OTAGO.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 43, 7 April 1863, Page 1 (Supplement)

OTAGO.

TyROM OtFR OWN CORRESPOND BST.J ■..',- ■ . . . ■• DUtfEDIN, Friday, April 3rd, 1863. •vshe f Omeo with the English ma^s iftnved here on Sunday morning. The detention this time was not caused by any delay on the Victorian side, but to 1 breakdown of one or other of the P. fnd 0. Company's ships. There is not much of interest or importance to record. The American - war still rages with almost unabated fury, and each succeeding battle is attended with increased acts of brutal ferocity. Pri goners are butchered m cold blood, and all the rules of civilised war quite ignored. The war and the marna.-e of the Prince of Wales are the chi-f topics which engross the attention ot the English papers. I am glad to learn the distress among the Lancashire Operatives is slightly on the decline. It is thought the winter would be tided over without any im-rvase of physical suffering and distress which has been SO long and so severely felt, and so heroically borne. The weekly escort, arrived m Dunedin last night with 15,925 ounces of gold, obtained as follows : — From Wakatipu, Il,l04oz; Dunstan, 4,5290z ; Waitahuna, 2910z. The total would have been considerably over J7,000, had the "Woolshed and Tuapeka returns been included. Out of the 1 1 ,000 and odd ounces from the Wakatip, 6,000 must be put down as having come from the Arrow River diggings. The news from the Dunstan and Lake country is ■of a most cheering character. Men were arriving by hundreds a<- both dueenstown and the Molyneux. Before commencing to dig, a large proportion are putting up substantial huts m preparation for the winter, as it is the intention of most who have gone up to remain there throughout tbe season. Provisions, I am told, are plentiful, but high m price. The storekeepers are' laying m large stocks, and the fine weather greatly favors them m doin^ so. The season here just now is magnificent, but I fear we shall have to pay for it when it breaks up by a good deal of very cold and wet weather. The election for Superintendent takes place to-morrow week, and the friends of both candidates are working hard for victory. The general wish and hope is that Judge Harris may be returned. There are so many abuses existing which must be not rid of withour ( delay, and as Major Richardson looks Upon these abuses as "great successes,'" it is not to be expected that any good will be done if he retains the Superintendentship. The Post office, the Immi"ration Department, the Hospital, and the Gaol are grossly mismanaged, for which Major Richardson is, m great part, to be held accountable. The newspapers which arrived here on Sunday by the English mail are, for the greater part, not yet delivered, and this is Wednesday- "While the publicare with one voice exclaiming against the incompetency of the Postmaster, and the overbearing insolence of his subordinates, the Superintendent expresses his entire satisfaction at every arrangement. This he has done openly. The Hospital is left entirely m the hands of the verdant surgeon, and although representations have been made to tbe Superintendent and the Provincial Executive of things which are to be classed under something much i more serious than " mismanagement,' 1 1 nothing has been done, or at c npted, Ij remedy the evils complained of. In tbe Immigrants' Barracks drunkenness and immorality have reigned rampant among certain of the females, without let or hindrance. And it is now too Well known that the prostititur.es of Dunedin havo been largely recruited from the immigrants' Barracks. The Government have attempted to clear themselves by getting the police to certify that only eleven females have gone astray through a period of several months, but this is now proved to be utterly false. Had the police been required to give intelligence the other Way, they would have been able to show With greater truth, that the number of immigrant* who are now walking the streets, and holding licentious revel m bouses located m our back streets, is very great indeed. The fact is, on arrival these poorgirls were only treated as little better than women of light character. They were huddled into barracks without means of preserving the common decencies of civilised life. They were half-starved, only being supplied with a small quantity of bread and ten. Their modesty and self-respect were outraged by no provision being mad^ to prevent them being overlooked b< an army of policemen, and prisoners j from the adjoinnig barracks. An open 1 out office, m an open yard I was allthat was offered to som^ j three hundred respectable girls — * place aman would almost have be^n j reluctant to enter. The barracks has been described as a hell upon earth. Nothing surprising then that