News Of The Week

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 2, 4 May 1883, Page 9

News Of The Week

FBIDAT. tw the Wain case yesterday the medical evidence waa continued ; —Dr. Stenhoase stating, in the coarse of his examination, that Wain had brought the deceased for advice to him on October 16, When the man seemed not to have ill-treated the child, bat to have done what any other father would have done under the circumstances. Dr. Alexander said that Buch treatment as that deceased had received would probably develope tubercular disease in a healthy child ; Dr. Coughtrey agreed in the opinion. Mr. Denniston, on behalf of the accused, reserved their defence, and they were committed for trial, bail being allowed in their own sureties of £400 each, and two sureties of £200. At a conference of the Bailway League with members of Parliament, held in Christchurch yesterday, it was unanimously resolved — " That in the opinion of this meeting it is advisable that in consideration of the vast importance of the proposal, from a colonial point of view, of connecting the east and west coasts of the Middle Island, the £180,000 set apart for the extension of the Middle Island Main Trunk line northwards, should be diverted towards constructing a line to the West Coast by the route decided on ; and that this meeting recommend that -all Government land for 15 miles on each side of the determined route be reserved from sale, and that the proceeds of the Bale be applied towards constructing a railway to connect Canterbury with Westland. Three hundred and fifty people were present at the Citizen's Ball given to the Governor and Lady- Jervois at Auckland last night. The ship, British Commerce, from London to Melbourne, has been run down in the Channel, 25 lives being lost. 100 persons were killed by the cyclone in the Mississippi States. The delegates at the Irish convention in Philadelphia have, as a matter of course, reprobated the use of dynamite. — Booney, a promi- : nent delegate, urges the adoption of Mr. Parnell's programme, which he warmly praises. Tongariro is in violent r ruption, not equalled for 13 years. The Ohau Siamese twins are dead. The small sickly one died about a quarter of an hour before the other one. The chairman of the Christchurch Chamber of Commerce has waited on the Colonial Secretary, bringing under his notice the Chamber's desire that New Zealand should be represented at the Boston Colonial Exhibition, and desiring to learn how far Government will assist their object. Government will consider the question. The near approach of the opening of Parliament prevents Major Atkinson from lecturing in the North ; he will, however, address his conßtitutents. — The session will commence in the first week in June -if the Alterations to the House be finished. •The sum of £50 has been collected at Christchurch in aid of the sufferers by the Rhine inundation. The Bailway Commissioners left Christchurch for the West Coast this morning with Mr. C. Y. O'Connor* C.B. A fire broke out at Franks' brewery, Timaru, last night, and did a considerable amount of damage. The loss is covered by insurances ' in the South British office. A whale, measuring 75 feet in length, seen at daybreak yesterday in the Gulf, about seven miles from the Thames, was forced up the river into shallow water and killed. A farmer named Edwards had his neck broken at the Thames by .a fall from his trap, the horses having bolted. The Tauranga residents have presented a handsome testimonial to Mr. Vesey Stewart, who goes home to float the Tauranga-Rotorua Hot Lakes railway, with a capital of £250,000, and a frozen meat company, with a capital of £30,000. Properties representing 60,000 acres have also been entrusted to him fcr sale. In the Phoenix Park case the jury, in Timothy Kelly's trial, "being unable to find a verdict, have been discharged. The trial of Michael Fagan began on Wednesday, and Joseph Hanlon has turned inform r. Prince Bathyani, an attache to the Austrian Embassy, died suddenly at the Newmarket races on Wednesday. The American news runs thus :— A fall of snow in Wyoming has blocked the Union Pacific line, delaying the homeward San Francisco mail, ~ts\~ t s\ Granville considers it premature to negotiate with the Govern ' t respecting the freedom of the Panama canal ; and the English -'eminent have asked for the extradition, of Tynam, believed to bi " Number One," and resident in New York, The Qi\ en's medical attendants say now Her Majesty will probably not! have recovered from the effects of her fall for some months. The French difficulty in Madagascar is said to have been arranged, and the Queen of that country is seriously ill. ' Earl Dufferin has been instructed to strongly protest against the Sultan's misruling of Armenia. The Mount Benger Mail reports that the Government Inspector of Mines has informed the Mayor of Roxburgh that £2000 would not construct the Waikaia Bush road, and the money would be wasted. The Inspector recognised the importance of the road, but did not think Government would be justified in spending a very large .amount on it. A man named James Hooper had his left foot severely injured, and one of the toen cut off by a fall of earth yesterday at Logan's Point quarry, Dunetfin. Another man named James Faulkner was also hurt, but not so seriously. At the Supremo Court sittings, Wanganui, the trials of two Maori prisoners were. included before Maori juries, which showed themselves to be "inUVigent, and in all respects as capable as Europeans. The Ngatimaniopotos at, Te have resolved to send Wahanni to Wellington to explain their wishes respecting the laws affecting the passage of Native lands through the Courts.

