[United Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH.

Colonist, Volume XXVI, Issue 3480, 13 June 1882, Page 3

[United Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH.

June 12. DETERMINED MURDER AND; SUICIDE. A ghastly crime is reported from the timber district of Oxford, some thirty miles north-east of Christchurch. The particulars so far as known are' given in one of the evening papers as follows :—This morning at about 8.15,, soon after the gang of platelayers ort the Oxford branch had commenced work, and whilst two men named Packnetz and Home were placing a sleeper on tho trolly, another of the gang named John Greenfield, who was standing behind, suddenly lifted the adze and said to John Horna, who was helpingvto load, the troUy, »Youb , 1 will do for ym". and struck him with the adze behind the ear, the blade of the adze running across the neck, and penetrating it to a depth of 2| inches with the corner, and half severing; the head from' the body. ''The foreman !of the gang," Packnetz, said, " John, what are you doing, man ?" whereupon Greenfield rushed upon the ganger, and said, " You b-—-, I will do for you too." Packnetz 'ran; away, and the murderer followed him for a considerable distance, when Packnetz suddenly turned upon him and seized him,' and in doing-so received a blow which the murderer aimed at him on the side of the head, but fortunately only with the handle of the adze. Packnetz then seized the ,adze, and wrenched it from him. The murderer then ran away across the field on the opposite side of the main road, and was afterwards found by Sergt. Scott lying' down in a furrow; where there was only a small quantity of water. He was stretched at full length in the furrow, with his face in tho water, and when turned over he was found to be quite dead. Home has lived a long time in Oxford, and during the greater part of the time has been employed on the railway. He leaves a wife and a family of seven children. He has been a steady and careful man, and has acquired some property. Greenfield has not been long in the district, and leaves a wife and four, children,, the 'youngest of which is about six weeks old. From the position of the cut it must have been given whilst Home was stooping with his back towards the murderer, the blow being struck over the left shoulder, the whole width of the adze, which is an ordinary carpenters' one, penetrating thewhole width, and almost severing th head from the body. Sergt. Scott was quickly on the spot, and both the bodies were laid at the Oxford Hotel on beds side by, side •by half nast tenio'clbck. -The murder took ■place.ijw SfcarvStion-HM; >' _ :.,-'■ ■-„ ,■■'',,■ Another case •of Btieking-up ; occurred on Saturday oyening^near the Carlton Hotel; i ardly half a mile from tho centre of .the own.'- A gentleman irom\BJenhleim bad been visiting "some friends, and on returning about 11 p.m. he wasißctiupqnby three roughs.; With the aid of a stout stick And a couple of