numbers of these girls Went wrong. The wonder would have been had they remained true to their virtue. They were, m fact, by bad treatment, driven on to the Streets, and the Government is answerable for the wrongs they hay • suffered, and the sad life so many of them are leading. Again, our unfortunate debtors m gaol are treated rather worse than are the criminals. Altogether we are just now under thworst rule, and any change must b one for the better. So may the Judge get m, that the Vlajor may retire to the «harms of privacy which he says he is so anxious for, while all the time he is exerting himself by anything but gentlemanly means to retain the Superintendent's power. A fearful tragedy has lately occurred m the murder of a man namedi Elder, at the Molyneux river, by a nrsoreant who was at the time his partner. J am sorry to say that the murdereij has not yet been taken, but I do not think it can be long before he is m th«J J»aad* of the police. I send you thej

-acc> Hint of the murder as it appears m the columns of the Daily Turns: — " We lay before our readers'all that is at present known of a murder scarcely second m atrocity to that for which Fratson is undergoing penal servitude for life. In its outlines and some of its essentials, this* murder is not dissimilar to that of Wilson's, and the brutal ferocity with which it has besn perpetrated brands the murderer as a miscreant of the worst type. *' The murdered man was known by the cognomen of ' Yorky,' and was a carrier by pack-horses between Tua-p-ka and Miller's Flut. He is mentioned as being an old and weatherne.iten looking man ; and of a very quiet, and inoffensive disposition. The name of the presumed murderer has not. been ascertained, but he is described as beiujr about five feet seven or eight inches high, thirty-five years of age, thin face, and dark complexion, with round shoulders. Some ten or twelve days ajjp, a horse of Yorky's (he owned two) fell into a hole, when the supposed murderer m*dc great exertions to extricate the animal from its somewhat perilous position. By this means the man first became known to Yorky, who out of gratitude offered to take him into his employment, and the two after this lived together m the murdered man's tent for several days. Monday afternoon was the last day the two men were seen m company. " Early on Tuesday morning a digger named John Bowau, while passing a j small blind gully about two miles from Mr. Miller's store, observed something partially covered with branches and leaves, which attracted his attention, and on to the spot to ascertain what it was, he discovered the dead body of a man. Without staying to ascertain further particulars, fee hastened to the store kept by Mr Miller, and relxted what 1)6 had seen. The two thei set off for the spot, where Mr Miller at once identified the deceased to be the man Yorky. The body was found l*ing face downwards m the hoilow of tne creek. Upon examining it, (our d'-ep cuts, penetrating the .skull and enbring the brain, were discovered iv the crown of the deceased's head. There vas also one deep cut on the shoulder The wounds appeared as if they hid been iudicted with a pick. After examining the body, Mr Miller and M- Bo wan proceeded to the Lent where jvidentiy the foul crime had been perpeuated. On the ground, and upon the sttkes which held the tent to the earth, ilood, and clots of blood and hair intermngled, were sprinkled about ; Out th* tent itself — that is, the canvas roof and sides, had been carried away, hut wlere conveyed has not yet been Irarned. Everything had been remove i and scutered about within an area of a hunlred and fifty yards round the tent, apparently without any attempt at concealment. In one place were two fifty pound bags of Hour ; m anothe- a 'billy' with other things known to have belonged to the murdered man. Continuing the search, Mr Miller discovered a pair of moleskin trousers, a flannel undershirt, and a coarse blue jumper with the sleeves cut s.iort off at the elbows. These were identified as belonging to the man who had been m the deceased's compiuy for several days past. Everything which had been lodged m the tent was picked up m one place or another m the neighborhood of it, but the horses belonging to deceased could not le found, although tne hoof marks were distinctly tracked to where the presitned murderer had left his clothes. Som> slight attempts had been ma ie to concjal the blood stains, by throwing horsi dung and dirt on the bottom of tent but so imperfectly that the traces of bood were distinguishable m many places, particularly m and about the stakjs and front of the tent. "While standing beside the spurof a hill m his run (Mr Miller being a station holder as well as a storekeeper,) he perceived three teams at a distance, and going up to them