AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 4319, 30 December 1876, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Dr. Lang intends making a tour of Kew Zealand. The temperature at Bourke from the 16th to the 20fch inst. was 122deg: in the shade. William Hastings, nephew of Gardner, the bushranger, has been arrested on the charge of having murdered his wife at Fraukton, near Mount Eliza. There was a terrific storm of wind on the 17th at Port Pirie, blowing roofs off, and doing a great deal of damage.

The Hodgkinson exploration ]p»arty,-ar-rived at Townsville, isporte thediscovwy of A new port for the Cloncnrry mines, at the Leicbhardt River. A proposal to open the pnblio library \ on Sundays, made by Mr Woods, was negatived in the Victorian Legislature by 41 to 26 votes. A boy named West, employed at the Hon Thomas Elder's stables, Adelaide, haoVa quarrel with a groom, a^f 1 duA fxom the effects of a blow he received. The Treasurer of New South Wales luL* stated that the total amount withdrawn from the Bank of New S rath Wales by the Government and deposited in other banks was LI, 200,000. The practice of locking railway carriages' is to be discontinued in Victoria as soon after the Ist January as certain alterations in the platforms for the safety of passengers can be effected. In the New South Wales Assembly Mr r Buchanan has given notice of motion censuring the Governor for his protracted absence from the Colony without appointing a Lieutenant-Governor. The Europeans at Ballarat are agitating for the removal of the Chinese Leperr Refuge established there some years ago. It is suggested that one of the islands in Bass's Straits would be the proper place for it. Regarding the best method of improving the defences of Melbourne, Commodore Hoakins has reported in favor of an additional ironclad and the laying of a line of torpedoes at Port Phillip Heads. The weather has set in scorchingly hot throughout Victoria, having reached 110 degrees in the shade, and cases of sunstroke are becoming alarmingly frequent. In Melbourne, the water supply has already shown signs of insufficiency. An extraordinary suicide is reported to have occurred at Ounolly - that of alittle boy named Elliott, four years of age, who went out on to the bank of a lagoon, and suddenly jumped into the water, drowning himself before assistance could be procured. A miner named Alfred Pullen, living at Dunolly, fell down a shaft 400 feet, and was literally smashed to pieees by striking against the sides. The remains were so mutilated that they had to be gathered into a large sheet and tied up to Bend them to the surface. A telegram from Walgett on the 19th reforts the heat as being frightful during the 6th inst. It reached. 158 in the sun, and 124 in the shade. Several deaths occurred a nong people harvesting in Queensland, and working on the wharveß and labor had to be suspended on the 16th. The schooner Postboy, sixty-one tons, from Port M'Donnell to Adelaide, capsized twelve miles from Glenelg. Six Hves have been lost, including two passengers. There is only one survivor—the mate, named Cave —who was picked up by Sir Wm. Milne's yacht, after being seven hours in the water. A boating party, whilst walking on the beach between Amity Point and Point Look, out, Queensland, on the 14th, 'saw portions of a wreck apparently belonging to a vessel of about 500 tons. On a board was the broken part of a name, with the letters M. A. R. in rel ; ef on a blue ground. The wreck appeared to have been lying there several .months. Mrs HovelL relict of the explorer, Captain Hovell, died at her residence, at Goulbourn, on the stb, at the advanced age of seventysix years. The deceased lady bequeathed all her real and personal property to the Sydney University for the establishment of bursaries in connection with her husband's name. A singular incident occurred at Geelong on the 17th, at one of the public baths, [ which was crowded at the time. From a . thunder cloud overhead a "ball of fire " appeared to descend ahout the centre of the baths, and bursting with a terrific crash, for a time completely blinded those who were swimming and bathing. Happily no one was injured. The long impending vote of want of confidence in the M'Culloch (Victorian) Ministry was proposed by Mr Berry, on the 20th instant, and disposed of at one sitting, the Government gaining by a majority of ten in a House of seventy-two members. The result was foreseen, and the division was taken only in view of the general election. Mrs Bladen Neill, the lady who has made the promotion of silk-worm growing in Australia her specialty, has succeeded in reorganising the Melbourne Silk Company in 60,000 shares of LI each. The prospects of the venture are highly spoken of, the value of raw silk having nearly doubled of late in consequence of the ravages of disease among the silk-worms in Europe. According to the latest returns the area of land available for settlement is 28,085,518 acres. That comprised in the "big estates" ranging from 2,000 to 40,000 acres and upwards is only 5,361,222 acres, and hence it is argued on behalf of the holders that there is no immediate occasion for their special taxation on the ground that they obstruct settlement. The position of aliens who have been naturalised in other Colonies on their arrival in Victoria has been briefly considered in the Assembly, in consequence of Mr Stewart calling the attention of the At-torney-General to the fact that they are treated as aliens, and have to go through a second process of naturalisation. Mr Stewart considers that a man who is naturalised in any British Colony should be a natural subject in all of them, and the AttorneyGeneral expressed a similar opinion. Mr Kerferd stated that this and some other laws on the statute-book turned the Colonies into so many foreign States, and he in-. tended to communicate with the Seoretary of State for the purpose of having the question dealt with by the Imperial Legislature, as no change could be made by a Colonial Parliament, A cool and deliberate murder of a child by its mother was perpetrated in York street, Emerald Hill, on the 20th. The murderess was a woman named Mary Anp Elizabeth Williams, and the victim of her fury was her illegitimate son, a child eight months old. The deed was committed, with, a razor, and was executed with cold-blooded determination. The woman was the widow of a butcher named Williams, who died some time ago. She made the acquaintance of a wharf watchman named Young, and subsequently went to live at his house, in the capacity of housekeeper. The muidered child was the illegitimate offspring of this man, and it appears that the woman was constantly being annoyed by having tbi3 fact cast up against hor. When the police entered the room where the tragedy occurred they found her sitting on a box, nursing the infant, whose throat was cut from ear to ear. On the floor, in a pool of blood, lay a razor, which Constable Dwyer picked up, when the woman said, "There it is, I did it. 1 told Young whence went to work that I would da for tile baby." She made no further remark, and was at once arrested. The following occurs in the 'Argus' summary of the proceeduig in the Victorian Legislative Assembly on the night of Thursday, the 14th inst.:—Mr Fincham was at length the folorn hope of the stonewall faotion, but the hon. member, after confusing himself for nearly an hour, became at last so hopelessly mixed in an attempt to separate two Scriptural parables, that he had to sit down, after having excited roars of laughter by terming Sit James M'Cullook "tbeun. .

just steward, who he would not say bad stolen any money, but had looked up his ten talents m a napkin. During the course of is?n nV member ' s remarks Pir James M Culloch called across the table that it was most disgraceful for the hon. member to be wasting the time of the Heuse in the manner he was doing, when Mr f incham burst into a tremendous rage, called all present as witnesses to his unblemished reputation, and finally alluded to the Ministers as being up m a triangular balloon."