AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1990, 21 September 1869, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

MELBOURNE. The annals or the Australian Colonies have more than ouct shown that truth is stranger than fiction. Hereon Australian soil have vegetated men whose histories could, by Miss Biathlon or "Wilkie Collius, be woven into exciting and sensational narratives. Not long ago the heir to an Irish peerage was found employing lus time in the congenial occupation of “ bnhoek punching” in Queens, land, and dunged his bush name of Cah-bage-trec Ned.” for that of Viscount-Giulia-

ni we. Still later, an. individual who was wrecked on the coast of Brazil, and who was a vacchcro in the wilds of South America, found his way to a small township in New South Wales. There, under the name of De Castro, he plied the calling of a butcher, until ambition or a longing for brighter -cones tidal his soul, and he appeared on the boards as a claimant for an ancient baronetcy. He is recognised by many, hi< suit is carried on with vigor, and there is a probability that Da Castro, the butcher, may one day be recognised as Sir Roger 1 ichborne. At the present niomo it a tiller of the soil is about to proceed to Europe to enfore his claim as next of kin to the late Lord Clyde, better known as Sir Colin Campbell. M‘Liver, the free selector on Boneo, in the district of Tootaarook, who for some time has been content to earn bis bread by the sweat of his brow, bursts suddenly upon us as the heir presumptive to the son of Mr .John M - Liver, of Glasgow, and who entered the army as EnsignCampbell in ISOS, and who in 1858 was created a peer by the title of Lord Clyde. From what we hear, it seems probable that the Aust-alian M‘Liver, who until now has been satisfied with the benefits conferred upon him under the 42nd clause of the Land Act, will lie able to substantiate his claim to the accumulated prize money of the hero of Chi'ian-wallidi, Alma, and Lucknow.— Herald. Hamden F. Greene, sheep farmer, has liled his schedule ; the liabilities amount to f.30,000, and the assets to LIO,OOO. The funeral of the late Hon. J. P. Fawkner, was the largest, with the exception of that of Burke and Wills tbit has taken placi here. The public bodies were present, and among the mourners was Mr Paterson, deacon of the church Mr Fawkner msed to attend, and who was born on board the Cal. cutta, in which vessel Mr Fawkner came to Australia The city had a Sunday aspect during the afternoon. The w ather in Melbourne during the early part of the mouth was very severe. The Government astronomer reports ;—The weather during the past week was very fine on theOthjand 10th, dull on the 5,h and 9th, and boisterous and squally the remainder of the week. Ram fell on four days, amounting to 0.56 in, making the total rainfall since* January Ist, 12.93 in as compared with an average of 15.44 in for the same period during the last eleven years. Very cold and boisterous with rain and hail on the 7th and Sih, and snow on the ranges all round Melbourne. Violent squalls during the nights of the 7th to the Sch, with a severe thunderstorm on the early morning of the Bth ; dense fog on the morning of the 11th. The highest temperature in the shade, CO.ndeg. was recorded on the afternoon of the (Jth ; the lowest, 34, on the early morning of the same day, The highest reading of the barometer, 30.355 in, joccurred on the evenings of the 9fch and loth, with moderate B.E. breezes ; the lowest, 29.739 in ou the afternoon of the 7th, with heavy westerly squalls. SYDNEY. On his late trip to the North, Mr Rob.rtson tried his hand at a little intercolonial diplomacy. He made some arrangements with tha Queensland Hoverument for better police protection along the border, and to facilitate the capture of bushrangers in whichever colony they might for the time take refuge. He also came to some understanding about the carriage of the in and mails between the border towns. But tho most important topic to which he directed his atteutiou was that of the ocean steam postal service. He has entered into some preliminary negotiations for the support of the Torres Straits route The northern colony is so anxious for the opening up of this route that its Government readily acquiesced in a scheme by which New South Wales was to pay the larger part of the cost The Legislative Council gave its sanction to the plan at once, and the Assembly will probably do the same whenever called upon. New Zealand is also to be invited to join in its support. The design is that the Torres Straits route should be Worked alternately with the King George’s Sound routs, so as to give a fortnightly mail, an I that if the three eastern colonies subsidise one service, the southern and western

colonies may subsidise the other. But the two routes may be worked iu hj i rmony, and letters may be received by either m.iil for all the colonies. The subject of telegraphic communication with England was also discussed, and the outlines of a convention framed, in virtue of which Queensland is to carry its land line io the head of the Gulf, and a joint support is to be given to laying the cable from that point to the Dutch territory. All these matters wi'l have to he discussed in the ;ortbeaming-session, when the details of these negotia ions will be more fully disclosed, and the principles on which they arc based will be explained.

