INTERCOLONIAL ITEMS.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 667, 28 April 1870, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL ITEMS.

? » The practice of garotting has made its appearance in Brisbane. The maize crop in New South Wales is being attacked by the aphia. Two more nuggets have been found at Berlin— one weighing 60oz and the other 20qz. ; There has been no rain ab Adelaide for 70 days, and the weather is unseasonably close and sultry. It is proposed to divert the course of the Hunter, N.S.W., at a cost of L 137,000, in order to prevent a recurrence of floods. A bottle containing 655 diamonds has been deposited with the manager of the Bank of New South Wales at Mudgee. The agricultural lands of Queensland are said to be limited to an area of 7500 square miles, equal to 5,800,000 acres. All available labor is being utililised in the gaol at Brisbane, Queensland, with a view to render the establishment selfsupporting. Eight thousand five hundred tons of wheat and flour were exported from South Australia during the first three months of the year. In the Varieties Theatre, Gympie, Queensland, the water during the late flood was 19 feet deep. It was an overflowing house. Experiments are being made near Mount Gambier with a view to the conversion of potatoes into farina as a substitute for arrowroot. A direct overland line of electric telegraph from Adelaide to Port Darwin is insisted upon as an indispensable necessity by the S. A. Register. The flood of 1870 is said to have been more disastrous in New South Wales than any similar visitation experienced during the previous 25 years. It is stated that the substitution of gun cotton for powder in the works connected with the Preston Vale tunnel has been an immense saving to the contractors. Competition at Hamilten has induced the storekeepers there to announce that the Melbourne preserved meats, which have now become a leading article at the grocery stores, will be sold at lower rates. Mr W. Macleay's select committee on railways recommended that cheap horse railways, at LISOO a mile, be generally adopted throughout New South Wales, and that one should be made from Meama to Deniliquin. . The harbor of Belfast, Victoria, has been considerably improved by the work which has lately been done there by the contractors. There is now 12ft of water on places which formerly were dry. A death at Pleasant Creek has resulted from a singular cause. The deceased was a youth named Potter, who died from over-growing. He wanted one month of being 15 years of age, and measured sft lOin in height. During a cricket match played recently in New South Wales between the Turriut and Adelong clubs, a hit was made for which 10 runs were obtained. The distance from the wicket to where the ball first touched ground was measured, and found to be 165 yards. Mr Goyder, Surveyor-General of South Australia, has received instructions to commence at once the valuation of all the runs in the colony. He is also preparing a xeporfc on the working of the Land Act in Victoria, which it is understood will be of an adverse character. The farmers of Mount Gambier seem to be in" earnest about growing sugar-beet, for they have appointed a committee to enter on a correspondence and take all Beeessary initiatiative steps for the irifrodution of this new branch of their business. Thus they will be enabled to work with far more certainty and with more complete information than if, as individuals, they entered on experiments and worked out the problems for themselves. -For some time past, says the Casiblemaine Representative, in*a modest and unobtrusive way, a new industry has been prosecuted in our midst, , and seems in a fair way to become a perfect success. A walk- hasbeen put up at Wattle Flat, and some excellent specimens of workmanship have been shown to us. Mr Griffiths, the manufacturer, has used considerable quantities of New 'Zealand flax, and can supply ropes of almost every size at prices lower than the current rates for Manilla hemp.