AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 3846, 22 June 1875, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Among the other evils which the Chinese have brought in their train, gambling is not the hast. Some extraordinary statements were tnade on the subject in the Victorian Parliament the other day, and there is no reason to doubt the truth of them. It appears that there are at least ten Chinese lotteries in Little Bourke street—the ht ad - quarters of the Chinese in Melbourne—and these have aU branches in the subu 1 bs to the number of Beventy*five. The aggregate takings are said to amount to between L 3.000 and L 4,000 weekly—an enormous sum, considering that it comes principally from the poorer classe 1 , who can least afford it j and nothing is too small for Chinaman, sums from 6d upwards being taken at the lotteries. The prises, though few and far between, are comparatively Ja-ge, and are always promptly paid. It is astonishing what a fascination ibis form of gambling bas over weak-minded people, and how many it has ruined who ought to have known better Sometime ago a Chinaman was tuccessful in pissing both Umvcr.-ity examinations, and be intends to join tbs Ministry of the Presbyterian Church. Last week a Chinese doctor applied to the Victorian Medical Board to be registered as a duly qualified medical practitioner.

A furniture dealer named Lockhart insured his stock in ihe Royal Office in .February last for LI,OOO iu each of two insurance companies. A fire occurred in March, and he claimed for a loss of over L 1,400. The companies refused payment on the ground that the real value of the goods destroyed was only (,700. This Lockhart re[used to accpt, and he brought an action against each company to recover L 2,000 damages for not paying their proportion of the loss on the policies for Li,oo'J. Before the case came into Court the defendants became possessed of tvideuco that Lockhart bad set fire to the stock himself, he having been seen to do so through a cra-k in one o£ the shutters. This evidence was produced

in Court; the jury found a verdict for the defendants, and a warrant has been issued for the apprehension of Lockhart on a charge of arson. A Air Robbins, a well-known stevedore in Sandridgc, had a quarrel somo time ago with a hotel keeper named Hall, also of Sandridge. During the quarrel, which took place on the pier, Hall “went for” Robbins, got him against a bale of hay, and, taking his nose in his toeth, worried as a dog would, and bit a piece clean off, which he spat out on the pier. Robbins picked tho piece up, preserved it in spirits, and exhibited it in court, when Hall was charged with the assault for which he has now been convicted. The fact that tho Benevolent Institution in M-lboiirne is unable to the large demands made upon it tells its own tale. At present its inmates are between 600 and 700, and applications have been refused at the rate of twenty a week. If the Victorian Parliament entertain the application that has been made for a grant of a hundred acres of land contiguous to a main line of railway, it is intended to erect buildings capable of accommodating 1,000 persons.