AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 3819, 21 May 1875, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

The Kennedy family are giving th.-ir farewell peifonnances at Adelaide to crowded hong’s.

•‘There ia still great activity ia tin mining in the island Colony—or, if not exactly in tin mining, in the getting up of companies for the ostensible purpose of wording tin lo lea. A considerable amount of excitement was caused in Maryborough on the 29fch. A patient in the hospital was summarily ejected by the house eurgeftn, placed in a convey*, ance, and after being driven about 200 yards was lifted on to the footpath outside the police fence. The president of the hospital had the man taken hack to the institution, but the house surgeon firmly refused to a-ain admit him. Considerable sympathy was manifested for the poor fellow, who seemed to be m gr. at pain, and k-qrt cal’ing for a knife w.th which to cut his throat. The man was ultimately taken to a house in 'olan street. An inquiry is to take place. Information has I eon receive I by Mr : Tto Berliner, of the private inquiry office, Elizabeth street, regarding the proceedings of two persons who have been swindling merchants in New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, and New Zealand. The la t place they operated in was Dunedin, and it is thought they may pay a visit to Melbourne. Their system it is stated is to open an account at a bank by paxiug in LSOO or 1 60d, and working upon the credit thus gained to obtain goods to the value of several thousand pounds, for which payment is chiefly given in bills. The goods are profitably disposed of, and when the bills become due, the two partners are not to be found.

Hospital Sunday in Victoria this year realised L 5,108.

Dr Crowther has been re-e’ected, un opposed, as a member of the Legislative Council of Tasmania, which is so far significant that the gentleman is a strong opponent of the present Government, and a prominent member of a House in which the Coverum< nt has only a majority of one or two. These are some of the latest developments of larrikinism in Melbourne :—Such innocent amusements as tying short cords across the footpath, and enjoying the falls of the passers-by—a pastime which resulted in the fracture of a lady’s thigh a few weeks ago to mobbing and nearly murdering policemen, bes eging public-houses wnere they are refused free drinks all roai d, smashing the windows and breaking the glassess, and making themselves generally the terror of all whom they approach. >- uch a description gives but a faint idea of their doings. ■Scarcely a day passes that some outrage is not reported in the papers, and when the police are successful in arresting some of their number, the fine, which is the usual punishment inflicted, is paid out of a common fund. They seem to exist in regularly organi ed bodies, each having its king wh se pride is to exceed all the others hi general rowdyism. There can be but little doubt that this state of things is yery much owing to the want of strict and decided action at the first.

Of the three men who were tried for polluting the Yarra with night;oil, two have been discharged, and the third, Kinsella, has been fined L3O. Tbe man who gave the information which led to his conviction is said to be in a state of destitution, as none of the other nightmen will give him employ meut. J

A tombstone in the Stawell Cemetery bears as unique an inscription (says tbe ‘ Pleasant Creek News) as any we have heard of. It is erected to the memory of a former resident of Stawell and his son. The latter, aged 18, died under peculiar circumstances, which our readers will doubtless recollect He was eating a mutton chop, when a jagged piece of bone lodged in his oesophagus, and subsequently cut an important blood vessel before it could be dislodged, the unfortunate young man bleeding to death in consequence. The following is tbe epitaph: Weep not fonts, mother and brothers dear, It is God’s will that we are here. At my sweet age I swallowed a bone That sent me to my happy home.”

Miaa Jenny Claus has been presented by her Melbourne admirers with a handsom ’■racelet adorned wi’h pearls, emeralds, ami diamonds, and suitably ins rib-d. Numerous application have been received in Sydney from volunteers wishing to join ihe New Gnim-a expedition. A man named F etcher has be: n comm t ted at s-. d.m'v for bigamy, on the Ceinpla'i.t of his s ; xtb wife.

In the now Scots’ church. ! odins stroe\ Melbourne, the service is q its modern. It has a fine organ which is played while the congregation is assembling, and use is made -i the Presbyterian Ksahn and hymn book. The organ is again played after the sermon, while the collection is being made, and also at the end of the service, while the congregation is leaving the church. ° There have been several absconding of responsible persons from Melbourne lately. A. bank official and an ironmonger’s manager are amongst the missing. The fo lowing advertisement appears in the * Tnmiit Times’ : —*• I hereby desire to rci nquish the soubriquet of 'German drown.’ tarn a Norwegian ; and if people will not call me bv my real name, let them call me ‘ Norwegian drown ’ ” w succession of fatal accidents on the main line of railway have caused much uii'ia-dues * I hree times a contractor's train ran off the line, always at the same point; and the explanation that the rails had somehow become greasy is not considered satisfactory If they become mysteriously greasy under ballast waggons, why not also under passenger carriages ? Of all the people in the world, the undertakers had a pic-nic down the harbor of Sydney'. Business has been very brisk with them, and they had a ghoulish feast. The principal toasts were “Another Epidemic,” “ Confusion to Dr Dansey, and the Funeral Reform Association.” They afterwards indulged in the dance of death.

