OtTR AUSTRALIAN LETTEE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11277, 22 November 1898, Page 6

OtTR AUSTRALIAN LETTEE

(From Oue Own Correspondent.) : ;;.'-■ '•■'■ MELBOURNE, November 15. THE QUEENSLAND BANK DIRECTORS. The trial of the Queensland National Bank directors ended, properly enough, in an acquittal. Not that plenty grievous, if not : :' criminal, errors were not proved against the bank management. Some of the principal of these are thus stated in a press review of the case: Interest was charged and treated as a good debt on inoperative accounts long after the exhaustion of the security; securitieswere often inadequate or non-existent; the : actual cost of remitting money to London -,""■ to pay off alarmed depositors was not charged to working expenses, but to a contingency .. account, the profit shown being to a corre- , sponding extent fictitious; when the bank ■ ■ sold tlie Queensland Government stock at a loss, the amount of the loss was not charged' to the profit and loss account, but to the con- ':,,•'. tingency account; when the balance dates drew near recourse was had to "the jugglery ': of "window-dressing"—that is, to borrow- ; ing for a day or two in order to augment the :." cash.reserves figuring on the.balance sheets; : . ; bad and doubtful debts were charged to contingency account instead of to profit and loss '■'account; to complete a new issue of shares ■■:■. 'a-considerable number were placed in the ;•■'■''-:-names of directors to be held in trust for the bank, and the • public were assured that the • Tissue had been fully; taken up. This is; a * pretty long and serious catalogue of acts ;: -which if they had been proved to have" been done with knowledge were criminal. But the ' case against the directors broke down on this point: .The evidence failed to show that tho .;..". directors; were personally cognisant of the ;V .They placed their faith in the general :■', manager. That gentleman is dead, else it !i';""'. may be supposed he would have suffered a. bad quarter of an hour. A civil action may lie ''•■'.- «ainst the dirsctors for their negligence, but 'A tf > cannot be held criminally responsible. i.:'-:'A.QU*ESTION OF PRECEDENCE.^ ••';-.• Admiral Pearson, the gentleman who, stood >.\- upon.his dignity.at Lyttelton, has-been en- ,' .gaged in the same exhilarating-pastime in ''■':■'. Melbourne. At.the mayor's great November ' 9 banquet, there was no-admiral to reply to i;,: the toast of "The Navy," which had to, bo '; /passed in silence. '. The trouble arose over the /'.question :of precedence. This disputable ;■•;*' "point was settled by the Home autiiorities- '?.\':- some time ago in this way—that the admiral !i;.; should 'rank next to the. Governor.. of:, the ■;,; colony, in which he is for the time being resi-"- ''.'■'..'■ dent. Thus in entering the Melbourne Town. .■■■'"Hall to take, seats, at the banquet Admiral; "/Pearson would have been entitled to follow ) '^;li6rd;Brassey and to precede tho visiting vv'. Governors (of whom; being Melbourne Cup ,V ,;: time, there, were three). So much was recog-, :.- ■■'. nised-and conceded. 'But where the mayor ■;':--unwittingly fell into error —that is, accord- ■ ing'to Admiral .Pearson—was in compiling '■! ~ the. toast .list..l He. placed'" The. Navy" be'; '■• '/'■ low " The Visiting Governors "—thus ■ com- > polling, Admiral Pearson to follow instead.of ■>■! .precede. And when the admiral was sent 'a ;. toast list the night before the banquet for. : his information, he took umbrage, and sent !*. Mr Mayor a'polite intimation that he must. '-.'■■::.■ stay 'away '■ '._ '■"■ '",; ■," ' • ' ' '.- ~-',> v; o^;; BUBONIC PLAGUE BACILLUS. !''r The Victorian Board of Health has made 'i':-\: .itself somewhat .ridiculous over the bubonic vv'v--,plague, microbes!, which it.has seized with v" /"much'theatrical effect in the country town ';■': > ol'Macarthur/ Dr Haydon, who has had the i'[. ;! microbes in his possession, •is an eminent .;/.'■ physician rbacteriologist;, wlio. . Avas senti'V'; i .out' • 'by the ij.Government from: EngV •>J jland; to India especially to deal :^V\with"-'the bubonic plague, and! deviso; ...;^ means, for ,checldng its progress. After>a 12 a ' vmonths'.Btay in India at this work, Dr Hay!?:',{don came to Victoria,, and went on a visit *:..-.. lio/;his-brother,;,v/ho ; .is in., practice .at Mac-' '?.'!