AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1968, 15 June 1880, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[By Telegraph.] [Per Wakitipu,] NEW SOUTH WALES. SYDNEY, June 9. The ballot of the miners of Newcastle relative to refusing or accepting the new sliding scale has taken place, though it is still incomplete. It is believed the votes ore nearly divided. The police are still endeavouring to discover the whereabouts of the Quirindi bank robbers.' They have scoured the vicinity unavailingly. ' The Government are apparently determined to provide for the deficiency consequent on the abeyance of the Stamp Duties Bill by pressing the auction land sales. The upset price is lowered from 25s to 20s an acre. The police yesternight arrested, at Tumut a man on suspicion of being Joseph Byrne’ the Victorian bushranger. A local black-’ smith, who knew Byrne when the latter was a groom by bis bringing horses to be shod, pointed him out. The man has been remanded for further identification. VICTORIA. MELBOURNE, June 8. The Government will introduce a Bill to abolish pensions. A deputation of fellmongers attributed the depression in their trade to the stock tax. Mr Service said he could make no statement in anticipation of the Budget, although the tax is a hard cne. The report of the Chinese Protector shows that the Chinese are decreasing. They are estimated at thirteen thousand. The selectors in the Mallee country are in a deplorable state of want, and are abandoning their holdings to select elsewhere. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. ADEDAIDB, June 8. The debate on the second reading of the Electoral Bill is proceeding. It provides for an increase of members of the Assembly from 46 to 52. It splits up the large Northern district into four electorates. A man named Partington drifted to sea in an open boat from Port Vincent to the seventh. A cutter was despatched to search for him, and has returned unsuccessful. The following are further items of Australian news per Rotorua : VICTORIA. During the debate on the Reform Bill, Mr Gillies made a long speech in support of the Bill, and declared that the country had decided against the absolutism of the Assembly being maintained. The check proposed was in strict accordance with Imperial practice. Mr Berry made a lengthy speech against the measure, and contended that while hitherto Reform Bills aimed at reducing the powers of the Council, the present one proposed enlarging them. No Government, he declared, could force measures through all the stages required by the new Bill. Finally, he urged the strict adhesion to the Imperial analogy. Mr Lyell followed, and demanded the settlement of the Reform Bill before the new two million loan was placed on the market. He declared that recent events in Victoria had had a very bad effect at Home. Mr Fisher spoke against the measure. On the second reading, Dr. Madden approved of the extension of the franchise only, but criticised the other portions. Mr Walker suggested that the constituency of the Council should be confined to married men with families, as possessing stronger colonial ties. The novelty of the proposal created some amusement.

The Government continue economising in every direction. A 1 number of the employes in the Lands Department received notice last week, and it is expected that the services of a number more will be dispensed with shortly. The following comprise the number _of entries for the principal racing events, which closed on the Ist of June :—Maribyrnong Plate, 120; Normanby Stakes, 118; Ascot Stakes, 113 ; Derby Stakes, 125 ; Oaks Stakes, 65; Leger, 121; Sires’Produce, 108; Mares’ Produce, 173. A statement in the London " Daily Telegraph,” that the Governor oi _ Hong Kong intends shipping Chinese criminals to Australia having been brought under the notice of the Governor, he promised to communicate with the Imperial authorities on the subject. Tbe Melbourne Frozen Meat Company has received a telegram from London announcing the purchase of a refrigerating machine, which will be shipped immediately. A meeting was held on June 4th, when it was resolved to form a company with a capital of £25,000, to establish a hospital for paying patients. Mr Proctor, the scientist, is lecturing on the Sun to unusually large audiences. The Exhibition Executive Committee has accepted tenders for 5400 chairs, at a cost of about £2OOO. The successful tenderers are five well-known English firms in Melbourne. The chairs will be of American, Austrian, and Victorian manufacture.

The Assembly held a special sitting to debate the Payment of Members Bill. The principal speakers in opposition to the Bill were Messrs Shields, Murray-Smith, and Finlay, and at a quarter to two a.m., after some disposition to stonewall, the House divided as follows—Ayes, 38 ; noes, 24; majority, 14. There were eleven 'pairs, including Mr Service. After the division Mr Murray-Smith endeavored to divide the Bill into two parts, with a view of allowing payment to the Council to be taken as a separate measure. This was negatived by 36 to 28. A plague of locusts is doing serious damage in New Caledonia. A proposal is on foot to hold a grand ball at an early date to celebrate the completion of the exhibition building, NEW SOUTH WALES. Mr Lloyd, formerly the member for Newcastle, having volunteered to mediate between the colliery proprietors and strikers, the offer was accepted, and through him the strike has now terminated. Mr Lloyd first induced Messrs Brown and Grigson, Newcastle mineowners, to agree to a minimum of 3s 3d. Through Mr Lloyd’s further offices the minors accepted the proposition, and the men will get 3s 3d per 8s selling ton, rising 3d per Is up to 11s and 4d up to 14s. Another account of the Quirindi affair states that Mr Allen, the manager, was on the point of taking the safe key as usual to the police when he was bailed up. He dropped the key and said that the clerk had it. The robbers waited two hours for the clerk’s return, drinking whiskey in the meantime, and then got tired and threatened to burn down the Bank and blow the safe open. Information from New Ireland states that the immigrants from the Ohandemagore were suddenly loft on that island by that vessel unprovided with food or medicine. Three immigrants who reached the Duke of York Island informed the missionaries of the destitution in which the others were left. Tbe missionaries at once proceeded in an open boat to their relief and brought forty-five of the sick colonists back to the Duke of York Island, one dying on the way. The captain of the Chandemagore, who was left behind, said that his vessel left at night without the slightest warning. The Ohandemagore has since left Sydney suddenly, and her destination is unknown. The above report has been fully confirmed by the latest advices, which state that nine had died. It is stated that the settlers consist principally of old men and boys; further mortality is expected, and H.M.S. Conflict is at the depot rendering aid.

In the Assembly Mr Dillon specified serious chargee against Judge Meynott, and the

Attorney-General promised a committee of inquiry. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. In the Assembly, the m ,tion on the address in reply was carried without a division. In reference to the agitation for religious instruction, the Minister for Education said that ha did not propose to interfere with the Education Act in schools.