AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 3648, 31 October 1874, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

LUSUS NATURjffi. The Covrra correspondent of the ‘Carcoar Chronicle states that Mr M ‘Donald has a ewe which recently gave birth to twin lambs, one which, although born dead, was a rare curiosity in it« way. It is to be regretted he shuffled off m such an abrupt manner, rhna losing at once his own immortalisation and the fortune of a loeal Barnutn The lamb in question had eight complete legs, the two pairs of fore legs were in a direct ime aeriss the breastbone, the supernumerary paw of hind legs being about two and a half inches further along the belly, to which they appeared to be very loosely attached. The other pair of hind legs were in their proper po ition, hud all of them were the required length, t

THE DUEL THAT DID’nT COMB OFF A good story is told of two young men who quarrelled over the affections of a young worn m who occupies the position of waitress l A.^? rk ® Btreet . caW * Melbourne, and aridfged to settle their differences with pistols at Bindley Park. One of the young men Wr ? t . o t L ° UC | img farewell to his inamorata. a\d told her he was about die for her sake! i he other, bearing in mind the lines of Hudiora?, came to the conclusion that the better part of valor was di certi -n, and made an unostentatious exit to Sydney, The poor girl, heartbro ken at the prospective loss of her lover, showed his letter to the shopkeeper for whom he worked, who took a very practical view of the matter, and put an advertisement in the newspapers for a man te supply the place of the combatant The would-be auel st had the mortification first of getting up at a most unreasonable hour; of made himself scarce—although at that ho was nob perhaps exceedingly sorry ; and thirdly, of finding that his situation knew He wm for

A ni. THE WB BITTEN. Kn.7^r eU ’ kDO T I 1 gentlemen in Mel..was lightly under the influence of !k.rt' n ? e ° f our fading hotels, when a b- Gkmador bounced upon him and offered *7 a 7. to 50 ' tirling would not win the Metropolitan. In a fit of bravado the doctor accepted the wager, and the other * «ay had the satisfaction of knowing that he had cleared L6OO in one day, without the aid •ot a piJi, a dose of salts, or even h;s pro, lossioual advice. * THEATRICALS IN MELBOURNE Mr WiUiamson and Miss Maggie Moore replaced “Struck Oil 1 ' at tht TbeatS Koyal, by “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” but thS piece was withdrawn after a fortnight They next produced a piece untitled “The or Irish iite. It is, however, a tissue of ah. surdities, and utterly unworthy of these “ Kerrv” V f r art f \4 B ‘ A piece entitled f rom the pen of Mr Boucioault, has Operr Com^ deVa L ble BUCCeBB> The £ baV ® g? ne to Adelaide, houses At fL en ?i to Hr draw frfl excellent produced jke r ? Wfr Lye ter has opera bouffe of Xa Fflle do eltdifh , An ® 6 S’ wkich Pwinises to yield a f p Srv ® st fr f G*® spirited entrepreneur. G^W Eg ß^?, n “4 George Cum atSfc, George’s Mall, and Mr Kennedy and his

Tt has been suggested that “ the nn-Fieh ” '■who las lately appeared at the Princess’s Theatre, Melbourne, .is one o h the four French immigrants who lately found their way amongst Dr. Featherston’s s.eU clions to Ail klai d, who did not on their arrival gkpw that toe • could “wa k like a coupir -sSud aca*k,” but preferred to dance the can ran in Parisian style ou the hoar! a if lie theatre at Auckland, and soon asterwarrh made iheir way to t-ydney, and perha; s to Melbourne. “The Man-Fish” was unfortunate on hi-, first appearance. T-f e claims to be able to remain for thr« e minutes under water, bub when put to the trial remained very much less than one minute. Professor Sylvester, the Fakir of Coin, who has performed over 2,(’00 nights in London at various estaV-lish-ments, has acceded an engagement from Mr H, Hainer to visit Melbourne on a professional tour will shortly arrive from England, and open at St, George’s Hall.

HATTIE SHEPPARDE’s FUNERAL,

The Victorian papers are generally demanding that the present defective regulations regarding the management of cemeteries shall he amended. The men piesent at Mrs Dallam's funeral were as bnd as the women. These creatures did everything but lift the veils from the mourners’ faces. Their cornmeats were loud and free on the personal appearance of those in attendance, and their laughter at soma fancied smartness of their own was as unrestrained as though they had been in a bear garden. “That’s Maggie Moore.” “ She don’t wear her own hair,”—

“i'h! ain’t that one crying!”—“Who’s that one with the fair hair?”—“There’s Doey Stewart. ’—“l say, there’s Harwood;” and, “ Don’t O’Brien look miserable ?’were the hind of open-mouthed remarks passed constantly during the walk from the gates to the grave. The Melbourne correspondent of the ‘Hamilton Spectator,’ whose individuality is easily traced, remarks :—“I have never held any very high opinion of (he Victorian women of the cla-s that composed the mob, but I have now arrived at the conclusion that they are ahont the very roughest and co-irseet the whole world could produce,” BLOND N’s PERFORMANCES BJ on din will soon appear in Melbourne, The following respecting him is from the * Sydney Morning Herald ’ of the 30th ult.: —“The success which attended Blondiu’s night ascension last week induced him to give three additional performances, the first of which took place last night, in the presence of about a thousand people. Ou this occasion the chevalier varied the programme by introducing the difficult feat of walking across the rope in baskets, and subsequently carried a harmonium of moderate tiza to the middle of the hempen pathway, where, af?er taking a comfortable seat, he treated the audience to an excellent selection of music. His final act, in which he calmly stands upon the rope surrounded by jets of fire from a hundred fireworks, caused not only astonishment but a good deal of consternation, and as the Chevalier walked steadily back to the crews nest with his wheelbarrow he was greeted with a round of cheers. THE LAUNCESTON FAILURES. Looking over the evidence adduced in the case of Mills, Whyte and Co, exhibiting the rotten and baseless fabrics those mercantile houses which have failed were—one cannot eomprehend how the firms managed to keep their doors open during the past two years. The fact that they could appear with an apparently steady front, when utterly bankrupt for years is' not creditable to the pre science of the bankers and usurers of Tasmania. One firm is said to have paid as much as L 60.600 as interest during the past seven years, and lost L 30.000 in bad debts. With this and having to pay at the rate of 62 per cent interest for short loans, the only cause for surprise is. that the commercial crash which has astonished Melbourne as well as Hobart Town and Launceston did not occur much sooner than it did.