AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 526, 17 May 1872, Page 1 (Supplement)

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

The yield of gold from Sandhurst for the first quarter of 1872 amounts to 78,5660z Idwt, 12gr., represent ing the sura of over 300,000£. The public dividends declared reach upwards of half that amount for the same period, and considering the private dividends not reported, and the amount of prospecting work being carried on in all parts the amount is very large One hundred and thirty goldmining companies have been formed in Sydney during the last quarter. Richard Crossing reported as having committed suicide at Wanganui, has left a large amount of property, which he settled on his wife before he abscodded. A curious example of rapid development of Christian affection occurred, it is said cn board the missionary vessel “ Dayspring-” The story as told is that a gushing bachelor missionary on the forenoon of the day of the vessel’s departure was struck by the attractive appearance of a young lady, whom he then saw for the first time. He obt lined an introduction and made such good use of his time that he proposed, was accepted, and married upon the evening of the day he first saw his wife. That man has sufficient decision of character to make converts. The Sydney Morning Herald has learned from a private letter that Her Majesty, through Prince Alfred, has desired Mr. N. Chevalier to execute a drawing for her of some of the thanksgiving ceremony, on the 27th. of February last. The following unfortunate accident occurred lately at Mr. Miller’s pastry cook shop inßourke-street, Melbourne One of the waitresses, named Rosetto Tollit, was opening a botde of soda water without a guard, when the bottle burst, and one of the pieces struck her in the eye. As the wound appeared dangerous she was taken to the hospital, when it was found that the s : ght of the eye was entirely destroyed. At the Alebury Criminal Sessions, Carl Ebel, charged with an attemnt to murder a whole family by administering poison in a cask of wine conveyed by him to a neighbor’s house for use at a birthday feast was found guilty, and sentenced to death. The jury recommended the prisoner to mercy. The new railway from Melbourne to within two miles of Seymour was opened on the 16th of last month. It is expected that the line will be finished right through to Seymour in two months. Edward Feeney was found guilty of the murder of Charles Marks in the Treasury Gardens. His honor Mr. Justice Willioms in Sentencing the prisoner said : —I really have not much to say to you. But Ido think that if the statement you made is true, that both of you went out to die together, it was a cowardly act on your part when you found that the deceased’s life was gone you did not take the pistol and blow your own brains out. Probably this is the se verest thing I could say to you. But it was a cowardly thing of you to go there at all; and it was cowardly in you not to perform your part that you had agreed fo do. You took his life when he could not return the fire. What your motives were for going there are inscrutable, they are known only to you and to him, but they must have been powerful motives. A case which caused some interest in Sandhurst was decided lately at the local police court. Mr. J. E. Wall was charged with falsely representing himself as a medical man, a charge which has on other occasions been preferred against him. It did not appear from the evidence that Mr. Wall had represented himself as a doctor to his patient, though he had received money from him for medical attendance. The case was dismissed. The shareholders in the purchase of the wreck of the ship “ Sussex ” cleared 400/. each. A strange discovery has been reported to the Ovens and Murray Advertiser by a correspondent :—“The men working on the railway line at a short distance from the Benalla bridge while cutting through a little eminence between six and eight feet, found a revolver, and on examining it discovered that it was capped and loaded. The stock, which was of wood, crumbled away on being exposed to the air, but the cap and the bu'lets were in a perfectly sound state. The instrument was silver mounted, and when rubbed the si ver was as bright and clear as if only recently put on. It is about ten inches long, and appeared to be extrem°ly well finished. It was found at a distance of nearly five feet from the surface, and where the ground was almost as hard as a rock. How it came there is an inexplicable mystery, and has astonished every one who has heard of the discovery, The revolver, or pistol, as it should be ceded, was found not far from ' here the massacre of Faithful’s men t ok place by the blacks some thirty Uv/.tgo; but it appears that these unfortunate men who were murdered, or their companions who escaped, had neither pistols nor revolvers with them at the time that this disastrous sacrifice of human life took place.”

The Bunninyong people must be queer folk, judging from the manner in which they announce births. In the local journal appeared the following advertisement:—“On the 7th inst, Mrs. William Wato-s of a son. Mother doing well ; father happy, child’s weight* 1 Gib. 2oz. A simple and inexpensive precaution against accident in descending or ascending the shaft consists in having at the proper places, straps of leather fastened to the rope, one of which, when the miner has taken his place, is secured under the arms. By this means, should anything happen to dislodge the feet, there is still a secure hold, and he can continue his descent or ascent as though nothing had occurred. This plan, states the Bendigo Advertiser, is adopted universally in thq mines of South America.