AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1094, 7 November 1883, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Melbourne, Nov. 1. The Commissioner of Customs has decided to obtain an estimate for jthe extension of the Alfred Graving Dock by about 150 feet. The final meeting of the T’ayiff Com> mission has been held. The proceedings were of a somewhat lively nature. A meeting of Freemasons resolved to form a Freemasons’ Hall Company, with

a capital of L 20,000, in order to erect a suitable hall in Melbourne. A verdict with L 5 damages has been given against Reader, for libelling D. Crichton, a journalist. The motion made in the Assembly for the establishment of a daily Hansard was adjourned after some discussion, and is virtually shelved for the session. A Bill has been introduced to increase the number of Ministers in the Council to two, and to limit the number is the Assembly to eight. Sydney. Nov. 1.

The Contempt of Court Bill introduced in the Assembly by the Attorney-General has been rejected by a majority of five in a house of thirty-three members. The subject had been well agitated through the country, but the result was not altogether unexpected. A debate has taken place in the Assembly on the subject of intercolonial free trade, arising out of a motion by Mr Young that Government should make an effort by conference or otherwise to induce the Governments of Australian

colonies to remove by legislation the various important duties now charged by them on the produce and manufactures o‘ New South Wales. Victoria was regarded as the stumbling block to any such arrangement, and the Treasurer in the course of his speech regarded federation as a sentimental idea, with little hope of being carried out. A. Royal Commission of civil and mechanical engineers has been appointed toenquire into the question of the stability of iron railway bridges. Mr M'llhone has been addressing his constituents in opposition to the Land Bill. Opposition to the Bill is coming from the Western squatters. A Land Conference is now sitting in Sydney, but is unlikely to result in much practical benefit. Another application is to be made for the removal of the lunatic Cresswell to England, but it will be again opposed by the A.ttorney-General, on the ground that the identity of Cresswell is fully established.

A tender has been accepted for the third section of the Illawarra railway at L 318.000. Brisbane, Nov. I.

Thirty Chinese employed on Mr J. Swallow’s plantation at Cairns, having disobeyed orders, warrants were issued to arrest them. The police, on proceeding to execute them, were fiercely attacked by the Chinese, and a severe fight ensued, in which one Chinaman was killed and three wounded. At a banquet to Mr Griffiths at Ipswich, much enthusiasm was displayed; Mr Griffiths disclosed nothing in regard to his future policy. The loss of stock on the Darling Downs during the recent drought has been very heavy. Trouble is still being experienced with the coolies inaported by Mr Palmer, near Warrnavnbool. The City Council is making rapid progress with the underground drainage works in the city.