INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 689, 18 June 1870, Page 1 (Supplement)

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Judge Rogers is at present suffering from illness. •:.•;...-. . A lead and silver mine has been discovered near Wollabadah. The Victoria machiue at Tanibaroora, crushed 13 tons quartz, yielding UOOoz. Two fishermen have been drowned at Swampy Creek — Godfrey Foster and a German, name unknown. At the last crushing of quartz taken from the lnglewood Reef a very good result has been obtained. Another old colonist has passed away. Mr Davenport Bromfield, J.P., of Birregurra, died on 20th ult. Coal has been found near Murrurrundi, and great hopes are entertained of a payable mine oeing Opened up there. The Sir John Franklin Company, Wood's Point, obtained a yield for the past fortnight of 2260z. A dividend of 5s was declared. A strong shock of earthquake was felt at Clare and Bundaleer on Sunday morning week. The course of the earthquake was from north to south. ' A fire took place at Ballarat, when the photographic operating room of Mr Roberts, near the Star office, was totally destroyed. Ah Chong, miner residing at Sandy Creek, having become weary of the world and its cares, committed suicide by swallowing a quantity of boiled opium. The residence of Mr Coleman Jacobs, in Talbot street,. Ballarat, was burned to the ground. The house and furniture were covered by insurance in the Alliance CompaAy. Lately fears have been entertained as to the safety of many of the buildings at Ballarat, owing to the extensive system of undermining carried on all through the township. . : _ A testimonial, consisting of a handsome silver tea and coffee service, was presented to Dr Mackay, • who for many years resided atCastlemaine, and took a prominent part in the public affairs of the district. The body, in a bad state of decomposition, of a wood-carter named -Naughton was found suspended, with a rope round the neck, to a tree in the bush, near to the Stoney Creek reservoir. The new Roman Catholic Church at Maryborough is on the eve of completion; It will be one of the handsomest religious structures in the district. Its cost will be about L 750. ; Four thousand rabbits were shot in a few hours on Mr Andrew Murray's star tion at Colac. Fifty gentlemen, armed with breach and muzzle loaders, were engaged in the Bport. ■ ■ j The Magnum Bonum Company, China--man's Flat, Maryborough, obtained foij the week 186oz, and for the fortnight 3370z. A dividend of 103 has been de-' dared. This makes the dividends per share paid during the last twenty months; amount to L2O ss. . Another large nugget has been found at Castlemaine. The Mail says, " A lump of gold weighing 2150z was purchased byj the bank from a small party of men, who! declined to give any clue to the place where they unearthed their prize." An extremely ingenious invention— a bottling machine — was exhibited, 20th inst., at Mr Dixon's cordial manufactory,! Rosslyn street) West Melbourne. The machine is capable of bottling forty dozen of ginger-beer or soda-water in one hour. Geelong has been edified or scandalised, it doe 3 not appear, which, by two of the clergymen who occupied local pulpits last Sunday "having the misfortune," as the Advertiser delicately and compassionately puts it, to preach the same sermon. A very daring robbery was committed in the Scots' Greys Hotel Little Bourke street about two o'clock on the afternoon of the 17th inst., for which three men named Benjamin Handy, George Brown and David Robson received a sentence of twelve months' imprisonment from the ity magistrates on Monday. A serious disturbance occurred at halfpast two o'clock on Wednesday morning, in the Parliament reserve, during which a man named Charles Heffernan was stabbed in three places to such an extent that the medical gentleman attending is at present unable positively to state whether any of his wounds will turn out fatal or not. The trade, mark of Sir Robert Burnett and Co., makers of the well-known " Old Tom" cordial gin, was the subject of another prosecution in the District Conrt, but in consequence of two of the defendants having gone to that haven of all persons in difficulties— Callao, the case was dismissed. The census returns for the colony of Tasmania, made up to the 9th February, have been published, and give the entire population of the island as 99,328, divided as follows :— Males, 52,853 ; females, 46,475. Hobart Town has a population of 19,091, of which 10,055 are females. Launceston cumbers 10,668— more thau one half or -5,506 being females. Miss Teresa Boden, the young "help" who assisted herself to the candlesticks in St. Patrick's Church on J7th inst., was brought up at the District Police Court, Ballarat, on Friday, the 20th. She pleaded guilty, and seemed much affected at the position in which she found herself placed, "though unkind people were heard to say," writes the Courier, " that she was more annoyed at having mistaken plated candlesticks for silver ones than at anything else. As it was suspected that other charges might crop up against her, she was remanded for a week." A fatal accident occurred, reports a Geelong paper, on Thursday, 19th inst., about half-past seven o'clock, to a miner, named George