Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Tuesday 2 November 1841, page 3


SYDNEY.

By the Marian Watson we have received Sydney papers to the 19th October, from which we extract whatever is material. They have English news only up to the 15th June. Rain had visited them in abundance, in time to save

the greater part of the crops. Two new jour-

nals have been established, one called the Colonial Observer, edited by Dr. Lang, the other the Omnibus, edited by Colonel Wilson ; they both appear to be ably conducted. We make the following extracts as they occur :—

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.—Yesterday morning the town was thrown into great excitement by a report that Mr. Sheriff Macquoid had destroyed himself, which unhappily was too true. An inquest was held on the body yesterday afternoon, when it ap-peared that about six o'clock in the morning, Mr. Macquoid went into his dressing-room, and after writing a few incoherent lines put a pistol to his forehead and discharged it, inflicting a wound which caused his death in about two hours. The

cause assigned was his fear that his private affairs

were in such a state that he would have to declare himself insolvent. The verdict returned was, that the deceased destroyed himself in a fit of temporary insanity, caused by a delusion as to the state of his private pecuniary affairs. We are happy to be able

to state there is no truth in the rumour as to any deficiency of public money, or the money of the

suitors.

The most important evidence on the inquest was that of Mr. Prout, which we now insert :

Mr. Cornelius Prout, the Under Sheriff, deposed that on the previous day, in the case of Barnes v. Macquoid there was a decision against the deceased by Mr. Justice Stephen, which rendered deceased liable to the amount of six hundred and odd pounds. The deceased never expected he would have to pay until yesterday. There had been a bond of indemnity in the case, which had been lodged in the Bank of Australia in the joint names of deceased, as sheriff, and Mr. Gosling, whereby the proceeds of the sale of certain horses would go to cover all the expenses of the proceeding. The application of the Judge was made for him to give an order for the money to be paid over to the Sheriff according to the terms of the

bond of indemnity, but His Honor refused to do so, and ordered the case to stand over till the first day of next term. In the interim, the writ would be re-turnable, and the deceased would have had to pay the money. The deceased was in a most restless and uneasy state the whole of that day ; he would go from room to room in his office, and several times called me out of my room, and when I came, he stood and regarded me, and seemed at a loss what to say to me. He wrung his hands several times, and said " Dear ! Dear ! we never know what we shall come

to !" He sighed very heavily several times, and seemed totally lost in thought. When he left the office last evening, he told me that he should not be back till late on the next morning, as he had to meet some friends on business. He afterwards told me that he would be there precisely at ten, and begged me to have my gig there, which I had pro-mised to lend him, as he had several places to go to. I am certain he never could have contemplated the rash act at that time. Everything in the office was in its usual place. The letter produced was found in deceased's dressing-room. It was on the top of his official box, which was open, and lying close to the spot where the deceased fell. The paper must have been near where he committed the deed, as it is spotted with blood. It is written in deceased's hand-writing but very tremulously. There is neither address, date, nor signature to it, but it is evi-dently meant for his wife, from the expressions it contained. (The letter, which had evidently been written only a few minutes before the death of the deceased, was then read by the witness. We were unable to obtain a copy of this document, we there-fore give the substance only.) It was written in a very incoherent manner, and commenced by address-ing his wife in the most affecting and endearing terms, alluding to the present state of his affairs. He then reverted to his will, which he said was in the iron box in his office, and in which Messrs. R. Jones and H. Macarthur were named joint executors, and re-commended her to their care. He then expressed his firm reliance in the merits of the Redeemer, and al-luded to the affairs of the colony, stating, that he thought there would be a universal bankruptcy within twelve months. He spoke in terms of the highest respect of the Lord Bishop as a friend, and touched slightly of the deed which he afterwards committed. He then thanked his friends Messrs. Jones, McLeay, Miller, Campbell, and Goodwin for their kind exer-tions in his behalf, and abruptly concluded by another

address to his wife.

THE HIGH SHERIFFSHIP.—William Hustler, Esq., Barrister, has been appointed High Sheriff of the Colony of New South Wales and depen-dencies. Mr. H. took the oaths of office on Thursday.

