The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-09 00:00:00

Agricultural Prospects.

Last r cell opened with a close, muggy day, and
ick atmosphere; wind ranging from N. to S. W.
Monday was a cool, cloudy day, without rain. Wind
N.N.E. ; thermometer ranging from 54 to 58 deg. ;
barometer 30 inches. Some harvest work would be
proceeded with to tht northward, and the plough
was got to work in all the early districts, the heavy
soils requiring a goodly number to make any pro-
gress, but the light lands would work well. Tues-
day was another thick day, but without rain ; the
wind from N.N.E. ; thermometer 56 deg., and
barometer down to 29.85 inches. Our advices on
that day ran thus—from Norfolk: " Although we
had little rain during the past week, the weather has
been misty, which prevents the grain getting into
condition." From Northumberland it was stated :
" The weather has been damp and foggy since our
last report, and varying from S.W. to N. W. and N.E.
Wednesday was a fair day, misty and sunny alter-
nately, and ploughing was being proceeded with
generally and extensively. Our ad vices from the east
coast of Scotland stated : " The weather continues
unfavourable for concluding the corn harvest in
later districts of the country, and much against
potatoes keeping free from disease, of the spread of
which we have numerous reports." On the west
coast the weather had improved. Thursday was a
thick, misty day, with no rain, the wind still from
the N.E. ; thermometer, 60 to '62 deg. ; barometer,
30.05 inches. From Warwickshire on that day our
advices stated : " The wet weather continued up to
Monday morning, a great quantity of rain falling
on Sunday and Sunday night ; it has since been
fine, but dull and muggy, with heavy morning fogs,
the wind N. and N.E. Farmers have taken every
opportunity of gathering the remainder of their corn
harvest, the condition of course being very indiffe-
rent ; they now look anxiously for a continuance of
fine weather, to prepare the land for wheat-sowing,
and it is hoped that the late advance in prices will
amply compensate the farmers for the otherwise
heavy Joss they must have sustained." From Suffolk
it is remarked : " We hare had a week of close
sultry weather, without wind, and with heavy dews
at night." Friday was a more bracing day, cool,
and on the whole a drier atmosphere, so that farm
work would go on more favourably, and much land
is getting ready for wheat sowing, the farmers
being very anxious to get forward with this work,
which is in a backward state. Our advices from the
East Riding of Yorkshire stated : " The weather
continues damp, and some quantity of beans and
oats still remain unhoused. The harvest in this
district has been much protracted, in consequence of
the untoward weather, and a considerable portion of
the grain is gathered in in a very unsatisfactory
condition, and not fit for thrashing out at present."
From the West Riding : " A good deal of barley in
the fields yet, and the weather has been very dull
all the week, though not so much rain." By another
Yorkshire correspondent it was stated: " Harvest,
after having been unusually protracted by unfavour-
able weather, is at length drawing to a close; the
crops have sustained considerable injury, and a
large portion has been housed in imperfect con-
dition ; the potato disease also prevails to some
extent ; so that, altogether, our food prospects are
much less favourable than for several years past."
Journeying by railway, a correspondent writes :
From Peterborough to Syston and Chesterfield,
the harvest, with the exception of beans, is about
completed; but from Chesterfield into Yorkshire
both oats and barley are in many places still out,
and the weather remains dull and damp." From
Lincolnshire our advices state: " For the last week
we have had nothing but fogs, though scarcely
amounting to rain at any time, and yet corn dries
not. There is much corn out in the north wolds
of this county, and the condition is yet lamentable ;
as in Yorkshire, much corn is in the fields suffering
much. Tbcre has never been so much destruction
of grain in my recollection as during this season ;
and damp grain forced into market helps to pull
down the good qualities also." Saturday opened
with an uncertain promise, and some slight drizzling

rain fell for about half an hour ; but the day held
up ; wind north-north-east, thermometer 57 deg.,
barometer up to 30.40 in., and giving thus some
high hopes of some finer weather being at hand,
when the farmers will have an opportunity of
bringing up the arrears of every description of work.
A large demand will consequently take place for
seed wheat, of which there is a good choice, despite
all the bad weather.--Mark-Lane Express of yes-
terday.

A Tale of Horror from New Zealand.

