TELEGRAMS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1295, 9 July 1883, Page 2

TELEGRAMS.

(from our own correspondent. ) Blenheim, 7. A horrible gun accident occurred at ! Blenheim to-day. A boy named Smith was discharging a gun, when his younger brother crossed the line of Are, and received the charge full in the face. Death was instantaneous. Dunedin, 6. Shortly after six o'clock this evening the residents of Manor Place were startled with the intelligence t? tat a murder and suicide had been committed in the locality. It seems that about that hour Mr Donald Cargill and his brother, whilst conversing at the corner, of Lee street, had their attention attracted by a flickering light some 50 yard.; up Manor Place, ancl they took it to proceed from children playing with crackers, until they suddenly heard a loud report of the firing of soiiie explosive material. Hurrying up the street to the spot where the sound came from, they were horrified by finding a man's body hanging over a fence alongside the street line, and the body of a female lying px'ostrate at the man's foet. Both bodies were headless, the pavement being strewn I with brains and covered with blood. The sight "V7RS sickening beyond description. The bodies, which preeented a most ghastly appearance, were removed the morguo by Constable Parkin. On enquiry, it was found that the victim of this horrible tragedy, the first of its kind in the Colony, was Mrs Stephenson { and that the murderer was her husband, George Timothy Stephenson. Mrs Stephenson is well known in Duuedin, where she for s6me time past has occupied the position of head milliner of Saunders, M'Beath, and Co. She was a daughter of Mr Stenhouse, of Maitland street, and had been separated some time from her husband, who has quite recently been engaged as groom for Campbell, Crust, and Co. The parties, it is well known, have been on bad terms for some time, and Stephenson, on being denied access to his children, of whom he had two, has been known to entertain feelings of revenge towards the unfortunate woman and her parents. In May last he was charged, at the instance of Mr Stenhouse, at the Police Court, with threatening conduct, and was then bound over. It is said that he has persistently dogged the footsteps of his wife for weeks, and it is surmised that this evening he followed her home from her place of business, and overtook her in Manor Place.. Of course, what happened at the meeting can never be known, as no one was near at the time. It is believed that dynamite was the explosive substance used. The affair has caused the greatest excitement in the neighborhood. Auckland, 7. , The New Caledonian Government has placed £3000 on the list of argent expenses, as a subsidy for a steam service with New Zealand. The northern Wairoa Gazette rumors that J. C. Priestly, of the Priestly and Hamilton case notoriety, proceeds to Auckland to deliver a lecture explaining the mystery of the so-called confessions, and he will also speak on prison life and its abuses. At the criminal sessions of the Supreme Court yesterday, John Brown . and Charles Graff ell, were sentenced to five years penal servitude for the jewellery robbery. CnRISTCHURCH, 7. At a well attended meeting of the Eailway League Committee the following resolutions were unanimously passed : — " That, while not agreeing with the whole of the deductions of , the East and West Coast Railway Cotnraissioners, the committee of this f League record their high appreciation of the efficiency, thoroughness, ancl intelligence with which they have fulfilled the important work imposed ou them. That the Committee regard their report nz nominally throwing

much interesting light on the main facts thai call f.»r railway conmiujiica- , tion with the West Coast, but as being lin many important respects con- ! finnatory of the. justness of tlic rargu- ! ment upon which this League before has based its advocacy of the same, and thattho Oommittoft of this League regards with satisfaction tLe action of those Canterbury members who are advocating in Parliament the merits of the East and West Coast Railway, anil the impolicy of constructing the Middle Island trunk line along the East Coast. ISat the tl tanks of this Committee be conveyed to those members, accompanied by the earnest hope that their efforts wiil be successful in securing the principal recognition on the pavt of the- Legislature of the justness of the claim of this district to have railway communication with the West Coast." It is reported on good authority tha the gold recently discovered and mentioned as being within 45 miles of Christcbttjn^ {.is on the High Peaks Station^put 7. miles, from the White Cliffs railway line. One of the gentlemen connected with the property has found a cradle" near one of the creeks^ and which has evidently been used for the purpose of washing dirt. Westpoot, 7. Mr John Tyrrell, proprietor of the Westport Star, defendant in the recent libel action, Wright v. Tyrrell, was today presented with a beautifully illuminated testimonial, and a valuable purse of sovereigns by the townsmen. The testimonial expressed sympathy with Mr Tyrrell for the annoyance and expense he has been subjected. to in the libel action, and the subscribers appreciation of his conduct in fighting it out Wellington, 7. During the last week considerable excitement has prevailed about the Terawhiti goldfiold, owing to the reported striking of a largo gold bearing reef in the Golden Grown claim. During last week shares in this company rose from 4s to 10s, and at ihe meeting of shareholders last night Mr C. Maoe announced that a rich reef, four feet thick, had been struck, with stone superior to reefs he had known to crush 6oz to Boz to the ton. The mine manager confirmed this. Shares this morning have altered tol7s6d, and shares in other claims*] are also rapidly rising; a-.;