LATEST INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VI, Issue 411, 1 September 1868, Page 3

LATEST INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

The financial statement was made in the Legislative Assembly last evening (18th ult.), by Mr M'Cullnch. The hon. gentleman occupied some two hours and a half in Ids speech, in the course of which .he entered into elaborate comparisons of the condition of the revenue and expenditure of the colony during the last ten ye? tj. The hon. member calculates that there will be a balance from tlie year 1867, to be carried to the credit of 1868, of L 652, and that the present year will show a deficiency of L 61,131. This deficiency, however, he trusts will be wiped out before the accounts of 1868 are lirully closed. — Argiis. For once it is probable that the wishes of the Ministry will be realised, and that the present session will be a very short one indeed. Yesterday evening (20th ult.) the whole of the Estimates for 1868 were agreed to. Messrs Longmore, Burtt, aid M'Kean made some energetic attempts to delay the business, but fortunately the good sense of the House was against them, and for once the obstructionists were j j foiled. As the greater portion of the cxi penditure has already been anticipated, it was felt that it was a mere waste of time to discuss the individual amounts. The Appropriation Bill will probably be introduced on Tuesday next, to which day the House adjourned. — Argus. It is pretty evident that the Government do not intend to co-operate with the Legislative Council in the work of reforming the Constitution of the colony. Yesterday evening (20th ult.), a message was received from the Council, asking for the appointment of a joint committee for the purpose. The message was ordered to be printed, but the Chief Secretary refused to name any day for taking it into consideration. — Argus. His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales has received a dispatch from the British Consul at Fiji, stating that King Thakambau repudiates the treaty entered into with Mr Brewer on behalf of I the Fiji and Melbourne Banking and Trading Company, on the grounds that he did not understand the meaning of the document which he signed in presence of the agents on board the Albion. An old woman named Helen M'Dougal was accidentally burned to death a day or two ago at Singleton. It was a shocking termination of a miserable career. This woman was sent out to the colony many years ago, having been the paramour of the notorious Burke, the murderer at Edinburgh, and was supposed to be cognisant of the series of atrocious murders committed by him in conjunction with Hare, and for which the two wretches suffered death. The Government of New South Wales intend enforcing the provisions of the Treason Felony Act, pending the action of the Imperial Government thereon. The Melbourne Argus of the 15th inst. contains the following extraordinary announcement in its list of insolvents : — "James Anderson, of Brighton, late a squatter, now out of business. Causes of insolvency: From having made an assignment in December, 1866, of all his real and personal estate in trust for the benefit of all his creditors, but which deed he had been unable to get signed ; also, from depreciation in the value of squatting property, and heavy losses through a drought, further from long-continued ill- , ness. Liabilities, £200,061 5s s^d ; assets; £8 ; deficiency, £200,053 5s s'£d. Mr Courtney, official assignee. " A cleaner sweep-out than this it would be almost impossible to conceive, and he must have been a good financier who, in the face of long continued illness, could have carried on business with only £8 to meet a debt of over £200,000. We have heard of the publication of a second edition of the New York Herald, issued to chronicle the fact, in large letters, of "Mr Gordon Bennett kicked again •;■'•' A somewhat similar procedure seems to be in vogue in the township of Wagga Wagga, where the local Express has had lately to record attacks on the editor by a magistrate, and by the son of a magistrate. Under the heading "Another threatened assault on the editor of the Express," it reports that "in the early part of last week a bootmaker and temperance, apostle, named George Everett, sent us for publication two communications, advocating Mb favourite cause of teetotalism, one in prose and the other in . verse. Other communications of a similar class which he had previously sent we had re-written and published ; but the thing was growing into a nuisance, and not having the time to lick his compositions into shape, we declined to publish them, and recommended him to send us no more until he could obtain the assistance of the schoolmaster in writing them. This gave the gentleman great offence, and early on the Saturday morning he repaired to the private residence of one of the proprietors and endeavored to force open the door, saying he wanted to see the editor, and threatening to 'smash' him if he could find him. Finding that the editor was not in, he took his departure,, vowing vengeance ; and an hour or two later appeared at the printing office, where the editor then was, and there, with a great deal of abusive and insulting language, repeated his threats, until a policeman coming up he was given into custody, and being brought before the police magistrate was ■ convicted and fined, »