The question as to what constitutes a valid will has been again before the Supreme Court this week. Our readers may remember that a 1 ter the decision in the celebrated case of Wolfskehl v. Mitchell, Mr Justice Hargrave was called upon to adjudicate without the intervention of a jury in another will case, wherein a, drunken and profligate man, separated from his wife and children, left hifi property to another woman with whom he was living at the time of his death. The Court held the will to be invalid on account of undue influence Against this decision an appeal was made to the full Court, and their Honors are not unanimous in the view they take. Mf Hargrave, on a review pf the case, abides by his former opinion, and’ Mr ,T notice Cheekp coincides with him on the ground that thp legatee was present in the lawyer’s office dur» ing the drawing of the document, which is etirely and exclusively for her own benefit; that she interfered in that drawing, and continned with the deceased during every part of the preparation and execution of the will, and that this fact, taken iu conjunction with all the other circumstances of the case, establishes a presumption of undue Influence, and, at any rate, that there was no such clear proof that the primary Judge was iu error as to justify the Court in disturbing the verdict. The Chief Justice, on the contrary, delivered an elaborate judgment in favor of the view, that, however unrighteous the will might be, it was strictly legal—that it was the act of a man who was in full possession of his faculties—of a self : willed man who was not dominated by the influence of any stronger will—who had stated to third parties his intention of doing what he did do, and who had made at leasp

one previous'will of a similar tenor. He therefore came reluctantly to the conclusion that the will must be upheld. The decision of the Court, however, being the other way, the will will lie’ignored unless indeed another appeal is made to the Privy Council. If the decision is not good law, it harmonises with the popular instincts of justice. It is a dan*

gerous experiment to do justice illegally, but people do not like to see a man’s property willed away from his own wife and children in favor of a drunken paramour, and they could hardly approve the law which sanctions such an arrangement. It will be remembered that on the occasion of the departure of Sir John and Lady Young from the colony, the ladies of Sydney subscribed a large sum of money (L3d(>) f lithe purpose of purchasing a testimonial as a mark of the respect and regard in which her ladyship was held. The money was S'lit to London, and a b- autiful necklacc-drop was manufactured in that city by the Queen s jeweller. The Attorney-General has declined to prosecute William Robinson V mil, captain of the schooner Sarah File, who was committed on a charge of having aided and abetted Thomas Patterson in the commission of an unlawful offence. . The following Imperial despatch has heeu received by Earl Belmorc My The Queen has heard from His Koval Highness the Duke of Edinburgh of the great

cordiality and loyalty with which he has been received in Her Majeslys Australian colonies, and she is anxious to express her strong sense of the fee ing displayed in this reception, which the Duke is most desirous that she should recognise. Her Majesty commands you, therefore, to convey to the people of New South Wales her warm acknowledgments of the kind reception which has been given to His Royal 11iehnoss, and of their hearty and unanimous loyalty to her person and throne. —1 have, &c., Granville.” ADELAIDE. Kenealy, the pardoned Fenian, arrived at Adelaide on the 13th inst., per Claud Hamilton, under the assumed name of Sullivan. The sergeant of police boarded the steamer, and warned the captain of the penalty he incurred if he allowed Kenealy to leave the ship for the purpose of going on shore. Kenealy informed the police sergeant that his object was to go on to King Georges Sound in the Rangatira. In the meantime Kenealy is not allowed to leave the steamer. It is reported that a meeting of sympathising Fenians was held on the 12th, and the suggestion made to remove Kenealy fivm the steamer by force. WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Thanspoktatios. —The following despatch is published in the Western Austia.ian Government Gazette of Tuesday, 17th August; you the copy of an Act of the Impel ml 1 ailiaraent, authorising the removal of prisoners from one colony to another for the purpose of punishment. You will sec that by the 4th section, any two colonies may, witu the sanction of an Order of her .Majesty in Council agree for the removal of any pi n oners from one of such colonics to the other for the purpose of their undergoing their sentences in the colony to which they are removed. It was not thought necessary to exclude any colonies by name from the operation of ibis Act; but 1 am anxious to remove any ground for apprehension that this Act might he used to revive the system of transportation to Western Australia. It has been observed to me, and is no doubt true, that umh r this Act Her Majesty wpuld have legal power to sanction transportation from any British colony to Western Australia. But it is also true that Her Majesty has legal power to order transportation from this country to the last meu-

tinned colony, or by Order in Conned, under the 4th section of 6 George IV., c. bJ, to appoint Western Australia as a p.acc to -which colonial convicts may be removed. And the colonists may be assured that Her Majesty will not be advised to sanction, under this Act, a mode of proceeding in respect to colonial convicts v Inch, a the wish of the Australian colonies, has been abandoned in respect to British convicts Her Majesty’s Government are of opinion that, as a general rule, it is desirable that each colony should deal with its own convicts within the colony; hut it has been found difficult in some of the smaler West India colonics to exercise a proper system ot prison discipline and control; and one o v the objects of this Act is to facilitate the erection qf central prisons in one or more cr the larger islands, should the colonists desire it, wheie a mere effectual, and at the same tune more economical, supervision of the prisoners could be carried out. I trust that this assurance and explanation will effectually obviate any misapprehension which might arise as to the intended operation of this Act. I have, ccc. (Signed) Granville. The officer administering the Government of Western Astralia.