AUSTRALIA.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2709, 13 December 1882, Page 3

AUSTRALIA.

By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. [reuteb’s telegrams.] Received December 12th, 10 p.m. MELBOURNE, December 12. News has been received from Crcswick that the Australasia gold mine has been flooded. Forty men wore at work when the outburst of water occurred. Of these fourteen escaped, and twenty-six are still underground. There is now 40ft of water in the main shaft, and the pumps available are quite inadequate to cope with the task of pumping out the mine. Arrangements are being made for additional pumps and engine power. Faint hopes are entertained, however, that those in the mime will succeed in escaping. The scene at the mouth of the mine when the disaster was made known was most distressing.

The Melbourne manager of the National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand, Limited, reports concerning the local grain market as follows : —Wheat, shipping, per bushel, 5s 2d to 5s sd, with a downward tendency; malting barley is firm, and in active demand at 3s lOd to 4s 2d ; New Zealand feeding oats, duty paid, 3s lid to 4s 3d; ditto, in bond, 3s 4d to 3s Bd, the market being quiet and prices barely maintained. After several days’ rainfall the weather is now very fine, and the arrivals of grain from the country are increasing.

Received December 13th, 1.5 a.m. MELBOURNE, December 12.

Great efforts are being made at Creswick to clear the Australasian mine of water, and by the aid of additional pumps which have been obtained, the depth has already been reduced by Cft. All hope, however, of rescuing the men alive who are underground has been abandoned. The Legislative Assembly met to-day after the adjournment, for the purpose of considering Mr Munro’s vote of want of confidence. Before proceeding to the discussion of Mr Munro’s motion Mr Woods, member for Stawell, moved that the proprietor of the “ Age ” be summoned to the bar of the House, for having published in that paper an article reflecting upon the efficiency of Wood’s railway brake in connection with the recent railway accident on Hawthorne line, the publication of the article being alleged by Mr Woods to be a breach of privilege. The motion was supported by the Premier, but after an animated discussion of some length was ultimately withdrawn, and the debate on Mr Munro’s motion for the appointment of a committee of seven to investigate the railway administration of the colony was then resumed. The debate proceeded with vigor, and at ten o’clock Sir Bryan O’Loghlon was replying in a lengthy speech. Received December 13th, 1.5 a.m. SYDNEY, December 12. Telegrams are to hand to-night from Newcastle, reporting that a serious fire had broken out in the centre of that city. The conflagration assumed large dimensions and is still raging. At ten o’clock five shops were in flames, and all efforts to extinguish them had proved futile, and it is feared that a large block of buildings, of which these form a part, will bo consumed.