AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 4043, 10 February 1876, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

An of Mr Irving Winter, of Tulcumbah, near Carroll, is said by the 'Tarnworth News' to have captured an entirely white magpie—a curiosity, we believe, never before obtained. The bird, which has not a dark feather about it, is still alive A good illustration of the pluck of Vic* tonan boys is reported by the 'Ovens and Murray Advertiser' :-"On Sunday last a number of small boys were bathinc in a large dam at Silver Creek. One of them, named Walter Ellis, about eleven yeais of age, in a foolhardy moment, though unable to swim, jumped into deep water at the flood-gates, and: almost immediately sank Another boy, named David Sinclair, seeing i!f m da ? ger ' cou ragcously jumped »" d managed to lay hold of him, but the drowning boy in his fren™ smed holdjof Sinc-lairf an! Sagged SI too, under the water. Seeing the position lffT;-w thl ;t-H Japfet Willial. plunged iji to the rescue, and was ako drawn beneath tho surface of'tte treacherous water, w £ seemed if! the gallant 41 deavors of .the plucky .yottngstera,. bothSf wbom were ggwfßwmjtttts,! wouid be

to save theiijcompanion, when a coolie dog, the property of Williams, dashed in after his master. The boy Ellis, whose strength was fast failing, managed to lay hold of the dog's tail, and was drawn shore, and in a short time seemed none the worse for his immersion.

The maximum penalty of L2O, or three months' imprisonment, was recently imposed on a "rough" at the Melbourne Police Court. One of his " chums," for inciting the mob to a rescue when he was taken into cuetody had the same award. What may be termed a specimen of surgical brutality is given *by. "Atticus" in the 'Leader.' I am told, he says, that at a recent operation at the Melbourne Hospital an eminent surgeon was tugging at a stone in a patient's bladder until the bystanders thought the poor wretch would die on the table. " Why not try to break the stone," suggested one surgeon. " Oh, that would spoil the specimen," was the cool retort. The stone was, indeed, taken out entire, and may be seen in Collins street, but the patient is in the Melbourne Cemetery. The 'Mudgee Times' reports that Fre- | derick Bennett, aged fourteen years, the ' son of Mr Bennett, an innkeeper at Hargraves, went out with a gun, without the knowledge of his parents, accompanied by three other boys, and whilst he was loading the gun it went off, and the charge entered the boy's left eye, and killed him instantaneously. Eliza Robinson, while out looking for cows at Carlton, N.S.W., suddenly lost her sight, and wandered about for five days and nights without knowing where she was. She was found in a helpless condition, and subsequently regained her sight. The latest freak practised by the Melbourne larrikins is the sticking up and robbing of carts owned by market gardeners. The South Australian papers report a diabolic attempt to throw a train off the line. When the Victorian Parliament was in Committe of. Supply Sir James asked for L 537,900 on account of the public service. Major Smith exclaimed,." Not a farthing," and moved that progress be reported. " You mean absolutely to refuse supplies ?" asked Sir James M'Culloch. "Yes," replied Mr Berry, "I cannot .go back if I would, and I would not if I could." " Neither can Igo back," said the Premier, and when the hon. gentleman afterwards stated to the House that he should at an early date endeavor to obtain supplies in spite of the hon. member for. West Geelong and his clique, the satisfaction expressed by hon. members was very fervid. Land in Adelaide with seventy feet frontage to Hindley street, realised at auction Ll3oafoot. ~.

In Sydney the Philadelphia Commission has resolved to print 100,000 copies of the mineral map of the Colony. Dissatisfaction j & expressed at the small space allotted to that P°l on y as compared with Victoria. The* 'Sydney Echo' reports that a boy named Mb&L d Z e > * lev<m . y*** B of *« e » has been killed bv * Wow from a c "cket ball. At the inquest OH* ° f hi i companions deposed-" Berry bowled w a ba S t0 £ r who struck it with his bat j Prescott hit the ball to ' leg,' and it struck M<sO d g e on th .e temple ;on being struck McgrfcSgb p ?* f llß , two hands up, staggered, and said ( Th^ Mogridge walked a few yards towards a bo> r named Holloway; sat down, and rested his" head on his (Holloway's) knee; he never spoke again ; when deceased sat down water was coming from his eyes; when he put his head on Holloway's knee he breathed very heavily for two or three minutes, then ceased, and appeared as if dead ; about ten minutes after receiving the blow he died." The Sydney correspondent of the ' Auckland Star' writes as follows :—"A roasted sheep for half-a-crown." That is the sort of heading I fancy I should like to put to a paragraph were I employed as a reporter upon a daily newspaper. The reader will smile, perhaps incredulously, when I say that roast mutton has recently been sold in Sydney at the small sum of 2s 6d for the whole carcase. This is how it came about. There was a lire at Mort and Co.'s freezing works, and'frozen fish, flesh, and fowl were cooked in a way never contemplated by the proprietors. Most -of the frozen meat was utterly destroyed, but the carcasses of several sheep were preserved. , These were retailed to the pnncipal hotelkeepers., at half-a-crown each, and a good thing was done out of the investment by the bonifaces, who advertised special attractions at their tables d'hote, and the dishes were pronounced excellent.

A cruel assault by a Woman upon an aged man was investigated at the City Ponce Court (Melbourne). On the 21st ult. Mr Woods, the crier of the Supreme Court, remonstrated with a tenant of his named Harriet Phillips for having damaged some property, when she threw a billy at his head, which fortunately missed him. She then caught up a piece of wood, and, holding him by the throat, belabored his left arm until she broke it. Assistance arrived and the woman was removed and taken into custody. Mr Sturt, P.M., ordered her to pay a fine of 20s, with L 5 costs, or in default undergo three months' imprisonment with hard labor.