AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1938, 22 July 1869, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

“ What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” is apparently the opinion entertained by the bench and bar of New South Wales and South Australia, in dealing with this Colony. They object to admitting our barristers freely and graciously there, if we in our turn decline to reciprocate. Engaged in an Adelaide case, Mr Michie has made application to be allowed to appear in the local court, and the Acting Chief Justice has declined, on the ground that Victoria does not extend the like favors to South Australian barristers. Business has taken Mr Wyatt over to Sydney, and caused him to make similar application there. He has not met with a refusal, but the Judge in admitting him took care to comment on the lack of courtesy displayed in this Colony. Who shall blame these gentlemen for desiring that the free trade in banisters shall not be all on one side 1 Surely it is possible to obtain a uniformity of legislation among the Colonies in this trifling respect so that the barristers of one may, as a matter of right, claim admission to the bar in all. We are aware that there is a difficulty in the way of such a consummation arising, from the fact of the two branches of the profession being united in most of the other-Colo-nies, in place of being kept separate, as they are in England and Victoria. But this obstacle is not insurmountable, and, at least, need not stand in the way of gentlemen admitted at the English or Irish bar.

The aboriginal inhabitants of Queensland waters are by no means disposed to acquiesce without a struggle in the gradual settlement of the northern districts of that country. Alligator stories will soon supersede the less thrilling narratives of snakes. We rea4 i 1 } the Qleveland Bay Express how Sergeant Higgins was driving two horses across a creek when they were charged by two alligators with open mouths, one of them apparently twentyfive feet long. The shouts and other noises of the men upon the bank scared the monsters, and the horses crossed in safety From the Norman Elver there comes a more tragic tale. In that river the alligators are so numerous and daring that they will not leave the steamers’ path until they are actually disturbed by the motion of the floats. As the steamer Pioneer was on its voyage, a Kanaka belonging to the vessel was standing on the margin of the river unfastening a rope, when he was charged by one of these terrible saurians. The people on board who saw the danger, cried out to alarm the man ; but before he could make his escape the alligator seized him by the thigh. The unfortunate man threw his arm round some mangroves, and so held on until assistance came from the steamer. Six men quickly seized him and then there was a horrible trial of strength between human muscles and the jaws of the alligator. The captain struck the brute a blow on the head with an axe that forced him to let go his hold, and the victim was dragged away. The alligator, however, made another charge up the bank, but was repelled with difficulty by repeated blows of the axe. The poor Kanaka’s leg was taken off below the knee. Medical assistance was near at hand, but the excessive loss of blood rendered recovery hopeless. The man died within fifteen minutes after he had reached the doctor’s dispensary. We owe to the Adelaide Observer the notice of a remarkable |ine of railway now in operation in Germany. It is open for twelve miles, has cost L1,5Q0 a mile, and pays a dividend of six per cent. This model line is known as the Broelthal. It is situated in Westphalia, and is connected with the trunk line running from Frankfort northward, along the east bank of the Ehine. It was constructed by local capitalists who were interested in the mining districts, whose products it conveys, and was laid at the side of the Government road. The saving thus effected was practically neutralised by various disabilities to which the company was obliged to sub-

luifc, and it is said that the increase of cost in the extension of the line when no roadway is available, and when the land must consequently be purchased, will not be very considerable. The rails weigh 221b. to 201b, per yard, and are laid on transverse oak sleepers, Gin. by s|is,, placed at intervals of 2ft. from centre. The rolling stock comprises two locomotives and thirty waggons. The former weigh 2£ tons, and draw a load of 220 tons, which allows 140 tons freight. The waggons average about 21? tons each. The total cost of the rolling stock -was something over L 4,000 ; of the permanent way, about L 9,000 ; bridges, L 3,600 ; stations and depots, L 3,400 ; and general stores, LSOO. With an expenditure of about L 22,000, the BroePhal Railway was fully equipped and put in operation. The staff is rigorously limited, and the working expenses are less than fifty per cent, of the gross receipts. Only one train a day runs in each direction. This is a precedent which the advocates of cheap railways may study with advantage. Whatever may be the fate of the contest respecting trunk lines, a real advantage will be secured for the country if some such expeditious and inexpensive method of conuectin'g country districts with the various stations upon the main lines can be devised. We have been already apprised by telegram of the occurrence of an unmistakable case of Asiatic cholera in Sydney, and the Morning Herald gives the following particulars of it: —“The patient was a young man about twentyfive years of age, and on Mondav, the 21st, at four a.m. was affected with violent vomiting, purging, and cramps, to which succeeded a deadly collapse, with blueness of the surface of the body. The patient was seen by Dr Miller, of Phillip street, about 11 a.m., and at two p.m. he advised a consultation, when Dr Bell was sent for. About five p.m. some slight reaction set in, which gave some hopes of a recovery, but on a further consultation at eight p.m., the symptoms of collapse appeared as bad as ever, and though everything was done as far as medical treatment and good care and nursing were concerned, death took place at five o’clock on Tuesday morning. Dr Bell states that since the years when he vvas actively engaged with cholera cases in Ireland, he has never since seen any case approaching, or being identical with Asiatic malignant cholera as this late case has been.”