VICTORIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1994, 22 November 1888, Page 2

VICTORIA.

Melbourne, November 21. By a fire at Nhill, a small town near the South Australian border damage to the extent of ;£i 2,000 was caused. . The International Temperance Convention has opened its sittings here. Sir W. Fox and other representatives from New Zealand are present. The Presbyterian Assembly has at length arrived upon a basis of federation for the churches of the different colonies. They have invited prominent English and Scottish divines, Lord Poleswartb, Hon. W. H. Smith, M.P., and Sir G. Campbell, M.P., to attend I the Jubilee celebration of the Church. An explosion occurred m the powder factory at Job's Gully, which blew the end of the building out. A man named Meurer was badly hurt, and lies m a critical condition. The rainfall this year is the lowest recorded since 1865. On some stations scrub is used to support the sheep, which are dying by thousands. Bush fires are burning m all directions: A woman named Blake received a letter asking her to risit a neighbor's house, and when she returned home she found that during her absence a masked man had bound, gagged, and criminally assaulted her daughter, a girl of seventeen. The house had been ransacked, and a quantity of jewellery stolen. The ruffian has not been captured yet.