ttt the case of Jonathan Brown, who bought certain Nattti land*, the transfer being lost in the s.s. Tatanaki, Judge Gillies, while admitting that a hardship arose from no provision being made in the Act for cases where a transfer was lost, Has confirmed the refusal of the registrar to whom Brown had applied to register a memo, of transfer, and who refused as no such instrument was mentioned in the Act. In the Maasey case at Invercargill, his Honor, in summing np at 10 p.m. yesterday, told the iury that what they had to determine was whether while these debentures were in custody of the male accused as Town- Clerk, he converted them to his own use by getting hit wife to go and sell them. With respect to the female accused it was different. The evidence went to show that if the bonds were stolen she could not have acted independently of her husband in stealing them, since the larceny would take place when he converted them to his own use. There was no question of the female accused's having taken the "bonds surreptitiously from her husband. The evidence seemed to ' his Honor to point to the fact that the husband, having the custody of the bonds, stole them and gave them to his wife to sell, so that she stood in the position of the receiver of them,— she was not charged with receiving the goods, or with wrongfully selling the bonds, but of converting them to her own use, and there was no evidence to show that sh&had stolen them. A *erdict of guilty was returned against Massey, and not guilty against his wife. His Honor afterwards said he would decide to-day as to whether he would pass sentence on the second count, that charging Massey with the larceny of three pieces of paper — Mr. Stout having agreed to abandon the first count as the punishment would be the same on the second as on it. As to the course to be followed respecting the other indictments, Mr. Stout pronounced himself undecided until he should consult the Attorney* General. The Hon. Mr. Brjce, speaking at Opunake to-day, said that a mistake had been made in telegraphing his remarks at New Plymouth. He had been careful to say that by the King Country's being opened up, he meant it was open for surveys of roads and railways, with regard to other surveys he anticipated considerable delay. The Archbishop of Cashel has been called to Borne to consult with tbe Pope concerning Irish affairs. It is said that many of the delegates at the Philadelphia Convention have refrained from censuring the dynamite policy. — And the saying is utter rubbish. It is aIBO said that the American Cabinet are discerning the necessity of forbidding inflammatory speeches from being made, and this is more rubbish 1 At the trial of the dynamite conspirators in London, Whitehead, proprietor of the Birmingham factory, has been proved to have* bought large quantities of acids for the mauufacture of explosives. The ferry-boat, Waldemar, has been burned at Sydney. No lives were lest. In the Parliament of New South Wales, the motion of the Post Master General for the continuance of the Ban Francisco mail service, I has been carried. ' A discovery of ruby tin, mixed with gold and platinum, is said to have been made by a Mr. John O'Connell, near Clunes, Victoria. John Morgan Massey was sentenced to-day to three years' penal servitude, the heaviest puni-hment allowed for larceny. And all the money found on him at tbe time of his airest— that is a draft for £200 on the Bank of New South Wales, and £10 18s. in cash— was ordered to be applied to the payment of costs and expenses of prosecution. / The house of James Holden, a fisherman at Port Chalmers, was burned down about one o'clock this morning. Holden and one of his sons were away fishing, and his wife had lain^down dressed on a bed besides a little girl of two. On being awakened by the flames, the woman rushed out, leaving the child still in the bed, and the poor little thing was burned to death. The details of the sad accident at Wanganui are thus described by the Hefald :— On Saturday afternoon Mr. Kirk wood was shooting some pigeons, which had been frightened off the roof of his 'stable. He had killed two, when a third flew across the pathway. Just as he fired, bis boy (aged seven years) called out " Dadda, dear." Mr. Kirkwood declared at the inquest that he did not know that the child, who was playing in the yard, was behind this empty cottage until he heard his cry. Part of the shot penetrated the head, and some the left arm and chest. The poor little fellow died in his father's arms ten minutes afterwards. It is denied that the jnry in Timothy Kelly's case have been discharged. They have been locked up until Monday next, when a verdict of guilty is expected from them. SATUBDAY. The Agent-General has suspended forwarding emigrants to the Colony until June, The ship Oxford sailed for Wellington on April 26, with 325 emigrants. This ship had been dismasted in the Bay of Biscay, and on her return to London typhoid fever broke out among her passengers, owing to their having been obliged to use bad water? The Waipawa left for Lyttelton on 4th February with 220 souls, equal to 205 adults, including 130 single women. The Caroline, tbe vessel which re-embarked the Wild Deer's passengers, left the Clyde on the 19th February for Port Chalmers with 235 souls, equal to 213 adults, of whom 112 were single women. Of the 164 A statute adults on the WUd.Deer 134 had sailed in the Caroline. .A few were ill from exposuretm the occasion "of the wreck, and would be sent, if they recovered in time; by the Forfarshire. Some of the emigrants had refused to re-embark. The Queensland sugar planters are making arrangements for tne introduction of Chinese labour, into their plantations by means of the compradore system, wh.ich the Australasian, asserts to be a system of slavery. The labourers bind themselves in China, giving sureties to the comprador, who, on any breach of agreement abroad, exacts his pound of flesh at home, without being troubled by a necessity to cut it free from blood., In this way the Queensland planters will be . able to have their slaves, and yet the reputation of the Empire will be preserved— on whose, soil, as we all know, the foot of no slave-may tread. The principle :will be that of, cheating the devil in the dark, of course, but not only' have the Queensland planters been used to

