AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 3511, 25 May 1874, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

In the case of Mitchell, of Victoria (maintenance case), where the Court allowed the wife LSO per month, an application was made to attach LIo.OOO, about to ha transmitted •to Mitchell in England. The Supreme Court, on being moved, ordered the lower Court to make the order. ; Amongst the spectators at Moore Park to witness the drill of the New South Wales Permanent Artillery Force were the Hon. | Donald M‘Lean, Defence Minister, New Zealand ; his private secretary. Colonel St. John ; and Major Ropata, of the New Zealand forces. , By the mail a despatch has been sent Home to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, pointing out the injury that, the Colonies are liable to suffer from the contiguity of a large criminal population in New Caledonia, as evidenced by the late escape of the Communist prisoners. The ‘ Illustrated News’ has issued, as a supplement, a splendid bird’s-eye*view of the City of Sydney, The Government intend sending a number of copies to England for the purpose of assisting emigration. On the 13th instant, at Cudgegong, in New South Wales, a most remarkable meteor was seen in the daytime in the western point of the heavens at an altitude of about thirty degrees, thence travelling horizontally towards the south and east. Its first appearance was that of a ball of fire about fifteen inches in diameter, of a light preen color and as it passed through the heavens at a slow pace left a long trail of stars resembling a comet, which gradually decreased in brightness until the ball only remained, which continued on its course for several seconds. The Melbourne Rowing Club suggests tho end of September for tho Intercolonial Gie Raee. 6 Steps are being taken to establish a homoeopathic hospital in Melbourne, The Government have promised a site ©f land. Rosenwax, who absconded to Fiji from his creditors in Melbourne, has been discharged from Pentridge. and .has been examined at the Insolvent Court. . ‘ , It is reported that a party of five men obtained. L3O worth of gold in one day, at: the Northern Territory. 1

A- reduction of fares equal to 33 .per cent is to be made on the Victorian Government railways on after the-first day of May.’ The 4 Ballarat Courier ’ says that some ingenious swindler, desirous of raising the wind, has hit upon an old dodge in a new form. Instead of dropping “diamond” rings upon the pavement,,and then claiming hush money from the wayfarer who may pick up the jewel, the latest dodge is to drop a cheque for a few pounds, in the hope that some person picking it up might succeed in cashing It; when .the swindler would claim his share, under a threat of exposure. The Polynesian Company’s report has been adopted. It recommends the company to resign its monopolies and special rights ©n consideration of receiving, an additional 100,000 acres of land. The 4 Australasian,’ in its summary of the harvest prospects, states that the wheat crop generally is deficient, bqt that the probable average will be twelve bushels per acre ; oat crop under an average of fifteen bushels. We (S. M. Herald) learn by the steamer Alexandra, which has arrived from the Endeavor River, that upon the arrival of the ship England at the Endeavor River from Sydney, the passengers refused to laud, and after some difficulty were put on shore by the police authorities. The captain of the ■ England offered to bring all the passengers ‘ back to Sydney at a very low rate, but they professed to be without means, and, in fact, appeared quite bare 5f money. It is stated" that in the ranges close to Gooktown there are some hundreds of dead horses which have been killed by the herbage , of the place; which is said to be very bitter. Low fever is very prevalent in the place. The New 1 South Wales Goyernment nave consented to pay the owners of steamships, LI for thjs passage of each'returned digger that they land in Sydney. ' ■ • .•.* i “ A scene, ” says the - * Ballarpt Star,’ f ‘ bcv cUrred at a certain hostelry not a hundred miles from the main road, in Ballarat East. A young woman entered the hotel with'a 5 child in her arms, laid the ifefaut on a sofa in ;a back room, add speedily took her departure, but in going out of the hotel door told the landlord that his son was inside, and he being the father of the child, would have to take care of it himself. The, astonished landlord lost the use of his senses for a little while, during which his female visitor decamped, and he only realised the awkward' pfedicament he had been placed in when the unfortunate infant commenced to scream lustily fer its maternal parent. The affair will no doubt turn up for investigation at the nearest police Court in due time.” . Some industrious picker-up of unconsidered trifles has thought it worth bis while to steal the magistrate’s attendance book' from the Waega Wagga police court.