve^° E, e, Kailry, department from vT^ I P' llmer£ o?.' W»ik°Wi«. Balclutha, Port Chalmers, Staling, and »U the suburban stations, together with all the officers in Dunedro. Apologies were ma.de for the absence of Messrs Lubecfa and Orehiston. After™ sumptuous repast and after the health of the Queen had been honoured, the chairman proposed the toast of the guest of the evening and handed to him an address expressive of regret at his departure. Mr Grant, in the course of his reply, gajwj a resume of his connection with the railways for the past 21 years, and produced. a copy of the fitst time table which was isstwd in Otago, a copy of the first tariff of Charges, and the first copy of rules and regulations of the service. The toast of " Other Public Services" was proposed by Mr H. J. Day, pf Balclntha, and acknowledged by Messrs Logan and Ussher. Prior to his departure Mr Grant was met also by a representative gathering of commercial men. The Colonial Treasurer (the Hon. J. G. Ward) presided, and the H°U- eZ? n8' on behal£ o£ *c subscribers, presented Mr Grant with, a purse containing over 3.00 sovereigns. The death is reported of Mr Edmund Rogers, who held the position of Provincial Treasurer whoa Southland was reunited to Otago in 1870-71. When Southland was first disjoined from Otago it was decided to issue debentures, bat as all connected with the Government were in bli ß sful ignorance of the form which these should take the services ot Mr Rogers were secured as accountant, he having gained the experience during his connection with a flrm of stockbrokers in London Archdeacon Leonard Williams was consecrated as Bishop of Waiapu at Napier on Sunday. There were present: Bishop Cowie cf Anckland (acting primate), Bishop Mules of. Nelson, Bishop Julius of ChrKtchurch, and Bishop Wilson of Melanesia, and a large number of local and visiting clergy. The cathedral was crowded in every part, many extra seats having to be provided. Bishop Mules preached the sermon. In the afternoon a children's service was held, when the cathedral was again crowded, and the Bishop delivered an appropriate address. ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES. A fatal buggy accident occurred at Auckland on the 10th. While Mcs Pollan, wile, of a member of of the firm Pullan and. Armitage, was driving a four-wheeled buggy to a picnic at St. Helier's Bay, the horse bolted gaiug down an incline on the Mount Eden road. Mrs Pullaa was thrown out and cut and bruised. Mrs Arthur Woollatng and h«r daughter Nellie and Miss Hansen jumped out, while the horse with the H ap?,T oontain >ns three children, daughters of Mrs Woollams, galloped on to Auckland without injury, and was ultimately secured at the top of Wellesley street by a horseman. The. children stayed in the trap and escaped unhurt. Miss Hansen, who jumped out, died at the hospital duriDg the night of fracture of the skull. Mrs WooUmqb also received serious injury to her skull, and Miss Nellie WooUams was severely braised. At the inquest a verdict of "Accidental death was returned. Robert Douglas, who stopped the horse, displayed great bravery and presence of mind, and in all probability saved the three children in the boggy from being killed. He gallopad after the baggy for a mile till he overtook it, raced alongside the horse in the trap till stooping from the saddla he could clutch the reins, and pulled the animal up gradually in 200 yards before reaching the Wellesley street inoline, where tha trap must have capsized. The screams of the children in the trsp were pitiful, and the streets wers lined with people watching the episode and expecting a shocking catastrophe. Mrs Woollams remains in the same condition, but Mrs Pullan' and Miss Woollams are in a fair way to recovery. Nelson Miller, about 35, committed suicide at Napier on the 10th by shooting himself with a re*oWer through the right temple at Schierning's restaurant. Miller had been staying there since last Christehnrch raoes, and though inclined to gamble, was known as a sober man. No reason is assigned for the deed. A small sum of money was found in his pockets, together with a savings bank receipt for£s. The deceased was single. Maggie, a daughter of Mr Mason, of Kaiwaiwai, was spending a holiday at Maryborough, Wellington, and left a letter saying sha had committed suicide,and indicating where her body was to be found. An investigation showed that »he had tied a rope to a flax bush and round her neck and then jumped into the Ruamaliung river under the Waihenga bridge, thereby both drowning and_ hanging herself. When found on the 12th inst. she was dead, and showed signs of having struggled furiously and of having suffered terrible agony. It appeared at the inquest that the girl had been driven to death by groundless accusations implicating her honour which had been made against her. About a fortnight sines (writes our Coal Island correspondent) one Charles Meyers left the lower Wilson for the reof higher up the river, taking a Bhort out, and he has not been heard of sines. The miners turned out in a body and searched the bush for miles in every direction but without success, as not the slightest trace was found of Meyers. It is supposed that it ia a csse of suicide, as a charge of dynamite with fuse and cap attached is found to be missing from Meyejs's hut, and some of the men in the neighbourhood remember having heard a shot in the bush somewhere about the time he went missing. He was a German, and came from Lawrence, where he was long and favourably known. While at Coal Island he was a quiet, plodding miner, and wns highly respected. Nothing unusual was noticed about him except that he frequently complained of bafi luck and said that he would some day go away and they would never see him again. No notice, however, was taken of this, as most miners use such words when they are down on their luck without at the s^ne time having the slightest idea of committiDK suicide. ,

