INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1557, 24 February 1887, Page 3

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

A boy two years old named Harry Bowen fell off a plank while crossing a creek at Blenheim, and was drowned. The body of Mrs Haggen tv as found in a lagoon near Waitahuna, Otago, on Monday.

Twenty cases of typhoid fever are in the hospital at Auckland. I’he medical yisiting staff complain of overcrowding and suggest the immediate erection of temporary wooden wards or tents. Many more fever patients are expected during the next few weeks,— l lfie hospital Board on Tuesday Egornpg agreed to erect a temporary fever ward to accommodate 40 patients. The building is to be ready within a week.

Disorderly scenes have taken place at Papakura gumfielda a short distance from Auckland city, where 400 men are earning good wages. On x uesday at the Papakura R.M, Court, Walter Eggerton, leaman (a former ipatp of Caffrey, the murderer), was committed fsr trial on a charge of brutally assaulting James Scott and breaking his leg, At the same Court two larrikins, Percy Freer and Horne, were sentenced to a month’s hard labor for assault and bound over to keep the peace for six months. Freer and Horne had attacked two men, one pf whom drew a kpife and stabbed both prisoners, one haying a wound through the arm and the other a large wound on the breast. An information for perjury has been laid by Annie Robertson against Jane

Graham, arisin- ut of a Supreme Court cise I 's-f year i * connection with M'Robbitson’a ejectment from the (J..:iiemutu Hotel, Auckland The case was called at the Police Court on Wednesday and adjourned till the March.

A PitroET Rescue. —The Napier Ever ing News recently contained the following Yesterday afternoon at Waipukurau a sensational incident occurred. Just as the 4.40 freight train ran into the station a child was observed on the line. The engine driver at orce shut off steam, clapped on the brakes, and leaping from the engine, succeeded in rescuing the child from a fearful death. The cowcatcher had actually struck the little one when it was dragged from the rails, and there oan be no doubt that to Mr Davis, the driver, is due the credit of saving the young child’s life. Those who witnessed the affair speak in high terms of praise of Mr Davis, and assure us tkat the engine was only twenty or thirty yards away when the child was first noticed, and that great promptitude and presence of mind was displayed by the engine driver. We compliment Mr Davis upan his brave act, and trust it will receive fitting recognition.

More Maori Superstition. Superintendent Thompson, of Auckland,recently received a telegram from Special Constable Icger relative to a case of Maori superstition and alleged witchcraft. It appears (says the N.Z. Herald) that a chief named Toko died suddenly at a native settlement near Port Albert, who, it was alleged by the natives assembled (some 200), had been bewitched by another native named Tango, They had tied Tango up for two days without food or water, on a charge of poisoning Toko by means of witchcraft. The constable endeavored to release Tango, as the alleged witchcraft was no offence in law, but the natives would not listen to it. They said he was a devil and had better be put out of the way. In order to protect Tango’s life Constable Inger arrested him as a vagrant. The Paoipio Squadron.— The Army and Navy Gazette, in its issue of November 27th last, says “It would really seem as if the Admiralty intended the Australian station to be the refuge of the useless and obsolete ships of the navy. Of the 10 ships comprising the squadron, none of which has a speed of over 13 knots, the Rapid alone is a modern ship carrying a modern armament. The flagship Nelson, a cruising ironclad, has not been Home for five years, and requires modern fittings and appliances. The Diamond and Opal are obsolete corvettes, carrying obsolete armaments. The Ranger and Swinger are obsolete gunboats that can neither sail nor steam (the litter it is actually proposed to recommission). The Harrier, Undine, and Lark are schooners without any steam power, the two former of which being found useless on the East India station were sent to the antipodes to be out of the way • and the Dart, described in the navy list as a ‘ steam yacht,’ completes the list of this powerful squadron.”

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A Chinese Execution.— The London and China Telegraph says;—A number of Europeans were spectators of a horrible scene in Canton recently. It was known that there were two murderers to be disposed of, the murder being of a very heinous character according to Chinese justice—the criminals were parricides. Now, the punishment for this crime is not merely decapitation as for ordinary oases of murder, but the criminal is tied to a bamboo and then hacked into thirty-six pieces, and it was the infliction of this horrible brutality that was witnessed. The two wretched men were lashed to the bamboos with barbarous cruelty, and then the executioners cut them up in approved style, commencing at the legs and travelling upwards. The coup de grace was given by a stab through the heart, and then decapitation finished the job. The scene is described as horrible beyond description, and when it is stated that one man lived after being terribly mutilated, shrieking with agony at each stroke of the sword, the feeling of the Europeans who witnessed this disgraceful exhibition may be imagined. Doctors Gatr Hm Uf“ Is it possible that Mr Godfrey is up and at work, and cured by so simple a remedy?” “ I assure you that it is true that he is entirely cured, and with nothing but Am. Go’s Hop Bitters, and only tea days ago his doctors gave him up and said he must die. 1 ’ “ Well-a- day ! If that is so I will go this minute and get some for my poor George. I know hops are good.” EeadAdvt.