AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

West Coast Times, Issue 1748, 9 May 1871, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

During the progress of the fire in Highstreet, St. Kilda, on the night of the 20th A ult., a person named John Braden became so excited about the safety of his house that he attempted to wrest the hose out of the hands of the member of the fire brigade who was using it, in order to play upon his own premises. In the short scuffle that took place he struck one of the firemen with the leg of a chair. Braden was summoned at the St. Kilda Police Court for both offences. The Bench, considering the excitement the man was laboring under, inflicted the lenient penalty of 5° fine, and 5s costs in the first case ; and 2s 6d fine, with 2s 6d costs in the second case. A correspondent, a shipmaster, who was fined at Williarastown fur a breach of the port regulations, in not having a gang, way ladder for the accommodation of people coming on board, writes to complain of what he considers an unfair application of the law. A ladder was provided during the dny, but at night, as the vessel was very light in ballast, he gave instructions for the ladder to be taken on deck. He wants to know what right anj'one fronyshore can have to come on board his ship after midnight, and why he should be compelled to provide means for their doing so ? Further, how would the people of Williamstown like beini» fined because they preferred *o lock their doors at night ? A Chinaman of Benalla has a grievance for the redress of which he applies to the Press. It seems that, a boy was caught robbing his garden, and when taken before the local Bench the magistrates dismissed him with a caution. On this the Chinaman writes to the Ensign, as follows : — " One Boy go into my Garden and destroy £3—o—o worth of water mellons the Magistrate --ay him too yomu to punish the Boy thirteen years and six months old me try to punish the Boy for his Badness it cost me four pounds. — Ah Sam Bet.'* The Daylesford Mercury states that on Wednesday a peculiar and fearful accident happened to Mr Patterson, one of the proprietors of the Telegraph Saw-mills. While standing beside the circular saw, a splinter, three feet long, broke off the log on the bench, and struck the unfortunate gentleman full in the chest. Such was the force of the blow that the wood passed , through the ribs near the clavicle, and ' very nearly came out of his back. Tne sufferer drew out the splinter himself, leaving, however, it is siid, a piece in the wound. Mr Patterson lies in a critical state from internal haemorrhage. At Campbell's Creek last week an old gentleman, Mr Seetner, died at the ripe old age of 92. He was 36 years old when the battle of Waterloo was fought, and retained a vivid recollection of that stirrinqf period. A decision was given in the Sandridge Police Court stowing the peculiarity or the law in what Constitu'cs a public place. A rough-looking fellow, named James Ray, went into Trinity Church, Bay-street, in a state of intoxication, and settled himself for a comfortable sleep. .The service had not then commenced, and as it was evident that his appearance and loud breathing would be likely to disturb the congregation, the watchhouse-keeper opposite was asked to induce the man to leave the church. He succeeded in getting him outside on some pretext, but when told that he could not make a sleeping-apart-ment of the church, he, in a fit of drunken obstinacy, insisted that he had a right to go to church, and go he would. The constable, seeing no alternative, then locked him up. The prisoner, in his defence, stated that he had been up in Melbourne on Sunday morning visiting a friend, with whom he had a few glasses of grog. He was walking down to Sandridge, when, seeing the church door open, he walked in. The heat of the weather and the drowsy tinkle of the church bell lulled him into a calm slumber. He made no disturbance, not even a snore, and in his opinion, he ) was not too drunk to go to church. The watchhouse-keeper stated that when locked up he made use of the most frightful langunge. The Bench decided that a church was not a public place within the meaning of the act, consequently the prisoner was not in le»al custody. He was therefore discharged. Amongst the curiosities of census-taking must be classed the fact that one of the country Mib enumerators outside of Talbot had a householder's schedule tendered him, duly filled up, that had been left ten years ago, and had never been called for." " A enrious statement, was made by an insolvent in Geelong when questioned as to a legacy in the insolvent court. Under his father's will, he said, his wife was entitled to a legacy of £4000, but this money could not be paid until the death of the Earl of Dysart. Whether the money would ever be paid at all was very problematical, as the son of the present Earl-^ had gone insolvent, and the payment of the x money, therefore, depended upon the son's honor. % What relation the Earl bore to the insolvent, Johnston, was Dot elicited." A prisoner named Cooper was sentenced at the last Ballarat Circuit Court to 15 years' hard labor and three floggings, and the first whipping would have to be inflicted next week, at the Melbourne Gaol. Dr. M'Crea, chief medical officer, however, considered that the man bad disease of the heart, and Drs. Pugh and Barker agreeing with him, a report was sent to the Government, pointing out that the floggings ought not to be inflicted. The report will doubtless be acted upon by the Government, and the corporal punishment remitted. An individual well known to sporling men, Damei Frederick Hamilton Dicker, was summoned to the District Court on the 26th ult. by a woman named Emma Jones for the maintenance of an illegitimate child, a boy, about nine years old. The defendant said he was willing to support the boy, but wanted to have him in his own charge, in order to bring him up in a manner suitable to his position. The woman gave evidence to the effect that she had lived in Christchurch, New Zealand, with the defendant Dicker, or Hamilton, as his name was generally given, and he had several times written, asking her to join him. She had never been living with a man named Grant in New Zealand, nor had she written to the defendant acknowledging that such was the case. She lived only with her child. The defendant also gave evidence, but not quite to the same effect. He had, he said, lived with the

woman 14 or 15 years, and she had borne his name and passed as his wife. After living with her in ChristchurJi, he was obliged to come to Melbourne, and left her in a comfortable position, and though he wrote twice to her to join him she did not come. Afterwards he discovered that she was living with a person named Grant, but on Grant being burnt out, and becoming consequently unable to support her, she came over to Melbourne to get money from witness. He was anxious to take the child away from a woman who had so disgraced his name. He denied having led the woman astray in the first instance, and said that he, when young and foolish, had taken her when her own brother had turned her out of doors. Mr Call, P.M., decided to make an order against the defendant to pay 10s a week for the support of the child to the woman, and said that if she did anything showing her to be unworthy to take charge of the child, the order would be cancelled, and the defendant, by applying to the judge* of the Supreme Court, could have the child taken from her care. Mr Kidston, who appeared on behalf of the defendant, said he would recommend his client to tnke that course. An unprepossessing - looking young woman, named Ellen Carsfairs alias Sarah Bourke, said to have only arrived in Melbourne, was fined 40s, or two months in ga<>], at the City Court, for using obscene language. On leaving the Court she made use of some very foul language, and being brought back, was fined an additional 40s or two months incarceration. When going out again she siid, " I don't care if it was six months instead of four ; I can do all the (expletive) months they can give me on my head." As the woman was evidently under the influence of drink, the Bench took no notice of this second outburst. ""^ One of those mean-souled creatures who are too worthless to work, and have not even sufficient gratitude to abstain from ill-treating those upon whom they depend for support, was takea before the magistrates at the City Court, on account of hie wife. His name was James Moore, and it was shown that he worked but a few months in the year, was continually drank, and not only beat his wife, who supported him, herself and five children, by keepiug a boarding-house, but even took disreputable characters into her house in order to insult her sense of propriety. The Bench gave him a serious lecture, pointing out that he might be comfortably in a good home i^he would but keep sober and behive himself, and they then sentenced him to six months' imprisonment, with hard labour.