AUSTRALIAN ITEMS

Dunstan Times, Issue 417, 15 April 1870, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS

Apropos iff meat preserving, it is interesting to know lhat the Agents of the Melbourne Meat Preserving Company in England complain that theyjiavc scarcely a tin on hand. Six shipments had been received during the month, four of which were sold at once, and the two others were in course of being dispose! of when the mail left. This eagerness thoroughly illustrates how the English clem and has survived the cessation of operations by the company for two or three months during the late fliought, Fortunately for the company, a series of large shipments will have b'cea coming to hand in England within a week or so of last advices. The running matches between J. G. Harris, of this colony, and Frank Hewitt, the Champion of England, on the sth an<l 7th March, drew together the largest crowd that has been seen for years, and created intense excitement on the Melbourne Cricket ground. The one hundred and fifty and two hundred yards races were won easily by Harris. The three hundred yards race ended in a dead heat, and Hewiit won the four hundred and forty yards easily, and the one hundred yards race, which was very close. The three hundred yards race is not yet run off, and most probably will not, as Harris says he wi nt run any more on the cricket ground, but challenges Hewitt to run on a road or at Croxton Park. After another meeting at Ba'larat and Melbourne the English peds proceed to Sydney. Captain Payne, of the ship Nelson, has been appointed chief harbormaster. Captain Payne is the oldest naval officer in the Government service, and by appointing him one salary will be saved, as Captain Payne will perform the duties of chief harbourmaster in addition to those which have hitherto engaged him. It is by such an amalgamation of offices that economy in tbe administration of the government can be best carried out. A young lady has had the whole of her hair cut off in broad daylight in Westbourne Grove, one of ihe most crowded streets in London. The theft was so cleverly performed that she wasquite unconscious of it until her return home, although her bonnet string was cut through and her net divided into three pieces. It is said that the practice is becoming common, more especially in omnibusses. To cure a bachelor's aches—carry to the patient eleven yards of silk with a woman in it. It appeared rather an anomaly to hear a Judge from the seat of justice, which is represented by his easy chair on the bench state that the court is not the place to procure justicn but simply law - but this actually occurred in the County Court at Ararat, when Mr. Ellis, a solicitor from Ballarat, was prevented from appearing ;or his client, Mr. Pros well having shrewdly raised the objection that Mr. Ellis had not signed the practitioners' roll prior to entering proceedings for the defence. His

Honor Judge Cope regretted that ke could hot allows Mr, Ellis to appear, the law being against him, which although apparently unjust, could not bo altered ; the Court, he remarked, was a dispensary,, not a manufactory. “ But, your honor,” said Mr. Ellis, “ I only ask you to dispense a small modicum of justice.” “ I don’t happen to have the*article in stock,” immediately responded the judge. “ Verdict for the plaintiff.” The cost of the new Town’ Hall, Melbourne, when finished, will be £90,500 Of this large sutn, the'orgaffand its erection will cost £OOO7 10s. ; the clock and chimes, £1,750 ; pas fittings, £2,500; decorations, carving, &c, £2,600. The architect’s charges reach the respectable sum of £3,358 9s. 4d., his clerk of work 3 gets £OOO. An old man, whose life if written would furnish an interesting narrative of colonial life, has beeupinder the protection of the police for some time past—nominally as a vagrant, but in reality to take'eare of him, and will be sent by the Benevolent society here to the Benevolent Asylum at Ballarat in a few days. This old man, whose name is John Flood, states that he arrived in this country, as a prisoner in the year 1817, when he was twenty years of age. He came out in thejjjihip Chapman—the “murdering” Chapman as he called it, as there two hundred of the prisoners on hoard killed out of three hundred and forty that were being brought out. Some sup posed revolt amongst them, one Sunday morning, had caused the ofiicer in command to order the marines to fire,;’volley after volley upo the prisoners, killing the number named. In this colony he was a servant of Sir Thomas Mitchell, and was with him during his exploring journeys. The old fellow has been frequently attacked by the wild natives, an d his skull appears to bo one mass ofj.fracturcs from their waildies, while his back bears the mark of minim us spear wounds. He is very deaf now, and appears to have lived a hard iife ; the Benevolent Asylum may be ah In to soothe the veiy short remaining term of the poor cli man’s like. “Ararat Advertiser.” We take lbs following from’tho “ Ararat Advertiser”—“A shabby genteel man waired upon us the other day, and after having ascertained that his services were not required in any capacity, he toid a long and piteous tale of the suffering, sickness and hunger that he had endured of late. M oved in a measure by his mournful narrative, we gave the unfortunate the trifling pecuniary assistance of half a ciown, for which hejgave Lis warmest thanks, and wound up by asking, if ,v, e woulc not take it ami s, to come and have a think at his expense. It is scarcely necessary to add that we bundled the fellow out of the office.” Mr. Charles' Matthews has been 'warmly welcomed”in’Melbourne literary and liramatic circles. According to Chief Justice Sir Alexander Stephens, nine tenths of the crime com- j nutted ni New South Wales is traceable to indulgence to intoxicating drinks. A singular death is reported by the Burrowa Advocate A young girl named Eliza lirndall, residing at Jerrawa, left lur home a few mornings since to S an ml tr of sheep ; and not having returned at the usual time she was sought for, and found seated by the trunk | of ajrcc, with mouth open and eyes widely distended, as if suffering from fright. Startling to relate, she was a corpse, though retaining the same position ns while living. On removing the body, a large snake was found coiled up on the spot where the unfortunate girl had been sitting. A GRAND WEDDING SIXTY YEARS AGO. Very grand wedding! Plenty of barouches and bridesmaids, cake and favors, kissing and crying ! The bride, indeed, had amused herself with this last-mentioned recreation for a whole week, and having; moreover, accumulated on her person so much finely in the shape of lace flounces, sponsors, bonnets, veils, and scarfs, that sbs looked as if by mistake she had put on two wedding dresses instead of one, was by many degrees the greatest fright I ever saw in ray life. Indeed, between crying and blushing, brides and bridesmaids too do generally look strange figures: lam sure we did—though, to confess the truth, I really could not cry, much as I wished to keep all illy neighbors in countenance, and was forced to hold my handkerchief to my eyes, and sigh in vain for “ce don de dames que Dieu ne m’a pas define.” I don’t really think if I were married myself I should have the grace to shed a tear. For the rest, all went off very well, except two small accidents, one of which discomposed me very much. One of my fellow-brides-maids put on her skirt wrong side outwards and though half-a-dozen abigails offered to “transplant” the lace and bows from one side to the other, and though 1 all hut went down on my knees to beg her not to turn it, turn it she would, and turn it she did—the obstinate 1 The other mischance was our entirely forgetting to draw any cake through the ring, so that our fate still tests in abeyance. The bride and her second sister set off to Brighton, and I and the youngest remained to do the honors of the wedding dinner. Of course we all got tipsy—those who were used to it comfortably enough, and those who were not, rather awkwardly—some w r ere top-heavy and wanted tying up like overblown carnations, some reele l, some staggered—and one fell, and catching at a harp for a prop, came down with his supporter and a salver of hot coffee which he knocked out of the servant’s hands ; such a crash, vocal and instrumental, I never heard in my life.— F rnm the “Life of Mary Russel Milford.”