Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 3 June 1899, page 14


TOWN.

The new Public Lending Library in the Queen Victoria Markets will be open to the public about the middle of June.

The next Public Service examination will be held on December 18. There will be about fifty va-

cancies to be filled.

At a special meeting of the board of directors of the A.M.P. Society, held on May 26, Sir J. P. Ab-bott and Mr. Thomas Littlejohn were re-elected as chairman and deputy-chairman, respectively.

So as to avoid slipshod legislation, the Premier thinks that in future a qualified draughtsman should be in attendance when any important mea-sure is bping dealt with by the Assembly in com-mittee.

A supplement to the "Gazette" was published on May 25 containing the proclamation formally proroguing Parliament to June 23. lt is under-stood, however, that the session will not open until Tuesday, July 11.

"We, the Australian Rifles, are a young corps; but our parades are always splendidly attended, and I hope soon to be able to give the General a regiment on parade which will not have a single absentee present." When this speech was greeted on May 24 by roars of laughter, Colonel Roberts

stood amazed; but, presently, seeing his slip, the worthy officer joined in heartily.

At the Aborigines' Board on May 25 a great num-ber of applications for food and clothing for des-titute aboriginals, in many cases very old people, were received from different parts of the colony. It was stated that the intensity of the winter, combined with the results of the prolonged drought, has caused a great deal of suffering and want among those people. In every case relief was granted by the board.

His Excellency the Governor received on May 26, at Government House, a deputation from the Art Society of New South Wales, who presented an address of welcome. The design, consisting of

a female figure representing art, with groupings of beautiful native flowers, was by Mrs. M. Stod-dard; five watercolor drawings of Australian scen-ery, by Messrs. Lister Lister, A. Collingridge, F. P. Mahony, C. Tindall, and A. H. Fullwood, were inserted.

The City Coroner and a jury have concluded the hearing of evidence in connection with the circum-stances surrounding the death of Miss Kate Far-mer, who died under suspicious circumstances in Sydney Hospital, on May 22. A man named Herr-mann Stanton Dick was present in custody. The death of the young woman was due, according to the medical evidence, to septic peritonitis, super-vening on a certain event, but that there was no-thing to show whether the cause was natural or artificial. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Herrmann Stanton Dick. Dick was then formally committed for trial to the Cen-tral Criminal Court, to be held at Darlinghurst.

The adjourned annual meeting of the members of the Australian Mutual Provident Society was held in the board-room of the society's head of-fice, 87 Pitt-street, Sydney, on May 26, for the purpose of receiving the reports of the presid-ing and returning officers on the voting for the

election of three directors. Mr. Thomas Little-

john (deputy-chairman), in the absence of Sir

Joseph Abbott (chairman), presided, and an-nounced the result to be as follows: Reginald J. Black, 64,144; Thomas Littlejohn, 57,578; Benja-

min Short, 47,391; F. E. Winchcombe, 28,883;

Robert J. King, 22,803; W. T. Dick, 7809. Messrs.

Black, Littlejohn, and Short were declared elec-

ted.

The schooner Failford, bound from Cape Hawke to Sydney with a carge of hardwood timber, went ashore, just inside North Head on Monday, be-tween 11 and 12 p.m. The crew saved their lives by taking to the boat just before the vessel touch-ed the rocks. They got clear of the vessel with difficulty, and pulled to Watson's Bay, where they wère taken on board the pilot vessel Captain Cook. At the time of the accident, blinding rain squalls followed each other in quick succession. The schooner was in the charge cf Captain Ros-ten, who had a crew of five hands. The Captain Cook went in search of the schooner Failford

next morning, and Captain Creer found her smash-ed to pieces, almost a total wreck, about one cable's length from North Head. The Failford was a comparatively new craft, of New Zealand build, having been constructed at Whangaroa last year. She was a schooner of 73 tons, 92ft long, 23ft beam, and 5ft depth of hold, and was owned by Mr. John Breckenridge.

Messrs. Goldsbrough, Mort,1 and Company,

Limited, through, their manager (Mr. George Maiden), sold on May 25, at the Wool Ex-change, Macquarie Place, Yowah Station, situate in the Warrego district of Queensland, containing an area of about 305 square miles, together with

about 600 head of cattle. This property was started at £3000, and eventually knocked down to Mr. P. C. Close for £5600. They also offered in the same interests Davenport Downs, situate in the Gregory North district of Queensland, com-prising an area of 1400 square miles, together with 4000 head of cattle and 318 horses, more or less. £12,000 was bid for this property, which was not accepted, the owners offering to take £14,000. And Miranda Downs Station, in the Cook district, Queensland, comprising an area of 1049 square miles and 9000 head of cattle, for which bids tip to £12,000 were made, was also passed in. Subse-quently Davenport Downs was sold for £14,000 to Mr. P. C. Close. These properties have been held by the well-known firm of Cobb and Company for a number of years, and are being disposed of to close a partnership.

The evidence given by constables does not al-ways meet with the approbation of Judge Gibson, who presided at the sittings of the quarter ses-sions at Darlinghurst of May 29. Early in the day his Honor commented upon the state-ments made by one constable, and later, when summing up in a case of assault, he alluded to the contradictory evidence given by another member of the force, stating that he had a "horror of anything of that nature in court." "I have had to speak out once already concerning one constable," he said, "and now here is another in this case. Why, it may

be that he is the cause of all this trouble

with regard to this young man (the accused,)" His Honor acknowledged the fact that the atten-tion of the defending barrister had been drawn to the inconsistentcy of the constable's evidence, in the interests of justice, by Mr. Merewether, the Crown Prosecutor.