AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1886, 10 March 1880, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

;[By Teleobaph.] [Per s.b. Ringarooms, Via Bluff.] YIOTOEIA. The first day of the V.E.O. Autumn Meeting passed off most pleasantly. The Hurdle Eace was won by Zephyr, Nullah second, Eover third. First King won the Port Phillip ‘Stakes, with Martindale“s very close second, and Wellington an equally close third. Grand Prix won the Ascot Yale Stakes, with Otia second, Haldee of the Hills third. Fourteen youngsters started for this race. Zambesi won the Brunswick Stakes, with Monarque second and Eiverton third j sixteen others started. The St. leger was won by Caspian by a neck, with Suwarrow second, Rivalry third—time, 3min. 23Jseca. Petrea and Belladrum were the only other starters. Darriwell won the Keilor Stakes in fine style, with Sweetmeat second and Columbus third. Sir John Ooodo reports that the construction of the entrance to Gippsland Lake will cost £85,700, The works required to suitably protect Portland Harbor will cost £175.300. Haokett, Scott, Morgan and Fawcett, directors of the Provincial and Suburban Bank, were found guilty, together with Eichard H. Willis, the manager. The Chief Justice fined the directors £SO each_ and the manager £250, remarking that the disgrace of the conviction would be sufficient punishment without imprisonment. The fines were paid. There is much discontent at the leniency of the sentences. Immense quantities of breadatuffs have reached Melbourne. Between January Ist and February 28th, 570,272 bags of wheat and flour were received, as against 228,214 bags in the corresponding period last year. The quadruple! system of telegraphy is likely to be soon in active operation on the direct line between Sydney and Melbourne. Already three messages can be sent at once. At Messrs Findlay Bros’, sale of the Glenormiston thoroughbred yearlings the bidding was very languid. A filly by Fireworks sold for 376 guineas, which was the highest price realised. There have been sudden floods in several of the country districts. One man was killed by lightning and the railways were considerably injured. NEW SOUTH WALES. Sir H. Partes laid the foundation stone of the new lighthouse at the South Heads. Mr Sturt, the Agent-General, has applied for an extended leave of absence, being prevented by business from leaving for London as early as was expected. A dispute has taken place between the miners of the Associated Collieries and the masters, owing to the latter refusing to allow the miners a percentage on all marketable and saleable coal. The agricultural show opened in Sydney quite complete. This colony, Queensland, and South Australia contribute the greater portion of the exhibits. The number from Queensland is particularly largo. The Government have decided to proceed at once with improvements at the Circular Quay, at a cost of £90,000. The work is to carried out with a view to give employment to the surplus labor at present available. The Exhibition tramway line is paying at the rate of 33 per cent. The Legislative Council amended the Stamp Bill to remove an ambiguity which the Government admitted. Mr Samuel, the Government representative, admitted that they had a legal and constitutional right to do so, but pointed out that the Assembly might resent it as a matter of privilege. The answer is that the Assembly can have no privilege resting on a broader basis than the Constitution Act from which both Houses derive their rights, and that it would be absurd for the Council not to make an amendment which the Government itself approves of. Mr Buchanan, the new apostle of Protection, having offered to discuss the question with any Free Trade champion, Mr G. H. Eeid, of Sydney, took up the gauntlet. The discussion came off, but the hall was packed by protectionists, who, by a large majority, endorsed Mr Buchanan’s views. Archbishop Vaughan laid the foundation stone of the Sacred Heart new schools, and made a speech, replying to Sir H. Parkes on education. He repeated his statements as to public schools being the future seed plots of infidelity and immorality, and challenged Sir H. Parkes to accuse him before a Court of sedition. It is probable that the railway between Sydney and Melbourne will be constructed by September Ist, except a gap of eighteen miles near Albury. Some experiments have been made at the instance of a number of gentlemen interested in meat preserving, tending to show the advisability of sending sheep home in a frozen state without taking off the skin and wool. A fat wether sent down from the country on August 14th was frozen, and eight days afterwards was skinned, and found perfectly sweet. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Richard Henneasy, a laborer and volunteer, shot his wife at Stewney. The man was not farther than two yards away when he fired. The woman was wounded above the left eye, and is in a very bad state.

In a Supreme Court case, a woman named Quen was found guilty of bigamy. A point was raised affecting the validity of all marriages celebrated by the Church of England clergymen, owing to their neglecting the use of the exact form of declaration prescribed by the Act. The point is reserved for the full Court. John O’Brien, charged with the murder of his wife at the Barton on January 25th, was tried before Justice Barton. The Judge ruled that the woman’s injuries might have been the result of accident, not violence, on which the prisoner got a verdict of acquittal. QUEENSLAND. The Postmaster-General has received a cable message from the Premier that he has arranged for a reduction of postage as follows : —Letters, 6d ; newspapers, Id. The reduction will commence immediately. Joseph Wells, under sentence of death for shooting with intent during an attempt to rob the bank at Ounnamilla, made a written statement [implicating three others, besides a man in business in Oastlereagh South, who first suggested the robbery to him. TASMANIA. The Legislative Council rejected the Public Works Bill. Sir James Wilson, the President of the Legislative Council, died on February 29th, on his sixty-eighth birthday, after a long illness.