AUSTRALIAN.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1939, 12 May 1880, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN.

[reutee’s telegrams.] MELBOURNE, May 11. Parliament was opened to-day by com. mission. Sir Charles MacMahon vras elected Speaker by 44 to 39. All the members present were sworn. Opening of Parliament. Parliament was opened to-day by Commission. Mr McMahon was elected speaker. Forty-four members were present, and five new members were sworn in. The Governor’s SpeechParliament has been opened by the Governor, whose speech on the occasion says:—The defences of the colony are being proceeded with. The International Exhibition is to be opened in October. The estimated cost is £320,000, and the receipts are expected to bring in £70,000A Board has been appointed to report upon the question of water supply. The further extension of the railways in the colony will bo undertaken. A new Judicature Bill is now under consideration. The depressed state of trade is passing away. The harvest prospects being favorable, indicate a return of prosperity to the colony. The new measures to bo brought forward for the consideration of Parliament will include Bills for the occupation of unalienated lands, for economical railway management. for the Civil Service, for water conservation for mining on private property, for the suppression of the rabbit nuisance, and for making better provision for the public health. A census of the colony will shortly be taken. Shipping. Sailed—Tarraua, for the Bluff. SYDNEY, May 12. Church Sites. In the Legislative Assembly last night a resolution adverse to granting land for church sites was carried against the Government. Scarcity of Coal. A groat scarcity of coal at present exists in Melbourne, almost reaching a famine, owing to the strike of miners at Newcastle.