■ * arthur.. He brought tlie microbes with, him, ■ '/■• .iandwhen he arrived in July he showed theni 'J: " to,-the officers ;of the Board of Health, iufs; eluding Dr Gresswell, the ■ chairman. ; .Be S-:, gave Dr Gresswell also much valuable infor-.;»'-.:-'.mation' about the plague, and.the best means fe;V of coping with it -if lit should ever arrive' in. ?:£?:',the colony. No objection was then made to y;;; his retaining tho microbes. '. ■ /;: . ,; ;What ,'roußed Hhe Board of Health to its '&;! 'present: action was the' news of the Vienna ', /outbreak, whichj according to the brief cable ,;/:.:. -.account, arose" as the result of some expori- ;^ >'. mehting >vith the plague: germs. : Dr Gress-iVC-well got it into his head that Dr Haydon's ■^■.'i.'-. microbes might j; in some. mysterious way? injV:- ;■■ feot 'Victoria, ''and he grew hysterical on tho S; f question.... .A .detective, and a doctor ware j"'.; packed off instanter to Maearthur; Dr Hay';>.J:don's/ treasures, were .seized .sans ceremonio; jr, and, .having been boiled for an hour and ».;J,> a-half in. a, steriliser, with .liberal applications '.-■;:..;■ of ;kerosene, are now considered scotched." ■}.-.;.;.';:-.What DrvEaydon says ■ is. that a great mia■jC\ "take,has been made,in destroying them'. He ''v; kept .them alive and cultivated them'"solely:/,S;>,'.'mth;the view :of. .their being useful, as. aii t ;..' /. antidpte in viewibf an outbreak.l AVhile'they J-.,"1 existed in Victoria, Victoria; had the antidote' ■"fi./.atjhahd for immediate Use.' Npw.1-they: are' i/;.V;:.gone 'the public safety, -is so mnoh the more, r/f.i.endaiigered. One of the great dangers to. be : : :Wvffeare<l'is'lfrom-.rats, whioli.ore' a great agency ,ib''-.'; ; for spreading the plague, and if some of these ;';;T got," off'ships into Victoria the consequences *';;.V might.lre very, serious.".-: He kept his midrobiis I'Viin close captivity in sealed tubes; and as they the fruits of his 12 months' work* .; j',v■-.'; intjlndia he. claims jcompensation, ■'. from the S. ■:Government for. their destruction. ■ KJiY'V. Dr.. 'Greßswetl undoubtedly acted with J'.:^.- ■hysteric liaste. ,; The microbes were evidently ;%;!;<;valuable for preventive purposes, and some >:";; arrangement could have been come to with >;!i';. ;• Dr; Haydon_ to hand them . over to. the . uni-, ijdiversity, medical -authorities, for safe keeping; sijC'vlt'-.is ridiculpuii. ■to suppose that the . plague p-i'was:to bo.s'tarted "from microbes kept in ite.jvsealed tubes. The only "precaution necessary '};;.:t,"was to see that;they were kept there. '■ &&> ■■'•AGNAIL-IN Tim , ■' ' ' "'■ ■■.t.j"j,>'-7A';..woman, died"in Kew;Asylum, the other .-tJ,' day who was-found, as the'resultof the post ;'.;- : ;/ ; mortem' examination, to have a nail firmly §;«;;;.'amhedded. in her, skull and penetrating tho .!■-.;' .-.actiiaJ.'brain matter to the extent of a quarter ■^..;-; -of .an.inchi.V It. was a bootmaker's.cloiit, over ■V'r;>)Whioh..the hair; had grown arid the skin ii:''y; i f6rmed. .No one had ever, dreamed—not 'l[ i.v.eyan; the wo»an herself^that such a thing s-;i existed; and,' stranger still, it was cohclu- ;;.;}:■:■ sively; shown ] that the .existence of the nail !.V:-,:-.t. in the brain had no connection with the cause '~••':of her insanity, -which, arose from ordinary ?-; ;!...: joftening of the brain. : She had been itv,the ;;.; r;rinstitution foi 14 yeavs—a' quiet, harmless i';':;'!lunatic.;Howi ,the accident'happened. itp: is - '^hard'to conjecture, but from the position of y:-;'.'; the nail' it: is most probable that. she had ,'?" fallen backwards heaviiy, the top of her head ;■>'''striking'.: a- ; nail that lay. upturned ' on-. the I '' ; V.';. floor. Rendered nncoii'scious hy ,the-shock, :' :'.; jt-. js most likely that the sufferer came to :V- .believing "that she hnd only sustained a scalp ;; ..wound,. and,: not consulting a medical man, :■•;■:'.'allowed-the nvbuud to heal and the skin1 to '■:■':*:. close,over the head of the nail. The injury •s*..;:must.have hajiperied long prior to hcriadmis--r •"';,• ipn tb J;he "asylum. ■ ' ':--C)M DEATH UNDER CHLOROFORM. ;, John Russell, a labourer, has died under I, >'.';.chloroform, in the Launceston Hospital, in '. -somewhat curious circumstances. He was ;,;!<.'-. suffering from a -tumour'of .'abnormal, size, ; - -and during tn-elve months' stay iri the hos-. ':,; r pital .had been three times under chloroform. 'v'.'