LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 619, 6 January 1870, Page 2

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

(from our own correspondent.) Hokitika, Tuesday. The s.s. Gothenburg arrived at 8 a.m. to-day, from Melbourne, bringing dates to December 29. Mhlboxtrne, Deo. 29. Flour continues dull at Lll to Ll2. Oats reached 3s 10d ; maize, dull at 3s 4dj candles, firm at 10|d ; wheat, 6a 4d , sugars slightly lower ; hops, advancing ; wool very brisk— greasy, five-eighths to seven-eighths ; scoured, lOd to 16£ d; fleece, lOd to Is sd. j Died, the "Viscount of Canterbury, brother to Governor Sutton, who iuherits the title and estates. The Waverley, from Foo Chow, for Auckland, supposed to be lost, has turned up at Batavia, for repairs. Thomas Webb Draper, accountant in the Commercial Bank, has been arrested on a charge of forgery ; the amount is supposed to be very large ; bail was taken The Christmas holidays extended over three days ; business entirely suspended. A compromise, regarding amendments to the Land Bill, has been agreed to by both Houses, and the Bill passed. Parliament was prorogued to-day. Sailed— Sarah, for Greymouth ; Margaret Campbell, for Wellington. Arrived — Claud Hamilton, on the 28th. The Victorian Sugar Company has published a refutation of the charge made by the New Zealand papers that their sugar contains arsenic. Sydney, Dec. 28. The Challenge has sailed for Auckland, to embark the 18th Regt. Archibald, publican at Rockhampton, has been executed. He made no confession regarding Halligan's murder. The Rev W. B. Clarke, the celebrated geologist, has resigned hia incumbency. The Flying Squadron sailed for Hobart Town on Sunday. Arrived at Newcastle : The Deva, from Auckland ; Ann Melluish, from Wellington. Arrived: Auckland, steamer^on the 28th, bringing a detachment of the 14th Regt. The elections to date give 20- Ministerialists, 28 Opposition, and 7/ neutral. Adelaide, Dec. 28. A destructive bush fire occurred at York Peninsula, and destroyed 1800 sheep, a shepherd, and a boy. Corn market firm. Wheat, 43 6d, The Government call for tenders for leasing the Strathallyn, Goolwa, and Victor Harbor Tramway. From our files, which were landed from the Gothenburg on Tuesday evening, we take the following items : — The agitation for penny postage has been recommenced by the members of the 1 Ballarat Council. The sentence passed upon Mr Philip Davies, late Manager of the Prince o£ Wales Mining Company, for stealing gold from the Bonshaw claim, Ballarat, has been commuted by the Executive from six months' to one month's imprisonment. Two boys, whilst out gathering firewood, found some stone which proved to be rich in gold, in the bush at the backof King's Hotel, Goldsborough. The ground all round, where the stone was found has been rushed, and claims marked out. The Wesleyan school-house at Ballarat has been struck by lightning and burned to the ground. A few days ago a little girl at Chewton was playing with a favorite young dog belonging to the family, while it waa gnawing at a bone. Suddenly the animal made a spring, and planting its teeth in the forehead of the child, tore a most ugly wound just ov«r the right eye. It also made a second bite, when its teeth entered both above and below the left eye, and but for the arrival of the mother of the child, would have torn the child's eye out. DrMackay, who was sent for, has succeeded in saving the sight, and the girl is now almost convalescent. The All Eugland pedestrians will give their first- performances, on the Melbourne j cricket ground, on Saturday, Bth January when they will contend against aft comers at various distances. From the. large number and variety of the races as well as the liberal* character of the prizes, it is almost sure to meet with universal approval. Hewitt will run in the sprint race of 150 yards, which will be divided into heats of four men each ; and Bird will meet all comers at half a mils and a mile ; while Topley will give starts to our best walked, in a two and four miles ! handicap.. Now that all the facts have transpired, surely that faitx pas of Messrs Levy Brothers must be regarded as one of the most impudent frauds ever attempted on the Customs. Tho fraud extended to goods coming out in some half a dozen vessels, false invoices being compiled here, reducing not only the value but the quantity of goods, and the fraudulent entries were accompanied by false declarations. It is not unlikely that this "respectable firm" has been playing the same game fo? a considerable period, seeing that in 186 V they were fined for one transaction of a somewhat similar kind. Not the ' least remarkable feature of the affair is that Mr Goodwin Levy admitted the attempted fraud— when he found denial useless, we buspect. Why didn't the brothers bring the matter .into the Supreme Court, or have it referred to arbitration ? Foolish fellows! Instead of being fined, they might have been regarded as martyrs. and awarded handsome compensation. A shocking accident is reported by il Bendigo Independent : — On Monday mor ; . ing a young man named Andrew Andrews, who was working a claim on Ihr Garden Gully line, met with a seii";: accident, which has resulted in the los? ■-.-". one of his eyes and his right arm. He ' .; " just put in a charge of gun-cotton, but having missed fire, he saturated it v :t water, and commenced to draw the chnr> .. when it exploded with fearful violence', and lacerated his arms and right eye i: -.. dreadful manner. The sufferer v;. promptly raised to the surface and cc veyed to the hospital, where it was founc necessary to amputate his right arm, and it was discovered that he had entirely lost the sight of one eye. We understand that the unfortunate young roan was mariedonly three weeks ago, and the otress and anguish of his young wife at ti ■■ sad occurrence may be better imagined than described. Another well-known bank official has come to grief, Thomas Webb Draper, late 'agcouiitant a.t the Commercial Bank,