Ever and anon we are startled by a crime of the deepest
dye. It furnishes the public with a narrative of interest,
a matter of wonder, and a sensation of horror. But, taking
English society as a whole, crimes of murder aro compara-
tively rare. Those which do occur attain to so great a
publicity and create such a 'noise throughout the com-
munity that the event appears magnified, and what would
be consigned in silence in other European countries to the
gallows is with us prominently blazoned abroad. When
we consider in this cold damp land how keen is the struggle
for the means of existence, how many perish from absolute
want, 'and how numerous therefore are the incentives to
crime, it must be allowed that the English nature shrinks
from murder. The story then which fills the columns of the
New Zealand papers is one of unusual occurrence in the
annals of English crime. In atrocity it transcends the
liveliest imagination of the novelist, and will yet furnish
the groundwork for many tales of horror. It is impossible
to conceive a story more replete with every incident of
diabolical crime than that furnished by the gang whose
history is now before us. The west coast of the middle
island of New Zealand is among the wildest tracts of the
world. From Nelson down to the extremity of Southland
runs an unbroken chain of snowy mountains, which attain
to their greatest height in Mount Cook, whose peak is ele-
vated 14,000 feet above the sea. While towards the east
a broad bare plain runs between this chain and the sea,
towards the west the mountains send precipitous ranges
to the coast, forming valleys which make a most rugged and
broken country covered with forests so tangled and dense
that a pathway can only be hewn through them axo in
hand. While the settlement of Canterbury throve, spread-
ing its countless flocks over the broad prairies of the east,
the wild regions to the west remained a terra incognita,
penetrated only by a few travellers,whose accounts tended
to impress a mysterious awe on the minds of all. When
fairly involved in the deep gorges of the unknown
country the traveller became separated from the
world. Around him was an impenetrable forest—
before him a storm-lashed coast, on which no ship was ever
seen, and behind him towered up the gigantic mountains
white with their coat of eternal snow. No animal broke
the stillness. Torrents rushed down the mountains—
swollen by a downfall of almost ceaseless rain. If the pro-
visions he carried failed, scarcely a hope remained of escape
from starvation. It required a powerful spell to break by
settlement the solitude of so uninviting a country, but
that spell was furnished by the discovery that gold in
wonderful abundance lay strewn around. But yesterday
the albatross winged along the beach a flight as solitary
as on the frozen continent of the Southern Pole ; to-day
along that beach stands the city of Hokatika, with its
main street three miles in length, containing a hundred
licensed grog-shops, hotels, court-house, and even an Eng-
lish theatre. This marvellous transformation was worked by
the all-powerful attraction of the auriferous soil. The Wes.
Coast became the centre on which the adventurous eyes of
a roving population became fixed. From Australia and the
settlement of New Zealand—from Asia, Europe, and Ame-
rica, came the men whom no difficulties could daunt, and
no hardships deter in their search for the yellow metal.
At first small parties penetrated through the giant ranges.
Many perished from want, many were precipitated down
huge precipices, or buried under avalanches, which
swept whole forests away in their descent to the ravines.
Several were drowned crossing streams, the impetuosity
of whose torrents deceived even the experienced eye of an
old New Zealand settler. But their places were quickly
supplied, and the stream, gathering force with time, rolled
over the mountains and cleared for their successors pathways
through the bush. The dreary coast, in spite of its cease-
less gales, became alive with shipping, where the casual-
ties increased in number the already long list of those on
land. The passengers by sea on the West coast
held their lives in their hands. Scarcely a day passed
without adding ono more to the list of shipwrecks, and
the vessel which managed to escape for a few months was
a lucky and a well-managed craft. Still Hokatika grew—
new fields were opened, and the adventurous diggers
spread themselves in small mining parties all over the
land. It was on such a scene that the gang whose story
we now tell appeared. When arrested it consisted of
four members, named Burgess, Kelly, Sullivan, and Levy.
The first three were convicts; the last, a famous putter-up
or planner of crime. All were well known in Australia.
All, except Levy, were under former conviction; and were
ticket-of-leave men. Three of the party first proceeded to
Otago, where they became known to the police, underwent
a sentence of imprisonment, when that province was made
too hot for them, and they were eventually driven across
the border into Canterbury. So villainous was
their character that notice was sent to Christ-
church that the party had entered the province,
and henceforth the surveillance of the police traced
as far as possible, in so wild a country, the move-
ments of the gang. Ifokatika was the field to which such
ruffians naturally drifted, where they were joined by