Georgo Smith, while engaged in quoit playing at Auckland on the 2nd, sat down and diod almost immediately. At tho inquest a verdict of " Death from heart disease " was returned. Mrs B. Bishop, au elderly l;idy, oq returning home at Now Plymouth with her husband from a concert between 10 and 11 o'clock on the night ot the Int. feeling ill, sat dovru on tho verandah of the police station, but Ixjfore medical assistance could be procured oho had expired. A kanaka nb' Auckland either fell or got knocked about, ib is acid, by larrikins on New Year's Eve, while in liquor. Ko was arrested (or drunkenness aud remanded to gaol for medical treatment, where ha died next day. At tha inquest a verdict wao returned of "Death from fracture of the skull, but that thora waa no evidence to show how the injury was received." The body of a woman was found in tho Avon, a milo below Christchurch ou the 3rd instant. It haa evidently been in tho water eight or nine days. The body has been identilied as that of Mis Selina Russell, wife of a marine engineer. She was deaf aud dumb, and subject to fainting fits. A sad boating fatality occurred at Pipiriki, up the Wauganui river, on the 3rd inst., when a boy named Archie Manson and a man named Alexander Weir were drowned by being capsized out of a canoe in a rapid. Weir was 26 or 27 years of age and a native of the Taiori district, Otago. Six others wore in the canoe at the time, but were saved. The body of a man was found on the road between Lyttelton and Christchurch on Sunday, 6th inst. It is considered to bethatof a workman named William Robertson, who arrived at Lyttolton on Saturday night by the steamer Queen of the South. Deceased was last seen alive at 6 a.m. on Sunday, when he left the boardinghouse where be stayed the night with the intention of goic£ to Chrisfcchureh. A amall strap was twisted tightly round the neck. The police consider he lias committed suicide. He appears to be about 35 years of age. and stands Sft 7in. A farmer named James Harvey died suddenly at Stirling on the sth instant. Death is supposed to have been due to heart disease., A Chiuaman named Man Hiug was killed at the Round Hill on the 3rd inst. Deceased was working along with his mates in what is known as the eight-men's claim, and was forking in the tailrace, when tfee sides subsided, causing a tree to fall which crushed him. Death must have been instantaneous.