Ihe street tramway experiment is to be tried at Adelaide before the public and the ! edslature can be prevailed upon to give the project their countenance. The rails are to i>e laid along the streets, and it is proposed that the main terminus shall be in the very heart of the metropolis. The promoters of the company are men of substance. The occasions do not occur often on which at?oman Catholic prhst could feel at liberty to unite with a Presbyterian and Baptist minister, and vice versa,” the ‘.'south Australian Register * reraaiks, “but at Morphett Vale, on the night of the 16th, there v.as an opportunity for such a combination of sympathies end efforts. An excillent entertainment was .then hold at John Knox’s school-room on bchaT of the (fothenhurg relief fund. The room was crowded, and numbers of people were unable to gain admittance. iho Rev. P. Hughes, Homan Catholic e'ergyman, move 1 a vote of thanks in a lively speech, and was supported by the Rev. W. C. Ashton, Bapti t Our local cor. respondent mn >rks ‘ The sight of the three ministers on one platform was gratifying, and the warm manner in which they were received added to the pleasure of the proceedings ’ Folks wonderiugly asked, “ when shall these three meet again ?” “What may happen to a baby in Victoria,” writes the i'rentham correspondent of the ‘ Kyneton Guardian,’ was exemplified here on vSaturday, on which day Mrs Brear, the wife of a respectable farmer residing within two miles of Trentham, went out to visit a neighbor. On leaving home she locked the door and placed the key under a bucket. After about an hour’s absence she returned, and uas surprised to find the door open and the k- y in the lock ; but greater still was her astonishment when she went to lay her baby down in bed to find another one. about a month old, with the pipe of a feeding-bottle in its mouth, nestled up in the sheets. Whore it came from cannot even be surmised, and the lady is anxious to know what use she can make of it, as she has as many of her own on hand as are absolutely necessary to her comfort and convenience.”

A rather amusing though dangerous incident happened in George street, Sydney. A Yankee of the true type stopped oppose to a pawnbroker’s shop, and on iuqnring ** What s that store for ?” was informe I by its proprietor that it was an establishment where goods were bought, sold, or “chopped.” “Wall,” said our Ame-can cousin, producing a revolver from his pocket, “ will yer buy that?” handing the weapon to the pawnbroker, who took it and commenced to examine it, when the Yankee exclaimed, “ Hold on, stranger, that revolver’s just loaded all round,” and immediately after one chamber exploded, and the bullet went through the bottom part of a large pane of glass probably worth L 5 or L 6. The pawubro er was astonished, but the Yankee was imperturbable, and received back the dangerous weapon with the greatest nonchalance, He was advised by some persona who had been attracted by the noise of the explosion to “move on,”' lest the police might make inquiries as to the cause of the noise, whi hj would lead to some inconvenience to the owner of the revolver. He, how* ver, concluded to remain a short time, and on being told that he himself had a narrow escape of being struck by the bullet, having stood between the window and the holder of the revolver, simply remarked, “ Wall, look here, if you’d shot me d.-ad. I'd said nothing about it.”

The last'new thing in spiritualism in Melbourne is (ticcording to the ‘ Bruce Herald’s' correspondent) the delivery of trance-inspirational lecture by Miss Philips. Ihe lady advanced to the plalform from behind a screen where she had been seated in a corner of the hall, and without preface commenced her address, which professed to be spoken through her by the spirit of one tyhQ while on earth had been “an honest man," The whole thing was a defence of spiritualism, showing its uses, and claiming that it alone abolished the fear of death —that, in fact, there was no death. Miss Philips spoke fluently, save that she occasionally hesitated as though to choose the right word; she moved about on the platform, and occasionally struck the table with her hand to give emphasis to her voids. In truth, without wishing to throw any doubt on the fy>na Jidcs of the affair, it may safely be said that the audience would never have supposed that she was in a trance if tin y had not been so informed. Ihe only exception was when the spirit announced th it he was going away, and that another would taka hia place, after which she stood perfectly still, her face became drawn, and she threw her eyes upwards, gasped a little, and then commenced to speak again, the spirit saying that he had not come to make a speech, but to answer questions. The cha:rman then asked that questions might be written and handed \ip to him. I took the liberty of asking “how it was that spiritualism taught nothing that was not known before ?” The chairman read the question cut, and the answer came at once—“ Priend I am glad you do know,” but going on findiug fault with me for not having acted up to my knowledge, and saying that at least I would not propagate error among my frieuda or my children. I thought the i a *t allusion racher unkind, that I do not happen tp have any children, but I comfort myself by thinking that that particular spirit did ? "t know as much as I did on that point at least. The answers to the other que-tions were that Shakespeare was inspired in common with all other great writers, that there was no hell except in the breasts of those that feared it, and a refusal to give the name , of the controlling spirit on that occasion.

The architectural toothpick or spire of the Scots’ Church in Melbourne appears to be giving rise to a good deal of jocular comment among those who understand the ostentatious spirit in which it was erected, and the grossly mercenary religion which is trafficked m beneath its roof. “rE;les,” in the ‘.A u<■ rala-ian,’ says ;—“ Someone asked : >n nor can friend of mine why it was being ■ ••arri.-d up so inch. The 1 «tter’s hypothesis was that it w-.s being built as high as possible, that, from its lofty summit telescopic investigation might be established with a view of discovering a Scotchman in heaven. Ihe inquirer was not satisfied.”