TARANAKI

Colonist, Issue 62, 25 May 1858, Page 3

TARANAKI

An unusually large number of the. electors of the Grey and Bell district assembled on Saturday last at the Resident Magistrate's Court, for the nomination of a member for the district in the place of Mr. Lewihwaite. It. is known to the public that a requisition was sent to Auckland, inviting Mr. Dillon Bell to come forward. Some inauspicious circumstances have prevented any direct reply from that gentleman reaching New Plymouth, and the first business of the meeting was to ascertain from the explanations of Mr. Watt whether the communications by Mr. Bell to that gentleman could be received as an affirmative answer to the public request that had been made; and resulted in the nomination of two other persons, Mr. C. Brown and Mr. Hirst, for the vacant seat. On the show of hand 3, a poll was demanded by the legal number of electors for Mr. C. Brown, and on Monday, after a shary contest, closed at 4 o'clock, the numbers being Brown 7o Bell 61 Mr. Hirst declining the contest in favor of Mr. Brown, on Saturday. The new member leaves for Auckland to-day by the Osprey. We wish him a speedy passage, and safe avrival at the scene of his* duties.— Taranahi News^ May 20. , .

A Strange Occurrence.—Some four or five months ago, the owner of a stock station at Maneroo, New South Wales, was required to proceed to ■Melbonme v .for the purpose of taking his trial on a charge of horse-stealing. Preferring the overland route, he started off on horseback, but first took the precaution to make over his stock to a person living on the station. Some time after he started it was notified through reliable correspondents to the public;":prints that the traveller was■ drowned while c^^|tii|s.^nbv.ofitheVnujnfe;n)iiß.>..ci1 eelcß-ibelow, Guffdagai.Tlie accounts stated thai) although an active search had beeii made, the body could not be-fohnd; So satisfied was Mrs. - of the truth of the statement of the death of. her husband, and which had also, been generally believed in the neighbourhood of the alleged disaster, that she put. on widow's weeds and mourned the loss she had sustained. The person to whom the stock had, in a measure been secured, sought to console the afflicted widow, and.his residence on the place affording him constant opportunities for rendering valuable advice, he constantly, urged upon !her sensitive mind that it is not good for woman to be alone. His tender solicitations at length prevailed, and she promised to make him happy. The widow and bride-expectant, while the courtship, was going on, wrote to her attorney, instructing him to take out letters of administration, so that she might settle her poor husband's affairs, and claim his effects. While this was being done, a notice of action against, the widow for a debt of her late husband's contracting was givenj and in order- to delay proceedings, Mrs. 's attorney wrote to the attorney for the plaintiff. Much to the surprise of the former, he received an answer stating that Mrs. -—— need not trouble herself, as the summons had been served on her husband—the traveller who it had been stated was drowned on his way to Melbourne. We believe the intelligence that "the poor dear man" waa yet alive came too late, as she had already been united to her new lover.— Goulburn Chronicle. .

Chinese Monopoly on the Victoria GoldFields.—A"most extraordinary movement is going on_ among the Chinese, silently and with such rapidity that danger may only be discovered when too' late to remedy -the evil. The Chinese are stealing a march,, not only upori the European miner, but also on the' Whole trading community. I have noticed the movement for some weeks past, but until within the last few'days the thing has been so carefully gone about that I saw no cause for immediate alarm. Now, however, the movement is being conducted with such consummate skill* and upon a system no longer to be misunderstood, that I consider it my duty to' give the alarm, and to call upon the whole mining and trading community to take the matter into their serious consideration, so that immediate steps may be taken to circumvent the machinations of the Chinese. Unfortunately, the European1 mirier is in this instance .the aider ,and abettor of the system. He receives a pecuniary consideration, and imagines he is doing a nice thinsr at the expense of John Chinaman* who, on the other hand, willingly submits to present loss in the hope of future prosperity and unmolested possession. The movement to which I refer is one to'gain possession of the whole of ths payable alluvial diggings on the creek, by purchase, where the ground is already occupied. And witli ' such rapidity is it being carried out, that, unless" a counter movement is immediately: got up, there will not in six months hence, be one acre of payable alluvial ground in the possession of Eiro-" pean miners for future companies to commence upon. The plan at present adopted is this; — Wherever likely-looking ground is unoccupied it is taken possession of. The Chinese work in large parties of from 10 to 30 individuals, so that three or four such parties can, by proper' management, and a tacit understanding with each other, obtain possession of a much larger quantity, of ground than that to which they are in reality entitled. This will be at once understood by supposing a miner to discover a block of ground, say 74 feet square, and that, he being only entitled to 66 feet square, is anxious to obtain possession of the whole block without infringing the law. Nothing can be easier: he has only to peg out.his claim in the centre of the block so that: all round a margin is left of only eight feet—too small a width in old ground for any one to tackle. Well, suppose the same^ system is carried' out in a large flat. AH that is necessary is, for a number of parties, mutually understanding each other, to take possession of the approaches, and of the principal blocks in the centre. This, of course, is easily done where the ground is unoccupied, but is of difficult accomplishment where there are considerate numbers of Europeans nt work. But the Chinese, with an amount, of tact "and skill which unfortunately the European diggers have been blind to, have easily got over that difficulty; they have formed the partially occupied flats and gullies into large chess-boards, and invited the European population to play.— Forest Creek Correspondent- M.

