AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2405, 20 December 1881, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[Per s.s. Albion, at tho Bluff.] MELBOURNE, Deoember 14. The agents of the Botorua have made a claim upon the Harbor Trust for loss from the vessel fouling with a cnain belonging to one of the dredges in the river. The repairs to the vessel cost nearly £4OOO. At present there is a larger number of ships than wag ever present before in port. Twenty vessels are waiting bertha at the piers. Phylloxera is spreading in the Geelong district. A large vineyard in the vioinity of Warren Ponds has been found infected. The University scandal has been dealt with by the Council, who called upon both the offending professors to show cause why they should not bo suspended, Professor Elkington for three months, and Professor Manson for two, without emoluments. From oorreepondenceread relative to the fracas, Professor Elkington appears to have told _ Professor Manson that those tricks, referring to his putting in blank voting papers and afterwards giving himself the casting vote, belonged to the racecourse, and had but one end— Pentridge. Manson offered to take his oath that he wrote down the name he intended to vote for before the names were called out, when Elkington said —" Who the deuce would believe you on your oath." Manson then called Elkington a liar, and Elkington struck Manson.

The prosecutions against Pireira, of! the Adamaator Leviathan Sweep, and F. O. Goyder, the "Oracle," for getting up raoing sweeps on the Oup, have been dismissed. The oases were not satisfactorily proved. Owing to diverse views on the Harbor Trust Bill, it is doubtful if the measure will be passed this 89ssion. Government is anxious to prorogue before Christmas, and business is being pushed rapidly forward. Wheatear is first favorite for the Champion at 3to 1, Wellington 4, and Progress 6. The entries for the Champion meeting are not so largo as were expected. An Old English Fayre opened in the Town Hall yesterday, and was a great success. Large numbers of ladies and gentlemen were present in Elizabethan costume. The Cuzco sailed this morning, taking 5117 packages of frozen meat and 323 of butter. Miss Ada Lester, who was lost in the wreck of the steamer Clan Macduff, bound to Bombay, was a short time ago performing at the Bijou Theatre here with Mr Wybert Reeve. In the bicycle tournament just oonoluded, Bolfe, the winner, performed nine hundred and ten miles, or an average of 130 miles per day. Nearly two and a half inches of rain fell laot week, bringing the rainfall for the year to within one inch of the average of the last twenty-three years. The erops in many parts of the country are looking well. SYDNEY, December 14.

A scandalous affair occurred at the funeral of the late Michael Fitzpatrick, at one time Colonial Secretary. On the body reaching the grave, no priest was there to perform the service, owing to Fitzpatrick having held a strong opinion about education in publio sohoo's in opposition to ecclesiastical authorities, and the clerical authorities prevented any priest "attending. The friends present said a few prayers, and the Eev. Dr. Forrest, who was present in undress, pronounced the benediction. Another death from smallpox is reported in Sydney, and the disease has been carried to Bega by a visitor from Sydney.