AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 4051, 19 February 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Steps are being taken to open a Courser's Club Room in Melbourne. A man has been killed at Burrangong through drinking colonial ale for a wager. Soarlet fever is still prevalent in many of the country districts in Victoria. The Rev. C. Olark is lecturing in Tasmania, and is highly successful. ' One hundred and twenty-five sheep were 1 destroyed by sunstroke while travelling from 1 the North to Adelaide. Eliea Mayal, aged nine years, was accidentally killed by falling through a skylight ! in her father's shop in Bourke street. [ _ Two men named Assenheim and Plow- ; right have been committed for trial for mau- ' slaughter over the late fight at W«oloo--1 mooloo. Notice has been given in the New South | Wales Parliament of a Bill to admit the evidence of atheists in court. ! Mr John Robertson, squatter, has just 1 built a mansion in South Australia oostina L 30.000. 8 L Major Bell, who died at Geelong very 1 lately, left property to the value of between ■ L 400.000 and L 500,000. | Mary Hanley, whom a felloW'servant at ' Hawthorn (Victoria) tried to shoot, is proL grossing favorably. Twenty-eight shot holes were found in her body. ' They have a tell-tale clock at Bendigo; the watchman has to release a pin In it every half-hour or he cannot do It at all, and to ' thus reported absent from his post. An extensive fire occurred in Swanston street, Melbourne, on the sth. A number J of shops were destroyed and several persons ' injured by the fall of a verandah on which they crowded to obtain a view of the fire. t The birthday of Thomas Paine, the poli--1 tical reformer, was celebrated in Melbourne ' on the Bth instant by a concert and ball, ' attended by about 200 persons. J A Board of Inquiry has been taking evi- ' dence on the charges preferred by Miss M'Kee against individual officers and the ' general management of the Kew Lunatic Asylum. J It is stated that Mr Robert Gardiner, - superintendent of the penal department, who is at present on leave of absence in New 25ea- ■ land, has been offered by that Government the appointment of Inspector-General of ' gaols. I A correspondent of the Melbourne «Argus' ; says " that some hulking scoundrels make a good thing of it by stealing valuable dogs and selling them to parties bound for India Wallace Johnson, a youne man employed L in the derieai department ofthe Intercolonial 1 Exhibition, was fined L 5 for having fraudfllentlv converted a Government franked envelope to his own use. Curing. lasi. fear] &$ pints Of ths red St. Hiibert Jfeloriiajl Wine we're i*sed at the Mel- | bourne Club. The ' Argus •' says that the consumption of colonial wines in presence of imported Frenoh being nearly one-third of the Whole is an cndmlraging: fact. Mr E. Trickett, the Well-known Sydney rower, Was td leave for England by the steamer St. Usyth, for the plirpose of trying conclusions on the River Thames with Sadler, the champion of the world. At rt masting of his Executive Council, the Governor Of Victoria presented the bronze medal of the Royal Humane Society to Henry Murphy, a young man between nineteen and twenty years of age, in recognition of his gallantry in rescuing two lads from drowning, Victoria has sustained another defeat in the intercolonial, cricket field, the team sent Over" t«J Adelaide being beaten with ridiculous ease in one tanning* with seventy runs to spare. The collapse of the so-called Victorian team was simply owing to the fact that they Were" oref-matched. A man at Sydney having declared that he believed in nothing, was somewhat surprised tm being told by the Coroner at an inquest that h© eowld not give evidence either before him or in a Court of Law. A Government servant at Young, New South Wales, is so thoroughly accomplished that he can only sign his surname. When asked to sign his Christian name he has to make a cross. This indicates a state of things worse than that which prevails in New Zealand. Two men were recently committed for trial from the Westminster Police Court, London, for stealing some lead and door handles. When called upon to sign the deposition the prosecutor absolutely declined, and left the court, on the ground that his time was too valuable to be wasted in attending the sessions on so paltry a matter. An ingenious method of applying the advantages of the rubber-stamp to photography has been devised by Mr W. V. Lambert, of ~ - Eastern Arcade. An engraving on wood fi % °* a photograph, or any picture is first of which it la . -'amp is modelled, and .JPromtlns a rubber-*.. photographs can by this means copies of tn*» fc be readily produced. * free On the lasmanian railways they ls<>. -;mpasses, which bear the following tion : "The person accepting this free ticket assumes all risk of accidents, and expressly agrees that the Main Line Railway shall not be liable, under any circumstances, whether from negligence of its officers or dthferwisc, for any injury to the person m; f or any i OBB or injury to the property (of passenger using the free P&Bfiy ■ ■ , |