Mr W. B. Allwright, late postrnastor at Lyitelton, committed suicide at his residence on the 6th instant by cutting his throat with a table knife. He retired ou a pension about two years ago, and waa 50 years of age. A widow named Janet Clarke, about 66 years of age, residing at Menzies' Ferry, was found dead in a paddock 200 yds from her house at 8 o'clock on the 6th inst. Dacsased, who was subject to fits, had been ailing lately. An accident oocurred at Port Chalmers at 4.30 p.m. Dn the Bth inst., whereby a young map named John Stephenson met with injuries which resulted in his death. Deceased waa engaged on the export pier shunting trucks with a horse, when by some means ho miesed his footing and one of the wheels of a truck went over his left thigh, almost severing it and injuring his right foot. He was immediately attended by Dr Cunninghame who, after alleviating his sufferings a3 much as possible, accompanied him to tho hospital by the 5.15 p.m. train. At the institution the amputation of one of his legs was deemed necessary, and just as the eperation was completed the yoting man died. ' A sensational suicide took place at Napier on the Bthiu6t.,the victim being George Howard, aged 33, one of the partners in a concern known as the Anglo-Americfin Soap Company, having its headquarters here. Howard was formerly a partner of Mr George Duncan, of the Survey Office here, bnS the partnership was dissolved three moaths ago. Detective Kirby arrested Howard ou tha Bth on two charges of forging Duncan's nauia to two cheques for small amounts. Howard, who was in bed in the hotßl at the Spit, dressed and accompanied the detective in a cab to town, appearing to take the affair very nonchalantly, smoking and chatting affably all the way. Just outside the police station Kirby got out i of the cab, and on turning round saw that Howard bad n small blqe bottle to his lips. Kirby dashed the bottle to the ground and struck Howard a smart blow on tho back of the neck, with the result that a quantity of liquid in Howard's mouth was shot out. The detective examined the bottle and found that it had portion of a prussic acid label on. In the meantime Dr Moore, who resides close by, was sent for, and arrived within a few minutes. Howard, however, yras in a state of coma, and, despite restorative "measures, died in about two hours. On searching him at the station another full bottle of prussic acid was found upon him. He was a widower, but leaves two daughters, aged nine and seven. Little is known of him here, where he has resided about a year, but it is understood that he came from America. It was known that he was in financial difficulties. He had been on a severe drinking bout, and it issurraised that ho went to bed at the hotel with the view of taking the poison. Thomas Brankin, fireman, fell between the steamer Mamari and the wharf at Auck-

land on the 14th inst. The body was recovered, but life was extinct. It is supposed that it struck the stringers. Deceased's mates state that he was quite sober. At the inquest a verdiot of " Accidental death" was returned. The evidence showed that death was partly caused by (striking the wharf ia falling from the gangway and partly by submersion.

A man named William Kewish, a carpenter, died suddenly on the 26th ult. at his residence, Mailer street, Mornington. For some time btxfc he had been 6ubjcct to fits of vomiting, and when he rose at 6 a.m. on Boxing Day he complained of a giddiness of his head. He consumed a seidlitz powder and partook of some wheafcmeal porridge, but was shortly afterwards attacked with a lit of purging and vomiting. In the afternoon he drank some tea, bat as he continued to complain of feeling unwell medical aid was summoned, the decease! expiring, however, 10 minutes after the arrival of the doctor, to whom he »aid that the seidlitz powder had poisoned him. The symptoms of his illness were consistent with the suggestion of irritant poisoning, but an analysis by an expert and a post mortem examination revealed no traces of poison. The deceased had been lately in a melancholy frameof mind. He was 58 years old, and leaves a wife and family. A verdict of " Death from natural causes " was returned at the coroner's inquest, .

A police constable named Andrew Johnston, who h*s been stationed in Dunedin for the past four months, committed suicide on the 27th ult. by shooting himself. The deed was committed in the Botanic Gardens close to the pathway leading up the hill towards Opoho. Tha attention of visitors to the gardens was attracted by the reports of shots being fired, and when tbe deceased was picked up it was found that he had a bullet wound over the region of the heaefc. Death muot have been jnstantaneouß. Alongside the body was a six-chambared revolver, two chambers of which were empty. The deceased had been transferred into the police force from the permanent artillery at Lyttelton, and I'ricr to his enrolment among the ranks of the latter he was employed in a grocery store in the Wailtato district. For some time past he haß been acting so peculiarly as to convey the impression that his mind Was unhinged. A departmental inquiry waa to have been held oa the day on which he shot himself respecting some trivial breaches of discipline that tho deceased was j alleged to hava committed but he did not pub in an appearance, and shottly afterwards Inspactor Pardy was informed of his death. He was 28 yews of aga and leaves a wife and three children—the eldest of whom is eight years old—residing off Lower York place. The verdict of tho jury at the inquest was that the deceased died from j a wound tolWnflicted whilst temporarily insane. !