he ascertained, upon inquiry from the drivers, that the' had seen a man answering the description of Yorky's mate riding along at fall gailop upon a dark brown horse (corresponding to one owned by the deceaied). Mr Miller then determined to $et out m pursuit of this man, who he hac no doubt had committed the murdei. Following the course pointed out by the drivel's, he soon ascertained that the Same man, still mounted on a brown iiOse, had been asking to be directed to tb*. nearest road to Tuapeka without guinsj past Captain Gardiner's sutiou, as also the nearest way to Waitahuna without noing to Tuapeka. The object of the man was to avoid Gardiner's, as the horses belonging to Yorky were will known to the men employed 01 the station, and would have at once raised suspicion against him. The road along woich the man was making his escape was on what is known as the old upper CJt, and m order if possible to intercept his Might, Mr Miller pursued m the direction of the lower new roan. Here <na part of it he met three men, who replied to his questions that he had seen ; man as he described him to them, j lid ing very hard, and his horse appear- | ng very much heated. On the men ati empting to accost him, he waved thetu iff with his hand, and dashed along at ,n increased speed. This was about a mile and a half from Gardiner's station, out when Mr Miller arrived there, neither man nor horse had been seen b> my of the servants about the place. Nothing daunted by thus being put off the scent, Mr Miller rode on until he arrived at Tuapeka, which he reached »t about 10 o'clock at night (Tuesday) xtid proceeded at once to report the al^iir at the police station, at the same time requesting assistance. No horse could be obtained, and Mr Miller went orj as far as Waitahuna, and again applied at the police station, but the same irfficnlty presented itself here as ai Ttiapeka — There was a policeman but no horse. Mr Miller then called at the hotel, where he ascertained from tinlandlord and others of the inmates, that the man he was pursuing had passed

along some time previously. The horse he rode appeared very much jaded, but he was urging it along at the top of his speed. Mr Miller then rode ou to the Woolshed, and made a report to Mr Golder, when he was accompanied by that officer to Tokomairiro. The two then made a fresh start, (this Was about ten o'clock on the following morning, on which the pursuit first commenced) From the Tokomiriro the pursuit was continued till within a short distance of the Taicri Ferry, where they met two men working on the road. These men stated l hat a horseman m every respect ' answering to the description given was I seen by them hastening along the newly metalled road at great speed, about J three hours before. They were par- j ticularly struck with his excited ap- ! pearance, and wondered greatly at the rate he was proceeding at. On arri- ! ving at the I'aieri Ferry all trace of the j pursued was lost, bnt the men engaged m working the punt stated that it was quite possible the man had passed over, as it was very seldom they took any notice of those crossing, the carryingover men mounted on horseback being being with them of hourly occurrence. On arriving at Adam's house, about thiee miles this side of the Ferry, Mr Miller learned from a boy j that he had observed a man as de- j scribed, riding hard m the direction oi' Dunedin. Completely exhausted with j his hot and close pursuit, Mr Miller arrived m towa late m the afternoon, and of course, communicated every circumstance to the police." For the apprehension of such a bloody miscreant our government have advertised a paltry reward of £20, which is less than they, at times, offer for information respecting some petty infringement upon their crown Jand regulations. Within the last seven days fifteen hundred more souls have been added to the number of our population. The city is now very crowded, which with the fine weather, makes everything look 1 cheerful. The late heavy equinoctial gdles have done considerable damage here to the smaller vessels and Gratis trading about the heads. The "oldest inhabitant" does not recollect them to have been so severe for many years. The criminal sittings are still ou, but none of the eases yet tri«'i have been of any interest. The revenue officers have set their common informers to work, which has resulted m several convictions, the defendants being mulcted each m f.he sum of £50 with costs. Their informations have been at the instigation of the Linceused Victuallers Society, who petitioned the Superintendent on the matter, complaining that while they paid a high license for and were subject to severe restrictions under the ordinance, they were not adequately protected from the innovations of sly grog sellers and private UOaiding liouses.