AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 3636, 17 October 1874, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Under date October 5, tho f Age’ says Yesterday was the first fine Sunday that we have had for two months, and the oonse(juence was that the various railway piers were crowded- with visitors, and as all the berths at the different piers, both at Williamstewn and Sandridge, are filled with ships, and a large proportion of them of the fanest afloat, it is no wonder that they were also crowded with spectators. The carrying power of the ships now in the Bay may, at a rough estimate, be stated at about 36,000 toas, ready or nearly ready to take in wool, of which it is said by those competent to judge that we shall ship this year 300,000 bales, or about 60,000 more than last year, Michael' Kennedy, a larrikin, was sentenced to seven days? iiiprisonlfaent, without the option of a fine, by the Williaib'atbwfi Bench -on the 6th iust,, for creating a disturbance in the public streets. A sort of ri\ airy exists between the young sailors from the ships in port and the larrikins of the town, and on Monday night this came to an open rapture. Kennedy and one of the apprentices of the ship Aliltiades commenced to fight in the public street*?, but the police, who had been watching the parties, succeeded in stopping the disturbance by aryectmg both offenders. The larrikins have for several nightg past been • mustering to the number of two or three and*the youths from the ship have, {or their owri proteptipn, beep obliged to go ashore ip squads. The Magistrates thought it time to make an example of the offenders, and Kennedy was sent to gaol without the choice of a penalty. The sailor was discharged. The ‘Geelong Advertiser* states that a charge of refined cruelty, brought against a school teacher, engaged the attention of the rpard of Advice for the east apd west ridings of the Shire of Winchelsea at a meeting held on Thursday, October 1, The charge was preferred by a farmer at Mount Gellibrand named Plummer against Mr David F\ ffe teacher of the Alonnt Gellibrand State School Plummer’s complaint was that his two children, a boy five years of age and a girl of twelve, were deprived of a fair use of the fire at school, and were cohtihuallv shivering from cold. Airs Plummer ae. quamted the teacher of the fact, and he promised that thpy wopld enjoy the benefit of the fire in future. This promise would apfe en lit(>r&ll y MBUed, for Lf V U T d that ou the 7 th of August tw ° young Plummers ‘were purposely subjected to a broiling process in front of tho fire. In 6ousequence the boy’s legs were blistered, . and the pinafore and dress of'the girl were l a the Board to show the scorching they had been subjected to. The teacher, in reply to the accusation, urged that, inconsequence of hearing drom MrsUPJummer that her children were always cold, he placed them ou a the fire until their turp

for lessons arrived. He emphatically denied that he intended any cruelty as allege I, and . added that on no occasion bad he thn a'or.ed to “roast the fat out of Plummer’s children.” .A f ter an hour’s consultation. the Board announced that they were of opinion that Mr F,« ffs was not justified in pbicin' Plummer’s children so near the firo, and they therefore hoptd Mr -tjffa would be more cautious in future. During the month" Mr MTlwraith, the Mayor of Melbourne, a grant! fancy dress ball in the Town Hall to commemorate his term of office. Tt proved a brilliant success. There were about 1500 guests present, bis Excellency the Governor being amongst those who attended. Previous fancy balls may have been distinguised by a larger attendance, and by greater the way of costumes; but for variety of characters, excellence of arrangements, and enjoyableness generally,'Mr M ‘llwraith’s ball could not have been surpassed. •TM ‘ A £ e ’ commenting on the movement m Melbourne for opening the public library on Sunday says :—The Melbourne Sunday is a thing, of itself. , The publichouses are nominally closed, but a side door is kept conveniently open. Excursions by railway to Ge-dongj or by steamboat to Qneenscliff, are irreligious and improper, but there is no objectmn to a trip as far as Brighton or Williamstown. The University Gardens are thrown open, but the doors of the Public Library are shut. The live animals in the Zoological Gardens, it seems, may be in|P € £f but it is a sin to gaza upon the stuffed animals in the University Museum. Hats and hat covers suitable for wear in the hot weather that is approaching are great dastdev&tci, and the hat and cap manufacturers of Melbourne are turning their at-, tention to devising head covers of an improved construction. Messrs Buchner and Bon, of Gertrude street, Pitzroy, have just produced what they term a hat and cover combinator, which appears to be superior in many respects to those hitherto used for Summer w« ar. They are made with quilted cotton, with a tolerably wide brim, lined with green. The cover of the same material is sewn round the sides and back of the top of the bat, and is tucked to the edge of the biim over each ear, from whence it projects like ordinary sunshades to protect the nape of the neck. ’Jhere is a free passage for the ir round each side of the hat, and through ventilators that are fixed in the sides of the crown, and thus a current qf aip passes over the bead of the wearer as lie walks, and renders the temperature seven or eight degrees lower thankin' hats of the ordinary make.

A telegram in the Sydney ‘Fmpire,’ dated t.oonamhle, 27?h September, stages that ‘ On Sunday, 20th ins!., one of the aborigines there murdered bis luhra by striking her on t?;e head so as to cause insensibly. arid then buried her in the rand while alive. This aboriginal Othello, when arrested by Senior-constable Boyd said ‘lf he were ?e off this once he would not kill another lubra.’ ”

The following telegram from Brisbane appeared in the ‘Sydney Empire’ of 30th Uctober :—“ C llier and Co., of Melbourne, have offered to construct a railway from Dal by to the Gulf of Carpentaria, by way of Kormanton or other agreed places, at a cost ef 1.5,000 per mile, inc uding surveys, construction of line, and roiling stock, on condition that 10,000 acres per mile (or land in proportion if the railway cost less) will be reserved to Ifcem in fee simple from Dalby to near the Thompson River, and 20,000 acres P, er mile from that river to the Gulf of Carpentaria. '1 hey propose to ran a train every day from each terminus, at an average speed of thirteen miles, including stoppages. The change on goods per ton will not exceed fourpence per mile; that for passengers will be from one penny to threepence. Local mails will be carried free of charge, and trans-continental at ratrs agreed upon.” Jb would almost seem as if the good people .of Adelaide had determined to carry Funeral hj eform against the undertakers by a tow de force. At a public meeting held at the Town the purpose of discussing the question, a resolution against mourning coaches, mutes, scarfs, gloves, hathands. and aU the suits and trappings of woe employed at the modem funeral was carried by a best of dianitaries, ecclesiastical and civil, with scarcely even so much as a a protest from an undertaker. The argu menis which prefaced it were drawn from the score of economy and good taste, and bills of costs were triumphantly paraded by various speakers, in whose bands they were made to form serious bills of indictment against the srade. * -