AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 576, 24 April 1876, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Wo take the following items of Australian news from the Argus : The revenue returns for the quarter ending Slat March are published in another column. The total revenue for fho quarter was £1,115,535, as against £959,286 for the corresponding period last year, showing an increase of £116,248. The revenue for the year ending Mar'di 31sr, 1376, was £4,331,773, as against £3,955,899 for the year ending March 31st, 1875, ehowieg an increase of £375.873, of which, however, over £300,000 is derived from the alienation in some shape or other of Crown lands. The customs revenue for the quarter was £418,918, as against £398,234 last year; excise and inland revenue, £24,872, against £16,125; territorial, £293,653, against £212,746 ; public works, £262,618, against £249,569 ; ports and harbours, £5909, against £3750 ; post and telegraph offices. £54,429, against £50,633; foes, £26,743, against £21,706; fines, £BI2O, against £7690 ; miscellaneous, £27,546, against £36,829. The increase in thequarter’s receipts shows an improvement in some satisfactory items, such as tea and sugar. Mr Duffy’s proposition for the expenditure of a sum of £3OO in the purchase of a portrait of the late Mr Wilson Gray, was nega lived without a division in the Legislative Assembly. Sir James M'Culloch remarked that there were other public men who had served their country with equal disinterestedness and for a greater length of time, such as the late Messrs Haines, Nicholson, and Heales, and that it was unfair to single out one person for a distinction of the kind. By telegram from Adelaide, we learn that Mr Boucaut announced, at a meeting held at Nairne, that the Government had made arrangements with Bishop Bugnion, of the Greek Church, for the introduction of 40,000 statute adults into the Northern Territory. The immigrants he proposed to introduce were of the same religious faith as himself, and were now residing in the south of Russia, the Mauritius, (America, and India. Grants of land at a small rental would be made to them, and the fee-simple would be granted at the end of the ten years. The bishop would receive 600 acres of land and a money grant of £IOOO.

We (Argus) have received the prospectus of the Melbourne Aquarium Company, the object of which is to provide in Melbourne an aquarium on the plan of the Brighton Aquarium. It is also proposed to add a summer and winter garden, together with reading and refreshment rooms. The building, which it is proposed to erect on a site near Prince’s bridge, application for which has been made to the City Council, will be constructed as economically as possible consistent with the requirements. The centre or main saloon will be principally of glass and iron, forming a conservatory and promenade, flanked on each side by corridors, containing the deep sea tanks. Although this company, the prospectus states, has been introduced to the public under the general term aquarium, yet it will be within the power and desire of the management, when progress to the extent necessary has been made, to combine with the marine aquarium the exhibition of the denizens of our lakes and rivers. It is pro posed that when one quarter of the shares is applied for the shareholders shall be called together to elect the first directors, who shall remain in office during the first year after the opening of the building, and have full powers to consolidate all regulations for the building during their term of office, appoint solicitors, trustees, bankers, auditors, and have drawn up a deed of association ; and do all other acts for the opening of the aquarium. The capital of the company is to be d£ 10,000 in 10,000 shares of £1 each. Intelligence was received in Hobart Town on the 31st ult of the foundering of the barge Thomas and Annie, near Port Cygnet, The barge (states the Mercury) left the Constitution Dock at noon on the 29th ult, with two passengers, one of whom was a young woman named Edith Harvey, aged eighteen, the daughter of a storekeeper of that name at Port Cygnet, and the other an old man named Samuel Crisp, aged sixty-nine years, also a resident of Port Cygnet. The barge went all well until off Crooked Tree Point, which is within sight of Port Cygnet, when a squall struck her about 1 a.m. on the 30th, and completely capsized her. The crew, Thomas Nicholls, William Smith, and John Lowrie—managed to scramble upon the bottom of the vessel, and ultimately into the boat, which was towing astern ; but the passengers, who were down in the cabin when the accident happened, were never seen again. The crew rowed to the shore. The bodies of the deceased passengers were subsequently recovered, 'and at the inquest a verdict of accidental drowning was returned. The Thomas and Annie was built about six months ago, and belonged to Thomas Nicholls, her master, who has the reputation of being one of the best craftsmen in Tasmania. She was a fine little vessel of twenty-one tons register, and has earned a name for herself as a fast sailer at several of the recent regattas, ■ A determined suicide was committed at Newcastle on April 3rd (states the Advocate) by a woman named Margaret Clark, who drowned herself in a water tank containing only about 2ft of water. She was addicted to habits of intemperance, and lived very unhappily with her husband, who also drank. Tuesday, March 28th, her husband w -<*<i her out of the house, and she orderv -rr a y and did not return until went a*, ’-out one or two o’clock. Sunday an -ober, and said to her son, She