SOUTHERN NEWS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3524, 27 August 1880, Page 2

SOUTHERN NEWS.

[BY TELEGRAPH.]

The following Southern news reached Wellington per steamer Taiaroa, and has been telegraphed on: —

In the District Court at Lawrence, in Eegina v. O'Niell, for fraudulent insolvency, Judge Harvey held that the District Court could not proceed with a private prosecution. The prisoner is to be tried at the Supreme Court circuit.

H. J. Gilford, clerk to the Portobello Road Board, was arrested on the 23rd August on a charge of embezzling £200 of the funds of tho Board.

An accident happened to Mr. Lambeth, of Messrs. Lambeth and Findlay, contracting builders, of High-stroet, Dunediu, on Saturday afternoon which is likely to terminate fatally. Ho was superintending the demolition of a building iv Princes-street, when a nail ran into his foot. It is said lock-jaw has set in.

A man named J. Hardie was drowned in the. Wairau River on the 18th of August. Ho was intoxicated, and attempted to walk from a gravel spit to get into a boat which was waiting for him.

In the case of Louis Schmolls, recently sentenced to two years for shooting at his wife, a strong point in his favour was that the bullet could not be found iii the fence ; proving that the pistol had not been loaded. His wife has now found the bullet embedded in a feather bed. It was a Terry rifle bullet. Schmoll's son is in the Invercargill cadets, who are armed •vrith carbines of that description.

A man named William Henry Zow, livery stable-keeper, was drowned in Broken River while travelling to the West Coast diggings.

The Colonial Bank building at Oamaru had a narrow escape from destruction by fire on Sunday morning, at about a quarter to one o'clock. Some gentlemen who were passing the building, observed that there was 6re at the foot of the staircase (amongst some survey poles, &c), the door of which is generally left "open. The door was at once closed to check the draught through the buildings, and a Bupply of buckets procured, and by this meaus the fire was quickly got under.

At about 2.80 a.m. on Friday last a fire broke out on Messrs. J. & A. Callender's farm, East Taieri, when two large stacks of oats, estimated to contain from 40 to 50 tons each were destroyed. The stacks were insured in the National Company for £100. Messrs. Callender have been unfortunate of late, having lost a number of horses during the last few months.

A fire occurred at Hewett's Railway Hotel, at Waipahi, on Saturday, and though it was confined to one room, considerable damage was done there. The house was insured in the Victoria office.

The working men for Talbot & McClatohie, stevedores, of Lyttelton, have struck. Up to the present they have been paid 12s. per day of eight hours, which has been reduced to 10s. The crews of the vessels at present under contract are working them. The strikers have hitherto been paid half a-day if they worked even an hour only.

The proprietors of the Echo, an evening paper, charged with a libel on the editor of the Star, were remanded till Friday.

The two men who were injured at Lyttelton gaol and Cashmere in the recent gale are recovering from the effects of their injuries.

No damage has been done to the railway by the weather, and no damage is yet reported by floods.

O'Connor, the pedestrian, walked seven miles in 59 \ minutes at the Oddfellows' Hall, on the 23rd instant. This was an exhibition previous to his departure for Australia.

The City Council to-night passed a resolution affirming the desirability of establishing a Mayor's Court at Christchurch.