avail themselves of this for the last fifteen years, or since the Polynesian labour trade was established by them, but there is some ground to believe that the Imperial Government have also, from time immemorial, found it useful to themselves. Apropos of Ogden and Sutherland, the Tasmanian murderers, having been rabbiters, a gentleman writes to the Hobart Mercury quoting the testimony of the late Chief Sheep Inspector for the Colony to the effect that rabbiting is an occupation injurious to the morals of the lads who arc habitually engaged in it. But we should havi thought the fact was obvious, and hardly rt quired to be explained. Any desultory, unsettled occupation of the kind must needs be deleterious, and of a degrading tendency. The medals of the Anglers' Association have been awarded as follows : —Acclimatisation Society's silver medal for bait-fishing in the Shag River on the 3rd March, Mr. William "Webster, for a basket weighing 141 b. 12oz. In the competition of 23rd March, Mr. Webster took first prize with a basket weighing 141 b. 20z., taken in the Shag River ; and Mr. B. J. M'Kenzie, jun., second prize with a basket weighing 7Jlb., taken in the Waitati. Mr. S. Thompson has obtained the gold medal presented by the Acclimatisation Society for fly-fishing in Lee Stream on 30th November, his basket weighing 41b. soz. The Clutha Leader reports a case of supposed incendiarism, by which 400 or 500 bushels of oats were destroyed in the stackyard of the Messrs. Smaill, at Inch Clutha, on Saturday. The Palmerston Times reports favourably of the results of the threshing in its district— the yield being for the most part up to expectations. — Ploughing has been already begun. The first meet for the season of the Otago hounds takes place this afternoon at Mr. Hungerf ord's, Waikari. We wish the sportsmen a " southerly wind, and a cloudy sky,"— or whatever, instead, may be conducive in these latitudes to the successful chase of a red herring. One of our daily contemporaries understands that an effort will be made to form a company from among the debenture-holders and creditors of the Peninsula and Ocean Beach Railway Company to purchase the concessions and plant, and by working the railway, to eventually recoup themselves the lobs they have sustained through the company suspending operations. Somebody is reported to have made use of his umbrella last night in anything rather than a sheltering manner towards a borough councillor at Mornington. It is supposed that a particular description of the affair will be given to someone " or other of our magistrates, and, no doubt, it will prove entertaining. Mrs. Fuchs, jun., of the Wellington Hotel, Christchurch, had her foot badly crushed at Lytfcelton, between a pile of the jetty and the gangway of the steamer Wakatipu, which had returned from an excursion to Akaroa. She was conveyf d, under the care of Drs. Robson and Bakewell, to Christchurch, where part of the injured foot was amputated. The young lady is a daughter of Mr. Krull, of