Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article625597

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SYDNEY.

On Monday last a Criminal Court assem- bled for the trial of Thomas Jamison, Esq. on

the complaint of Mr. James Mileham, for an   assault and battery on the evening of the 3d of May, 1803.  

At half-past Ten the business commenced,   and several witnesses called by the prosecution were examined. - Mr. Jamison declining

to set up any other plea than that   of "self-defence," the Court cleared to deliberate, and were of opinion, from the Evidence,     that Mr. Mileham struck Mr. Jamison first,   and consequently what followed was self     defence on the part of Mr Jamison : " They

do therefore Acquit him of the Assault and   Battery laid to his charge, but think it ne-   sessary to bind him over to keep the Peace   towards all His Majesty's liege subjects, and    

particularly towards Mr. James Mileham         himself in 250l. and two Sureties in 125l

each, for a term of three years from this  

day.

On Sunday last the sloop John, belonging to J. Palmer, Esq. on her passage from Hawkesbury with a cargo of 160 bushels of wheat, 60 of maize, 2 tons of potatoes, and a number of very fine pumpkins, was totally    

lost off Broken-Bay, but the crew consisting of

Three persons fortunately saved themseIves.  

The weather being excessively boisterous, and the sea very high, she was brought up under a lee shore called the Flint and Steel ; where   after riding some time, her hawser snapped, and rendered it necessary to stand out. The  

mainsail being half up, the man at the helm

ordered the peak haulyards to be let go, but     the rope jammed in the sheave, and a sudden  

gust coming on at the insant, overturned her. The people were now forced to get

astride upon her keel, in which situation they     continued a considerable length of time. She     afterwards drifted to the opposite shore,

where, by a tremendous surf, she was dashed

to pieces on the rocks. Her hands got safely on shore, were picked up by another boat   the day following, and brought to Sydney.

A number of Boats overtaken by the tempest in their passage from Hawkesbury, took       shelter in small bays, and thereby escaped the threatening danger.

No rain (except a few passing showers of no use) has fallen since last July. This long drought has deprived many of the settlers of their late crop of Maize, but nowise injured     the Wheat reaped in November last, or the

first crops of Maize, owing to the heavy and fertilizing dews that have generally fallen in the nights.

Although gardening has been much   retarded, yet the rain that fell from Friday to Monday last, came very opportunely for the Wheat now sowing throughout the Colony, a quantity of which is out of the ground.    

From the long continuance of the heavy   fall of rain, it was reasonable to apprehend that Hawkesbury would be laid under water ;   and it is the opinion of the inhabitants that   had it not providentially ceased when it did, a flood must have been the consequence, as during the last day of the rain a heavy fresh made its appearance, and the water raised  

many feet above the usual height.

On Wednesday last a cask of Porter was

seized at the Wharf, the landing permit not    

being countersigned by the Naval Officer.  

On Sunday last, the new Vessel was launched,    after an indefatigable exertion of two     days. On Saturday morning the props were     knocked away from under her, and she was   got down to the water's edge, against the evening tide, when she began to stir, but the pall of the windlass, at which many persons were at work suddenly giving way, had       nearly been productive of the most serious     consequences : One of the bars, which flew   with incredible force, struck the pilot Mr.   W. Bowen, across the thighs, which from the violence of the blow, be at the moment conjectured to have broken. Mr Kable's   son, by the sudden recoil, was thrown over-   board, and one of the working hands received a severe wound in the neck : the project of geting her off was now necessarily abandoned       until the tide should again serve. The whole  

of Sunday was occupied in forming a deep   bason round the vessel and an open channel    

extending as far as the low-water mark. ---   This task was executed under an incessant and heavy fall of rain, though not without carrying the Dutchman's theory into practice,      That if the outside be wet, the inside   should be so likewise. At night she was got

afloat without further accident ; and every  

exertion is now making to fit her out for the Straits, whither it is supposed, she will be ready to sail in less than a month.

An inhabitant, who has for some time past     remarked that pieces of salted provisions had   been taken out of a small harness cask in a  

room contiguous to that in which he slept,   formed, as is frequent in such cases, a suspicion    of some person about him. On Monday     night last, just after be had retired to     bed, having the house-door a jarr for a la-       bouring man who occasionallv waited on him,   and lived in the house with him, he heard the door pushed open, and supposing the man

had come home, cried out, "That's you    

John, is it," but John made no reply. A few  

moments after, his own door was gently opened, and he expected John, was about to enter with a mission ; in place of which, a white dog, somewhat above the common size slipped in, and made up to the cask, where, with an alertness which in a bi-ped might   have been termed ingenuity, removed the cover ; then seizing upon the largest piece     in the cask, perhaps because it lay most     convenient to the pecculater, was about to take       his leave, when the enraged owner leaping into the middle of the floor, obliged the unprincipled      adept to retire without his booty.    

It is rather to be wondered at, that in this Colony, where immense quantities of excellent     straw may be procured, a course green           grass is preferred for the purposes of thatch-           ing. A straw roof is considered in England to last seven years without repair : it may be used in thinner lays than any other, and be consequently far lighter, and much better adapted to the slight-built cottage. Besides, as the grass is used before it has had time to dry, it becomes heated, and moulders to an   ash, from which, when damp, an unwholesome    vapour is exhaled by the heat of the      

fire, which must be attended with pernicious consequences to the cottage family ; but well dried straw will ever remain pure and wholesome,   and maintain its firm contexture for a     considerable length of time. The practice of   thatching with grass originated in necessity, but surely might, after a lapse of 15 years, admit of innovation and improvement.

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