AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1899, 25 March 1880, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

[By Telegraph.] [Per s.s. Rotorua, via Bluff.] VICTORIA. The action of the Government in not calling Parliament together until May 11th is condemned a:. unconstitutional by the Ministerial Press. It contended on the other hand that it is useless to meet before the measures are prepared. It Is probable that the payment of members question will be the first difficulty to be solved. The Government have authorised Major Sargood, an old volunteer officer, intimately acquainted with Victorian defences, to give evidence before the Imperial Royal Commission on National Defences. The Land Tax Court is to be re-organised. It is probable that the business will be transferred to the County Court Judges. A Royal Commission comprising the Chief Justice, other judges, and eminent barristers has been appointed to frame the lines of a new Judicature Bill similar to the English measure. The Chief Harbor master advises the Government that there is no neoer sity for the Australian Colonies to search the Orozets for survivors of the Knowsley Hall, as the Comus has been ordered there. If a provision depot were established it is probable that sealers would carry off the provisions. The islands might be visited periodically by men-of-war from the Cape station. The Hon. J. G. Duffy, Minister for Lands, states that tho Government measures are conceived in such a spirit of moderation and conciliation that if the Council rejects them it will render the House obnoxious to the whole community. There is but little doubt that Mr Alexander Young, the Liberal member for Grenville, will be unseated, as he was a Government contractor at the date of his election. The seat will then go to a Conservative. The foundation stone of the new Anglican cathedral in Melbourne will be laid on April 13th. America requires 70,000 feet of space in the Exhibition, which if granted will necessitate the erection of fresh buildings. The Minister for Education is energetically endeavoring to include “ gutter ’’ children in the benefits of the Act. NEW SOUTH WALES. The Legislative Council has agreed to reconsider its determination not to proceed with the Stamp Duties Bill, but it is quite possible that it will decide to re-iutroduce its amendment to remove the ambiguity complained of. The Metropolitan Water Sewage Bill has nearly passed through the Assembly. The second reading of the Education Bill has passed the Council. The following is the captain’s story about the Ohandernagore expedition :—The vessel was fitted out at the expense of the Marquis De Roys, in France. It was originally intended that the expedition should sail from Havre, but the French Government objected. Ultimately eighty-two immigrants embarked from Dutch territory, sailing on September 14th. They took an enormous amount of machinery for distillery purposes and a sugar refinery, also stores for twelve months. The oerson in charge was an American named McLaughlin. The expedition split up into two parties, and one, seventeen in number, landed on an island named Ganglin, 240 miles from New Ireland. While lying at Liki Liki Bay, New Ireland, a succession of storms arose, and having lost all her anchors, the ship was forced to come to Sydney. In addition to tho Ohandernagore, two steamers are coming out, one called tho Port Bretton, of 1250 tons, which sailed from Barcelona on January 26th, with 750 Spaniards; and a small steamer of about 350 tons, called the Gerrill, which will follow shortly, also from Barcelona.

QUEENSLAND. The steamer Agnes was totally wrecked on Narsohie bar. She grounded in crossing the bar, and was driven on the beach. The insurances are in the New Zealand, _ South British, and Transatlantic, chiefly in the latter. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. There is some prospect of the Government proposing to undertake the construction of the railway from Palmerston to the reefs in the Northern territory. The Chief Warden of the territory urges them to call for tenders for the trans-continental line, paying for the same by means of land. It is probable that the colonial postal rates will bo reared.