AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 4033, 29 January 1876, Page 5 (Supplement)

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Melbourne is shortly to be supplied with a new theatre, which will be erected in the vicinity of the Opera-house. Robertson Bros., of Colac, sold L95j000 worth of pedigree and fat stock within the last twelve months. This is tall business in homed beasts.

During the last month 101 destitute persons have slept nightly at the Refuge, Sydney, and 105 dinners were supplied daily.

At Ballarat, a hox-se called Lord Clyde seriously injured Dumiett, a.veterinary surgeon, by carrying him a hundred yards in his mouth.

Mr R. D, Ireland, Q.C., who is obliged to proceed Home on account of his failing health, is to receive a presentation from his friends prior to his departure. Mrs T. B, H. Sternhouse, for more than twenty years the wife of a Mormon missionary and elder, has come to the Colony to deliver a series of lectures upon life in the Salt Lake City at the Town Hall, Melbourne.

The name of one of the oldest shipping firms in Melbourne—that of Messrs W. P. White and Co.—has disappeared. The business will be carried on under the style of Messrs W. Sidderley and Co. The ‘ Geelong Advertiser ’ states that the LI,OOO prize in Miller’s sweep on the Champion race has been won by a child named Parker, thi-ee years of age, residing at Camperdown. The architects of Victoria have had a compliment paid them in the pqrson of Mr Geo. Brown, the successful designer of the Theatre Royal, in Melbourne, and the Academy of Music, at Ballarat. We (‘Age’) learn that Mr Brown has been specially retained, by Mr Sibbald to design the r new theatre at Dunedin.

Intelligence has been received of the death, in London, of Captain Dundas, formerly in the employ of the P. and O. Company. It will be remembered that the deceased gentleman, when in charge of the Ellora, became deranged on a ■ trip between Sydney aud Melbourne, and wished to take the vessel through Wilson’s Promontory. H.M.S. Pearl (the ‘Echo’ states) will probably remain in Sydney waters until the arrival of the Wolverine, by which vessel she is to be superseded in these waters. She will then proceed Home. The Wolverine is a steam-screw corvette of 2,431 tons register, and fitted with engines of 400-horsc power. She will, it is expected, leave England for Sydney about the end of February or commencement of March, and may, therefore, be expected about June. On her arrival, Commodore Hoskins will transfer his flag from the Pearl to the Wolverine.

Addressingjjan assemblage ,of Volunteers on tbe day of bis return to Victoria, Sir George Bowen is reported to have said that the best authorities in England, Canada, and the United States were all agreed that to make volunteers useful it was necessary to have the nucleus of a small permanent body of regular troops among them, such as they already had in Victoria. Another essential was trained officers. Without good, officers it was impossible to have good troops, and great efforts were made in this direction in England at the military academies.

Melbourne will shortly boast of a magnificent club—to be called the Victoria—which will possess many features of a novel character, borrowed from American, English, and continental models. The promoters are Messrs J. S. Butters and Pickersgill. Judging from the description of it in the local papers the building promises to be one of the architectural features of Melbourne, The Club,' in consideration of the lease of the laud next the Town Hall, undertakes to provide the City Council with a banquetting room for civic purposes ; and as there are to be lady members, a suite of splendid apart T ments on one of the floors has been reserved for their exclusive use. The Victoria Club is expected to be in full swing by next Cup Day.

AN AXTI- SHOUTING CRUSADE

has been lately formed in Adelaide under the title of “ The Church of - England Temperance Association.” This association, it appears, has two forms of pledge. One is an ordinary pledge to abstain altogether from intoxicating drinks. The second is a pledge of temperance, and runs as follows “ I promise that by God’s help I will abstain from all use of intoxicating liquors except at meal times, using them then only in strict moderation; also that I will refrain from ‘treating’ to intoxicating drinks, and that I will use every effort in my power to restrain my fellow-men from intemperance.”

