NEW ZEALAND.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3303, 2 November 1883, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND.

(Per Press Association.) THIS DAY. The Premier. Wellington, Nov. 2. Major Atkinson returns t > Wellington on Sunday by the steamer Stella. Obituary- ( hristchurch, Nov. 2. Mr J. S. Gardiner, bookmaker, died yesterday. Official Assignee It is sta'ed on good authority that Mr E. C La t'r has been appointed official assignee in this district. Goldming Licenses Refused. The Land Board to-day, refused several applications for licenses to prospect for gold in the Malvern district on the ground that they were within a mile of the areas already licensed. Apportioning a Reward. The £2uo reward < ffered by Mr Deans for convi< tion of Jackson, who shot at him, has been apportioned as follows : £SO io Fraser, who gave the firet information of Jackson's whereabouts and assisted in his arrest. £33 4s to Detectivo Neil, and £25 each to four others. Sixteen guineas have been absorbed by the costs of arbitration. A Most Singular Case

A most striking instance of criminal carelessness occurred yesterday morning in the neighborhood of the Park. On arriving at bis bouse in Park Crescent, about 1 p.m., the Hon. W. Robinson found at home that a person, at present unknown, had use I Ids bouse, intentionally or otli- rwise, as a target for rifle practice. A bullet had entered the wad and paseed through ih i drawing-room at a height of about four feet from the floor, and after striking the door post, crossed the hall and buried itself in the wall of the dining room. Hud the room been occupied at the time, it is needless to say (hat one or more of the occupiers would, in all probability, have been killed. It is almost impossible to conceive that any person acquainted with the use of a rifle would have been so insane as to fire ball caitridge in a crowded neighbourhood like Park Crescent ; hut it is believed that several shots were fired, and that the insane act was that of one who has been under drill.