A fatal acoidenfe occurred iv Weka Pasa, Canterbury, on the 28th ult. J. Brown was taking a traction engine down a long incline whsn the brake gave way, and the engine rushed down to the bottom of the incline, ran up the bank, aud turned completely over. Brown and the steersman escaped with cuts and bruisae, but of three men in the truck drawn by tha e;igmo, one named Daniel Murphy was terribly injured about the head; and died a r,hort time afterwards. Another named Joseph Burbery waa seriously injured, and wa3 brought down to the Christchareh Hospital. Murphy was s single man, belonging to Melbourne.

The sudden death of a bridegroom is reported from Auckland. Mr H. J, Austin w%s mar.ieJ to Miss Winnie Murray, of Hituilton, on tha 20th ult., and after the ceremony they proceeded to New Lynn on their wedding trip. About 2 a.m. on the 23rd Mr Austin went into what hie wife believed to be a fit, and being strangsre in the place, and the oniy occupants of the house, the young wife wa3 iv a sad plight. However, as soon as daylight dawned, Mrs Austin proceeded to the nearest neighbour's for assistance, and a doctor was telephoned for from Auckland. Shortly after Dr Walker arrived and pronounced life to be extinct, death having tikeu place, in his opinion seesral houra before, from heart disease.

A young man named James Dnnnwas fatally wounded on the 29th alt. at Coromandal. Four members of the rifle club wen) practising ball firing.* Boswell had the gun fall cuck, just ready to fire, when Dunn asked him for a cartridge. Boswell turned to give the cartridge, holding the rifle in his loft hand. The charge exploded, the ball striking Dunn on the right aide. He died in the hospital two hours later.

Mrs Reynolds, wife of a publican at, Ngahauranga, Wellington, vra3 found dead in bed at 4 a.m. on the 11th inst. She h.-.d spoken to her husband two hours before, complaining of a headache, but refused to have a doctor, thinking it waa merely a temporary indisposition. She was well known on tho Y/est Coast of the South Island, where siie resided for some, jears with her husband.

A boy named Jeffrey Hand, nged two yearn, was accidentally ehot by George Hand, Vi years, at Hillmorton, Canterbury on the 31st ult. Tbo elder boy was plnying with a gun, which exploded, the charge lodgiug in the side of tha little fellow, killing him instantly. llobert a son of Mr James Carson, Rnfield, was drowned whila bathing in toe Kakauui, near Incholme, on the 30th ult. Tho body wai found in a pool of water by Mr A. M'Don°.ld. Deceased, who was 20 years of age, left his parout3' residence at 10 o'olock in the moruiag, and was not esou again until the body wao recovered. George Robinson, an old Skippers miner, was travelling from Skippers to Maori Point on the 26th. ult. after dark, when hs walked over a cliff about 1000 ft high, and after falling a distance of soma 700 ft landed in some bushes. About 30Qffc from tho top his hat was found, nnd 150 ft further down his handkerchief. Tho rest of the distance was through scrub, during his passage through which the side was torn out of one of his Wellington boots. Robinson remained in this place till 7 o'clock next morning, when he waa discovered by some man who were working on the other side of the river and heard his crieo. He received a fracture of his left collar bone and some fearful cuts on tho

A nine-year-old boy, the son of Mr W. Currio, of Hyde, was accidentally drowned in the Taieri river at Hydo on the 30th ult, The body was recovered,