Dunedin, and has not long been married. The Hon. Mr. Rollestone has pronounced the conference between the Canterbury M.H.R.'s and the West Coast Railway League very inopportune, in view of the fact that a Commission is now enquiring into the matter. The iAjttleton Times states that a significant, but not very reassuring, sign of the times was afforded by the fact that no fewer than 76 men applied at the office of a commission agent in Cathedral Square on Thursday morning, in response to an advertisment for three men to work at the Belfast Chemical Manure Works. An innocent individual yesterday evening stole a bundle of hats • from Mr. Master's shop in Princes street, and shortly afterwards, with a childlike simplicity, returned to sell them there. It is needless to add that he was cordially received, — taken in, indeed, and done for on the spot. The Canadian Land Company offer to locate 10,000 Irish families in that country if the English Government will lend a million of money for the purpose. At Auckland, Mr. Montagu Smith has purchased Hippodamia for 345 guineas. Squire Flockton, a man aged 50, in charge of the Guano traffic on Juror's Island, has committed suicide while suffering from sunstroke. Mr. Allan M'Lean,of Napier, has purchased from the New Zealand Pedigree Stock Company a seven-months-old brown filly, at the price of 135 guineas. The third son of Mr. Ferguson, tailor, aged six years, accidently fell into the Wesport River yesterday afternoon and was drowned. The body was recovered by the Government div( \ M. Darnells, charged with arson at New Plymouth, has been committed for trial, bail being refused, Messrs. Kennedy Bros., of the Brunner Coal Mine, have just concluded a contract with the Noumea Nickel Company to supply 250 tons of coka and 100 tons of coal monthly. The Pelimen, an iron barque, has been purchased, and will be despatched in May. Another vessel will be provided by Stone Bros., Auckland. Previously the Nickel Company obtained all their coal from Newcastle, but having seen a sample of the Brunner coke and coal, concluded the present contract. Hitherto the Brunner coke-ovens have been turning out only 100 tons per month, although material enough to manufacture 300 tons per month have been thrown into the river. New coke-ovens are now in course of erection, a cargo of bricks for that purpose having been sent up a few days ago. A little girl of two, belonging to Mr. T. Smith, of Rangiora flourmills, fell in the mill-stream on Thursday, and on her being taken out, apparently lifeless, her mouth was found to be full of halfchewed food, which had prevented the^ water going down her throat , or the air been breathed out, and kept her afloat. She had recovered before nightfall Mr. J. O'Connor's Counsellor, won a trotting match for £50 against Mr. Milner's Cock Robin, on the Timaru racecourse yesterday. A man named Maurice Power had his skull fractured on Friday, at Murray Creek, near Reefton, by a branch from a tree which he was engaged in felling.

The Boards of Reviewers under the Property Assessment Act, have raised, up to the present time, the valuations of properties in' the . • Oamaru district over £50,000. The most of these were on appeals by Mr. Bperrey, the commissioner, against the value of the valuators. The road boards first took action in the matter on account of many of the values being what they considered much too low, with the result as stated above. .....,, * The Right Hon. J. G. Dodson, has been appointed Miniate* of Agriculture for the United Kingdom. The Clntha Leader, in commenting on a report that the venue in the Wain case will be changed to Invercargill, says :— " This would seem to be a prudent course, for it is an undoubted fact that the public have lost all confidence in Dunedin juries." The heira of the late General Wynyard, have succeeded to a large fortune by the death of a relative who owned an extensive street property ia London. > It is stated that the accident to Mrs. Fuchs occurred by the landing-stage's being pushed out over the wharf before the "steamt* had stopped, which caused it to be twisted round and to crush the lady's foot against one of the iron stanchions, and which lias, more* over, been twisted out of shape. At an indignation meeting held in Riverton on Tuesday evening, the following resolution was passed :— " That the anomalous position of the Waimea Plains railway— as a private line with all the inconveniences, expenses and uncertainties attaching to it as such, while it is virtually a trunk line— calls for the immediate attention of the Government, and that this meeting strongly urges on the Government the immediate purchase of the line." Mr. Patrick Egan has expressed himself willing that the Land League accounts should be referred to an auditing committee. A nitro-glycerine factory has been discovered by the police at Northampton. Mr. Parnell, who has returned, to England, has cabled to the Irish Convention at Philadelphia urging the delegates to adopt » prudent programme. Three Fenians named Kingston, Gibney, and Healy have been arrested at Dublin, charged on the evidence of an informer withconspiring to murder. Michael Fagan, the fourth of the Phoenix Park prisoners, has been found guilty and sentenced to death. Monday. The Hon. Mr. Rolleston, who is now in Ohristchurch, comes South on Tuesday, for private and departmental business. A seven-roomed house, owned by John Clarke, and occupied by James Webber, was burned down at Philipstown yesterday morning. The insurance on house and furniture amounted to £650. The barque Monarch was docked at Lyttelton on Friday. About 20ft. of her false keel, between the main and mizen masts, had been torn away, the keel bent upwards, and her copper wrinkled both fore and aft. ,-,«.* Sir Wilfred Lawson's perseverance has been rewarded by the carrying by a large majority of the House of Commons of Mb motion in favour of local option. The Convention at Philadelphia have adopted Mr. Parnell's plan for the unification of all Irish Societies. This has displeased O Donnovan Rossa's faction, who have threatened to withdraw and take separate action. It is reported that Dr. Croke hat been censured by the Pope for his support of Parnell.— The report, we need not say, is a falsehood, and on somebody's part a wilful one. . The informer, Devine, has divulged the operations of the Vigilance Committee in arranging the attempted murder of Judge Lawson. The murderers of Cox and four other persons have been arrested in consequence of Devine's statements. The Grey-County toll-gates have been sold by auction, fetching £1540 as against £1000, for which they were last year let by tender. „,.,. „ The Waitatipu Mail says that the potato crop has failed in the Martin's Bay district, leaving the settlers short of provisions. The Wakatipu Mail says that the potato crop has failed in the Martin's Bay district, leaving the settlers short of provision. The Matanra Ensign says the first section of the railway from Riversdale to Switzers is to be proceeded with at once. The vote of £5000 allocated for the work last session will be expended m forming and fencing the line to the point known as Mr. Gillander's pre-emp-tive right, some seven miles' from Riversdale. The Wellington Education Board complain in their report that Otago and Canterbury are unduly favoured :— «' In 1879 the amount of grant to Otago was £44,522 6s 4d, and Wellington £13,857 0s 9d ; in 1880 Otago, £28,500 and Wellington £16,000. These figures speak for themselves. « Equality of sacrifice ' may be a just political dogma, but it can only be so when applied to * giving ' as well as • taking. The traveller who visits Otago and Canterbury, with their numerous large and costly school buildings, and compares with these tne wooden school buildings of this district, may well be excused for asking whether the same Government controls the system in botn Islands." _ The Auckland Rowing Association matches came off on Saturday afternoon. The races were well contested, North Shore winning the majority. ~~ . An apology has been made in the Mornington assault case, ana consequently there will be no trial. , . _. „ The Victorian crew won, by Bix lenths, the Inter-Colonial JSignt. oared race on the Parramatta River. The New Zealand Times publishes the following account of Southern's Falls, Arthur River, about 30 miles from the head ot Milford Sound :— " It is said to be no less than 5700 ft. high, ana takes the whole waters of the Arthur River with it, making one almost perpendicular leap of 3000 ft. downwards at starting. It is only 20ft. broad at the first point of its descent, and looks at a distance like a bright, broad thread of water. The source is apparently in some large glacier among mountains over 9000 ft. high. Even in dry weather it takes down five times as much water as the Bowen FaiW in the same district do at any time.

Mr. M. W. Green, M.H.R., has written to the Observer denying the statements made as to his having calumniated the Auckland settlers with respect to the Waikato war. Bishop Cowie proposes that the Costley estate should not be sold but divided, so that the various institutions may secure the unearned increment.

Judge Richmond complains that without a balance-sheet it is impossible for the judges to ascertain a bankrupt's prior position. The Gazette publishes regulations providing for the classification of prisoners, who may raise themselves by good conduct, with increase of privileges, and gratuities to be paid to them on leaving gaol. No smoking by prisoners will be allowed in future. The Italian Press denounce the annexation of New Guinea as a usurpation of the fruits of Italian exploration. A blast with half a ton of Mackley and Lejohn's powder brought down 15,000 tons of stone at Mr. Nicol's Caversham quarry on Saturday. There is a probability of war between France and China on account of Tonquin. The Queen has instituted an Order of the Boyal Bed Cross, for nurses of the wounded in action.

On the evidence of- informers numerous arrests in connection with the conspiracies are being made in Ireland. The Irish Convention at Philadelphia have concluded their Bittings, and adjourned indefinitely. Before adjourning a motion was adopted, denouncing English rule in Ireland ; urging the banding together of Irishmen in America and Canada for the purpose^ of obtaining autonomy for Ireland by lawful means ; recommending the organisation of a National League ; and resolving to co-operate with Mr. Parnell in his efforts to obtain redress of the Irish grievances.

Tuesday.

The Railway Commisssioners arrived at Kumara. on Saturday sight, and having inspected the diggings country went to Hokitika on Sunday afternoon. They were to return to Kumara and take evidence yesterday evening, and then proceed to Greymouth. The Christchurch Acclimatisation Society will apply to the New Zealand Shipping Company for aid in importing humble bees as fertilisers of red clover.

Richard Bowen, who was injured last week by a steam-engine, died in the Christchurch Hospital last night. The house occupied by Mrs. G. Thompson at Temuka was burned down yesterday morning. — Insurance, £100, in the New Zealand. The Canterbury rivers are rising, and serious floods are threatened.

Hannah Daley was fined £10 and costs, o^l4 days' imprisonment, yesterday, at Oamaru, for sly grog selling. The Oamaru Times complains that the season is the worat known in the district for 10 years. Besides injury done, farming work has been delayed by the rains. George Dowling, of Emerald Hill, will match Edward Blackburn against either George Robertson, champion of Australia, or Professor Miller, champion of the world, or any other man in the world, Border style, for £100 a-side. and the championship of Australia. The Dunedin Times says : The Dunback contract, for which tenders are now invited, consists of two anda-half miles of formation, and the construction of four bridges on the Palmerston-Waihemoline of railway. The contract extends over five miles and 50 chains and includes a number of culverts and crossings. Two of the bridges have one span of 60ft. and two of 13ft. each, while the others are somewhat smaller. The work extends as far as the junction of Macraes road, and it is to be completed within 10 months from the acceptance of the tender. At a meeting of the subscribers of the Dunedin Athenaeum, held" last night, an amendment was carried recording the opinion of the meeting in favour of the immediate establishment of a public library in the city. The majority of the members present were adverse, and very properly so, to the proposed merging of the Athenaeum in the library. A man named John Wyllie, who, on hints being given as to his having had something to do with the mysterious shooting of William Chirm, near the Waiau River, some months since, endeavoured to have" an inquiry undertaken, is reported to have been found shot through the head, as Chirm was shot, at Bellemont station, Waiau. Arab fanatics have attacked the Greek residents at Poit Said, and had not British marines been landed from the ships of the Mediterranean fleet, it is belived a serious massacre would have taken place. The Fenians will blow up the London Guildhall on May 6, and O'Donovan Rossa, at a causus of the dynamite faction, has declared that plans for further outrages are mature. — No doubt they will be published all in good time, so that folk may get out of the way of the explosion ; but as to Rossa we may wonder, with Trinculo, " that a monster Bhould be such a natural 1"

Christchurch railway station is to be lit by electricity. One " Giilder " light tried on Saturday night proved most satisfactory. Sir Win. Jervois has pronounced the Waitemata-Manukau canal of insufficient importance to warrant a large expenditure at present. The Russell police lately have been making a raid on sly-grog sellers, a number having started selling when the prohibition was in force against the Natives obtaining spirits at licensed houses. The annual meeting of the Napier Jockey Club took place to-day. The report showed the total number of members to be 128. The total receipts for the year were £4564 ; the amount paid away in stakes was £2726, and there was spent in improvements £429. The revenue derived from owners of horses was £2453. The report recommended that for the future, in forming programmes, owners should be more liberally dealt with in the matter of nominations. A Chinese gambling-house was discovered in Wakefield street, Auckland, this morning. A Chinaman who bad lost £70 at fantan, and refused to pay, saying be had been cheated, was detained there as a prisoner until liberated by the police. The trial of Fitzharris for the Phoenix Park murders has com* menced,

Professor Walker and Tucker, of the Auckland University, wer boating, and their boat capßized, Professor Walker being drowned" Mr. Tucker got ashore with difficulty. An Orchestral Society is about to be formed in Dunedin. The British Government are expected to apply for the extradition of a number of American Fenians said to be implicated in the doings of the-Invincibles. Keefe has been executed for the murder at Cork. The heavy rains having injured the railway between Wai mate and Timaru, through traffic between Dunedin and Chi-istchurch has been suspended. The express from Dunedin to-day only went as far as Oamaru. ■

C. E. Dudley has been committed for trial at Kaiapoi, on a charge of embezzling money belonging to the Harbour Board. He is also accused of malpractice while acting as town clerk. The Christchurch Diamond Company's shares Are at a premium, and the stones found are generally believed to be genuine. Mr. Trevelyan has stated, in the House of Commons, that a wide-spread conspiracy to murder has been discovered in Clare. So many of the Irish prisoners have volunteered to become informers that the Government are seriously embarrassed in selecting those whom they will accept as Queen's evidence. The American branch of the Land League have adopted the Philadelphia platform. Heavy rains and floods are reported from Canterbury — there being four and a half feet of water in the main street of Tetnuka. The express from Christchurch has been stopped at Orari and the south train at Makikihi. Between Orari and Rangitata a considerable portion of the line has been washed away, and it is feared that the bridge over the Hinds River will go. ' The express from Christchurch to Dunedin was stopped at Ashburton, most of the passengers returning to Christchurch. It is expected that the line will not be ready for traffic for at least two days. The bridge over the Selwyn is also said to be in danger. The grocery store of Mr. D. Stranaghan, Victoria street, Christ church, was burned down this morning. — The adjacent unoccupied shop b^ing also destroyed, and one beyond it damaged' considerably. The fire is supposed to have originated in Stranaghan 's office, where a fire was burning when he went to bed. His insurances amounted to £1150— the luss being about £300 in excess of that sum. The buildings belonged to Mr. Dearsley, and were insured for £550. George Clark, the defaulting clerk of the Vincent County Council, has been remanded, pending an examination of the County books.

Wednesday.

A trial was made on Saturday, in the Caversham tunnel, of the effect of luminous paint on a railway carriage. It was found that by means of the paint passengers could see one another distinctly, and an opinion was expressed in favour of having it used generally for the purpose in question. The Mataura Ensign says that Mr. Howorth, County Engineer, accompanied by Mr. Arthur, ChieE Surveyor, Dunedin, will shortly visit Waikaia, for the purpose of deciding upon the most necessary roads to be constructed to open up the blocks of educational reserves shortly to be offered for sale and lease. At the opening of the session of the Otago University last evening,' a portrait of Mr. J. Hislop, which had been subscribed for, was presented to the Council by Mr. Stout. The thoroughbred horse Palmbearer, which ran second in the Derby three years ago, died during the voyage out in the Halcione, by which it had been consigned to Messrs. Clifford and Weld, of Flaxbourne.

Mr. George Bennett, a very old and much-respected Wellington citizen, has offered to hand over to the promoters of the Home for the Aged Poor three acres of land in the neighbourhood of Wellington as a Bite for the Home.

A Hong Kong telegram reports that China is much excited by the French action towards Tonquin. The French men-of-war have been warned of an attack of Chinese, and have been ordered to keep watch on the coast.

Mr. Gladstone will move that precedence be given to the Affirmation in Lieu of Oaths Bili in the House of Commons.

The Shag River is flooded, and the Naseby coach could not cross it to-day. The heavy rain in the Palmerston district has hindered all kinds of farm work.

