Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 665, 23 April 1870, Page 4

From the papers brought by the s.s. Claud Hamilton we make the following extracts. Melbourne dates are to the 9th inst. : — Mr Neil M'DoDald, the oldest resident at Circular Head, and who had Jived there during the past forty years, has been killed by a cart accident. Mr Joseph Aarons, accountant and trade assignee, and Mr E. L. Montefiore, secretary of the AustralasianJ Insurance Company, have been appointed magistrates of New South "Wales. The Mercury reports that Mr George Harvey, secretary of the Daylesford Mechanics Institute, died very suddenly on Thursday, 31st ult. He was an aged man, and was found by his wife sitting on the floor dead. A winding-up order, the Ballarat Star reports, has been issued against the Old Bank sf Scotland Company by His Honor Judge Rogers, at the suit of the Commercial Bank of Australia. The' Gwlong Advertiser reports : — News arrived in town on the 31st ult. that the house occupied by Mr Abram Weber, the vigneron on the Moorabool, was burnt to the ground between 9 and 10 a.m. How the fire originated has not been ascertained. It is stated that the blowing-up of the wreck of the Lightning will take place while the volunteers are camped at the Little River. Captain Jones, of the unfortunate ship, is likely to proceed home by the s. Somersetshire. Two men, named respectively Alex. Poynton and Henry Milligan, connected with the Break o' Day Company's Claim, Rokewood, met with severe accidents on Ist inst. Poynton had his thigh broken, and the. other man was severely kicked by a horse. Sir James Fergusson, Bart., the Governor of South Australia, was a passenger by the Coorong, from Adelaide, which arrived in Melbourne on the 7th inst., and during his stay in this colony will be the guest of Viscount Canterbury. Sir James, will probably proceed to Launceaton by the next steamer. Mr Harwood, Mr Stewart, the Misses Stewart, and that portion of the Theatre Royal company that has been performing in Adelaide, were passengers by the same steamer. The battery of the United Victorian and Tasmanian Quartz Company, Waterhouse, was started on Monday, the 4th inst., in the presence of a large number of spectators, notwithstanding the rain. Miss Fanny Brewer dashed a bottle of champagne on the fly-wheel, and christened the machine "The Hope of Tasmania." The machinery worked splendidly, and the proceedings were termi-

