West Coast Times. AND WESTLAND OBSERVER. THURSDAY, JANUARY 26.

West Coast Times, Issue 1661, 26 January 1871, Page 2

West Coast Times. AND WESTLAND OBSERVER. THURSDAY, JANUARY 26.

A very melancholy accident, resulting in the loss of life, occurred yesterday in the claim on Jones's Flat, known as Moinergber's, to a fine young man named James O'Donnell. It seems he was in the act of descending tbe shaft, when, through some unexplained cause, he lost his hold of the rope by which he was going down, and was precipitated to the bottom, a depth of 140 feet. In an almost incredibly short space of time the body was brought up by his mates, but life was quite extinct. An inquest will be held to-day, when the full particulars will be published.

Mr M. Keogh, in answer to a requisition, signifies his intention to stand for the election of member in the Totara district in the General Assembly. Mr Keogh was for several years a goldfields Warden on the coast, and should be very well acquainted with tbo wants of a mining community* which he seeks to represent.

As the Resident Magistrate's Court was occupied as a polling booth yesterday, Jas. A. Bonar, Esq., J.P.. attended at the Police Camp. One person, for being drunk and disorderly, was fined 10s and costs.

We (Taranaki Herald) mentioned that Mr S. Dingle met with an accident on Monday hist, since then we have gathered further particulars relating to it. It appears that Mr Dingle was cutting the foot of one of his old rams which was troubled with the footrot, when the animal suddenly giving a kick, the knife slipped and made an incision in the bend of his arm, cutting the veins and partly severing the artery. The blood spurted out; and Mr Dingle went into his bouse and put a quantity of flour on the wound to try and stop the bleeding, bandaging it up as well as he was able. Feeling faint, he went to the door and beckoned to some one passing, who evidently could not have noticed him; he then dropped down insensible. On coming to himself again, he tried to make for his bed. He states that he could not see, and had to feel his way along the wall. On reaching the room he became too weak for further exertion, and grasping with bis right band, the arm that was cut, be fell with his face on the bed. He must have remained in this position for over fifteen hours, and was not discovered till his brother visited the farm the following morning. Medical assistance was at once scut for, aud the life of Mr Dingle was saved The quantity of blood bo must, have lost cannot, o| gourde, be accurately ascertajued,

far less than a gallon. nn r Kawwm informs us, we arc happy to say, that the t,uffcivr, although still weak, is mil offtUJger. We are glad, says the Southern CiUAs, to observe that ortr remarks jis to the eohtume of a certain Maori eWef h:iVc iiofc becu di.->-vegariiod. We nvcnlioftcil a i'e\V days ago that this distinguished individual was stalkiug about Qucen-strcel, attired in a bell-topper, & mat, and a petticoat ornamented with filagee work. His a'lfentlon having been drawn to the iil'iiprop'riety of his 'costtime, he lias substituted top-boots for the petticoat-, but he has fallen into the other extreme of allowing his mat to frail on the ground after the irtatttter. of a lady's train. The European fashion-makers who contrive to live by catering for the changeable tastes of their customers might select some striking costumes from the varied styles of the Maoris now in Auckland.

The Hawaiian Gazelle of November 25 says:— "We have heard that a line of packets is to be put on between this pout and New Zealand and Sydney, sailiug regularly every four weeks. This is, of course for the carrying of our sugars. We have good reason for bclic v iug that over half of our sugar crop will go in that direction during the coming year. The steam live to Australiahas opened up to us a new and large market for our produce, which will benefit this country in every possible way, although it will draw a large portion of our business from Sau Francisco, as the shipping of our produce calls for return cargoes; hence we may look for a large portion of our supplies to come from the Australian colonies."

The Independent of the 18t'i states:— "A singular story has been brought to town that on Saturday last two men, employed at the flax mills of Messrs Rose and Taylor, at liangitikci, arrived at Langly's at Manawatu, and reported having seen on the beach about half-way between the two rivers, twelve

bodies which had evidently been washed up by the sea. The bodies were described as those of men, and naked, from inquiries since made by the police, we understand there is every probability of the story being correct ; but the locality is not Manawatu as stated, but between Turakina ana Rangitikei, on a part of the beach that is not frequented by travellers, the usual path being inland. The reason Constable Purcell did not stop to fully inquire into the report as he was passing was the fact that he had Doreen (the last of the escaped prisoners from Napier) in charge, ami was bringing him to Wellington. Beyond this we believe nothing is known.

The following, relative to the balloon pobt in IVance, is froni tlie JVisitw of flic. Worhl : — " Hard times theso for the Parisian aerouauts. The range of the Prussian needle-guns and cannon has forced then) to higher flights. Many of them have got into currents in the upper air, in which they have lost the power of governing their own movements. Accordingly, we heard the other day of a Parisian balloon descending in Sweden, far away in the north. To-day, we have a report of anothor which dropped in the British Channell; was kept there bobbing up and down in a disastrous manner in the short, chopping seas peculiar to that passage, trying in vain to make the Soilly Mantis, and was afterwards carried out to the broad Atlantic. These are the only cases thai have yet been brought to the knowledge of the public. The. directors of the balloon-gost of Paris alone know how many have been started. Krom these misadventures it is evident that the navigatjon of the air has.not yet become certain enough to be awarded a phhee among the sciences "

A very serious trap nccjdent,occui:i'<cd yesterday afternoon (says tlio Wellington Independent, January 17) at Kaiwarra, close to the house of Mr Hirst, the tanner, by which several persons sustained serious bodily injury. Three ladies were in the trap— the two Mi*s Greenwoods and Miss Lomax— who were driven by Edward Chambers. While passing the narrowest and most dangerous part of the road, from the proximity of an abrupt bank of some twenty or thirty feet, a goat star! led tlie horse, which slued and look the vehicle and those in it over the bank. The ladies came off more fortunately than the driver, who was picked up undei the broken remains of the vehicle very much hurt, but no bones were broken. The young ladies were also much contused, and were taken to their own residence where we believe I)r Grace attended to them.

In addressing the electors of Tokomairiro last week, Mr Cutten, an old Otago settler, who for several years held the office of Commissioner of Crown Lands, in referring to tbe financial schemes of the present Ministry, said, that even if they were as good as they were likely to be bad, he would never trust the men in the present Government to expend the proposed loan. The money was to be unfairly expended in enriching the North Island at the expense of the Middle Island — a course that had already been too long followed. Mr Cutten referred to the proposed immigration under it, and asserted that the men brought out to labor on the public works would be altogether unsuited for settling in the country.

A boy, named William Williams, residing on the Orawaiti road, Westport, met with an accident on Tuesday lost, which was very nigh being attended with fatal results. The boy, it appears, had been amusing himself for some days past with a six-barrelled revolver, and when the accident occurred, it was loaded with powder and an iron tack, the head of a lucifer serving in place of a cap. The boy was busily engaged looking down the muzzle of the piece when by some unexpected agency the pistol exploded, and a portion of the charge entered the hoy's forehead, penetrating to the skull, the tack then passing upwards and finally out of the upper part of the forehead. Dr. Thorpe was speedily in attendance, and had ths sufferer removed to tbe Hospital, where he removed a portion of the tack from the boy's forehead.