I dogs, who seemed-to enjoy'the fun, his assailants were forced to beat, a-hasty retreat. j. I At the inquest on the body of Rattray, who \ [was killed fit Lyttelton, a verdict of accidental ' death was returned. * The, attendance at the Exhibition up to SaturdayTnum bored 158,000. 'The new'Oatholio Convent was solemnly Blessed by Bishop Redwood,yeßterday. There i web "a crowded"attendance at the service connected therewith, and the collection amounted -to £500. „.,«., r * , ! HOKITIKA, June 12. ' An old woman, aged 69, named Noble, committed suicide on Sunday in her daughter's house, by hanging horself with a rope tied to I a naii'in'iier bedroom^' l^i^ueit^siteeld to-day, 'when a yerd^^ofjlflyide^und^^nY porary insanity was returned. Her son-in-law, Kohloff, ard his wife testified . that they found her hatiging by:the : »eck with her .feet just .barely .touching the; ground. Her 'husband is in 'Auckland, and ihey have been separted tor fourteen years, over sinco the I Thames rufeh.nsho has threatened suicide) several timep, and often complained of being aeparated.,from,hei; husband. ... : :-': ..7M''WELMNGTON.7 :, :..,- f-.itfw: '.*-,•« •,,:/:, J unQ 12. ; H.M.S. Nelson leaves to-morrow for Auckland, via Kawau, where her offkiors and some ;otlieirs: will,for threeor four.days be.tbeguest'ss of Sir George Grey. MV oSdymour George is a, passenger.by, r her to Kawau to do the honors as'host as*' Sir Goorge Grey's representative. \ H.M.S. Miranda is expected to leave for Fiji on Thursday. A deputation, consisting of several members of the House of Representatives, waited on the Minister for Publio Works this morning, urging that ;railway lttbprera7,w,ages Bhp.u|d bo increased, and aßki'ngltbat;:b'ftllaßt'.'inen-'should be paid during wet weather. In reply, the Hon; '{W": W.; Jpbnstpn r promised to make enquiries of public bodies as to the rate of Wage? paid for. non-pauper labor, and if the Government were justified in doing so, railway laborers would have their wages raised to at least 6s 6d per day. He also promised that the question of paying ballast men during wet weather should be taken into serious consideration. At the inqueßt bn7the body of George Champion, who was killed by the upsetting of his dray over a precipice on the Ngahauranga line, tho jury returned a verdict of accidental death, but added a rider-'that (9 .rain points on the line should bo fenced. I June 12. Te Whiti and Tohu visited tbe Kaik on Saturday, and were recoiled cordially by the Natives. Subsequently, Charles Wesley, ;a well known chief, took them severely to task for their past conduct. Te Wbiti made no reply, but Tchu said be? and! TeWjhiti,were . dead to all intents and purppnes, ana nothing said to them now could' be of any avail. They did not seem discontented with the result of their.visit. ,„.,,. .. . , The;concert on; Friday realised nearly iSIOO for the Timaru Relief Fund. ■•'"'; ,i INYEECAHGILL. : ■'.'■. ■'.'. •' .-. .'.''.'.' 7 Jmie 12. i The bar at Watson's Hotel was entered last night, and a,desk containing nearly, £60 stolen. The entrance was effected from.the baok door of the hotel. 7 '.'"-' I . COLLINGrWOOD. I [From our own Correspondent.] : :j Collingwood, June 8. | It has long been Buspeoted that othor reefs than that at tho Golden Ridge existed oh the West Wanganui goldfields. Indeed a party of throe, who know the dhtriet, left here to prospect there about a fori m^ht ago, but as yet no report of success has come in from them. ,Thi3,morningyhowever,an application for a lease wag lodged with the Warden here, and from what I hear the proapacts are oXtrernely good.;. The lenders (for there are two of them) have been traced over two hundred feet, and are gold-bearing throughout the whole distance. So far ;as they have been j prospected, there is every indicntion that they j will run itito/one. I have no dqubfc but that we shall very soon hear of others being found. The last reports from,the Golden Bidge were';j of a mosteatißfactorylcbafiicter, and that there is every jjrospect of an| exceptionally good cleaning up" at the end of this month. On Druggan's Flat all those who took up claioas are actively employed putting in" tunneln, and all seem confident of asuccessfulresult. The old workings at the South Hind, whio.h, have been worked for years, have and are doing well " -• The wind has been blowing very hard all the week from the 8.E., raising a .very-high sea. The Argus, coal laden, has been' detained since Monday and as yet there is not much, appearance of the wind abating. From the eamo cause the Lady Barkly wiilbeuriablo to leave to-day. She had a very rough passago on Tuesday night and- Wednesday morning. Rounding Separation Point it blew ..a...perfect hurricane, and after leaving the Trttao the sea'ran very highimore especially as she neared Collingwood. Fortunately the wind was aft. She proved herself an excellent little sea boat. A publio meeting ha 9 been called for Sat;ur : day evening, to urge the Government to open upthe^road to thejHeaphy and the Karamea. •AlsO'-iiß to rendering aabistance towards tho erection of a wire bridge across the Aorero' at the Salisbury's crossing. Some years ago 20,000 acres were, oet apart as,a tramway reserve, ;and7as! \Mr Rpilestip'ni7w.hcn hore, thought it liad'been taken offj Which however was not the case (so fur only that it could be sold for cash, but not on deferred payment), therefore thoro should'not be much difficulty in placing1 this land '■ in the samo position as other land in the Provincial District. When this is the case, it will give a great impetus to settlers locating on really good land.