LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1972, 31 August 1869, Page 2

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The number of Oddfellows’ lodges in Victoria in 1867 was 185. Of these by far the largest proportion belong to what is known as the Manchester Unity. This branch of Oddfellowship mustered 10,884 members in December last, and had accumulated funds to the extent of nearly LIOO,OOO. The Foresters in 1867 counted 116 courts; now they can boast 150, with upwards of 10,000 members. The Rechabites, who, in addition to other prudential proceedings, forswear all intoxicating drinks, have 89 tents, as their lodges are styled, comprising 3,600 members. In 1861 there were but two tents in existence in the Colony, and their members numbered only sixty-six. We have Hobart Town papei's to the 20th, and Lunceston to the 21st inst. They are mainly occupied with the report of the case of Overell and Another v. Robertson and Another, tried in the Supreme Court, and with accounts of the tidal trip on the Launceston and Deloraine Railway. The agent sent sent over by the Ballarat speculators to

examine the Waterhouse reefs, speaks very favorably of them, and is said to have made an ineffectual offer of L 5,000 to Mr Williams and his party for their claim. He is of opinion also that there is an alluvial goldfield within twenty miles of Launceston. Mrs Robert Heir is playing a short engagement in Melbourne. Her first appearance was witnessed by a crowded house, and speaking of the performance the Argus remarks ; —“ It was not wonderful that the expectation of seeing once more so great a favorite drew a densely crowded audience, especially in the more popular portions of the theatre. The play was “ Masks and Faces,” and when Mrs Heir made her appearance as Peg Woffington, the house—in old-fashioned parlance —rose at her, so enthusiastic was the applause, so great the pleasure which the reunion afforded. The actress could not but keenly feel the compliment which circumscribed a thou sand old associations and sympathetic recollections, and it required an effort to enable her to proceed with the part.” Those who take an interest in aquatics will be pleased to learn that the challenge of the brothers Hickey, of Sydney, to row against any two men in England for LI,OOO, has been taken up by Jas. Eenforth, the champion sculler of England, and Jas. Taylor, another well-known rower. The terms proposed by the Englishmen are, that there shall be two events, of LSOO each, viz. :—A pair-oared race and a sculling race, the latter to be rowed between Renforth and either of the Hickeys, and that the match shall take place on the Tyne. The visitors are to receive for expenses the sum of L2OO, irrespective of the result. This offer is under consideration by the Hickeys, and there is no doubt that it will be accepted.