INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 512, 27 April 1869, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

<». An extraordinary act of self-destruction was committed at the Blue Mountains a few days ago. A woman residing in the locality fell down one of the numerous abandoned shafts in the neighborhood of Trentham. Her whereabouts was discovered, and arrangements made for releasing her from her uncomfortable position. Ropes were securely fastened to her body, and she was being hauled up the shaft in safety. At this time there were a number of persons congregated round the mouth of the shaft, amongst others, a man named Joseph Brown, who had recently been drinking to excess. Before the woman was extricated from tho shaft, Brown, apparently seized with a sudden impulse, threw up his arms, and deliberately j plunged head foremost down the hole. The act was done in an instant, without warning or anything like premeditation. As soon as the bystanders had recovered from their astonishment, the shaft, which is seventy feet deep, was descended, but the unfortunate man was quite dead. In fact, death must have been instantaneous, but the skull was fractured in half-a-dozen places. A tale of a laughable — though what ! might have proved a very serious — accident reaches us from Violet Town. One evening last week the local blacksmith was enjoying a game at billiards, and was about to make a difficult stroke, for the purpose of executing which he thought it best to place part of his body upon the side of the table. He had some coins in his trousers pocket, and also (what he was not aware of) a quantity of powder which had made its way through a flaw in a powder flask that he had been previously carrying. To place himself in position to make the intended stroke occupied him some little time, and the friction consequent thereupon' caused the powder to explode, and the contents of his pocket, together with the pocket itself, were scat- I tered in all directions. Fortunately, and for a wonder, the only damage he sus- j tamed beyond the fright was a slight burning of his thigh ; but he did not finish the game. The Singleton Times gives the following account of a recent extraordinary expedition to the haunt of the flying foxes at Black's Mountain : — " After hobbling our horses with a stirrup leather on some good grass en the top of the mountain, we proceeded down its rather precipitous sides, and soon our eyes were as much astonished as they were gladdened by the sight of many acres of trees literally black with foxes. More than half our company commenced operations ; but after about a quarter of an hour's tremendous slaughter, we had the mortification to see that nearly every one of the flying foxes was on the wing, and a wonderful sight it was. The bush was about a mile and a half long, and the whole length and breadth of it was nothing but a vast crowd of foxes, wheeling and hobbling, and bobbing round and round. At the lowest calculation there could not have been less than fifty thousand, and I believe if that number were doubled it would be nearer the truth. Our party had by this time got pretty well spread all over the ground, and for some time wherever two or three of the foxes tried to fasten on a tree, they quickly came to grief, and some of the party brought them down on the wing. This exciting state of affairs lasted until a little past uoon, when the call, sounded of ' Come to camp.' The call was quickly complied with, and ample justice was done to the eatables provided. After half an hour's rest, away we started, and now the ' fun grew fast and furious.' The foxes were completely tired with their unusual exertions of the morning, and would only fly from tree to tree, and in many instances from one side of the tree to the other, and all that the sportsmen had to do was to load and fire, which they did as fast as their guns would allow them, many of them having to apply wet handkerchiefs to their guns, which they rubbed to kesp cool, being afraid they would blow the powder off while loading ; but it would be impossible to give you an idea of the shooting done for the next few hours, orof the wild enthusiasm which was felt by nearly all the party ; but like every other enjoyment and excitement even that must come to an end, and shortly before five o'clock, knowing the distance we had to return home, and the darkness of the night, with one accord we turned homeward." Financial success in England has been contemporaneous with financial success in the colony. The quarter which has just closed affords the most convincing of all evidence that we have got into the right groove at last. With a very satisfactory increase in all branches of local productive industry, there is no falling off in imports. The consumption of all articles of necessity and luxury must now be enormously greater than in the pre-protective era. The release of mining industry from the gold export duty and the reduction of the taxes on tea and sugar have proved a valuable boon, while the new duties are not felt at all and have not produced any increase in the prices of the articles on which they are imposed. The free-traders are amazed. They have found all the gods they worshipped to be lying oracles.