THE LATE RAINS.—The rainy weather, which commenced on Monday last, continued up to the morning of yesterday, with scarcely an intermission. Not only has Sydney and its vicinity been benefitted thereby, but our accounts from the interior an-nounce that rain has fallen over a large extent of the territory. Around Windsor, Campbell Town, Liverpool, and the adjacent district of the Cow-pasture, a very heavy fall of rain took place on Wednesday and Thursday, which a correspondent states " has had an almost magical effect upon vegetation, which is springing up everywhere ; the wheat crops will, notwithstanding, I am afraid, be far below an average. We should all feel grateful for this timely supply of moisture, which came in the very time when everything in the shape of crops and pasture was on the eve of being totally destroyed. The rain has fallen plentifully over the whole of the southern district." The accounts from Illawarra are cheering, there the rain has fallen in abundance, and the crops are accounted safe. We are gratified to give publicity to this fact, as there are several extensive farms in this part of the country, which supply Sydney not only with a large quantity of grain, but other equally needful articles of consumption. Potatoes are cultivated here to much greater perfection than perhaps in any other district in the Colony. From Bathurst also we learn that heavy rain fell on Monday night, which it is to be hoped may relieve the settlers in that quarter of that trouble and anxiety they were beginning to experience—not so much from the anticipated failure in the harvest, as from the condition their flocks and herds were reduced to. We trust that by next publication we will be enabled to lay before our readers detailed accounts from the various districts.—Gazette.

THE WEATHER.—During the past week, the weather has been very tempestuous, and copious rains have fallen. Letters from settlers, from va-rious parts of the interior, state that the rains extended to their respective districts, and that the crops of every description were already evincing signs of improvement. The general opinion seems to be that the injury which the crops have sustained by the long continued drought has not been such as to do away with all prospect of an abundant

harvest.—Monitor.

Since our last, the Commercial Markets have exhibited the greatest tranquility, the transactions are not worth enumerating, owing to the exceeding inclement state of the weather ; great pressure still exists in the Money Market, and the failure that has taken place since our last will, we fear from their extensive connexions, involve other houses in similar difficulties, and prevent an early return to activity ; we therefore refer to our last week's report, no alteration having taken place in the

prices.—Ibid.

GRAIN MARKET, OCT. 15.—This market, not-withstanding the heavy rains which have fallen this week, is still on the rise, and holders are firm, for South American at from 8s. to 8s. 6d. per bushel. The rain will doubtless save the wheat in some parts of the country, but in others, and the most important agricultural districts, the drought, it is feared, continued too long for the rain to revive the crops.—Herald.

The third of the Hunter's River Steam Na-vigation Company's iron steamers, the Sham-rock, arrived in Sydney on the 15th October, having sailed from England the 15th June.

BATHURST—THE BLACKS.—Information has reached us of a horrible outrage committed by the blacks of the Darling River, upon some men in the employment of Messrs. Lee and Moulder, settlers, who in consequence of the drought had to remove their cattle from their own stations to the interior, having erected stock-yards on the banks of the Darling, and held for three weeks the most friendly intercourse with the natives, they were suddenly attacked by a party of sixty blacks, armed with spears, bomerangs, and nulla-nullas—the result of which fiendish conduct was the death of four of the men, besides others badly wounded—the enor-mities they committed on the dead are such as to be unfit for publication. As several parties have left our district for the same quarter, the greatest fears are entertained for their safety.—Corres-

pondent.

Estimated quantity of Land in Cultivation exclu-sive of Gardens and Orchards, in the Colony of New South Wales, on the 31st December, 1840.— CROPS.—Wheat, 74,133 acres ; maize, 24,966 ditto ; barley, 5,144 ditto ; oats, 5,453 ditto ; rye, 609 ditto ; millet, 115 ditto ; potatoes, 2,594 ditto ; tobacco, 381 ditto ; sown grasses, 12,721 ditto. PRODUCE. —Wheat, 1,116,814 bushels ; maize, 777,947 ditto ; barley, 105,389 ditto ; oats, 66,020 ditto ; rye, 8,863 ditto ; millet, 3,338 ditto ; potatoes, 11,050

tons 15 cwt. ; tobacco, 215 tons ; sown grasses (hay), 21,329 tons.

VALUE OF LAND IN SYDNEY.—At the Govern-ment sale of town allotments on Thursday last, Mr. William Nash purchased one allotment in King-street, at the enormous price of £37,828 per acre. —Correspondent.

There was an enormous quantity of foreign wheat and flour in the market : and the report so industriously circulated that the wheat con-tained in the siloes was spoiled turns out to be

false.