RATAL QUARREL BY SEAMEN",

Jacob Matson aucl Joscj)h Golseu were seamen. employed on board the Amphitrite. As tbe evidence discloses, Golson, without any reason, challenged Matson to light. What followed Matson tells as follows : “He then struck me in the face, and put his lingers in/ my mouth, and tried to tear my mouth. 1 pushed him away from me, and he then stabbed me on the back with a pocket-knife, I tried to take the knife from him, and cut my linger. I saw that I could’nt get the knife from him, and I said to him, ‘ Please don’t strike me any more,’ He said ‘ Will you give in that I am a better man than you are ?’ I said, ‘l’ll give in.' The first time the prisoner stabbed me I put my arms around him, and he kept stabbing me about the body and head with the knife. He stabbed me three times on the head, and about eight times on the back. He kept stabbing me until I said he was a better man than I was. The prisoner stabbed me with a two-bladed penknife.” Matson died a few days afterwards. Golsen has been committed for trial for murder.

HEARTLESS CONDUCT OF A CAPTAIN.

It is said, on very good authority, that in the harbor on Chrismas Day an occurrence took place that showed most heartless conduct on the part of a captain of one of the harbor steamers. The particulars are these : one of the Manly Beach steamers had left Manly about four o’clock on the day mentioned with a number of persons on board, and when passing near Hose Bay, Mr J. W. Smart, J.P., one of the gentlemen on the steamer, observed a skiff capsized, with three youths on it. Mr Smart requested the captain to steer over and rescue them, but he refused to do so, saying that if he weVe ajways to rescue men oh bents that VeVb capsized he would have nothing else to do,

There was only one boat accident on Christ* mas Day, and that resulted in the loss of the ■ life of a youth, sixteen years of age, named Benjamin Jones, so that there can be very little doubt in saying that Jones was one of those whom the man referred to might have saved. THE LATE M. ©’GRADY. There have been few business men in Melbourne possessed of higher administrative faculties than the late Mr O’Grady. He had a genius for organisation. I remember his founding a little insurance company, which slowly but surely absorbed a large number of rival companies of much greater pretensions. Perhaps no one in a similar position enjoyed such an income as Mr O’Grady. His first engagement entitled him, besides a salary, to a percentage of receipts, and so large had the business-become that it is said on ’Change that his income as managing director of the Alliance Company was about L 7,000 per annum ! In his quiet way he exercised considerable influence in political matters. He was by far the most powerful Roman Catholic in this country, and as the ranks of that body are in close order and compact, he had probably greater sway than any other single individual in Victoria. For the rest, he was a staunch friend, a resolute opponent, and of generous disposition. It is a curious illustration of his conservative disposition that the board of the Australian Alliance Company, on 31st December last, was individually the same bnrd, without an intervening change, which had been first elected fourteen years ago,— “ASgles,” in the ‘Australasian.’ A COLONIAL ROMANCE, Our readers will recollect that a few weeks ago we published an extract from the, ‘ S. A. Registrar,’ giving the facts of a case interesting and peculiar, and possessing not a few elements of romance woven round the possession of an estate worth L 20.000, of which the local Court of Appeals at Adelaide granted possession to William Whittaker, the second cousin of the deceased owner, on his giving security for L 5,000, and his undertaking to hand over the estate and accumulated property if a better title were proved. But for eleven years no other claimant has come forward, though it was stated that James Wbittaker had entered into the bonds of matrimony on three different occasions—at London, the Cape of Good Hope, and Sydney, and had several grown-up children. Nothing, however, has been heard from them. But a part claimant with Wilbam Whittaker has arisen in Sandhurst in the person of a Mrs Julia Aon Notley, living at Back Creek, and not in the most prosperous circumstances.,, She states that until she saw, the case alluded to a few days ago in the columns of the ‘Bendigo Advertiser ’ she was entirely in ignorance of the death of James Whittaker. Her husband, who died, on thel4th October, 1872, was a publican on the Sheepwash road. Her maiden name was Julia Ann WTiittaker, and she claims part of the estate of the late James Whittaker, being the only child of the deceased’s youngest brother, Edward Whittaker, who died in 1844. After reading the case in the paper, she waited upon Mr H. Wrixon, solicitor, narrated her story, and instructed him to make a claim on her behalf. It appears that James Whittaker had six brothers, Robert, Richard, Joseph, John, William, and Edward. Robert died about four years ago, leaving two children, I a boy and a girl, Mrs Notley last heard of Josegp and James Whittaker as being in ; Sydney in 1833. Richard died about 15 or 1(5 years ago. The fourth brother, John, went to the East Indies in 1835, and nothing has since been heard of him. William, . the second youngest, was married twice, and had two children by the first wife, one of whom, William Whittaker, is now in possession of the estate. There are thus, r according to this statement, numerous other claimiuits besides the one now in possession i °f the property, over which there may yet . be considerable further litigation. The . family seems to be widely scattered, and its members entirely ignorant of each other’s ; existence or whereabouts.. PUBLIC MEETINGS IN VICTORIA.

