Accidents and Offences.

Otago Witness, Issue 1480, 27 March 1880, Page 23

Accidents and Offences.

A girl named Fanny Lacay, frttcnttng the Middle District School, broke her arm last week while playing.

An audacious theffc has come to lig^t. A young man now in custody on a serious charge, being the possessor of a good voice, favoured the choir of a certain church in this city on a recent Sunday evening by his presence and assistance. Several pieces of eacred music went amisßing that evening, only te turn up again in the possession of f.he young man upon his arrest. To sing in a church choir for the purpose of Btealing the music is surely the acme of criminal impudence.

Information was received in Cbristchurch on Wednesday of the arrest of Edgar Barnnger, bank agent at Kaikoura, recently transferred from Leeston, for embezzling L3O belonging to the' Bank. It is said that further charges of a similar nature will be preferred against the accused. The premisps of Woßg Tape, Chinese mer chant, in Stafford street, next door to those of Messrs Murray, Eoberts. and Co., are said to have been entered on Friday night between half-pjist 10. and 10 minutes to 11 o'clock, and a sum of something like Ll2O in notes taken therefrom. The circumstances attending the robbery, as reported to us, arguo a very intimate acquaintance with the premises on the part of the supposed thief ; and a strange thing ia connection with the affair is that a large Bum in gold and silver U stated to have been left untouched,

A fire occurred about midnight in the Lower Kaikorai Valley, near the Burnside Saleyards. A two-roomed wooden cottage owned and occupied by Robert Turner, a labourer, was totally destroyed. The building was insured for the flum of L 75 with the National Company, and the furniture for L 25 in the same office. Mr Turner was in the house alone, his wife being in Dunedin at the time of the fire. He went to bed at about half.paat 9, leaving no light burning, and the fire in the grate, from all appearance*, having burned iteelf out. He was awakened by hearing something falling, and on getting up found the flames bursting into his bedroom. He got out in time, and with the asßistanca of a neighbour named John Lunn, saved a few articles of clothing. Constable Porter observed the fire about midnight. The Bcene of the fire wa<* within ft Btone'a-throw of a hut containing about a dozen Chinamen, who rendered no assistance.

The occurrence we mentioned in our last issue as having taken place at the residenceof Mr Halliwell, in High street., next door to where Mr Stamper lived, on Wednesday evening, proves to be of a serious, and at the same time myflteriou«, nature. The house was occupied by Mrs Hallirvell and grown-up family. The family were all out, and Mrs Halliwell went upstairs at about 10 minutes to 8 o'clock. While she was upataira she heard nothing unÜBual, but her attention was attracted by the smell of smoke Oa oomiDg down, she found in Miss Halliwell'd bedroom that a couple of dresses hanging behind the door were on fire. She also found that in a room occupied by two Bons, a dress, also hanging behind the door, was on fire ; and outside in the wash-house a basket of dirty linen had been set on fire. She called assistance, and with the aid of neighbours the fire waß quenched. Then it was dfscovered that robberies had taken place. There had been abstracted from Miss Halliwell's room a workbox, which contained two L 5 notes and two sovereigns ; and the drawer* had been ransacked and a quantity of things removed. The police were sent for, and on a search being made the whole of the articles were found wrapped in » shawl in the bu3h, which is pretty dense, close by. The workbox was also got, broken open, with the money taken from it. The mode of ingress to the house was by the window in Miss Halliwell's bedroom, which had been left open, but had been further raised for the purpose of the robbery.

On Tuesday afternoon a lad named Henry M'Leod was drowned in a watorhole near Mr Wilson's brewery, Water-of-Leith, while bathing. The lad was 14 years of age, but could not Bwim, and another lad who was with him seems to have been also unable, and while the latter went to obtain assistance,- M'Leod, who had got out of bis depth, sank to the bottom, whence he was only recovered when life was extinct by a lad in the employ of Dr Brown, who dived and recovered the body. He was removed to Mr Cummings' Northern Hotel, and Dr Gillies and Dr Copland were soon in attendance, but after trying in vain for 20 minutes to restore animation, the unfortunate lad was pronounced to be dead. His father, ' who lives in Canongate, afterwards came to the hotel and took the body of his Bon homo. An Inquest is not considered necessary.

