BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

Evening Star, Issue 3584, 18 August 1874, Page 3

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

ADDITIONAL AUSTRALIAN NEWS. Melbourne, August 11. Tpe Melbourne pilots intend petitioning Parliament, with a view of obtaining a grant of money and a fund established to provide for £ged and infirm pilots. 1 1 A man named Thomas Bartholomew was found in the Puzzle Ranges. He had bean out four days without food, and his feet were frost-bitten. He is in a dangerous state. The Misses Moezlin recently came into possession of a fortune of L 30.000, and at once proceeded to distribute over L 20.000 amongst the charitable institutions of Victoria. tZtx: _ , Adelaide, August 11. The salary of Mr Dutton, the Agent-General, has been increased LI,OOO. He is allowed a Secretary at 'Mr Samuel Deering is to receive the appointment. It is proposed te have the new city bridge built in the Colony, although LI,OOO would be saved by importing it, ‘ T|he crops in the agricultural areas are looking well. ' The P. and O. boats commence to go through the Suez Canal on the 20th, formalities having geen completed. ‘ A steamer Is'l paying Southampton on the Ist September, calling at Alexandria. The Chamber of Commerce has adopted the proposed Intercolonial Free Trade Bill. Dr Patterson advocates the establishment of a Government station, on which lunatics can be made self-supporting. For the half-year ending June, the average Labilities of all banks amounted to L 2.835.000: assets, L 4,600,000. Brisbane, August 11. Blondin gave a benefit to the Hospital The . place was crowded. He walked across the rope with baskets on his feet aud shackles on his legs. At the benefit, he carried over a harmonium, and played a selection on the middle of the rope. / ‘Wellington, August 17. There will be no outward San Francisco mail this month to Auckland. The Cyphrenes proCbfids to Sydney to-morrow. Christchurch, August 17. Mr Thomas Russell writes as follows to the ‘Press’ this morning Sir,—Referring to your not unfriendly article this morning, permit mo a few words of explanation. You couple Dr Featherston’s name with Mr Samuel and myself as responsible for accepting Mr Forbes as a co-contractor with Mr H. H. Hall, In justice to Dr Featherston I must exonerate him from all responsibility whatever in connection with the contract. He had nothing whatever to do with it; inflict,‘was on the Continent when the preliminary agreement was signed,'and' did not know who the co-contractor vkas until’ his return to England. Shortly after mv arrival in London Dr Kbatherston gave me a letter of introduction to Sir Charles (Jowper, Agent-General of New South Wales, in which strongly urged l ew" South Wales should co-operate tvith New Zealand, but beyond this he aid nothing whatever in the matter. The chief cause of the present difficulty undoubtedly has been the hasty and premature contract made by the New South Wales Government with Mr H. H. Hall. Had Mr Samuel and myself been free to choose contractors, we would have made arrangements with a com{>any that wou l d not have been afraid of a oss of L 50,000 in starting this great undertaking ; but our hands were tied. Mr Hall bad the New South Wales contract in his pocket; he esteemed it of great value, and would not admit any persons to participate in it but those who would allow hipa the full management bf it. . For my part, having secured {torn New South Wales: the recognition gf our right te one-half the advantages of the service, 1 Jihad' to make the best of |he mate? ttal at my disposal, aud pUt the contract ■ into the best possible shape, and this I claim to have done. Before we accepted Mr Forbes we rejected several names submitted to us by Mr Hall; and when Mr Forbes’s name was accepted it was only after most careful inquiry as to his means and ability to fulfil the undertaking. In my first interview with Mr Forbes, he informed me, among other satisfactory assurances, that he had drawn on Baring Bros for forty years, and referred me to them. The result of the inquiry made of Baring Bros, was satisfactory. I made inquiry from other sources with the same satisfactory result and obtained evidence of all which I hold.’ Mr Samuel, through other quarters, made several inquiries, with the same result. We were confirmed in our good opinions of Mr Forbes by by the readiness with which he chartered five large steamships, and despatched them for temporary service, and by the fact that on his own personal responsibility he ordered the building of four splendid steamers of upwards of 3,000 tons each.> The contract for these vessels was made with two > of the most eminent ehippqildprs ip Grpat Britain, and they had previously built many ships for Mr Forbes. The met- that these ship-builders accepted Mr Forbes a order for L 400,000 worth of property was the strongest evidence te us of their estimate of his means and abiUty. (The order for the new ships was given immediately after B1 £? foe preliminary memo, of agreement, and before the contract was drawn and signed.) Mr Forbes, when he agreed with us. was principal partner m the well-known China house of Russell and Co., a firm owning a larger steam fleet than the whole of the steamships trading in and to this Colony and he has been extensively connected with steam ter upwards of twenty years. I believe Mr Forbes entered ipto this contract without the knowledge and, as as I afterwards learned, against the wish of his partners; and I still tbjofe Mt Mm to be yiiteablo to carry it

