AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6123, 9 March 1898, Page 1

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

■ ♦ [From Our Correspondent.] (By Telegraph from tie Bluff.) > A COLLISION" AT SEA. 1 MELBOURNE March 2. j 1 A sensational collision betveen the well- ] known passenger steamers Flinders and : Casino oc-urred at half-pastfcwo o'clock on ; Tuesday morning, March 1, <ff Apollo Bay, ' near Cape Otway, but in an .Imost miracu- • lous way both vessels eeaped serious 1 injury. Until within a fewiundred yards ' r of each other the steamers wre proceeding ' at the usual rate, the Flinlers at eleven ' knotß,andthe Casino at nine and although, ' when a collision seemed iievitable, the engines were put fall sped astern, the , force of the impact was so p.-eafc that the passengers asleep below, immediately rushed on deck in a state of great ex- ' citement. The Flinders,, with forty passengers, was on tbi usual ■ trip from Melbourne to ' Wamambool, afad the Casino, with thirty passengers, was making for Melboune from I Port Fairy. The night- was fine md clear, and, according to the statement of Captain Boyd of the Casino, his second oflcor, who was on_ watch, distincly saw the lights of the Flinders when she was sev«ral miles off. For some reason, not yet explained, the steamers continued dirdct ix each other's track about four miles off bhe land, and threatened to come into collision stem to stem . a few minutes befoje the vessels collided. However, the second officer of the Casino called Captain Boyd, and the latter promptly altered ;ho vessel's course. He was not wholly successful, for although it helped to prevent the Casino running stem on to the Flinders and made the collision a "sliding" jne, the two . vessels crashed into each otler with great force. Fortunately the water was fairly smooth, and every thins: was soon in readiness to lower the boats and place the passengers in them. A hurried examination of each vessel was made. It was then found that they had appareitly .met with comparatively trifling damage, and were in no danger. The collision occurred at almost the same place and in a very similar manner to the one between the Nelson and the Julia Percy fifteen years ago. A y MINING ACCIDENT. A terrible mining accident occurred on Monday morning, at the British mine, Broken Hill, whereby three miners and a trucker, lost their lives, and another trucker is lying in the hospital in a precarious condition. The victims are James Tracey, Cunliffe, Coff and John Francis Curtin, otherwise known as Eeed, who were killed instantly, and Thomas Burns, who died in the hospital. The injured man is "W. B. Tremlett, who had been engaged in preparing holes for firing at the back of the stope. The men had removed a bar drilling machine, and shortly afterwards an immense section of rock 20ft by 12ft, weighing between twenty and thirty tons, came suddenly away, killing Curtin, Cunliffe and Coff, who were directly under it, instantaneously, and also partially covering Burns. Tremlett had a most miraculous escape from sudden' death, the ground falling as ha was standing by a log of timber, against which were two large boulders. Curtin and Coff were terribly mutilated, whilst Cnniiffe's body was smashed into pulp. Curtin was twentyfour years of age, married, and had one child. Cunliffe was thirty- three, and married but with no children. Coff leaves a wife and six'children. Burns was single, living with his widowed mother. Tremlett was only married about twelve months ago. At the inquest a verdict of accidental death, with a rider that the jury considered that the accident was attributable to working stopes on the open cut system with insufficiency of timber. A DISASTROUS EARTHQUAKE. The steamer Australian brings details of the recently reported earthquake at Amboyna, one of the Molucca Islands. On Jan. 7, a high wind sprang up, followed by heavy rain. Afterwards there was a sudden stillness, aud underground rumbling like heavy claps of thunder occurred, and finally violent earthquakes followed, so severe that in twenty seconds the beautiful town of Amboyna was in ruins. Many people were killed and many more wore injured. A fort, dating from the last century, of rare and solicl build, suffered severely. Most of the hoxxses in the fort were rendered untenable. Many had fallen in, and the artillery barracks were in ruins, with eighteen men buried beneath, the delris. The hospital, with its many patients, was wrecked, many being buried under the walls of the prison, which was converted into a heap of stones. Many convicts and others were found dead. The Chinese camp, with many two-storied dwellings and stores, was completely wrecked, and most of the killed and wounded were found here. TATTEESALL'S CONSULTATION. The following are the drawers of placed horses in Tattersall's consultation on the Newmarket Handicap (fully subscribed) : — First, W. A. Lawson, Wynyard, Tasmania, .£4500; second, A. E. Stoddart, captain English cricket eleven, ,£1350; third, W. Burgess, Bacon Street, North Grafton, New South Wales, .£9OO. These amounts are net. TRIAL FOE, MANSLAUGHTER. The trial of Charles Arthur Hudson, Marion Child, Emily Martha Cook and Arthur Barton Miles for having illegally caused the death of A.da Alice Miles at Gosford on Dec. 20, has concluded at Sydney, after five days' hearing. Deceased was the wife of Miles, and the evidence showed that husband and wife had arranged with Cook to perform an illegal operatioa on the wife. She was nursed by the accused Child, and the operation was performed at an establishment kept by Hudson. The jury returned a verdict of guilty against Hudson, Coot and Miles, the two latter being recommended to mercy. Mrs Child was found not guilty and discharged. Hudson was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude, Cook to three years' imprisonment and Miles to be imprisoned till the rising of the Court. THE FIADO. The missing steamer Fiado belongs to Joxire and Co., of Sydney and Noumea. She is an iron steamer of 984- tons, in command of Captain Bauret, who was formerly a well-known intercolonial trader under the Howard Smith flag, but for some years S??^ 1 ?.?,?? 6 " Caled <>nian trade. The Fiado left Sydney on Feb. 15 for the Noumea trip, which ordinarily only occupies about five days. She had on board a f renc n«^°. from , the Caledonien, insured for .£6OOO in the Merchants' Marine Oib.ee. A "MARRYING" PARSON The death of the « Rev " Nathaniel Kinsman is announced. For several years he was well - known in Melbourne m« n fi, m f T n £ P arson " With Kinsman the celebration was purely a matter SfowS' T? P ° SSlble fa cili«es were toTseveral cel^ated in his rSrds Sfr^ ooll^^ sss^kSsst *?* prove this ;n---five years of « ' ho was seventy?LVs?s rS 6n°J a a n ge i " H l wa^ W f rVmrch nf HS,»i j , J±e Was t^ Sim of a in , vSwfciS ?*l Cler ? ymaD - and arrived m Mctona in 1849. In 1862 the founda-

tion stone of the Victorian Free Church of England was laid, and Kinsman was chosen its minister for life. Something like 10,000 couples passed through his hands, his popu.larityas a matchmaker being due to his plan of asking only necessary questions, the conducting of the ceremony at any hour and with any degree of privacy and at exceptionally cheap rates.