NEW SOUTH WALES.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 114, 23 November 1858, Page 3

NEW SOUTH WALES.

By the William Alfred we have three days later papers than those received by the Louis and Miriam.

It is currently reported that Mr. Moriarty, late M.P., is to succeed to the office of clerk "to the Executive Council, on the departure of Mr. E. C. Merewetber for England, as agent to the Government of New South Wales in reference to the proposed ne\v steam postal arrangement for the Panama Route.

The following extract is from the letter of a gentleman at the Fitzroy, and published in the Sydney Herald of November 3. It is dated Rookhampton, October 24, 1858 :~"1 have been quite astounded at the excitement caused by tho discovery of these gold-fields, and at the rush of people it has»created both from Sydney ana Melbourne. Is is quite melancholy to see also the suddenness of the reaction on their elated spirits: one would suppose from what 1 see here that gold-digging was comparatively new to the people of this country ; many have come up without provisions for even a day s delay in finding the means of subsistence. They must have expected to kick the gold up under their feet with as much ease as stones are procured in other places; and it is reall v fortunate that the rich patch first discovered had no greater continuance, or we should have lud one-half the country pressing upon the resources of a district ill-prepared to receive so sudden an increase to its population. I have had, as you may imagine, a time of no little anxiety for the last month or six weeks. I have not slept in a bed half a dozen times for that period, and have had to live like a blackfellow, cooking my meat on the coals, and some days without any meat at all; but I shall not grumble if we succeed, as, please God, I think there is now little doubt, in developing the resources of this fine country. There has been, and I fear will continue to be, miu-.h individual loss and misery from the rayh precipitancy with which people have forsaken their ordinary employments to rush to what they supposed a snatching of gold from the soil; but most of the useless labor has already passed away, and there remains, I think, energy and enterprise enough to do the work required. The issue is in the hand of God, still we have every reason to believe that extended auriferous deposits exist, and I trust we shall now soon find them."

The DrsEASE ix Cattle.—ln consequence of the^ vast numbers of cattle and sheep which have perished of late, from various causes, the Government have commissioned Mr. Meston, the author of several prize essays and articles on botanical and pathological subjects, in connection with Mr. Moore, the managerof the Sydney Botanic Gardens, to investigate throughout the colony the nature and causes of the disease. Mr. Meslon kindly called upon us on Thursday morning last, and informed us that he has prosecuted his undertaking in the Northern districts, in conjunction with his colleague, and is now making a tour of the Western. He had dissected many carcases of animals which have died of disease, both here and in the Northern districts, and found death uniformly to have resulted from inflammatory affections, the consequence of indulgence in herbs and grasses of a too moist character, which engender gaseous formations in the paunch, distend, and burst it. The idea prevalent in these districts, that cattle have been affected with the Cumberland disease, M>. Meston considers to be altogether erroneous. He says, that during the last two or three years an entire change has come over the herbage of the colony ; and to examine the nature find effects of this change upon cattle is one of the principal objects of the mission of himself and colleague. One of the great causes of disease he finds in the absence of tonic plants, in search of which sheep often stray long distances and are lost. As soon as their labors of inspection terminate, Messrs. Meston and Moore will make a copious report to the Government, from which, doubtless, much information will be derived of the utmost importance to the country. In conclusion, we may state that Mr. Meston, who has always evinced an earnestness in promoting the best interests of the colony, is now giving his services gratuitously to the country, the Government simply paying the travelling and other incidental expenses of the commission—and this at a time when his own affairs in the north would much benefit by his supervision.— Bathurst Times. Suicide at thk Goulburn Hospital.—On Thursday night last, a man named John' Haslem, a patient in the Gonlburn Dislrict Hospital, deliberately put an. end to his existence by trotting his throat with a razor. Deceased was admitted into the hospital the night previous, from Collector, being at the time laboring under severe inflammation of the glands and cellular tissue of the upper part of the neck and throat. There was a large swelling in the front of bis neck, which _ caused him to have crest difficulty in breathing, the breathing besides causing much pain. About half-past nine on Thursday evening, he was seen by the superintendent, and was then in a sound sleep, and breathing with greater ease than previously. About one o'clock, the other. patients and the wardsman were awakened by the cries of Haslem, and on going to the bed they found he had cut his throat. The wardsman immediately fetched the superintendent, wW on going into the wavd found Haslem on the bed, with , his throat en tin two places, and a razor lying beside him. The wounds were not then bleeding, but a large quantity of blood was .observed on the bed clothes, and on the floor underjieath. Haslem was quite sensible, and on the superintendent asking him why he had done this, he said it was to " ease his breathing." The surgeon under whose

care he had been, was immediately sent for, in whose presence Haslem died about twenty minutes to two o'clock. On Friday an inquest was held before Dr. Waugh, District Coroner, at the hospital. From the evidence it appeared that no symptoms of insanity had been observed in deceased's conduct since his admission, nor any incoherence in his speech, or delirium. It was the opinion of Dr. Hanford that death must have resulted at an early period from the disease itself, had not the unfortunate man hastened the catastrophe. The jury returned a verdict of felode se. — (Jhronicls.