The malevolent and obstinate are dumb, but the vast majority of practical business men acknowledge that the change is in all respects a beneficial one. The merchants are demanding more wharfage room as a I positive necessity, while their former organ asserts that there is a diminution of tonnage to the port. The merchants are the best judges, the poll-parrot of tin exploded commercial superstition being past learning a new lesson, and only capable of repeating Its old one with some sad dilapidations of its original structure and meaning. — Leader. His Excellency Sir James Fergusson, it appears, has been tolei*ably successful in preserving his incognito during his recent i sporting trip. One Sunday forenoon early he, accompanied by the Hon. Capt. Edgcumbe, arrived at the picturesque village of Balhannah with a perfect wag-gon-load of game, including pelicans, herons, ducks, and other feathered denizens of the Murray and its flats. Sir James pulled up at the door of one of the hotels, but was refused admission at the front of the inn on the ground of its being the Sabbath, and was accordingly compelled, after Glasgow fashion, to go quietly in by a back entrance, after seeing that his horses were in good quarters. His Excellency having doffed his sporting attire, which bore striking evidences of hard and successful service, went to the little English church in the township, where he was shifted from seat to seat in a manner that indicated very defective arrangements for the comfort of strangers. I Some time after public worship was over, it became known who the mysterious stranger was, but the day and the suddenness of the visit forbade municipal addresses or any intrusion upon his Excellency's privacy, and about 4 o'clock he drove out of the village for his country residence at Cox's Creek, apparently much aoi used with his morning's experiences. " A pleasure party that had been visiting some beautiful scenery in the neighborhood of one of the mining centres in this district," says the Ararat Advertiser, " was returning home on Friday last, in a spacious waggon, when they were accosted by a weary-looking traveller, who was carrying an apparently heavy box. On being asked for a 'lift,' the goodnatured occupants of the vehicle not only made room for the stranger, but gave him a considerable portion of what remained from the picnic ; aud as he was tired and hungry, he did ample justice to the hospitality of his entertainers. This, coupled with the heat of the day, had a drowsy influence upon the new comer, who shortly fell asleep, allowing his box to drop at his feet, but as there did not appear to be anything frail or perishable inside it was allowed to remain as it fell. The journey was leng and tiresome, and was likely to be uninterrupted by any incident till a scream from one of the ladies startled the occupants into marked attention. She was iv the act of pulling a leach from the vicinity of her ankle. Then another lady became uneasy, and again another, till several faint cries and rapid gestures told that the tumbled box of the leech-gatherer had strewn the floor of the waggon with the creepers. As these were impartial in their attention to ladies as well as to gentlemen, quite a number of demonstrative, but, under the circumstances, excusable attitudes were indulged in. It was impossible that matters could thus remain. Bleeding, under the circumstances, was inconvenient, and a hasty council of war was held. The sleeping leech-gaiherer and his box were carried out bodily,; and the gentlemen, after clearing the waggon floor, retired to the bush, so as to permit the ladies to divest themselves of the intruders. The cause of all the mischief, on awaking, found •that he had lo3t half his leeches, that lie was sitting alone by the roadside, and could have sworn that he had been in a waggon amongst the swells ' a drinkin' of wine.' " The manufacture of bottles at the Melbourne and Ballarat Bottle Company's works commenced a few days ago, and a number of the shareholders drove down to the factory at Footscray, to see the beginning of operations. By the time that the party arrived, the "metal" in the pot had been brought to a state of fusion, and was nearly ready for work. In the meantime, i.he visitors went to the adjoining house, where the pots were being built up by a workman with Stourbridge fire-clay. Soon it was announced that the process of bottle-making was to begin, and the company mustered to witness it. It is unnecessary to describe the familiar process of glass manufacture. Enough to say that the iron tubes were dipped into the pot and brought oufc bearing at the end a mass of the red, molten, semi-fluid "metal," which was turned and rolled and blown roughly into the shape, and finally iv a mould into the form of a soda water bottle , This was then cut off from the tube wioh a piece of hoop and dipped in water, the rim was fitted to the top of the neck, and the bottles were successively consigned to the annealing furnace, there to remain some two or three days to temper. The men employed appeared to be thoroughly skilled in their work, and the manufacture went on rapidly and satisfactorily. Some of the visitors made efforts at blowing bottles, which were in some cases attended with rather curious results, and some glass walking-sticks and other objects of curiosity were turned out. It will be remembered that in February last that unfortunate little man Schaffer, of whose pedestrian career through many countries the public have heard so much, and who lately returned hither from New Zealand after being deprived of his Maori bride, was brought before the City Police Court, charged with attempting to commit suicide. It was proved that he had ati tempted his own life with a pistol loaded only with powder, but the Magistrates, nevertheless,, ordered him to find one surety in £20 to keep the peace towards himself, or else to go to gaol for three months. The poor fellow had spent all his money, and had, it seemed, no friends, so he went to gaol, where he has remained ever since. When first taken thither, he exhibited more than one sign of that kind of insanity which is sometimes termed "turning cranky," and was extremely obstinate in contravening the regulations of the establishment. But he was ill, and the gaol authorities had mercy on him, and sent him to the hospital ward, where he has been lying in a wretched state, suffering from bodily sickness, and naturally bemoaning the loss of his little funds, and the various mementos of his peregrinations, including his famous book of autographs. Never having been in gaol before, a portion of his sentence has been remitted, and he will bs liberated. (For continuation of news set fourth pagr.)