A oad fatality occurred at Wesfcport on the 25th ult. George Timatu Thompoon, aged 22, a clerk in the Colonial Bank there, waa drowned while bathing with two others in the Bullet river. He was a, fair swimmer, bub was observed to sink suddenly. Efforts were made fen rescue him, but they were unsuccessful. The body wss recovered after nearly three hours' immersion, but attempts to restore animation were ineffectual. The deceased came to Westport from Queenstown. Hia frienda reside at Timaru. A youog man named Brown, who was injured by a bull at Mr Boag's farm. Canterbury, on the 22ud ult., died in the Christchurch Hospital on the following Monday afternoon. John Cultinfjham, a letter-carrier, 35 years of age, while using carbolic acid as a gurgle at Auckland ou the 26th, swallowed some of the liquid, and died from the effects. At the inquest a verdict of "Accidental death" waa returned. The body of a. man named Delaney was found on the 26th ult. beneath the new railway bridge at Makakahi, on the Eketahuna-Woodfille line. It is thought that he must have fallen oft' the bridge, as tha body was badly smashed. The body of Denis M'Cartby, about 60 years of age, and a resident of Wellington, was ■ found on the Kaiwarra Beach on the 27th ult;, It had not been in the water for any length of time. M'Carthy left hi» home between 8 and 9 o'closk the previous night in good health and spirits, and it is supposed that he fell over the reclunwtion wall in the darkness and was drowned. Wheu the body was found in tha morning there were some cuts on the face, but I these were probably caused by contact with the ! rocks. Hugh Muller, aged 19 years, an apprentice on the b»rquo Silverstream, fell from, the mizzen truck of that vessel at Lyttelton to the deck on the 27th ult. He was attended by Steffi-surgeon Beattie, of H.M.S. Royalist, and Dr Pairmau, of Lyttelton, who found his leg to be broken above the ankle and the bone protruding. Muller, who was greatly shaken, was removed to tha casual ward, where he died. When deceased struck the deck the legboue gouged a hole 31n long and lin deep out o£ the deck plank. A fatal accident happened on the railway line on the 25th to a m»n named John Boyle, foreman to the meu who discharge coil out of tha coal trucks at the Gasworks. At about halfprnit 5 p.m. he, in company with three or four cf hie companions, was proceeding along the north end of the passenger platform at the Dunetlin railway atatiou. Ou reaching a certain point of the platform the party took & short cut across the goods-yard in tb.3 direction of the signal man's box, instead of going by way of the proper crossing provided by the department. Shunting operations wore being carried on at the time by two trains working in opposite directions. After one of the tr.iins passed where they were standing, the men went to walk across the line, but apparently did not hear the engine coming in the opposite direction. This engine struck Boyle, who is & little dull of hearing, the cowcatcher carrying him along for a distance of about 20' yard;), and rolling him over several times. He was pioked up in an unconecioua condition, and it was subsequently discovered th»t he had sustained n fracture of the left thigh, and, also a fracture of the left foro arm. He waa promptly attended to by the Railway Ambulance Corps, and conveyed to the hospital, where be received immediate surgical attention from the house Burgeon bat he remained in a state of unconsciousuess from tha

time at which he was admitted until 4 o'clock

next morning, when he died. If; was stated that the men hud no right whatever to be where they were, and were warnod by one of the shunters about crossing the line just prior to their doing so, but on the other hand they declared th&t they were on the Stuart street crossing. At the inquest a number oE witnesses were examined. Among these John Boyle, a cabinetmaker, identified the body on view as that of hia father, who was boru in Limerick, and had been 20 years in the colony. The deceased was a labourer, working st the gasworks, and resided in Leith street. The verdict was that deceased was "Accidentally killed by coming into contact with a railway engine." The jury added a reconameudation to tha effect that the railway crossing over Stuatt street s&ould be ia charge of a signalman up till the arrival of the Christchurcb express on holidays and special occasions. The body of a man named Carl Carlson wea found floating in the harbour at Port Chalmers on the 27th ult., at'9.3o a.m:, between the coal hulk Cincinnati and the Bowen pier. The deceased was last Been alive between 10 and 11 o'clock on the previous night, when Henry White, one of the crew of the steamer Poherua, saw him on the Bawen pier. After the body had been removed to the morgue it waa found that there was a wound about an inch long over the left eyebrow and another wound of about the same leDgth on the side of the head. A medioal examination showed that these wounds wore received snteoedent to death, and it is suggested that the deceased wa3 in the act of goiug on board the hulk when he missed his looting and fell into the harbour, striking against some object which caused the wounds. The deceased had been for the pas'o 14 years in the employ of tho Uniou Sfcfiam Ship' Company as uight watchman; end' had had the sobriquet of "Charlie the Watebrnan" bestcwod upoa him. He was a native ot Norway, and was I about .46 years of s'ge.. He was known to be a ■ very sober nun. An,inquest was held, at wheh tho jury returned the following .yetdiot :—" That deceased waa found drowned, but there ia no!: sufficient evidence to show how deceased got into the watev." The jury recom- i mended that ail gangways be provided with a netting, and that the railway authorities ba j requested to light the wharves as formerly. Fred Hedge, an/.elderly mau, well known some years ago us a croas-couutry rider and trainer, was found drowned at Timaru ou the 13th inst. The deceased had besu hardup and despondent for some time pswt. At tho inquest a verdict of ''Fouud drowned " was returued. There waa no evidence to show how Hedge got into the w»ter.

