AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2111, 29 November 1880, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[Br Tbkesbaph.] [Per 8.8. Te Anau, at the Bluff.] MELBOURNE, November 23. The Ministeral Reform Bill issued on Saturday proposes that the Council be hereafter elected on the basis of the ratepayers roll, the Colony to le divided into thirty electorates, one member for each, to be elected for six years. The Bill is silent as to the powers of the two houses, which remain unchanged. An Opposition meeting on Thursday considered Mr Service’s approaching visit to London, and resolved to request him to retain his position until his departure. Mr Service consented, on the condition that his movements were not hampered by political responsibility. The petitions Jngainst the return of Messrs Gillies, Eraser, and Richardson being withdrawn, the election qualification committee is dissolved. A largo meeting at Ararat passed resolutions condemning Mr Gaunson’s conduct re

Kelly, and requesting him to resign his seat, i The Ballarat petition against Mr Gaunson on the same subject, which was informal at its i first presentation, is now amended. Twelve hundred have signed, and a Bill will be presented on the subject in the Assembly on the 23rd. , ~ The conference of representatives fro® ~e Governments of South Australia, New Soutn Wales, and Victoria commences on the_ 24tn. The principal questions for consideration are the border duties and Chinese immigration. Reuter’s telegram announcing the_ opening of the Melbourne Exhibition, consisting or several hundred words, was received in London twenty-three minutes after the opening ceremony, and was published in the evening papers of the same day. The law suit between the National Bank and the Hand Band Mining Company is settled, the former paying the mine £2200, and each bearing their own costs. The sou of Captain Payne, the late harbormaster, was f drowned ini a waterhole on the Rookbank estate, belonging to Mr J. W. Clarke onjthe 19th. He went to bathe with a companion, and was seized with cramp in the water. His companion did his best to save Payne, but failed through exhaustion. The body was recovered on Saturday. A number of bills have been stolen from the Bank of Now Zealand in Eiji. The public are warned against negotiating them. SYDNEY, November 23. The Banks have reduced the interest on deposits to two per centum for three months, three per cent, for six months, and four per

cent, for twelve months. The Bank of New South Wales has not agreed to these changes, BRISBANE, November 23. The steamer Norseman struck the bar on Baffle Creek on Sunday, the 14tb, and was driven on the south spit. Despite strenuous efforts the vessel drifted only higher on the boaoh, and finally was abandoned. _ The National Company of New Zealand insure her for four hundred, the balance being held by English offices. . Gresley Lukins’ case against the ‘ Australasian,” a Catholic newspaper, was decided on Wednesday, when the jury gave a verdict of £BOO damages. ADELAIDE, November 23, The Sorata remains at the Semaphore jetty, under preparation for her voyage to Melbourne. As the silt is removed, the leakage has not increased, proving that the holes are stopped from the outside. The Sorata will be repaired in the Alfred Graving Dock, Melbourne. It is expected that the charges against Captain Eowler will be heard on Tuesday next. • • - The “Advertiser” leader recommends the alteration of the name of the colony to Adelaide, the capital to receive another name. It considers the title of South Australia misleading. ,