Sullivan, who had some three months previously landed in
that port. Almost immediately after their arrival a daring
robbery of a bank agent was perpetrated on the 14th of
September, last year. This was followed by an impudent
robbery of the Police Camp at Hokatika, when a quantity
of accoutrements and firearms were abstracted almost from
under the noses of the police. So daring were these
scoundrels—so reckless did they become, or so secure,
having acted consistently on the principle that dead men
tell no tales, that they were often conspicuous in the dress
circle of the theatre. They were never known to work ;
yet they lived on the fat of the land. Often the party
were absent for a period, but only to reappear with plenty
of money and to enjoy themselves on the choicest dainties
that Hokatika could furnish. Burgess was their leader,
a calculating ruffian, who never drank to excess, or was
betrayed into any other weakness dangerous to himself.
Nature had furnished Kelly with all the requirements
necessary for the perpetration of the most cold-blooded
villainies. Sullivan was cast in a softer mould. He had
been known, when in a maudlin state, to shed tears,
mil regret the life to which ho had been driven by the
faithless conduct of his mistress. Levy was a Jew, usually
found as the schemer and calculator of these desperate
gangs; the brain from which emanates the strategy re-
quired for the success of the most daring projects; the
calculator by which the booty is secured and turned to a
profitable account ; a sanctimonious and eowardlyj ruffian,
the foremost to scheme, the last to act, in the fearful enter-
prises. Robbery succeeded robbery. Parties disappeared
and were never more heardof,m ait4ezatnhgtlWfaenildowthirnoz.
in the neighbourhood, freely
Almost immediately after the police had been surprised in
their camp at Hokatika a great bank robbery was per-
petratedpol ice became:alarmed, and
at Okaritka. The
notice was given that a gang of bushrangers had landed
from Australia. In the wilds of these provinces there are
almost constantly employed parties of surveyors and well
known as a leading member of that profession was a young
gentleman named Dobson. He was out surveying not far
from the mouth of the Grey, where the gang were at that
time lurking. Their plan was to intercept Mr. Fox, a gold
buyer, who they knew to be on the road. Unfortunately
for young Dobson he went the way that Mr. Fox ought
to have gone, while Mr. Fox took his passage down the
River Gray. Mr. Dobson was known to the gang, and
although they could have expected nothing from his murder,
they appear to have perpetrated the deed more from a feeling
of annoyance than from any other motive. He was strangled
and left sitting under a tree, as if he had died frOm ex-
haustion; but, on a second thought, it was considered
safer to bury-him, which was accordingly done. The
body was only found after Sullivan's confession, and
after weary days of search. The loss of this gentle-
man excited the liveliest sense of emotion throughout the
whole Province of Canterbury, where he was so widely
known and respected. He lay under a few inches of
earth ; his coat had been taken off, and was thrown over
him in the grave, his gold chain hung on his vest, and a
silver watch was in his pocket, stopped at 20 minutes to
four o'clock. In the same grave lay his compass, his field-
book, and tape. The party appeared to have proceeded to
Hokatika and embarked for Nelson, where. Levy sold a
quantity of the plundered gold to the Bank of New South
Wales. It was then planned to murder all the inmates of
this building, and after plundering the premises to aban-
don the colony. In the mean time there was a little busi-
ness on hand. Four men were known to be on the road
to Nelson with their gold. The party decided to intercept
them, and took up their position over the Maungatapu,
where high banks on both sides and dense scrub prevented
the possibility of escape. Two barred the road in front,
while two closed it behind. When the travellers were
secured they were marched into the bush on the upper side
of the road, while Sullivan took on himself the destruc-

tion of the horse which carried the baggage of the party.
When the bodies were found the four were lying about
250 yards from the track, and about 50 yards apart. They
were in no way decomposed, untouched by vermin, and
only bleached by rain. The first lay calm and placid, the
shot through his head having produced instant death.
The next was dreadfully bruised by heavy stones thrown
by the murderers on his body. The fourth had evidently
offered considerable resistance. Ile lay at the stump
of an uprooted tree, with his head thrown back,
his eyes staring, his mouth open, as if ho had
died struggling and crying out against his murderers.
The first bullet fired into his body had been turned away
from a vital part by striking against a rib. Then his coat
had been turned back and a knife plunged into his breast
at a point, as if the heart had been felt for. As neither

proved fatal, the legs of the murdered man had been
strapped, and as he lay helpless, but still alive, a pistol bul-
let had been fired into the knife wound, from which the
blood was oozing. It is, indeed, a horrible picture. But
one murder more remained before the cup of these villains
was filled to overflowing. Poor old- James Baffle came
upon the ruffians, who were sitting by Tin-tine bridge.