SOUTHERN TELEGRAMS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2153, 21 September 1875, Page 3

SOUTHERN TELEGRAMS.

(PEB PBESS AGENCY.)

> Wellington, Monday. A very serious explosion of gas took place tbia morning in tho strong-room of Messrs Izard and Bell's office. On one side,'the wall, 18 inches thick, was blown out. The other sido and roof were badly cracked. It appears a clerk named idmon, m the office, having occasion to visit tho strong-room, smelt gas. He left tho door opon for half-an-hour to allow it to escape. He then returned, struck a matoh, and was about to light the burner, when the whole cscape of gas m the strong-room. ignited. The shock threw the clerk somo 12 feet out into tho passage, seriously injuring him. Ho was taken to tho hospital,

Bifhheiji, Monday. A strong shock of earthquake occurred yesterday morning about 10 o'clock, the direction being east and west. It was felt slightly the same time at Kelson,

Gbbymouth, Monday. The steamer' Kennedy,' with the assistanco of tbo steam-tug, got afloat this afternoon off the South Spit. No damage was done.—Arrived: 'Adieu,' from Melbourne; 'Murray,' from Nelson. Sailed: ' Wallabi,'for Wanganui.

Chrisichubch, Monday. Tlio Auckland football team called here to-day en routo for Dunedin. The match .with Canterbury will probably bo played on Friday next, , ,

Inveecabqili, Sunday. A shocking accident occurred on tho Mataura line last evoning, by which Charles Gardiner, of the Waihopai Flour Mills, lost his life. Deceased was tinder the influence of liquor, and had been sitting on a culvert in the centre of a track opposite the road, when a ballast engine coming into town about 11 o'clock struok him on tho head. Ihe body must have doubled up, as it was dragged about 200 yards on by having caught tho break-rod. Death must have been instantaneous. The body was badly mutilated; both Btms wero shattered, the legs broken, and the head smashed. Deceased had resided in the district for years, and was widely known, An inquest takes place on Monday.

Monday. The coroner's verdict on the body of tho man Gardiner, killed on the Mataura railway on Saturday evening by a ballast engino, was "Accidental Death."