nated by a dinner. The results of the crushing will not be known for some time. The Prospectors Claim, at Nine-mile Springs, waa sold for LIOOO and an interest in it. A reef seven feet thick haa been discovered on Warren's claim. The meeting of pedestrians, held on the 7th inst. at Grimwood's Hotel, was adjourned until after Easter. It was deemed advisable that this step should be taken, as it is known that a great many professional runners are at present in training for the Easter holiday events. We have been shown the articles of the match to be run on the 14th May, between Harris and Bird, on the Eastern Oval, Ballarat. The stake is L2OO, of which LlO a-side has already been deposited in the hands of Mr William Smith, of the Exchange Hotel. The second deposit of L4O a-side is to be made on the 9th of April between the hours of eight and ten p.m. The other deposits aro to be made on the 23rcl of April, the 7th of May and the 13th of May. Mr Wm. Boyd is to act as starter, and Mr Dan. Sweeney, the well-known cricketer, as judge. The uso of gun-cotton for blasting has become very prevalent in Victoria. It is found to be safe, as well as effectual and cheap. In the execution of the Preston Vale Tunnel— through 1076 ft of granite, no less than 1400 charges of gun-cotton were exploded in a week, without any casualty whatever. Some of the coarser preparations, such as gun-sawdust, should be sufficient for blasting purposes. The successful use of gun-cotton should render it unnecessary to run any risks with nitroglyceriue or dyamite. A movement is stated now to be on foot in Melbourne, which will likely eventuate to form a company, with a capital of LIBO,OOO, for the purpost, of purchasing a large block of ground at the junction of Collins and Swanston streets, knoAvn as Nicholson's corner, on which to erect a large opera house, encircled by shops, besides allowing a handsome frontage for the theatre. The dress-circle entrance is to be in Collins street, pit and stalls in Swanston street, and entree to the gallery in Little Collins street. The second and third cases of gold stealing from the great Nothern Junction Company's mine were brought to a conclusion yesterday evening. At an early hour, reports the Courfcr, Christopher Tonkins and Joseph Roberts were placed in the dock, and after a large portion of the evidence given in the case of Rashleigh and May had been repeated, the jury found Tonkins guilty and acquitted Roberts. Abraham George, the nifin who had been arrested late on the night on the 22nd February, was next tried and found guilty, with a recommendation to mercy, on the grounds that only a small portion of gold had been found upon him, and that he had a very large family to support. His Honor admitted that the quantity of gold was small, but .he intimated that a 1 similar quantity might have been taken by the prisoner every time he left the mine. He held the crime to be one of very great magnitude, and though he would be glad to give a light sentence if he could, under the circumstances he could not possibly order the prisoner less than three years' imprisonment with hard labor. He then gave similar sentences in the cases of Rashleigh and Tonkins, and in so doing expressed himself as being perfectly satisfied with the finding of the juries in each of the three cases, not only as regarded the convictions, but the acquittals also. Street-preaching appears to meet with as great impediments at Ballarat as frequently beset it in this city. The Goarier reports the following scene as having occurred on Saturday night : — " Two men commenced preaching and singing hymns at about 8 o'clock, and in a little while they were interrupted by a man who was evidently under the influence of drink, but who was still sober enough to take pertinent exception to the grammer and pronunciation of one of the amatuer divines. The drunken man waa soon joined by another inebriate, who began to cross-examine the preachers to the very great satisfaction of the majority of those who were present. It speedily became apparent that the opposition was too strong, and all sort 3of queer questions were put to the preachers. Amongsthese were, ' What do you think of payment of members V ' Who's your hatter ?' ' Would you like a pint of two ales V &c, &c. The preachers showed the utmost patience and good humor, and in obadience to a cry ' Give us a song, old man,' one of them commenced a hymn, which was almost immediately drowned in the well-known chorus, Old John Brown, which was taken up. by a number o f the audience." The Kilmora Free Press records a serious accident to two young ladies named Cole and Plummer, and a gentleman named Swan. They were driving to the racecourse, when the horses bolted. Mr Swan and Miss Plummer jumped out, but Miss Cold remained in the vehicle. Presently the infuriated horses brought the buggy into contact with some premises at a street corner, smashing the vehicle into sundry pieces against the corner of the kerbing, and precipitating its occupant on to the road. ' When picked up it was found that the unfortunate lady was frightfully wounded about the face, which came in contact with the loose, road metal, and a deep gash was inflicted in the forehead, besides several of her teeth were knocked out with the force of the fall. " One of the most painful scenes that have been witnessed in the Sandhurst Police Court happened," says the Bendigo Advertiser, "on Tuesday. A girl 15 years of age named Harrington, was charged with pawning earings which she obtained from easy-going jewellers under the pretence that they were for a Miss Davis. The father of the girl, a porter at the railway station, who appeared to be the chief instigator of the case against his daughter, stated unhesitatingly that he wished his child to be sent to gaol. The poor motherless child, as she heard her parent express his wish to have her in gaol, gazed at him earnestly, and burst into tears; again when this man was leaving the court, he was addressed by his sobbing erring child, but he passed her by unheeded as a thing too vile for him to notice." A man of the name of Regan, a resident of Westbury, while returning home from Launceston in a chaise cart with his wife and and sister-in-law, a girl about twelve years old, and when about half way bebween Carrick and Sillwood tollgate, commenced quarrelling with his wife (to whom he was not long married) about a dress that Mrs Regan had bought for her mother, stating that

she had no right .to spend Ins money on her mother. Tiegan took hold of the girl by the neck and threw her out of the cart, then took his knife oat of his pocket and stabbed his wife in the neck, completely severing tho jugular vein ; he then jumped out of the cart and swore he would serve the girl the same. After chasing her round the cart the girl ran into the bush, when Regan lost sight of her ; he then took to his heels and ran away. The girl waited awhile, and seeing no sign of Regan returning, she went to the cart and spoke to her sister, but all the answer she got was a faint groan. Mrs Regan, the deceased, was about 17 years of age, and the daughter of a pensioner, residing at Westbury. Regan was working on the railway. The police are on the alert, and it is to be hoped that they will soon succeed in arresting a character so desperate. The Monut Alexander Mail, recurring once more to the Constitutionalists in the Victorian Assembly, says that "it is a pertinent question to ask what in the future of that party is likely to be either in tho House or out of it. In the House it is clearly disintegrated, broken up, disorganised, without a purpose, and without a leader, and without esprit de corps. Perhaps the fate that has overtaken it is only what might have been expected from a careful consideration of its origin. It was called into existence^ — was constitutionalism. — to do battle for a principle that was felt to be engendered by the conduct of its opponents. It fought the battle brayely and stoutly as these opponents must admit, and it succeeded in maintaining the principle for which it fought safe and inviolate. The battle having been won, of what use is it to keep the standards displayed, and the combatants resting on their arms? To our minds the best thing that the commanders can do is to declare their forces disbanded aud to merge as quickly as possible into one or other of the parties that may happen to present most points of likeness to their sympathies. As long as the sense of irritation is kept up by a show of hostilities, there is not the least chance of terms being negotiated, and unless Messrs Langton and Macmahon have resolved to discharge the functions of Free Lances, fighting to-day against this party, and to-morrow .against the allies of to-day, they can be said to have no fixed status or denominational existence at all. As a matter of course, while they remain disorganised in the House, they cannot expect to have to represent them outside, and the sooner they are made thoroughly conscious of the consequences of their late vague and inconsequential tactics the better."