I A sad boating accident happened in Wellington harbour, off Njjaliauranga, on the 24th ult., resulting iv the loos of two lives. It appsars throe men, named Harry Stirlisg, Fredk. Simmonds, and Walter S. Ballatyne, left in a small boat to fish off tha spot where ths aecii detib occurred. Oa reaching there the Bail wag lowered. The boat's anchor foaled, and in endeavouring to remove the obstruction. all three were standing on one side, when suddenly the boat capsized and sank. The mast, with sails, became detached, and to this Stirling and Simmondsi held, while Ballatjna struck out for the shore, a quarter of a mile distant. After swimming about 300 yards Ballatyne was gradually becoming exhausted, and turning round saw the other two disappear, and he himself v?a3 almost done when picked up by a boat which {mi off from the shore. Stirling wag only receutly discharged from the hospital, having been injured ou the stsamer Grafton four months ago, and vros a single maa. Simmond3 v;as chief storcm&n with the Loan and Mercantile Ageacy Company, and leaves & wife and two children. Ballatyne, who was rescued, formerly lived st Pnketapu, Hawke's Bay. ?.It h. Bortrh, ot the firm of Aehby, Bergh and Co., ironmongers, Chriscchuroh, was drowsed at Sutnuer on the 7th icsfc. while bathing-in the surf. He leaves a widow and family. The deceased was well known and had many friends.

Lawrence Gosling died in tha Wellington hospit.il on tiie 2-Hia ult. from injuries received in a scuffle on the wharf 13 days previously. "William Thumbs, labourer, is in custody on :i charge of inliiuting grievous bodily harm on Gosling.

A man was found doad between four and five miies from Waifcaki North on the 12th inst. oi the Wuihao road, below the railway lino. He is supposed to have come from Oamaru, and was seen about Waifcaki ou the 10th. Hij name is supposed to be Thomas Sullivan. At tha inquest ovideuce was given that certain injuries which were found on the man's body could not have been self-inflicted. Foul play is therefore su'paeted.

George M'Neal, aged 19, son of the lighfchouso keeper at Cape Egmonfc, was found on the 12th insb. with a gunshot wound in hiß head. From the position of the body ?,nd the gun it appears that going through tuo bush he got) entangled in a supplejack, and to save a fftll propped the gun in front of him, recsiving the charge fall in his forehead.

A boy named Cowpat jumped off a tramcar while in motion at New Brighton, Christchnrch, oa the morning of the 19th. He fell, and the car passed over his left arm and leg, ctU3hiug both b&dly. Both limbs were amputated, but the .boy died at the hospital at 10 o'clock afc.nigh.t,.