Anent the case of Mr Mason, M.L.A., who was the hero of a discreditable tiirf scandal in Melbourne, “iEgles” writes as follows :—Brandy Creek is disgusted, and I don’t wonder. That its great anti-Mason demonstration and its strongly-expressed desire for a new representative should not have been reported is indeed too bad. The demonstration was fixed for three p.m,, but it was half-past four before the crowd had mustered in sufficient strength to put “ Captain” Jingler in the chair. The gallant captain having duly constituted the meeting, it was found to consist of twelve persons, of whom five were non-electors. One of the latter, a swagman, who was quite able to stand up so long as he held on to the table, vainly attempted to speak, ’on the presumption that his eloquence might compensate for his lack of voting power. The gentleman entrusted with the first resolution at once plunged in median res. He pertinently said, as “it wasn’t no use wasting time about what they had made up their minds to,” he would read the resolution. This was more easily said than done. He floundered about hopelessly, and then gave it up, “ as he wasn’t quite so good at that sort of thing as he once was,” and he required the assistance of a “ scholard.” Some coyness was exhibited by several persons too bashful to appropriate the implied compliment. At last a sturdy-looking bushman said “he’d have a try.” But with much good sense he for a time kept his try to himself. For ten minutes that meeting sat in breathless anxiety whilst he sought to evolve from the depths of his mental consciousness the hidden meaning of that manuscript. Solemnly and slowly he at length commenced to reaid, and then the wonder of the uninitiated ceased. For instead of being a resolution it was a didactic homily, covering two pages of post paper, and improving the occasion to show what must be the natural end of young men who bet on races or lost their tempera in omnibusses, winding up with a devout belief that it was due to Constitutional Government that the free aud independent electors of Brandy Creek should show the entire Colony that they demanded moral purity as a sine qud non in their representation. And as they did’nt see that they had got moral purity at present, the Treasurer (!) was requested to remove their member’s name from the roll of Parliament ! A gentleman present, in a temp'erate speech, denounced as un-English the condemnation of their member unheard. He had promised to explain and submit himself, &c. Upon which the gallant Chairman consideied it his duty to inquire whether the speaker appeared there as a professional advocate of the delinquent M.P, ? These proceedings so excited the pugnacity of the tipsy swagsman that he went through the usual preliminaries for combat, and was only soothed by the division being at once taken —the numbers for and against being five to two—and the meeting adjourning en masse to the private bar.

SCENES IN THE VICTORIAN ASSEMBLY.

The stonewall policy of the Opposition in the Victorian Legislation will, if perserved in, have the effect of reproducing in that body some of the scenes which disgraced the New South Wales Legislature a little time since. On the 12th iust. Mr Murray Smith called attention to the circumstance that the member for Geelong West was addressing the committee with his back to the chair. Mr Laldr considered that the rqelnber for St. Kilda should be reprimanded for raising such a point pf cfcder, and made a reference to the