An accident occurred at Mullocky Gully on Monday afternoon, whereby a man named Andrew Gillon was badly burned on the- face and hands. He was in the act of charging a blast when it exploded, The unfortunate fellow was conveyed to the Dunedin Hospital on' Tuesday evening.

Two fishermen, named Walter Crowther and Joseph Renoie, while following their avocation at the Heads on Tuesday, had their boat capßized by a heavy sea, and were nearly drowned. Luckily for them, a boat put out to their relief, and they were saved,

A couple of burglarieß have been reported to the police as having occurred during Monday night. One wai at the Fernhill Coal Company's office in Princes street, in which ca«e some cheques and cash, amounting in all to LBor L 9, were taken ; and the other was at Messrs Inglis and Co. 'a premises in George street, in which, a few pairs of boots are said to have been taken.

A fire ocenrred in a four-roomed oottage in the North-East Valley on the 18th at about 11.30 a.m. The property was owned by Mr D. Anderson, and was leased to Mr James M'Oluskey, a dairyman. M'Cluskey was at work in the field when the fire broke out, and knew nothing of the occurrence until a passerby informed him. Nothing was saved of the furniture and effects. The house was insured In the Standard Office for Ll5O, and the furniture in the South British for LIOO. Mr M'Oluskey, however, estimates bis loss at LIOQ ever the Insurance. It is believed the fire wav purely acoidental,

Between 7 and 8 o'clock on the same evening, what appeared to be a large bush fire was raging on the hills above Anderson's Bay. jiaay persons la tho city having property fa that direction hurried thither ia order to assure thenwelvoß of its safety* The scene of the fire, bpwuVer, wm the form of Mr Goorgo Starring*

ton, sen., a dairyman, about half a mile beyond the township of Shiol Hill, on the Portobelb nmd. The caieteker etiw t'uo property safe at 7 o'clock, and at 7.45 bu attention was called to a burning (stack. Oa arriving on the ground ha found he was too late to be of any service, and water being unobtainable, attention had to be devoted to other matters. The fire consumed one stack of oaten hay and one stack of grass hay, both being totally destroyed. There were some 40 psrsons a present to render assistance if such could be given, but their efforts under the circumstances could have been of no avail,

It is with very great regret (says Monday's Southland Timeb) that we have to chronicle the occurrence of another destructive fire at Messrs Guthrie and Larnach'd timber-yard, Kew. It appears that ever sinca the fire by which the sawmill was destroyed — on the 11th inst.— the huge bank of sawdust lying there has been smouldering. Yesterday morning a strong north east wind was blowing, and early in the forenoon it was observed tout the fire was gathering strength and bursting into flames here and there over the dust mound. The men about the place -half-a-dozen or so— set . to work to Have what they could, as it was evident the fire would spread in spite of all they could do if the wind held. They first removsd the contents of the chaff-house in which the feed for the horses and bullocks was kept, and they had barely completed their work when the house -was caught by the flames, and in a few minutes reduced to a heap of ashes. The books and furniture were also removed from the office to a place of safety, and a new locomotive, which was standing in a shed close by, was run out by means of a temporary tramway laid then and there— the former, one having been burnt a!; the first fire— to a spot where it would be in comparative safety. Meanwhile the fire had caught the piles of slabs which lined both sides of the tramway from the mill to the eawn timber depot, and as the wind was direotly in line with the lay of these piles, the fire ran along with great rapidity, gaining in magnitude and fury a? it advaDced. By this time something like 60or 70 men had collected, and, under the direotion of Mr M'Pheraon, all exerted themselves to the utmost to combat the common enemy. The appliances, however, were most meagre, only the ordinary force-pump used for filling the engines, and although it was kept going full strength by williog hands, all the watdr it could throw upon the burning mass had no' appreciable effect. Fortunately two or three railway trucks were at hand, and by means of these a considerable quantity of sawn timber web removed beyond danger before the fire reached the depot. About 2 in the afternoon the fhmes had got hold of the sawn stuff, and at; 6 o'clock last evening the whole yard, containing some 280,000 feet, was oue burning mass, from which nothing further could be saved. At that time the office was still untouched, and the engine already referred to wai also cafe, but neither was by any means beyond tho reach of danger.