OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER. Melbourne, March 9.

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 45

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER. Melbourne, March 9.

UNITED METHODISM. j There was a notable scjne in Wesley Church, Me'.bource, on Friday last, when the firtt step in Met'oodiab union was consummated. The Weeleyan Conference was in session, and for the fir=t time delegates of the minor Methodist bodits assembled and took their sea's in ih« conference. The minor bodies ware the Primitive Methodisb, the Bible Canstfan, and the United Fre« Methodist. The firsfc cfrremony ■was Mie introduction of the president and score! ary of the conferences of each of these chui.cb.e-* to the president of the We&leyan Conference (the E.2V. T. Grove), and then the roll of the d L l<=ga!e3 from each contereuce was called, j and each member took his seat amidst vigorous j applause. The ceremony was most impressive, ■ and there was an evident feeliog on the part of all who took part iv it that they were making history. Chief Justice Way, of South Australia, was invited to take a seat on the platform on the motion of tbe Rev. W. H Fitchetf", who said if there was a man in Ihs secular world whose career he envied it was Cbief Justice Way, who had risen from a humble Methodist parsonage to take his seat in the councils -of thfi Empire. Through all tbat great career he hid kep l^ uustained the faith that he learnt at his mother's knee, and the love for tbe church of his father. Subsequently ifc was determined that the date ot" ecclesiastical union be January 1, 1902, and that the firsf conference of United Methodism ba held in Fabrusry in that year. A SERIOUS CHEMIST'S BLUNDER. i Til's blunder of s. chemist's assistant on Sunday evening las!; has caused the death oi Dr Samuel Irvine Williams, ot Fttzroy, and has le'fc Mrs Turner, of C'litton Hill, iv a critical condition. The tragedy arose out o c a visit £>y Dr Williams to Mrs Turner, who is one of his patients, on Sunday evening. He left his Louse in Nicholson itrtet with his wife aboub 7 o'clock, and together they drove in their buggy to Clifton Hil 1 . BeiDg somewhat addicbtd to the use of morphia himself, Dr Williams was a firm believer in hypodermic injections as agents for the alleviation of pain, and before calling afc Mr 3 Turner's hruse he stopped ab the chemist's shop of Mr James Christophers, in Queen'd parade, Clifton Hill, to purchase some f.ulptiate of morphia. Mr Chri3tcc.hers wa 1 * absent from the shop at the time, snd h's son, Jainss William Christophers, a young man of 25, made up the drag and handed ife to D? Williims. That genfclt-inaa at oace drove to the residence of Mrs Turner, aud afxer a conversation with hee husband he prepared his syringe and injected a quaafcifcy of tbe drug into bis patient's system. i Being rather exhausted wifcb his work, Dr . W llinrjs icok advance of the opportunity to make a subc-jitanecus iojeofcion of the drug himrelf, aad tbea ; bidding his pa f i?nt good-by<=", ha took his scab beside Mrs Williams in ', t.he buggy, and they commenced to duve homp. ! Before raany yards were traversed Dr Williaais ws-.s seized with violent paiLS and convulsion I',1 ', and, suspecting that a mistake had !>een rnada ia the" Jvas, be &ofc Mrs Wiil : am.« to turn the horse's head arc! drive to the res<(lecccs of Drs Beckett and Bird, which adjeia each other in Norfchcote. Both those gentlemen happened to fee aO home, at,d Dr WilHams'a cendition was immediately recognised as so serious that Dr Bird prrsoaded Mrs Williams to allow him to be taken inside. A*s this lime Dr Williams was in a state of collapsp, aad from the time he arrived ab Northcote nntil he died he was unable fco speak. Mrs Turner was seized vcifch bimilar pains soon after Dr Williams left her. Sbe now shows signs of recovery. | It appears that Mr Christophers, jun., was ' behind the counter in his father's shop when Dr Williams called, and, apparently in a greal hurry, demanded acme sruiphatfi of rnoiphia. The light was failing ?fc the time, and when young Mr Christophers went fco the safe where the poboa was kept fee picked up what h<* believed was labelled " Sulphate of Morphia." The two tubes containing this drug and sulphate of atropia were iden'.ical in o'her respects, and, as Dr Wiliiams requested him to "hurry up," and manifested other indications of impatieneff, Ms Christophers poured out the white powder and parcelled it tip with morn than ordinary haste. The error was not discovered until the arrival of Mr James Christophers, sec, when he saw the tubs on the , couoter and made icquiries jvbout ifc. i Dr Williams was ooly 32 years of ago, a married man, with no child-en. He wns a . graduate of Edinburgh and Glasgow. At the ' post mo*Um ib was found tbafc both arms of the | deceased gentleman were covered with puccfcures, which bore eloquent testimony to his habitual U3e ot the hypodermic syringe. A PAINFUL STORY. Tbe Tasmanian tragedy in which Mrs Glover, wife cf a coD«fc?.bli *fc the small town of Tria- ' burma, drowned hergelf aftec cutting the throats of her six children, ie accompanied by gome peculiar features. These are bssb nhown by the busband'u statement ab the inquest. He said :—": — " Way she wen l ; away was all over that pap3r you [addressing Superintendent Griffiths and the coroner] gob her fco sign. She knew she was signing an untruth when she did so. There was some disagreement between her and Superintendent GrifftMis. She told witness thafc Mr Griffiths wanted fco take libsrlies with her. She said he proniissd to gire her a garden attarhsd to the police quarters where she lived, and n^ney if sbe agreed, aud threatened, when ihe refused, to turn her out of her quatte-s neck and crop. Deceased repreGenttd fco witness thafc she had signed a written apology fco the superiotendsnfc for saying this under pressure, and .by reason of a promise thafc they (deceased and witness) would nofc lose their billefc. Witness did nob wanb her to sign, but she said she would do so, in order to have a roof over the children's heads. When she had done ■