The 'Newcastle (New South Wales) Chronicle' states that in one day the output of coal, from the Wallsend pit was 2,200 skips, containing I2£cwteach, or in all 1,375 tons. This is the largest output of coal in a day from any colliery in the district, and is 40 tons more than was ever put out of the same mine in a day previously. There was no hurry whatever about the work, and the engine was only working nine hours.

A fatal accident occurred on the Bathurst Railway, New South Wales, on 26th January. "It appears,' says the Sydney Morning Herald, "that the Bathurst volunteers celebrated the anniversary day of the Colony by an excursion to Tarana, a station about 25 miles from Bathurst. A very agreeable day was spent; but, unfortunately, as a start for home was about to be made the unfortunate mishap occurred. , Porter Lawson was on duty, and was endea vouring to prevent an accident to a number of the excursionists who had put themselves in great peril, when he himself was precepi- ■ tated under the wheel of one of the carriages, ' which passed over him, producing instant death. The train was coming in pretty slow, and the driver pulled up within a lengthjand a half." An odd freak was indulged in the other day by a Melbourne resident named Fleming, who, while under the influence of liquor, had his attention attracted by a burning cask outßide a cooperage. The cask, which was a large one, was nearly half full of burning shavings, ignited for the purpose of facilitating the operations of the cooper. Fleming looked on for a moment with a stupid smile of amusement, and then, seized with a desire to dp something heroic, he waltzed into the cask head-foremost. The joke was rather a serious one for him, however, as his seamed and scarred physiognomy testified. After a great deal of trouble and much swearing on both sides, the cooper eventually turned the barrel on end, and so released the foolish fellow, who then made a bolt for the Yarra to cool his scorched features. A constable, however, checked his career, and took him to the Hospital, where it was found necessary to place him under medical treatment for delirium tremens.