Joseph Edge, a married man with a lar^n family, was killed at Whangarei, Auckland, on the 17th by a tree falling on him. It waa two hours before be was extricated. His thigh was broken, and he ouot&iued other injuries which ended fatally. A pad drowning acoident occurred in H.iwke'a Bay on tho 17th. A party of young ladies went for a picnic on tho binka of the Tutaekuri river, and three of thram —Myra Cunningham, Ella M'Voy, and Hath I'oster—weut in to bathe. Soon Miss Cunningham got out of her depth, and Miss M'Vay weut to her assistance, but herteif gob into trouble. Miss Foster weut after Miss M'Vay, but finding that she was also getting beyond her depth turned, and jast managod to reach the shore in an exhausted condition. Horcries had called the attention of some lads, one of whom—Frank Glover —went to the nsaistance of the other young ladies. He managed at great risk to himself to save Miss M'Vay, who struggled wildly, and Glover might have been drowned had not another boy named Fred. Smith gone to his assistance. Miss Cunningham was drowned and her body was not recovered, for an hour and a-half afterwards. She was a daughter of a former runholder of lioburn, new R&ngiora and Fohui, Hawke's Bay. Glover has been recommended for the Royal Humane Society's medal. As some girls were bathing in the Msitai river, Nelson, on the 17th, two got boyond their depth and were drowning, when their cries attracted a young man named Fred I'oole, who jumped in. The girls clung to him and he experienced a narrow escape, but managed to struggle ashore with, one girl, and two other man arriving tha seoond girl was also saved, but had a narrow

escape. A serious accident happened on the 17th to Mr J. Ji Moynihan, the well»known Westport

solicitor. He was riding along the Nine-mile road with Dr Willis when his horee bolted. Dr Willis on coming up near Moynihan's horse found it riderless, and returning the doctor found IMoynihan lying beside the road, having been thrown off his horse. The injured gentleman was conveyed to town, when an examination revealed a serions injury to the spine. The sufferer lies iv a critical condition. A gloom has been cast over the.town by the occurrence, as Moynihan is popular with all classes. A girl named Messer, who was drowned while bathing at Ngaire, Taranaki, was suffocated iv mud at the bottom of a dam. She dived into the dam in view of those on the bank, but never rose to the surface.

John Welch, while working on. the side of the road near Makara, Walliugton, on the 15th, was struck by a large boulder and killed.

George Calloway fell dead while hay-making at Canvastown,' near Havelock on the 16th.

A man named Thomas Getting committed suicide at Msrlborough Town on ths 15th. He borrowed a razor iroca a tent-mate in tha morning to shave, and was found in the evening with his throat cut. No reason is assigned, but he had been drinking heavily.

Jame3 Bird, labourer, committed suicide by hanging himself on the cross-beam of an outhouse in Auckland. -No oause is assigned. He leaves a wife and grown-up family. At the inquest, a verdict was returned that the decsaaed committed suicide whilst temporarily iimuo.

At 9 o'clock on the 17th inst. a Mrs Ellen M'Gee, who resides with a Mrs Ruche in York place, reported to Constable Davis that her four-montbs'-old child had been murdered. The constable accompanied the woman to the house,. and sent for Dr Stenhouse, who on arrival pronounced Ufa extinct. Ha was unable to account for the cause of death, but thought that the child had been overlaid. Mrs M'Gee said she left Mrs Pinciio'o house at 7 on the previous night for the purpose of going to the Salutation Hotel for bser. She returned shortly afterwardß, when Mm Finohe handed her the baby and said, "Here yon are; the little —— won't trouble you much longer." She put the child to bed, and when she woke afc 5 o'clock on Thursday morning she found it dead. She could not Bay whether the child was dead when it was handed to her on the previous night. At tha iuquest the verdict was: " Died from natural causes, but it is probable that proper care exercised by sober people would have saved ths life of the child." The jury did not find criminal negligence.

Mrs Rose, wife of Mr G. H. A. Roae, of Taradale, died suddenly on the 23rd ult., as a result, it ia presumed, of taking a dese of prusssc acid. For same tima past the deceased had been in low spirits consequent on tho destruction by fire of jier home, accentuated by the fact that a day or two after that occurrence she was thrown out of the buggy, receiving injuries to her head. The deceased leaves no children.

