INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 529, 8 June 1869, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

By the arrival of the steamships Gothenburg and Alhambra, from Melbourne, we are in possession of files to the 29th ulfc., and make the following extracts from the Argus and Age : — The racehorses Karoola and North Australian are to be shipped to China. Nothing has as yet been done towards filling up the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr Vale of his office as Commissioner of Trade and Customs. A nugget, weighing seven pounds, and also a number of smaller nuggets amounting to tha same total weight, have been found at the Ophir diggings, in the Orange district. The contract for the drainage of Lake Modewarra has been completed, and the drainage commenced. It remains to be seen whether many will not repent the reduction of so tine a sheet of water. At Newcastle, on the 21st instant, the police arrested a sailor named Weigart, who arrived from Melbourne in the barque Sussex, on suspicion of being implicated in the murder of the woman Margaret Lynch, found dead in Melbourne. A shipmate of Weigart was heard to remark that the latter could not sleep, and appeared in a state of mental disquietude. He was brought before the local bench immediately upon his arrest, and remanded to Melbourne. A new company, to be styled "The Sunken Vessels Recovery Company, Limited," has been formed at Ballarat, with a capital of £3520, to carry out Mr Maquay's patent — in fact, to succeed to the position of the old company, which was lately wound up. Bei'lin maintains its repute as "a jeweller's shop." From the Inglewood Advertiser we learn that Jones and party, in the lead at Lingham's Mat, just opposite the foot of Gilmore's Gully, got a 101 b. weight nugget on Saturday, and a 9oz. piece on Friday. D. Jones and party, further up the lead, got a 6|oz. piece on Friday, besides which a washing up during the week turned them out 6dwt. to the load. A party of three in the next claim to his obtained 14oz. in two nuggets for their week's work. "A rather startling announcement," says the Bendigo Evening News, "was lately made in the County Court by a solicitor. He stated that a woman, who was dying in the hospital, had made a present in her will of a certain house to his client, and he could now produce her to show this. All eyes were instantly directed in horror to the witness-box, when a robust-looking woman came forward, and gave her evidence in anything but an unearthly tone. It was explained that the lady had ultimately recovered in the hospital, after she had bequeathed the property." It would appoar that in proportion as C. B. Jones has been losing in good opinion amongst the male portion of the public, he has been advancing in the favor of the ladies, whose views on the subject of Parliamentary honor, we grieve to say, seem rather lax. We read that he "was paid a special compliment the other night at the Sons of Temperance soiree, in the Alfred-hall. At the closing of the meeting he came forward to return thanks on. behalf of the singers and ladies, when he was almost smothered with a shower of bouquets thrown by the ladies amongst the audience." We are informed by Mr Firmer, secretary of the Polynesia Company, that Mr Cook, the manager, was fully empowered on his visit to the Fijis by the Springbok (which vessel left this port for Levuka a few days since), to arrange for the carrying out of the charter of the company, and the settlement of the balance of the amount which King Thakombau owns as being due to the American Government for certain offences alleged to have been committed by the natives of some of the Fiji Islands towards some United States citizens, as well as to conduct the general business operations of the company." The hopes of the inhabitants of Tasmania are once more excited on the subjeot of a payable gold field. The Lcmncetfon Tv/nes says :- " We have heard but little for some time past from the rich auriferous quartz lead discovered at Waterhouse on the north-east coast in March last ; but Mr Williams having for-

warded a large sample of quartz to Melbourne for assay, we are now in a position to announce the result. The quantity of quartz operated upon weighed 4501 b., and this produced 14dwt. 2gr. of gold ; equal to 3oz. 2id\vt. to the ton. The gold is of the standard of eighteen carats, and is value for £3 2s per ounce." It is stated by the Cornwall Chronicle that the prospectors have applied for a lease. Several of our Ballarat contemporaries have referred to a divorce case likely soon to come before the Siipretne Cour*.. According to one journal, "Several of the leading members of the highest circles of society, both in Ballarat and Melbourne, are implicated, and the respondent is the mother of a family of seven children." According to the Beaufort Chronicle, there is to be another and almost as interesting a case of a matrimonial character :— ' ' On dit that an interesting action for breach of promise of marriage will shortly occupy the attention of the Supreme Court, the principals being well-known residents of Stockyard-hill. We are credibly informed that the plaintiff claims LSOO damages for the atrocious manner in which her too confiding feelings have been trifled with." By the Tararua, which arrived at the Bluff on Saturday, we have the following additional items of news, which we extract froii late telegrams in the W. C. Times : — Melbourne, May 31. The new Land Bill is generally approved of. There is good news from the Gilbert diggings, and steamers have been laid on. The maize market is well supplied. The Hon. Mr Fraucis decliues the Commissionership of Customs. Breadstuff's dull; flour, nominally, Ll3. Oats are brisk at 4s. The potato market is stocked. Sydney, May 30. The Spanish Consul, Don San Just, committed suicide on Friday. He jumped through his bedroom window on to the pavement and fell on his back, and was killed instantly. The cause of the act is not known. A sack was found in Brougham-place, between Castlereagh and Pitt streets, on the 28th, containing the body of a dead woman, her face battered in. She has been recognised as a prostitute named Moore. A man named. Mason, a sailor, has been arrested on suspicion. A man named Archibald has been committed for trial, for Halligan, the goldbuyer's murder, at Rockhampton. Palmer, his accomplice, has not been arrested. Breadstuffs slow. Adelaide. Superintendent Howell is charged with bayonetting a prisoner, named Johnston, and an investigation is going on. The Pavey's Mills, Mellang, totally destroyed by fire, on Saturday. Markets quiet.