Mr J. F. Shaw, one of the Victorian inspectors of stock, has called attention to the necessity for adopting some precautionary measures to prevent the introduction of hydrophobia in the Colony. He Bays the rabies is not spontaneous either in very cold or Very warm climates; but, as everybody knows, the virus is communicable by the bite of a mad dog either to another canine or to a member of the human family. At E resent, in this Colony, if a person be bitten y a dog there is no cause for alarm, but in England, where rabies has prevailed from time immomorial, the case is far otherwise. The special circumstances which have raised the question into importance are :—Firstly, the flew eraze for coursing, which has brought about an extensive importation of dogs; and secondly, the increased speed of steamers and clippers, which may eventuate in landing diseased dogs upon our shores before the malady has had time to develop itself, and consequently before anybody can be aware of the mischief which may be threatening. In advertising the approaching arrival of the Rev. Charles Clark at Launceston, some amusement appears to have been caused by the manner in which the billsticker did his work, The 'Cornwall Chronicle' says: "Mr Smythe gave instructions for briefly announcing the advent of Mr Clark here. The bills merely bore the words, 'Rev. Charles Clark,' leaving the rest to the intelligence, imagination, or inquiry of the passers by, These bills are not large enough to cover the full length portraits used for advertising the Baby Benson Troupe and the Marionettes, and the billsticker contented himself with placing them at the foot of those very prominent figures. The result is a grand Success, In Cameron street, opposite the public buildings, we have a gigantic clown in a scarlet costume, and cheeks of the same color, labelled as 'KeT, Charles Clark.' la George lane, off Patterson street, a remarkably flash Donnybrook-Fair-looking son of the Emerald Isle, with shillelagh under the right arm and a sucking pig under the left, is honored with the dignified cognomen, ' Rev. Charles Clark.'" The Ballarat 'Post' recently asked: "Where will intolerance end? To-day being the last occasion upon which the •hildrefi meet separately in the State schools at Ballarat, the Bishop and the Dean made it convenient to wait upon" Mr Spring, at the Roman Catholic State school —if tre may be allowed the term. The two rev. gentlemen first pointed out to the teachers the enormity of the offence they were about to commit in accepting lucrative appointments under the Government to impart secular instruction, all the horrors likely to follow this diabolical course were vividly depicted, and denunciation 3d nauseam was poured upon their devoted heads. Then the little children were taken in hand. They were ordered never to set foot inside the doors of the abominable State school; they were admonished, cautioned, and threatened in turns, and then the order was issued to smash up a little testimonial which they had purchased as a mark of the kindly esteem in which they had held their head teacher, Mr Spring." A very curious state of affairs, in which a well-to-do farmer who resides in the direction of Turkeith is mixed up, came under the notice of the Colac police (the ' Colac Herald,' Victoria, states) a few days ago. The sister-in-law of the farmer in question was brought into Colac by two female friends, and taken to the police station, where she was examined by senior-constable Flahive. On her clothing being removed, the back of the unfortunate woman was found to be in a dreadful state, being covered with blood and bruises from the shoulders downwards. The poor woman stated that the bruises were caused by her brother-in-law; that she was half-starved, and that when he found that she was not out thistling and keeping the land clean, the man was in the habit of horse-whipping her with great severity. This often took place. What makes the matter worse is that the poor woman is of weak intellect. The clerk of courts, Mr Greene, considered the case sufficiently aggravated to justify the issue of a free summons against the brother-in-law, the woman being quite destitute of means to pay. She was then taken away, and application was made to a justice of the peace to get the summons signed. The justice, however, persuaded the parties interested to let the matter drop, as he considered no good could be accomplished by summoning the man. A shocking revelation was made in the Bendigo City Police Court lately, which presents one or two points worthy of pointing out in a paragraph. An old hag (says the ' Advertiser') was brought up before the Mayor, charged with being an idle and disorderly person, without any visible or lawful means of support, and a mass of evidence was brought forward in support of the indictmeut. She had loafed for drinks at various shanties in the city, begged off numerous tradesmen for money and provisions, and when they refused her, turned round upon them, and abused them in the Billingsgate. Next to colonial beer cho. weakness was black puddings, and her giv. r particular received her delione butch*.. . 8 to such an unconscionable cate atteutiou length threatened to give degree that he at. <ie occasion, when the her in charge. Un u. Un was at it meri _ day was warm, and i dian, the drunken female, K.

bined influence, proceeded to undress herself in the very middle of a street thickly populated. The arresting constable, in giving evidence upon this particular matter, said, "An', your worship, his 'anner the praste was passing at the toime, and he had to put up his parasole to avoid the contact." The be ch and the court, as may well be imagined, were convulsed on the instant, and the old offender received sentence with quick despatch. The dead body of a man apparently about forty-seven years of age was found lying on the south side of the South Yarra railway bridge. The throat of the man was cut, and within a foot of the body was lying a longbladed sheath knife. A bottle containing laudanum, and another bottle half-full of rum, were also found near the corpse.

The necessity of attending promptly to small wounds, however trifling, was (says the 'Geelong Advertiser') exemplified in the case of a man named William Goodman, from Terang, who sought relief at the Gee long Hospital, from the intense pain which he was suffering from a bad arm. It appears that some few days ago whilst driving a stake into the ground with a mallet, he knocked the skin off his knuckles, but took no notice of the injury. A few days afterwards he began to be alarmed at his arm swelling, and at once determined to pay a visit to the Hospital, where the officials described the arm as a fearful one, erisypelas having set in, being disrased right into the socket. Dr. Scott did all in his power to alleviate the sufferings of the unfortunate fellow, but it is impossible to j say how the case may end.