“Dove of Ararat,” which drew from Mr 5 M'Lellan the remark that he would not tolerate' the hon. member’s impertinence. Mr Thomas then called attention to the presence of strangers, and the galleries were cleared. The reporters having withdrawn, ■ hon. members gave full play to their unbridled tongues, and one of the most disgraceful scenes that have ever been witnessed in the House was enacted. Messrs i Woods, M'Lellan, Longmore, and Lalor had a prominent part in the personalities that were indulged in. Intemperate and discreditable' language was used, and gross charges were made against the characters of different hon. members, Mr Woods’s tar brush, and the circumstances of Mr Berry’s retirement from the Duffy Government being all raked up again, together with the ‘ Times aiid Mines ’ affair, and other matters of Parliamentary history. Eater, when Mr Bent rose to speak Mr Gaimson, called' but, “No, Mr Facing-both-ways ’’; when the member for Brighton remarked that “if that rude young pup” would only keep himself. quiet, he wouldproceed with his observations. The next evening the “ stone-wall ” tactics jWere resumed. As 1 soon as the House had gone into committee bn the proposed new. taxes, a motion to report progress was sub-' mitted, and the committee divided on this question alternately With a motion that the Chairman do leave the chair, about every ten minutes until eleven o’clock, so that not the slightest progress was made. The general dreariness of the speeches was relieved by a smart sally from Mr MacDermott, who alluded to the “ needy, seedy, and greedy office seekers,” spoken of by Dr Johnson, and to the great lexicographer’s definition of patriotism—the last refuge of a scoundrel—m a way which nude some of the galled jades on the Opposition side of the House wince. The only element of demoralisation in the House, remarked the hon. member for Ballarat East, was that called into existence by the conduct of the minority. Mr Bent afterward proposed to read the famous breach of promise case, “Bardell v. Pickwick,” for the amusement of hon. members, and Mr M‘Kean suggested the song, “I’m sitting on a stile,” and the proceedings for some time were of a very singular character for a deliberative assembly. A HEARTLESS VILLAIN. . At the Melbourne City Police Court on/ the 17th inst., James Argali, twenty two years of age, was charged with stealing a watch, a quantity of wearing apparel, and a piece of embroidery, and with deserting his wife. The case revealed a course of conduct on the part of the prisbner which proves him to be old in crime if young in years. Some time back Argali, Whose parents reside in the country, and are in tolerably comfortable circumstances, came to Melbourne, and then seems to have commenced the infamous career which has terminated in his ruin. He occasionally stayed at a house in Flinders lane, and while there a fellow-lodger lost a silver watch and some money during the night. At the latter end of last year he formed the . aeqaintance of a young lady living with her aunt, who is also her guardian, at Carlton. He paid marked 'attentions to her, but her aunt • did not like his appearance; and after : making inquiries, which did hot throw any light upon his antecedents, she ’wished to prevent any further communication between them,. A letter was, however, sub-, sequently found, which left but little room for doubt that matters were much further advanced than was anticipated, and the consent of the young lady’s uncle and aunt ; having been obtained, the marriage was cele . brated early in December last. Argali . lived with his wife, who .is a young and : good-looking girl, for about ten days, when he deserted Tier, and went to live with a low woman in Fitzroy named Maty Martin, ■- where he'was arrested by the detectives. This woman, with whom it appears he had been residing even while wooing the affections of the girl he so heartlessly seduced, handed to the detectives a number of pawn tickets which the prisoner- had given her, amongst them being one for the watch stolen from his fellow-lodger some months previously. It also transpired that he had , robbed his paramour of portions of her underclothing, and the woman keeping • the : house at which she lived of a piece of embroidery, which he had the' audacity to present to his wife the day after their marriage. The prisoner, who said nothing, ; and preserved a stolid look of indifference ; during the exposure of his villianies, was ’ sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for ; stealing the watch, and . three months’ im- ' . prisonment, cumulative, for stealing the em--1 broidery. The woman refused to prosecute , him for stealing her underclothing, and the charge was therefore abandoned, as was also 1 that of deserting his wife. It was intimated that had he informed his parents of the step ' he was about to take they , would have assisted him, and they will now take means to provide for the unfortunate victim of mis* placed confidence in their son.