AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2044, 23 November 1869, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The Legislative Assembly of New South Wales were engaged on the Bth inst. in discussing the unauthorised interference of colonists resident in England with the action of the Colonial Office in relation to colonial affairs. The pretentious assumption of representing the colonial Government is universally ridiculed and condemned. At the same time great regret was expressed at the neglect exhibited by the British Government to New Zealand. Two hundred and four ounces of gold have been obtained from 22 tons of quartz taken out of a claim at Tambaroona, N.S.W., where rich veins are being discovered. An association for the promotion of mining ventures on a sound and legitimate commercial basis is in course of formation in Melbourne and Ballarat, the chief promoter beidg Mr W. H. Barnard, a gentleman well known in connection with mining operations at Ballarat. The new company, which is to be entitled the Australasian Mining Prpmotr mg aqd Investment Society (Limited).' is td hj *ve a subscribed capital of LIO,OOO, in one hundred £IOO shares, of which already between fifty and sixty have been taken up by some of our leading commercial men. The objects of the association are to be :—The dissemination of the most useful and reliable info mation on all matters connected with mining ; the systematic fostering of mining enterprise ; a reduction in the expenses of floating companies ; the curtailment of calls; and the protection of the public from fraud All the Australian colonies are to be represented in the Association, so ii« to secure the widest field for its operations, the head office being either at Melbourne or Ballarat. The shares are proposed to be distributed as follows Victoria, 35; New South Wales, 20; New Zealand, 15; the other colonies, 10 j and Loudon, 20. The Registrar-General of Victoria has just gazetted the following quarterly abstract, showing the estimated population of Victoria on the 30th September, 1869:—Births in third quarter of 1869, 3,589 males, 3,486 females ; arrivals by sea, 5,475 males, 2 053 females ; total, 14,602. Deaths, 1,348 males, 926 females ; departures by sea, 3.640 males, 1,032 females; total, 6.946. Increase during quarter, 4,076 males, 3,680 females ; total, 7.656 Population 30th June, 1869, 391.146 males, 305,015 females ; total, 696,161 females. Population 30th September, 1869, 395,222 males, 308,595 females; total, 703,817. The excess of births over deaths during the quarter was 4,800, that of arrivals over departures was 3,856. The total gain to the population was therefore 7 668. From the Hobart Town Mercury of the 10th inst., we take the following relative to the acclimatisation of the salmon and tench :

“We are glad to report that Mr Morton Allport has received information from a resident at the Falla fully confirmatory of the reality of what some persons are even now slow to believe—that salmon are plentiful in the river, and that young salmon have been observed early in the morning, rising in great numbers, below the falls. Mr Allport, from the description given of the fish and their large size, has no doubt whatever that they are veritable grilse. A telegram was yesterday received by Mr Morton Allport, intimating that the tench were so numerous in the lagoon at the Nile that the people were shooting them. These tench are the offspring of an importation by the Percy, Captain Wrankmore, for Captain Langdon, M.L.C., who placed them at the disposal of Mr Allport. That gentleman deposited a girtion in the lagoon about seven mdes from vendalc, and as the Nile runs into the Esk, and Mr Allport at the same time placed tench in several other of the Tasmanian waters, we may congratulate the Colony on another addition to our colonial piscatorial family." An eccentric mode of suicide was adopted a few days ago by a man, apparently a lunatic, who laid himself across the rails of the Melbourne and H. B. Railway line, between Melbourne and Kichmend, close to the bridge over Punt road, and awaited the passing of the next train, which happened to be the half-past 12 p.m. train from Windsor. There is a sudden curve in the line immediately after leaving Richmond station, and as soon as the bridge is passed there is a decline, so that the engine-driver did not see the man until the train was within a few yards of him, when he immediately called out and sounded the signal to stop, but he had only just time to observe that the man’s neck was lying exactly on the rail, when the train passed over the spot, and though it was pulled up as soon as possible, about 100 yards were passed over before it was brought to a standstill A passenger in one of th>-. carriages near the engine nearing the driver call out, glanced through the window, and saw a red object, which afterwards proved to be the man’s head, roll down the embankment. No perceptible jerk was caused by the obstacle. The engine-driver was greatly shocked by the suddenness of the occurrence, but those who were witnesses of tbs accident state that no blame could attach to him.

The London correspondent of the Sydney Homing Herald mentions that Mr K. H, Home was about to be welcomed back to England by a public dinner to be given to him by the literary men of London, and that Mr Dickens was expected to take the chair.