it she said, 'Oh my God ! What hive I done ? I have ruined myself for ever ! ' " The coroner js.0 1 ; the witness to admit that he was present when the paper was signed and that; she d'd not Mgn under compulsion. Superintendent Griffiths intends to claim a court cf inquiry into the factsconcerning the charges made against him. SWEET SINGERS. The furore about Madame Albani has trans* ferred itself from Sydney to Melbourne, wheret on her arrival she was the guest of Government House for a day or two. People begin to assi/nble at the Town Ha.l door 3at 6 o'clock to get a gcod seat, and by half-past they ara pouring in in streams. Tbe " highly cultured " musical people objecb to her programmes. They dou'fc consider " Home, sweet borne," "Robin Adair," and " Lasb rose of summer" worth 7s 6d a seat. But the common people (who, pay 5s and 2* 61) r.ra f-nraptured. She is not going on to New Zealand. The next faixiou3 singer wo sb<Ul hear will be one in whom the j.eople of Ofcago will lake special interest. Ducward Leiy is au eminent Scotch vocalist, who was born in Arhrcath. When a youth fee was sent to Milan, where, he tfcudiad for five years ; and on his return to the eld country ho was at once engaged by Colonel Mapleson for Her Majesty's Theatre. He was afterwards the leading teuor of the Savoy Opera Company and tbe Carl Rosa. Company ; and between the two engagements he travelled with Madarce Adelinn Patti in Great Britain and America. These lucrative engagements enabled Lely to secure a competence ; and while his voice was at it« best and his reputation at its highest, be decided to quit the sfcsge and devote himself to a series of entertainments illustrative of the songs, humours, and traditions of bis countrymen. There is hardly a town in gcatiand tha 1 ; D us: ward Lely has not visited, and he takes his audiences by sfcorm. He ia accompanied Ly hii Aivife, who is said to be an excellent pianist, and the accomplished ccuple will arrive in Auckland by the Mcana in April. MISCELLANEOUS. Last week I quoted the statistics to stow that during 1897 Victoria had lost some thousand? in population. The figures since 1691 tell the same tale throughout. Mr Fenton, tha Government statist, reports thai between April, 1891, and December, 1897, the population of. Victoria only increased by 35,833, or 3 14 per cent., notwithstanding that the births daring that period exceeded tha deaths by 127.418, so that tbe colony losfc more than 91,000 by emigration. The Pennsylvania and Maryland Steel Company of the United States has secured the contract for supplying the Victorian railways with 12,789 tons of steel rails and 1250 tons "of fishplates ab £75,471. There were three formal tenders — one American aud two English. " The English prices were £79,274 and £81,256 rpspecfcive'y. Naturally the accepbance of sn American contract has nob been favourably n-ceivt'o* in the colony. Sir George Turner (the Premier) says he was not consulted. He does not say that it he had been he would have refused acceptance, bat he apparently desires it to bs understood that he would. One of these inexplicable occurrences, a collision at sea in fine,-clear weather, has occurred. The Casino and the Flinders, two coastal steamers, ran into each otber about 2 o'clock in ihe morning:, though they could ace each other's lights plaiuly and were accustomed to paso each other near the spot. The first; mate was in charge of one boat, the second mate of the ofcrer. They are to be haled before the Marine Court. Evidently somebody was asleep afc his post. Mr John M'Cormick, who stiraly now deserves i.b.e title of champion bridge-builder