AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1399, 8 December 1884, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Melbourne, December 3. The bootmakers’ dispute with employers continues. About 1,400 men are out of work. The point of the dispute is the sweating system, or the practice of giving work to be done at home, which operatives are desirous of preventing. Numbers of other! trader are contributing to the support of the men on strike. At the annual conversazione of Scots Church, the Rev Mr Strong was present, and received an enthusiastic welcome. Nothing was said as to his future movements. • _

Information is to hand that Mr Butterwprth, the English architect who designed the Melbourne Anglican Cathedral, has resigned the position, and work has been consequently again stopped. The Post-office is engaged preparing postal notes, which come into operation on the Ist January. Adelaide, December 3. Another fire, supposed to be the work of an incendiary, took place on Monday morning. A German named Stohr was arrested on a charge of causing a great fire in Bundle street. The prisoner was found near the premises. He has already been the first to report fires on six different occasions. The police had no conclusive evidence, and the prisoner was remanded for a week.

H.M.S. Nelson returned hero on Tuesday from New Guinea. Saturday, 27th December, has been proclaimed a public holiday. Christman holidays will thus be extended from Wednesday nightjto Monday morning. _ Messrs Stuart and Dailey continue to improve in health. The date of the former’s departure for New Zealand has not yet been fixed. The Minister of Works has decided to call for tenders in the colony for twenty locomotives. < The Crown Street Public School, which was attended by a thousand children, has been closed in consequence of the smallpox. Sydney, December 2. The smallpox outbreak is caus'ng muon uneasiness. Within 48 hours no lass than 11 cases were reported and 57 persona • were quarantined. The oases are mostly about Surrey Hills, two in Elisabeth street and one at Lockhart. The present outbreak was occasioned by tbe illness of a young child named Cohen, who was attended by aDr Donovan. He failed to report tbe case, and all the other oases were subsequently traced to this. The child had been ill for some time, and was getting well. Dr Donovan, who is to' bo prosecuted, most strenuously denies that any of the cises he had been attending are smallpox at all. The authorities are taking all the necessary precautions. One public school where children have been attending has been closed. There are now more than a dozen oases in quarantine. Since |tbe prorogation ofParliament politics have been very quiet. Active preparations are being made to bring the new Laud Bill into operation at the beginning of the year. t The municipal elections, which took place yesterday, resulted in the defeat of John Davis, who seeks to re-enter pablio life. # A woman near Jerildetie chopped off the head of her child, and then hanged herself. She is supposed to have been insane.

Remonyi, the violinist, has been vary successful in Sydney. Business continues very dull. Brisbane, December 2. A number of Ohinamen reported tbe finding of gold at the head of the John* ston river. The trial of Bernard Williams, lately boatswain of the labor -schooner Hopeful on a charge of murdering a Polynesian seaman, has commenced.