HouVoway'sfirj.s. —This stomach, by the chemical agency of its'solvent fluids, converts the food into crude. blood:, the liver furnishes a secretion which fits it for the^venous system; the lungs vitalise it. If the stomach.'is diseased,-it .camiot produce a healthful demenfc,.;^n f d.4i' : the fountain of life is infected, all the sti:eaTriß^that flow.fi-oin -it jtiust-be; poisoned. - It" is, upon the stomach, the great feeder of the systeim, the manufacturer of the ailment which subsequently becomes bone, muscle,, sinew, and flesh, that H6l--loway's Pils exercise their salutary influence, curiug indigestion in'all its shapes, and thus giving a vigorous tone to every dependent organ; This is the philosophy •of the rapid and thorough cures of all'the varitjes of internal disease accomplished by this powerful remedy^" —A-OVT... ; ; .•■ . .. ■.' ■■ " ■•.*!■

The Murder of Amelia Murray.^—The atrocious murder of a young woman, 15 yeajs •of age, named Amelia Dorcas Murray, on the 7th December last, near Oyster Cove, on the other side of the island, was the subject of a trial in the Supreme Court, Hobart Town, on Friday, April 9, when Thomas Cullinan, charged with the crime, was found guilty, and sentenced to death and dissection. The particulars of the murder are most revolting and heartless on the part of the guilty man, who hadbeon permitted by the mother of the unfortunate girl, to "pay his addresses to her;"—the confidence existing between them, as must have been the case under such an understanding, had recently bean diaturbed by the girj, in consequence of her discovery of the bad temper of Cullinan. On the evening previous to the commission of the coldblooded and cruel murder, Cullirian was at a shop where the mother (Mrs. Maria Hamilton), and her daughter Amelia, called to make a small purchase; on returning, Cullinan accompanied them : part of the way towards their home, and in the course of conversation observed that " Amelia was getting; very proud ■ and- slighted

him ; she would scarcely speak to him: if she did not watch it, he would very soon put a stop to her gallop." The mother replied that she hoped he would do nothing that he would be sorry for. It would seem by this remark of the murderer that he had premeditated the act, and knowing that his victim was to return to the shop on' the following day, he had seized that opportunity to accompany her on her return, an<l on the way, in the seclusion of a scrub through which the path lay, to carry into effect his brutal and unmanly determination. The evidence against the prisoner was conclusive. Some goods which the girl had purchased, and the wrappers that contained them, were found near the remains, for nothing else than the bones of the poor girl was discovered, the body having been subjected, not only to natural decomposition and decay, but also to the action of fire. The skull wa3 found to have been fractured, and some remarkable feature in the teeth that were found was conclusive; they were those of Amelia Dorcas Murray when living. In no period of the colony's history have murders been so frequent as latterly. The Executive Council sat on Tuesday to consider the case of the culprit Cullinan, who was convicted of the wilful murder of Amelia Dorcas Murray, near Three Hut Point, and who was condemned to death by Mr. Justice : Home.; on Thursday last, and his body ordered ■to be'dissected.- The Council decided that. Cullinan is to be exebuted, r and that the othe.r.part of the sentence is to be fully carried (M.—MercuHf^ J^ ■ „ ' ' A' meniberi of $\& Acaa|niiei"des Sciences; of" Pafik, > has v invented*: an apparatus which he thinks will enabl^'human beings to breathe as freely at the bottom 6f the sea as on the siuv face of the earth. He proposes to form an association for collecting all the treasures now lying at the bottom of the ocean, and estimates ak about £800,000,000 sterling the. harvest of treasure to be gleaned on the route between England, and India only. ,

M. Guillabert, a surgeon in the French navy, has discovered the following cure for hydrophobia: ' —" The bite is first cauterised with boiling oil, and 15 grains of a powder composed of equal parts of the .radical bark of the Synanchum erecitiniy and an insect known in entomology by the name of Mylabrnt simaculata, are administered inwardly."; ■■;.,;•■'