Our Lawrence correspondent writes that an acsidsnt happened early on the 14-th inst. by which the lives of two men were lo3fc. It appears that the men wera goiug on to work their shift on the Tuapeka Gold Mining dredge, now dredging on the Molyneux river, just below Edie and Kirkpatrick's claim, Hursesaoe Beod. To get on board' the dredge, which is on the west side of the river, they had to cross the river by a boat attached to a wire rope. The men were heard by the manager (Mr M'Clellaud) going to the boat, and soon afterwards he heard one of thpin cry out to tha other to keep steady, or something to that effect. Mr M'Ctellaud .jumped out of bed to see what had happened, but was only just in time to see the body of one of,the men sink, the other having already disappeared. Ths boat by some means capsized and threw the occupants into the river, and anyone knowing the force of the current in the river will easily realise that the chances of escape were very small. The bodies up to the present have nob been recovered. One of the unfortunate men was Thomas Beaumont,, who leaves a widow and young family, and the other was John Robertson, a young man, unmarried, son of Mr Alexander Robertson, storeman in Messrs Herbert and Co.'s, of Lawrence. The sad occurrence bas cast quite a gloom over the district, and much sympathy is expressed for the relatives of the deceased.

Alfred Williams, a labourer, was drowned while bathing in the Upper Selwyn river, Canterbury, on the 31st ult.

MISCELLANEOUS,

A Royal Commiasion to inquire into the working of the tariff will bo appointed at once, and will bu composed of the Hon. W. J. Steward, Messrs W. Hutchison, M'Gowan, Stevene, Tanner, Duthie, and T. Mackenzie, M.H.R's. With tho exception of Messrs Datuie ami Mackenzie toe members are all in favour of Protection.

Tho total output of coal irom the Westport and Greymouth mines for the year ending 31st December 1894 was as follows:—Westpoit, 215,572 tons ; Greymouth, 119,461 tons.

The arrivals in the colony during December were-2057, and the departures 15M. The net gain for the year was 2357, against 10,412 for 1893. , . .

Mount Cook h&s at last bsen conquered. We received on the 30th nit. the following gratifying telegram from Mr T. C. Fyfe, of Timaiu :— "Messrs Graham, Clarke, "and Fyfe topped Mount Cook from Hooker Bids oa Christmas Day." In a telegram i;o Bfe¥ Malcolm Koss Mr Fyfe states that the ascent wag made via Green's Saddle, the time from the Hermitage being 15 days. We congratulate Mr Fyfo and his party on thnir sucaess, after their longoontiuusd efforts and despite many failurea. It was on the sth of November last that Messrs Dizon and Malcolmand Kenneth Ross met at the Fairlie Creek Junction, ap.d were joined by Mr Fyfe, and eventually by Mr Matheson. How they failed has been alrsady recounted in oar columns. Mr Malcolm Boss and Mr Matheson hid to return to their duties, but the others, reinforced by Mr Graham, determined to try again, and tho story of that failure just as the party were on the paint of being successful has been told by Mr K. Ros), who, with Mr Dixon, had to return home. Mr Clarke then joined the party,-and, as intimated abova, succeeded on Christmas Day on reaching1 tha highest poiut of Aorangi just in' time to nnatuh the honour from Mr Fitzg6rald (of tho English Alpine Club) and his Swiss guide, who has got together a party to scale the peak.

The estates of 27 deceased persons were placed in the Public Trust Office. The largest estates were tiioie of Charlaa Walter Hill, Christchurch, £3S00; James Soes, Tokomairiro, £2100; William Ferguson, Waikomiti, Auokland, £520 ; Robeit Forbes, East Invercargill, £300 ; George Wedmaier, Birmingham, £200 • James Cockbill, Duffers, £110 ; John Luko Haiue3, Hautapu, £100.

A little boy naiuad tStetit was pluckilv rescued from drowning by a son of ths late Mr Barnes on the afternoon of the 16th. The little fellow was playing about the Pclichet Bay floodgates, and, losing his balance, fell into the -water, which is about Bft deep iv that locality. Young Barnes, who was passing at thu time, heard the screams of the child's companions, ami plunged in, dived after tha youngster, and brought Mm ashore. Mr Gibb, the ht.tha caretaker, attended la the lad, and sent him home not much the worso for his dip. But for youug Barnes's pre-snee of mind and prompt assistance the matter might have ended fatally, and ha i 3 deserving of the highest praise for his conduct.