■;' Pa Thursday last an operation, for .. ;': the'reuioval of the tumour was contemplated. ;:'•". ', v'Aa^ : a preliminary- step the surgeon-superin- ; . tendent determined on a prior minor o'pera- ,-..;■ tion; to- remove two "small pieces of skin, in -...;,." order, that they might be grafted on to a ,; I young girl who.had been.burnt. Chloroform '■V. --was administered, and the minor operation '}■":' .havingj'beeri -successfully performed, Mie ■■■.-•■■'< chloroform mask was removed, ' 'and the ': patient had begun to come round when his .','.' heart. failed.: A post mortem showed-that i , death occurred' from heart disease;, and it /".. . also showed that some of the man's organs ■,'■ were in.a most extraordinary condition. In ■;.'■> fact, they were quite a pathological curiosity, '•■■■■•...■' and as such*they are to be preserved. - ■; , THE FATHER SHOT BY HIS SONS. V ,: ,! Ihe' case at.Ballarat has tome to a.singular. ,;.- .':, termination. The father was George Blomely, \ : ; " who was shot in the head by two of his sons r.,;';;'I.whilst he was ill-treating the mother. He ':" lingered for. some days before he died, arid . i the sons were put on trial for murder. At ■ft the Police Court investgation the magistrates ■ : ';'. -; had come to; the decision that there had been : ' great provocation on the part of the deceased. "■ and that the act of the boys had been solelr ■ -■''; in self-defence. They would therefore he ois-" '■•■'"■'■ charged. If .the authorities thought fit they could, of «)urse, proceed in another court. ■'■■ ■ It had "pliinly been proved that the mother : - and familyl.had lived in continual dread, . *nd had been treated most cruelly. Though -"- the Crown prosecutor. in the' case declared that he concurred with the decision, and if " the Attorney-general decided to take the mal-V.-ter-further'it would be against his advice aim will/-still the publio feeling in Ballarat is that the court regarded the occurrence in too ■'"■■■ merciful a light. The boys themselves could ■ scarcely be said to be acting in self-defence, : ,\nd it'was a serious thine to use firearms. , A I^RRIBLE ACCIDENT. ; At Kerang, in Victoria, a little girl, of 7, named Edith Felloes, has sustained a terrible accident. She was playing near some, machinery used to work a pump supplying the : garden when her hair became entanf?led_ in the liin shaft connectinß the machinery with the .jump, and her scalp and hair were completely, torn away from the skull. The flesh parted about half an inch above the eyebrows, thence : backwards iiacl downwards, following the line of her hair behind each ear to the nape of the neck, leaving her completely scalped. The ihild was brought in to Kerang, a distance, of four miles, for treatment, and it then transpired that the Darents had neclected to re

move the severed scalp from the machinery, and this had to be brought in before the main injury was attended to. The circumstances of the case precluded the use of chloroform, but'the scalp was stitched in nlace, and the little sufferer stood the painful operation with much fortitude. She is now in the Bendigo Hospital doing well. The child had long fair hair, reaching some distance below her waist. FATAL BICYCLE ACCIDENT.' Mr J. 0.-K. Waldron, who had been City Solicitor in Sydney since 1893, was killed by n fall from his bicycle the other evening. Ho had been at Rosehill races, and was on his way to Parramatta. when he fell from his bicycle, and dislocated his neck. He had not been well during the day,. attributing his ailment tc indigestion, and it is believed he fell from his machine through an . apoplectic fit. Ho was a son-in-law of Sir George Dibbs, and a very well-known and popular man in hunting 'circles. ,'. . . .: • .' NORTON v. MEAGHER. . This case has at last been concluded in Sydney by Meajrher having been found cuiity, though sentence has been deferred. The iury said their sympathy was with Meagher, whom they strongly recommended to mercy. Meagher deposed that he was impelled to horsewhip Norton because of the nature of the criticisms on him published in Truth. The words in the article which annoyed him were " premier perjurer" and " champion criminal." He received laudatory newspaper notices before the dispute occurred, and he was styled "a brilliant young Australian." " Had he. consented to be blackmailed he would probably have still been regarded as such.