out; but being an old gentleman, and having recently lost his health, he has, I believe, been compelled by others to take the step he has taken. The temporary service was a mistake. I feared it at the time, and urged Mr Samuel against it; but New South Wales had quarrelled with Victoria about the Suez terminus, and hence the urgent necessity to start a San Francisco service from Sydney in December (the date of the termination of the Suez line to Sydney). Mr Hall was forced to begin before he was ready, and to this haste I attribute all the disasteis that followed. It may be urged that I should have declined to join in a temporary service : but this was part of the compact with New South Wales. We were to join them in the whole undertaking. Notwithstanding the great discouragement we have met with, I still believe the San Francisco service will be a success. There is no more pleasant passage from the Colonies to Europe than this, with the additional advantages of touching at the beautiful islands of the Pacific and a visit to America.”

Ihe ‘ Lyttelton Times,’ in a leader this morning, agrees with Mr Vogel’s speech relative to the abolition of the Northern Provinces, and says it is firm and moderate, but contains evidence that the proposal is the result of pique at the opposition to one of his pet schemes, and does not show that the successful prosecution of public works is impossible with the present double form of government. The ‘ Times’ says the speech gives no substantial reasons why the Northern Provinces should be abolished at the present time, and points out that if they are abolished, the land fund of the south Island will become common property in a year or two. The article concludes as follows :—We have said that the abolition of the North Island Provinces woi'ld not substantially reduce the Colonial liabilities of the South, or materially improve the position of the Colony, and we see no reason to alter that opinion. Mr Vogel will find that he can most effectually abolish the Provinces by active and careful prosecution of a policy of public works. The Press argues in favor of the abolition of the Provinces in both Islands, and says if the Government sweep away the Provinces of the North Island because they no longer answer the purposes for which they were constituted, why preserve those of the Middle Island, which do so even less, and of which two were failures from their birth? It may be impracticable, perhaps, to abolish the Provinces of Canterbury and Otago, as they are politically powerful, and their power rests on a substantial basis—prosperity and wealth. A Province which has nearly a million of money in its coffers occupies an undeniably strong position, and is not to be easily disposed of; but the others can plead nothing of the kind. The ‘ Press’ quotes from the Provincial Public Works Advances Act to show that Nelson, Marlborough, Westland, and all the Northern Provinces are pensioners on the General Government, and says Canterbury and Otago are the only Provinces not virtually defunct. . Wellington, August 18. The Omeo arrived here at midnight. She did not tall in with the Luna. The cause of delay was her boilers being out of order and her having for thirty hours after leaving Lyttelton encountered a strong westerly gale, against which she could make no headway. On her return to Melbourne she will be docked and overhauled. Bluff, August 18, . i, 8,8, Otago, Captain McLean, arrived e^^ourne , a^i daylight. She left there on the 12th, and brings 18 saloon and 43 steerage passengers, and 400 tons of cargo for all ports. She experienced easterly weather. Passengers for Dunedin : Misses Haggitt, Hawthorn, and Little, Revs. Messrs Fraser and Martin, Messrs Hawthorn, M'Leari, Plummer, and Marland, Master Fraser, Mr Robferts and threfe children. Also for this port, 23 steerage passengers and tons of cargo. REUTER’S SPECIAL TELEGRAM. n ,„ . . , London, August 10. Count Hohenlohe, German ambassador at Versailles, has notified to the Due de Conges Minister of Foreign Affairs, that Germany intends recognising the Spanish Government. The Due de Conges has issued a circular refuting the complaints of Spain. p Ihe Internationalists have created disturbances in Roumania, and arrests have also been made in Rome, Florence, and Naples. LATEST AUSTRALIAN. . Melbourne, August 12. During a discussion in the Assembly on the dispute between Messrs Langton and Casey, with reference to expenses incurred by the latter in his tour through the country, Mr Casey read a letter from Mr Francis to Mr Langton, which is considered most damaging to the present Ministry, as showing their great weakness. On Thursday, when the House met, Mr Jones, member for Ballarat, tabled a direct want of confidence motion, declaring the reconstruction of the Ministry unsatisfactory. All business was thereupon suspended until Tuesday, when a motion was brought forward, and several objections were urged against the Ministry, especially as regards their position with reference to the Reform Bill, and practically abolishing the office of Chief-Secretary. After several members had spoken the debate was adjourned, but there is no idea that the motion will be carried, it being regarded as inopportune. The Treasurer and Solicitor-General have been re-elected without opposition. The Post-master-General is opposed. ■Mr • M'Gullooh’s Royal Water won the Waterloo Coursing Cup. Mr Warwick, the judge,'returned to England by the mail steamer yesterday. A further railway extension of twenty-nine miles to Beaufort is opened. For the Melbourne Cup Mr Redwood’s horses, especially Papapa, are fancied. The s.s, Pera left yesterday by the Suez route.