TELEGRAPHIC.

Patea Mail, Volume X, Issue 1327, 27 March 1885, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC.

INTERRED VINCIAL.

(per press association;) WELLINGTON, March 26. A most determined attempt to escape from Mount Cook gaol has been frustrated. It appears that for a few days a conyict named Crabtree, serving a sentence..of 13 : years for offences committed at Christchurch, had been shamming sick, and allowed to remain in Ins hammock. How-' ever the gaoler became suspicious of him,, and had him removed to a separate cell.' An examination of the hammock was made, When the blankets were found to be sewn together, and a chisel, gimlet, and two-bladed knife were found secreted away. Further inspection showed that Crabtree had been hard at work at the division wall tvith the chisel and gimlet, and had nearly succeeded in cutting a . hole in the wall sufficient to allow the body of a, man to. pass through. Crabtree . was brought before the magistrate td-day,-and pleaded guilty to the offence, and was sentenced to 30 days in irons and 7 daya on bread and water. On the 17th of last r month Crabtree attempted to escape from Lyttelton Gaol, and was fired at. by one of the the hole been successfully cut through, ten of the long-sentence prisoners had ~ arranged to escape, ; This day.'

; A nine-roomed hohse situated in Wilkinson's tea gardens at Oriental Bay and..

owned and occupied by Mr Wilkinson, tyas totally destroyed by fire at 1.30 this morning. It is supposed that the fire Originated in consequence of smouldering embers which were left in the kitchen rjange, coupled with the fact that the chimney was more or less defective. The: house was insured in the South British Tor £SOO, and the furniture £IOO in the same office. J Saunders Is the successful tenderer for the Te Aro reclamation. AUCKLAND, March 26. In an interview with a reporter yester- .! day, Governor .Tervois said that the most j effective way in which the colonies could assist Great Britain if she were at war would be by putting all their ports in an efficient state of defence. If these ports were properly defended, they would be of great assistance to the Imperial Navy,, , but the British Government would hesitate to send a vessel to any port which was nbt adequately defended, and where .ft . might be overpowered by a superior force. It would appear from cablegrams : that there really is considerable danger of war with Russia, owing to the attitude .. . taken up by that power. Russia seems to have played fast and loose with us in . reference to (he Afghan boundary question, and the Russian troops have advanced to certain points, and say—“ Here we are, ■ and we are going to stop here. You can take what course you like.” “ I rernember,” said the Governor, “ once having a con- : versation with a German officer of rank, who, like most of his class, was a thoughtful: and capable man, and he expressed the opinion, without hesitating, that sooner or later England and Russia would come into conflict.” Indeed, it was only a. question of time. The question now is whether that" - time has come- It seems to be one of Russia’s objects to gain access to the . ocean at the Black Sea and the Baltic. She is hemmed in, and it is no doubt a great object with her to reach the ocean at the Persian Gulf. . CHRISTCHURCH, This day. A cottage at Sydenham, the property of Mr Richardson was destroyed by fire this morning. Insurance,. £IOO. in the < London arid Lancashire. - ; r In Wellington, the other day,, the Union S.S. Company offered to. purchase the allotment on which the Pier Hotel is .erected for the sum of £3OO per foot, but the offer was declined., It is said that; if £22,000 had been offered, business would have been done, . .: