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2 corrections, most recently by Greg-DAVIS - Show corrections

NORTHERN MAIL NEWS. CBOTOOK. A telegram of the 29th ultimo Bays :— ' A man named Michael O'Grady, fifty yean of age, committed suicide yesterday. He placed a plug of dynamite in his month, and held it there till it exploded. O'Grady'e head and left hand were blown into pieces, and the man was only identified by Mb clothes. The jumping scare is still on, and several highly improved lots held under business licenses have been jumped. The banks hold liens in aonffi cases, which it is stated protect the creditors, bat not the debtors. Consequently the bank* will probably foreclose on the liens, *nA sell th« property owners up.' THE PALHJER. The black*, who for some time were camped about the town, hare once again commenced their old game of destruction,, tbeir latest act being the reported spearing of three cows, and driving away of fifteen head of dairy cattle, the property of Mr. H. Ahlera, of this town. Hie cattle in question are a quiet herd of milkers, and hare been mostly bred on the river and Sandy Creek. The blacks com menced their depredations last Friday, and have probably scattered the whole mob, kill ing a beast whenever required. Southern capital is being obtained to develop coal properties near Cooktown, and a eonpany will shortly begin operations at Mount Sannders, North fchore. Mr. Goflage, manager of the Coen tele graph office, who was recently transferred, was presented with a puree of twenty sove reigns on the eve of his departure. Thomas Thompson has been fined £4 jSs. 8d., in default one month, for assaulting Mr. J*mes Fowler, editor of the indepauUut. A number of children have died daring the last week. Medical opinion states thtfi to be the result of impure water. Mr. Quong Tart, of Sydney, was inter viewed at Cooktowa byTiChack, the ' boss' Chinaman of the place, who is reported to have given the Cooktopnites a splendid character. Quong Tart is supposed to have eaiJ he was pleased to fiod the people of Cooktown treated the Cuiuese 'us they deserved to be treated.7' KcWfi to hand from the outside pastoral districts states that the late rains have done a great amount of good. The grass alony the bunks of the creeks and on tbe flits will eosn be very gocd, &:»d no fcir need now be enter tained of any serious losses. The building trade is now very brisk, says the Advertiser, and if improvement coDtinues at the Kjme rapid rate, the town will soon present a eery different appearance. The Catholic Church is being rapidly pushed ahead by the contractors, and wlieu com pleted will be one ot the finest ecclesiastical edifices in North Queensland. A start wiJJ Boon be made with the new Church of Eng land in Broadway. Fionigan's new two Storey hotel is approach iug completion, znd wiii be a decided omatnt-ni to the soot hern end of the town. Several other bnildings are in various stages of progress and the late eal£ of land will no doubt lead to farther im provements. GEORGETOWN. A telegram of the 26th instant says a tent, in which two drunken miners were sleeping,   was burned down, and one of the men, named William Barrow, was roasted to death.     CAIRNS. I A telegram of the 20th ultimo reads thus : — *' £t the meeting of the National party to- 1

night, Mr. E. Martin, eenr., will more that the interests of the town and distrint be placed in the hands of Messrs. Hamilton and Little, Mr. Wimble being considered politi cally defunct It is rumoured that Mr. Wimble returns to Cairns to morrow, hut sceptics place no reliance in the report, as they believe he would not care to face his const itnentB, especially as the Premier, Sir Thomas M 'II wraith, proposes calling in on Thursday.' Another message of the 29th says: — 'A ludicrous mistake has baen made here. At an early hour this morning there was a general movement anticipating the Premier's visit by the Barcoo. The Manictpal and National Party mustered in force on board the tender Dairymaid, and steamed out to welcome and escort back Sir Thomas M'U wraith, and when the little steamer was re turning to port, Mr. £eeb1e's four-in-hand and several pair-horse baggies were in wait ing tc receive the illustrious visitor. Belated aldermen were rushing down to the wharf, flags flying, and everything in readiness for the colUtion at Joe Holmes's. Suddenly it was learnt that it was the Warrego which bid ai rived, and not the Barcoo. The matter might have been obviated by simply inqniry as to when the Barcoo would leave Brisbane, a neglect for which the press is especially blam table.' TOWNS V11XE. It was proposed to banquet Sir Thomas M'llwTAith on bis arrival at Townsville, but Sir Thomas has declined the honour owing to the present unsatisfactory state of his health. At the sitting of the District Court last week His Honor Judge Noel said be did not intend to follow the example of other judges in the colonies of pissing heavy — and in some instances very heavy — sentences ou criminals, but would treat them lightly. He immediately sentenced two men who had been convicted of assaulting and robbing a Chinaman to three year's penal servitude ; bat next day he sent three fri'»*rWw to prison for a month for committing a com mon assault. Trae, the kanakas bad been in prison for two months awaiting trial, bnt then one of them had served two months with hard labour in Townsville gaol for auaalting a wardsman at the Geraldton Hospital on the same evening as the second assault was com mitted. Several disorderly and discreditable scenes

took place dnring the meeting of the Munici pal Council yesterday afternoon, says the Bulletin. Alderman Simpson characterised certain statements of Alderman M'^'T^wn as deliberate untruths, and referred to that gentleman as ** a thing, ' while Alderman Clayton threatened to take Alderman Simpson by the ?craft of the neck and torn him out. Matters got to such a pass that Alderman MacQwaine rose and formally drew the attention of the Chairman to the remarks made by Alderman Simpson. The Chairman expressed his disapproval of tue behaviour of the turbulent and excited aldermen. A valuable consignment of pore-bred merino sheep arrived by the Rocfcton, in charge of Mr. F. MiM-ipnt being consigned to Messrs. Ackers, Wilson, Ayton, and Bysn, says the Bulletin, and with the exception of a few bead, which are for Lncknow Station, they have been purchased by Messrs. A. W. and J. Robertson, of Marathon Station, fin the Flinders. There are 209 rams and 230 (157 two-tooth and 73 four-tooth) ewes, which were seleceted by Mr. J. W. Sproule, from 3onbower (N.S.W.), and Moomalong (Vic.), md they are to form the nucleus of a stud lock. Unfortunately they will have to remain three weeks in quarantine before pro ceding onwards, but Bbould prove a most rateable addition to the North, and though ;bey have been so recently shorn that we i*ve no opportunity of giving an opinion as to :he quality of their wool, there is no doubt ;bat they are sheep of a very high class. They were forwarded here through Messrs. joldsbrough, Mort, and Co. CHA&TEBS T0W£HS. A man named John Peter Nelson was killed on the 26th ultimo by being struck on the head with a large piece of stone, which jompletely smashed his skall, and scattered ilia brains about. He was gngagM in blist lug at the time, but was eighty yards away from where the shot was fired. Jast before this accident a horse and dray fell over an embankment, a distance of about 100 ft., and tbe dray was smashed to pieces. The horse, however, got off with only a few slight scratches. At a poll taken in the No. 1 subdivision of the Dairy in pie Division under the local option clause?, it hits been decided by 168 votes to lioenu-d. This dUtrict is immediately out side the Charters Towers municipality. A little boy fell 4.own a 40 ft. shaft at Qu ten ton, and when brought to the surface walked home. Another fatal accident to chronicle, s*ye the ItcTold of tbe 2SLh ultimo. This morning a miner named Henry Waters, with another named Robert Brown, were at work in the kink of the main shaft of No. 2 Queen. Four holes had been drilled, the connections made, and all, it was thought, fired by means of electricity. On returning to the bottom to send np the mullock, they discovered one of the drill holes still intact. It was tamped with a drill, and afterwards with a scraper, and finally the ** gun ' or drilling pump was inserted, bat nothing discovered la tba bottom ti the bole. Brown was at this time holding the *' gun,' the deceased standing alongside him, and as nothing appeared to be in the bole, let it drop to the bottom. Immediately tbe explosion took pUce, ana poor Waters had bis teg and body terribly shattered, and was ] killed instantly, but Brown had a miraculous escape, he only repeiviDg a BligUt peppering in the i ice, and hta eye \sa& eliglitly cat. He, however, is suffering from 'he bhock. i A telegram of the 2(3th Kovemb&r reads as follows ? — ?? The w»ter supply question la now a moat serious cne. The hole where the water

is bring obtained in tbe Burdekin will not last over two days longer, and all the water for half a mile on either side of Macrossan Bridge would only last a week, and even that cannot be pumped. The local authorities met Mr. Donbar this morning, and went to the Burdekin. when it was decided to sink in the middle of the river bed. Arrangements are being made to bring water from the Reid River, and from Belt's Creek if rain does not eoonfalL' Warden Haldane was presented, prior to his departure fur Georgetown, with a purse of fifty sovereigns. He bad declined a banquet and testimonial, and the above momenta c*me as a surprise, being given to him at the last HUGHE -DEK. Two horses have died through eating freely of chickwbeat— a bag of which they dis covered in their owner's absence. MACKAY. A party of six men, with Mr. J. Muggleton as leader, is to be sent out from Mackay to prospect for minerals. Among the number will be a man from Herberton, who is con versant with tin, copper, and other minerals. On Saturday evening Uet a riot occurred at Walkerstou among a number of kanakas, natives of different islands, which ended in a free fight, in which the weapons carried by the boys were freely used, two of their number being severely wounded. Two of tbe 44 boys ' nave been arrested. Although we have witnessed the breaking up of the drought, says the standard, yet the increasing heat of the weather and the absence of any more showers are causing people to feel uneasy again. The crops are in most places looking very well, though, of course, backward as to growth. We can scarcely be sanguine enough to expect six months ot continuous warm and motet weather, bat should ? stroke of good fortune be realised we «ee no reason why next crushing the return ahon'd not reach the respectable figure of about 15,000 tons, but with ordinary normal weather we may hope to see two-thirds of that figure realised. We may allude to the growing of ramie in this district as likely ere long to be entitled to be called an industry, for considerable pro gress is already being made by a number of farmers and selectors in prosecuting experi ments on a Urge scale, Mr. Minnis informs us (Standard) that he has just received a fresn lot of seed, and that already arrange ments bare been made for planting between forty and fifty acres of ramie, the young plants for which are progressing favourably in the seed beds. By March a machine for the ex traction of tbe fibre will be here, and be available for tbe coming crop. From these facts it will be seen that ramie-growing is about to be submitted to a practical test in this district. It will be with a feeling of intense and genuine regret that oar old resident readers will hear of the death of one of the oldest and most respected pioneers of the squatting industry in this part of Queensland. We {Standard) refer to the late Mr. Archibald Ferguson, who on Tuesday, the 19th ultimo, died «t Byerwin Station on the fcntto River. Mr. Fergnson was one of the oldest squatters an this colony, having taken up country in tbe fifties on tbe Dawsoa River, $arly in the sixties, he found his way over to this part of the toolony, and, unless we are mistaken, he was the first lessee of Byerwin Station, where last week he breathed his last. He and the late Mr. Alexander Ewan were two of the old identities of this district, and there are few of the original settlers here who will fail to feel regret to observe the old landmarks with which they were intimate and familiar in the past fading away. The deceased gentleman leaves behind him a wife and a family of sit children, who will receive the most genuine Bympatby of a large circle of acquaintances io Mackay in the sad circumstances in which they find themselves placed. Mr. George Smith, who recently visited Townsville, Charters Towers, and Ravens wood, and spoke at these places on behalf of the Separation movement, has presented a lengthy report to the Mackay Committee, in which he explains how be found the current of public opinion turning — especially among tie followers of Sir Samuel Griffith— io favour of tbe cause. Jn conclusion he says :— 'Generally, wherever I went* I found a strong Reparation feeling, many who thought little on the subject before have been properly roused up by tbe tariff, and however we may suffer from it in the present it will un doubtedly prove of great advantage even tually to the Separation can&e, aa it will remain a constant irritant, and a monument of the gro-s political immorality and injustice of oar masters in Brisbane,'

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