The flood at Albury washed away a blacksmith's shop, and a family named Cowper had a narrow escape of being drowned. At Washdyke several families had to be taken from dwellings on horseback in the middle of the night. Considerable loss of live stock is reported, and it will be still heavier if the rain does not soon cease. Mr. J. O'Connor, a prominent Parnellite resident at Cork, has been imprisoned for refusing to give evidence before the secret inquiry which is being held at Dublin Castle. A letter addressed to Mr. Forster, containing explosives, has been discovered by the Post-office officials, who stopped its delivery. Professor Walker, who was drowned at Auckland yesterday, waa a single man of 26, a fellow of Queen's College, and second wrangler in 1879, who arrived a fortnight ago to occupy a chair of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics in the Auckland University. The Government scholars at Hokitika are in imminent danger of being perished out by a want of fuel. The committee, which has been unsuccessfully sued for £17, for coal supplied to the schools, have no funds, and unless the Board will provide them with money for the purpose in question, the schools will be closed. — But why could not each child fetch its own shovel of coal, as Irish school children used each to carry its own sod of turf. Mrs. Doloughty, widow of the man for whose murder poor Francis Hynes was unjustly hanged, is on her way with her family to Port Chalmers — a sum of money, of which Mr. Clifford Loyd contributed £50, having been subscribed for her. It seems the woman was boycotted by her neighbours after the execution of Hynes, and this, although perhaps in some degree excusable in a neighbourhood where the innocent youth hanged had many friends, was very lamentable. It would, we need hardly say, be quite inexcusable and

extremely wicked, to look upon her on her arrival here as anything except the victim of troubled times, and deserving of pity and sympathy from all her fellow-country people. It is reported that the rain has ceased in Canterbury, except between Hinds and Waimate. The injury done to the railway is comparatively light, and it is expected communication between Dunedin and Christchurch will be restored to-morrow night. A verdict of "Not Guilty" has been returned by the jury in the case of James Fitzharris. Heavy rain set in last night in Wellington. Thubsdat. No tenders have been received by the New Zealand Agentlieneral for, the direct steam service between this Colony and England. "

The trial of Edward M'Caffrey for the Phoenix Park murders began yesterday. Dynamite bombs have been discovered at Smolensk, and a conspiracy is reported to exist for the foundation of a Russian Republic. The West Coast Railway Commission are busy taking evidence. —They are proceeding from Greymouth to the junction of the Waiau, and the Hope, where they will separate, half going to Reef ton direct, via Ada Saddle ; the other half proceeding to Ahaura, by the Amuri Saddle. Both parties will meet at Reefton abou*; the 15tb inst., where they will take evidence. They will afterwards proceed to Westport, taking evidence there, and return to Christchurch either by. Nelson or Hokitika, as opportunity offers. The Commissioners appointed to inquire into the working of the New South Wales land laws strongly condemn the effect of the Land Acts.

A fatal accident occurred last night at the Dunedin railway station to an engine-driver named Thomas Meek. He was engaged about the engine when he called to the fireman to move it along, and by some mischance got crushed between it and the coaling-stage. — He was terribly injured and died at the hospital a short time afterwards. He leaves a wife and three children. There has been for some days a strike among the miners at the Walton Paik coal mine, and as yet there is no sign of any agreement being come to between the men and the proprietors. A destructive fire occurred at Kamo, Auckland, yesterday. Munn's Kamo Hotel and deary's butcher shop were destroyed. The loss is £3000. The hotel was insured in the Colonial Office for £1000, and £500 was reinsured in the Phoenix. The butcher's shop was also insured, but the office is unknown. M'Callum's store, at Okato, was burnt down yesterday morning at 6 o clock. Mrs. M'Callum had a narrow escape of being burned to death. The cause of the accident is not known. The insurance on the building is £200, and on the stock £350. M'Callum estimates his loss at £300 over the insurance. Not even their clothes were raved, Mrs. M'Callum being carried out of the house in her nightdress. At the meeting of the Otago Land Board yesterday, the applications for licenses made at the last meeting were dealt with, one only , being granted— that of Matthew Elliott, section 2, block 111, StrathTaien. The Board still maintain their determined attitude towards the alleged cases of dummyism. James Fitzharris will now be tried for conspiracy to murder.