At the Williamstown Police Court on January 28, John Gregory, who had been ordered by the Williamstown Bench in 1864 to pay his wife a weekly maintenance of 155., and had disobeyed the order, and levanted to New Zealand with some of Mb children, and remained there until a week or two ago, was summoned by his wife, Eliza Gregory, to show cause why he should not support her. Evidence was tendered to show that the wife had been leading an immoral life, and that she had been in occupation o f a house of her husband's during the last twelve years. The Bench did not deem the evidence on the first point satisfactory, and decided that the defendant shall pay 10a a week for his wife's support, and find a Burety of L4O for the due observance of the order, in addition to bis own bond, Mr John Edwin M'Donogh, actor, and Mr Hartley Anderton Earnshaw, theatrical manager, appeared in the City Police Court on January 27, to answer the charge preferred by Mr John Bennett, lessee of the Victoria Theatre, Sydney, of stealing playbills. From the statement of Mr F. Stephen, the evidence of Joseph Bennett, brother of the prosecutor, and Detective Mackay, and documents produced, it appeared that Mr John Bennett and the two prisoners were partners in the showing of the Marionettes in the Australian Colonies, Mr Bennett agreeing to find theatres and do all the advertising through newspapers, posters, playbills, &c, but that recently in Launceston, Tasmania, there was a disagreement, and the partnership was broken up, on terms stated in a written release. The printed playbills, both' foi* costing on fences and for distribution among the spectators, belonged to Mr Bennett, wiiP had them printed in advance. There were &pme thousands of these bills at Mr Broadbent'* warehouse in Melbourne, and when the partnership was broken up, Mr Bennett wrote to Broadi;*ent, directing him to send'them on to Sydney, but one of the prisoners went to Broadbent's, pyerruled Bennett's order, and took away the bills in a truck. The detectives found the luggage of the prisoners, who were going to New Zealand by the Omeo, in trucks on the Sandridge Railway Pier, and had it opened by men whom the prisoners hired for the job, on being shown the search-warrant. They found a small bundle of the bills only, which Mackay and M'Donogh tried to conceal when it turned up. Subsequently they found the rest of the bills at Broadbent s store, and Mr Earnshaw admitted that these bills were taken out of the luggage that morning at the railway station, and sent back to Broadbent's. Mr Stephen asked for an adjournment until Monday, to enable him to produce evidence that M'Donogh and Earnshaw were taking away the bills to New Zealand, till, finding a warrant was out, they took them out of the luggage and sent them back to town. Mr Duerdin submitted that there was no case of felonious taking made out, and said the delay was only required to enable Mr Bennett to clear out to Sydney, so as to avoid an action for malicious prosecution. Mr Joseph Bennett **id he would stop till the case was decided. Mr Sturt, P.M., said there was no case, and dismissed the Stephen said his hasty dismissal had thrown Mr Bennett open to an action for damages, though he was not afraid of what would be the result. Detective Mackay asked what he should do with the bills. Mr Sturt said he had better take them to where he got them, and let the narties Bettle who was to have them. During the day Mr Bennett was served with a writ for L 2,000 damages, but he soon started by steamer for Sydney. NEW GUINEA EXPLORATION. Newß has been received of an exploring party which left Somerset in October last, for Port Moresby, with the intention, if possible, of crossing the south-east part of New Guinea The party consisted of Mr 0. C. Stone, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; Mr Hargreaveß, a son of Judge Hargreaves, of Sydney; and Mr Kendall Broadbent, who went as bird collector. The last-named mentions in a letter dated Port Moresby, December 17, that his party had been on two expeditions into the interior of New Guinea. His first was to Mount Astrolobe, 5,000 ft high, situated about eighteen miles from Port Moresby. A very rough mountain road led to it, but the country passed through was splendid. Three villages were visited. The people were called " Kohiharrys," and were very friendly, freely offering the travellers yams and sugarcame. The men were very fine made fellows, standing 6ft. lOin. and 6ft. They were all naked, but the women wore a dress made of grass. They had never seen white men before, and felt them to see if they were of solid flesh like themselves. They were greatly frightened if guns were fired. They were armed with very large spears and massive wooden swords. The coast natives seemed very much frightened of the natives of the interior. The second expedition was to Mount Owen Stanley, said to be 13,000 ft. high, but the party could not get within twenty miles of it. The country was very mountainous, and the brushwood and jungle were very dense. A few coast natives were induced to act as guides as far as the mountainious country, but they would not go beyond for fear of the hill tribes. The party camped for five days among the mountains, close to a village called " Moonie Hiera," or "high village, and the natives came to see them in mobs, and supplied them with food. Birds of paradise were seen here for the first time and eight were shot, but it was too late in the season for their plumage to be plucked. The expedition returned to headquarters after ten days' travelling. A great deal of rain fell, and. a thunderstorm occurred every day. The party expected to remain some weeks longer in New Guinea.

A Mississip i editor, in pra-Vn? a.f voiite Candida o, ►ajß, " Hate ob fine a fellow ae ever lifted a hat to a lad*, or a boot to a blackguard." ' ' "