of Australasia, considering how numerous have been his undertakings in that line in New Zealand and Australia, has not long been out of harness cince his return from the United States and England. Afeiegcam from Brisbane gives the news that Messrs M'Cormick and Son, who built the Victoria and Ipdooroopily bridges, are the lowest tenderers lor the proposed tri.ffi.3 bridge over the Burnett R:ver at Bundaberg. The amount is £59,000, being £3500 below the engineer's tsbiraave. Amongst the other pests and scourges of tha inferior o£ Australia, must bs reckoned flies. They don't do the darnrrge of caterpillars, locusts, and grasshoppers, but; they render lifa s. burden. Tf is dry and hot summer they hava been a veritable scouige. One farmer at Waiuc'lie lost a horse owing to the flies only iaßfc week. The borse was being worked in a plough, and the jarring from the stumps caused a email »«ore on the shoulder. Next day the animal was L'f fc in the yard, the sore having been dressed and a bran bsg tied over ifc. The flies mutt h&ve go» ur der the bag aad poisoned tbe wound. Tho UL-forfccnate animal swelled up iv every direction, the iDflao^maftion extending right up the neck aod under tire jaw. On tho thU-d day after inflammation set in, while the swelling was being bathed with hot water, the horse dropped dead. A similar case was also reported last week frpm South Springfield. During the manner both men snd horses have suffered considerably with bad eyes from being bifctteh bj flies. How hot ife has been in the interior of Australia in some places this summer may be estimated by thfe experiences of Broken Hill. In January there were 19 days of ever 100 in tho shade, 111- beiog the highest reading. One sequence — f com the 6Sh to the 12fch inclusive — ran from 103 to 108, and included two days of 110 and oni of 112 ; and another sequence — January 23 to February 1 inclusive, or 10 days in all — ran from 102 to 108, with one day of 110 and oae of 114-. February, up to the 23rd, contained 13 days of over 100, with a highest of 108. On the day when the shade reading reached 114- Bioken Hill was favoured with 10 points of rain, which was the first raiu register sinca September 21.

A yourg man nsmed Join Gorton, for making s. false declaration for the purpose of procuring marriage, was committed for trial by the S.M. at Invercargill on Monday. The accused made a runaway match with the daughter of a Wall&cetowu sttller, sged 16, and declared to the registrar that she was 21. Thes two lived in an out-of the-way place, aud were dependent on neighbours for food till they were discovered by the girl's relatives. This may well be de&cribed as the age of dyspjpsia, for who is there that has not felt the pangs of indigestion? Whether in the changeable cliniats of England or in hot countries, where the attempt is often made to accommodate the clirua'e to the bill of fare, instead of the diet to the ch-nged conditions of atniospheie, ar.ti« dote** are legion, but bob water containing tha proper piopoifciou of Gondy'a Fluid is admitted to i-is tha simplest aud best all-round leniedy, in most cases attacking tbe root of the evil and actins as a preventive as well as a cure. Many ara well acquainted with the magical effect of Condy's Fluid as a speedy cure for sore throat, and tha most nervous may use it, always provided they make sure that they get genuine. Condy's Fluid, a preparation highly recommended by the faculty, aud a favourite with such eminent specialists for the throat as the late Sir Morell Mackenzie and Sir George Johnson. Full directions for botb. "ses will be found on every bottl*