having been arrested on Thursday morning, Dec. 23, on a warrant charging him with having "forged an accountable receipt for L4OOO, with intent to defraud the Commercial Bank (limited)." It appears that about a month since, his accounts not being found quite correct, he was allowed to resign, since which time he , has been staying at his residence, St. Kilda ; but, upon the arrival of the mail, by advices received, it was discovered that there were serious deficiencies in his accounts, he having paid large sums of money into his own account, instead of remitting them to the London agency of the Bank, and then forging the receipt for the amount. It is said the total deficiency will amount to between L 15,000 and L 20,000. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Wednesday afternoon, and on Thursday morning detectives Williams and • Daley arrested him at his house. He was at once taken before Mr Call, P.M., and remanded, but was allowed out on bail in •two sureties of LSOOO each. Mr Jones and Mr Webb (prisoner's father-in-law) were the sureties. Monday, 27th Dec, remarks the Government Astronomer, was the hottest day of the season, the temperature in the shade having reached 108-4 deg., while on Sunday it was only 96 deg., and Tuesday 101-3 deg. Since 1858 this temperature in the month of December was only exceeded once, viz., in December, . 1868, when it reached 110 deg., which was the maximum for the year, while the highest in 1867 was 1084 deg. in January, 1866, 108-2 deg. in January, 1865, 103-4 deg. in February, 1864, 986 den. in January, «863, 104,6 deg. in January, 1862, 111-2 eg. in January, 1861, 98*4 deg. in auuary, 1860, 111 deg. in January, 1859, 104 deg. in February, 1858, 107 8 dog. in January. Towards evening on Monday the wind went down, and it was calm and very sultry until towards three o'clock on Tuesday morning, when ,a strong northerly wind set in, promising, if anything,, greater heat than on the day previous, the thermometer at 6 Tuesday morning reading 87 2 deg., and at 9, 95 • deg., while on Monday it was only respectively 73*6 deg. and 92-8 deg. ; the maximum was, however, reached shortly before noon, when it read 101.3 deg. in the shade, and 140*0 deg. in the sun, in comparison with 103 -4 deg. in the shade, and 150*0 deg. in the sun on Monday. Between one and two o'clock p.m. scat- % tered rain fell, and towards three p.m. a thunderstorm passed in the N.E., followed a sudden shifting of the wind from N.E. to N., with clouds of dust, which, however, soon calmed down again, and the wind again backed to N.E., blowing strong. The temperature meanwhile fell considerably, being 79 - 0 deg. at four p.m., but rose again to 83.0 deg. at five p.m. Thunderstorms, with heavy rain, are reported from Queenschff and Cape Schanck, and the reports all along the coast mdi•- ---• cate an unsettled state of the weather.