was then t. ’ forgive her she would “if father woulu '-<*/’ About an hour never drink any mo. in her mind, afterwards she seemed w: niug to burn her, W 54 talked about some one g Ser to go into said it would be better for * -ards she |#ke tank. A short time afterv, ’'imped into the tank ; but her son j <ag, rn after her, and kept her from drown v until some men came ani pulled her out. She was put to bed, and kept raying about the men going to burn her until morning. Her son sat up with her, but fell asleep in the morning, and when he awoke at halfpast seven the door was unbarred, and ho missed her from the bed. He then ran immediately to the tank, and found her lying in it dead. An inquest was held, and the jury found a verdict—that deceased committed suicide by drowning in a tank while labouring from insanity, caused by excessive drinking. The Financier contains the following extraordinary statement in reference to the Tasmanian Main Line Railway:—“We are glad to learn,” says the editor, “that the construction of this railway is completed, and that the line will he opened to the public, in accordance with the contract made between the Government of Tasmania and the company, on the 15th of .March next;

For gorne time past there have been frequent sinister rumours with regard to this undertaking. As our readers will recollect, we have steadily refuted them. It was said at one time that the line could not possibly be finished in time, and that, therefore, the Government guarantee on the bonds of the company would for a time remain in abeyance At m other time it was said that (lie contractors had not performed their work to the satisfaction of either the company or the Government, and that therefore a hitch would most probably arise, calculaled to seriously affect the interests of all concerned; and again, that the company would probably not be able to obtain the extra capital unexpectedly required for the due construction and working of the railway. Time has proved that all these rumors are unfounded ; the line is complete, and that, we believe, to the satisfaction of all parties, and before the promised date. We must congratulate those interested on this result, and we may point out that at the present period of dearth of investments the debenture bonds of the Tasmanian Main Line railway, practically guaranteed by the Tasmanian Gov?rnmcnt for a period o? thirty years after the date of opening, form a very eligible colonial investment. At the present price the return to the investor would be about 6§ per cent, while the bonds of the Government itself yield fully I per cent below this figure. We would not be surprised in the course of a few months to see these bonds stand considerably above their present quotation. The directors have just announced the issue of £50,000, the balance of the six per cent debentures.” The vintage in the Albury district is now fairly in progress. The Banner states “ that the late heavy rains have not had any damaging effect on the crop, but on the contrary in most instances have exercised a beneficial influence, remedying to some effect the consequences of the long drought which preceded the recent change. In most of the vineyards the crop is fairlyup to the average, and, except where sulphuring was neglected, the damage from oidium is inappreciable. Black spot shows on some varieties but no material injury is noticeable from this cause. The saccharine strength of the musts, however, as a rule, is a trifle under that recorded in what is considered a very good season, At the Murray Valley Vineyard the crop is about half gathered, the returns up to th Q 6th inst. being close on 13,000 gallons of must. The best bearers in the vineyard during the present season are the Shiraz and Aucarot, the yield from the Muscat being not quite up to the average. Singularly enough, at Ettamogah the Muscat is this year the most prolific, the Riesling and the Mataura ranking next in the order named. Upon the whole the vintage in all parts of the district may be considered satisfactory.” Recently a telegram by cable was received from England by the detectives in Melbourne stating that warrants had been issued for the arrest of Thos. Cameron Close, late accountant for the town of Middlesborough, in the north riding of Yorkshire, for forgery and embezzlement, and that he had started for Melbourne. There arrived in the ship Highflyer a man travelling under the name of Gascoigne, who answered the description furnished of the defaulter. Having no warrant the detectives could not arrest him, but detectives Mackay and Wilson were sent to “ shepherd ” him, i.e„ keep him under surveillance until a warrant should arrive. They succeeded in doing so without exciting his suspicions till Sergeant Asche, of the Middlesborough police, arrived by the Suez mail with the warrants. Gascoigne was standing on the Sandridge pier when Sergeant Asche landed, and at once identified the man as Close, the defaulter. Close was taken to the city watchhouse, the warrant having been backed here by a judge, and was charged with forging a receipt for £252, and embezzling £233 2s. Accompanying the warrants and depositions was a report of the Middlesbrough Investigation committee, showing that the total deficiency in Close’s accounts amounted to £2403 up to December, 1875, when he was suspended from the office of accountant. Without any opinion being expressed as to the guilt or innocence of the prisoner, the case may be referred to as showing how difficult it is for fugitives from justice to escape now that the network of telegraph lines extends to nearly every part of the world.