AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1777, 9 October 1862, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

RUSH ON THE SAVINGS BANK BALLARAT. A rush has taken place on the Saving's Bank at Ballarat. The Slar of yesterday says : — " There was quite a rush of depositors at the Savings Bank on Wednesday, anxious to get possession of their money. The crowd was bo great at one time that a woman therein was nearly injured by the press, and it was not until Mr. Pooley had threatened to obtain the services of a few constables that anything like older was was restored. This anxiety on the part of the depositors to get possession of their money, we hear, is due to the unfortunate breaking up of the Provident Institute in Melbourne, and not to tha New Zealand rush, the accounts from which have been recently looked on as the reverse of encouraging to intending fortune seekers. When once an idea of insecurity has got into a depositors' minds, it would be almost a futile task to try to convince them that the Savings Bank never had any connexion with the Melbourne broken-down establishment. At present, a number of ill-in-formed persons are laboring under the strange delusion that the establishment mentioned was part and parcel of the system under which our Savings Bank were established." Another Tbafalgab Hebo. — One of the heroes of Tralfalgar, who has been residing at Owensville, Glen Eira road, in the vicinity of Brighton, for several years past, died on Sunday afternoon last. He resided in a wooden shanty, his only companions being two dogs. How he obtained a living no one knew, as he was never seen to begj nor till about ten days ago was it known who ho was or what it had been, as he always declined to give any information respecting "himself, and passed in the neighborhood by the general name of Old John. About ten days ago he was missed by the neighbors, and inquiries were then made respecting- him, On his shanty being visited, he was found lying on a heap of dirty straw, and in a state of utter destitution. He stated that he had been in that condition and unable to rise for about four days. Sir George Stephen, Mr. Page, Mr. Eason, and Dr. Van Hemert, and . Mrs. Baxter immediately concerted measures to render him more comfortable, especially as he positively declined to be removed to the hospital. In the course of last week he informed Sir George Stephen that his name was John Pannis, that he was 76 years of ago, and in early life was a man-of-war's man, and was in one of Nelson's ships at the battle of Trafalgar. He also said he had an only son living in England, and requested Sir George Stephen to write to him. It was then that he disclosed his history. — Melbourne Herald, Sept. 10th. Stole Away. — Most of our readers will remember, that Mr. Hummer, who last- year amused himself in Beechworth by knocking down some £1500, was lately committed at Benalla to take his trial at Beechworth on the charge of obtaining money under false pretences. The gentleman was duly locked up in the Benalla cage, which ia a comfortable brick building lined with wood, but liking better free air, he by some means procured a knife or saw, cut down some of the boards, pulled out a hundred bricks from the wall, and' absquatulated after taking one of the best police horses from the stable. AJr. Plummer was always a connoisseur in the -matter of horse trappings, and, true to his principles, he disregarded the usual heavy bridle used by troopers, and selected a nice light snaffle. Mr. Gobham, the inspector in charge at Benalla, feela particularly hurt at Mr. Plummer's neglect in not leaving his P.P.C.— Ovens Constitution,

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