Wearry, whilst he was working in the mine of the Albion Company, Steiglite. The shifts ohange at seven o'clock, and he wns one of those who had just come on. Bis work was on the stopes, on the bottom level, and he had hardly commenced to work before several tons of the upper wall came upon him, completely burying him. He was got at as soon as possible, but life was extinct when the body was found. He is a married man, and his wife had only a few months previously come out from England. A company is in the course of formation to purchase from the manufacturers of the patent safety fuse their title to the patent, and carry on the work on a larger scale than the present proprietors can afford. At a public trial, which took place a short time ago, the really superior qualities of the patent fuse were abundantly proved, and the prospectus issued by the promoters states that the present machinery can supply one-half of the consumption of the colony. By a moderate additional outlay it is estimated that

the total wants of the colony, which, amount to 315,000 coils per annum, could be met. As the imported fuse costs about lOd a coil, while that of the patentees can be sold at 6£d, the saving to miners and quarrymen would be considerable should 'the company be enabled to fulfil the expectations formed by the promoters of the present scheme. The Bendigo Ensign publishes the following account of a very singular phencnmenon which, it. says, occurred on Monday, the 2nd May, at about the hour of noon, in the neighborhood of the junc- . tion of the Goulbnrn and the Murray; — " The day being clear and sunshiny, and no clouds about, a succession of explosions equal in sound to the discharge of the largest pieces of artillery were heard, five or. six going off in the space of as many seconds. The report appeared to come from the Murray, and was heard almost instantaneously and equally loud at Winter's, on the Goulburn,. Ulnpna, and some other stations on the Murray, distant some sixty or seventy miles apart. At a station twenty or thirty miles to the eastward the report was heard, but fainter, and more like the firing of musketry. A gentleman in the neighborhood, who is accustomed to note any phenomena of the kind, believes it must have been the bursting of an enormous meteor'" ; . We are happy to state that Mr G. P. Smith is gradually recovering from the effect of the wound inflicted on him by the prisoner Supple. The wound is healing, and the only ill effect at present felt by Mr Smith is a continued want of sleep, doubtless owing to the severe shock to his nervous system. The prisoner still remains in the Hospital attached to the Gaol, in order that he may be more closely watched. He remains very quiet and collected, is courteous to all with whom he comes in contact, but studiously avoids all allusion to the subject of the crimo which has led to his incarceration. He is allowed books and periodicals, but the local newspapers are prohibited; he, however, spends the greater portion of his time in reading the works allowed him, and also takes a great deal of exercise in the yard attached to the Hospital. He enjoys good health, and partakes of the food allowed him with a good appetite. ■: An imposition on the Melbourne public is exposed by the Geelong Advertiser, which states :— A splendidly tattooed Maori was to be seen about town on Friday, his business being the selling of semi-religious works. A gentleman, thinking he had seen the face before when Dr Carr, the mesmerist, was here, asked the man if he was not the individual who in a mesmeric trance used to do the war cry business, and submit to be punctured with pins and needles. The Maori, a a most knowing fellow, acknowledged the soft impeachment, and went on to assure his hearers that mesmerism was all humbug. As for being punctured with pins, Dr Carr gave him L 3 a week for that, and he liked the money. It pleased the people, and it did not hurt him. As for the mesmeric portion of the entertainment, it was all a farce. The difficulty surrounding the acceptance of the Victorian railway tenders has terminated by the department accepting that of Messrs O'Grady, Leggett, and Noonan, for the bulk contract. The firm met the Minister of Railways and the Engineer-in-Chief, according to appointment ; but they at first declined to accede to the estimates of the Engineer-in-Chief for L 305,558, and submitted instead their first tender of L 306,000, which was an advance on the figures of the department of about L 445. But the Minister was inexorable, and determined to re-advertise the contracts rather than bndge an inch. Ultimately a settlement was arrived at by the firm accepting the Engineer-in-Chief s estimate, and the necessary arrangements were at once entered into to complete the compact. It is thought that they have not made such a bad bargain with the Government after all, though they have accepted an estimate which is L442'less than, their first tendei, and L 10,442 less than their second tender. They have, nevertheless, secured better terms than Mr Porter expected to obtain byL11,668, his bulk tender being for L 293,870. Alexander Watt, late instructor on board the block ship Sir Harry Smith, hung himself at North "WUliamstown, in a most determined manner. The deceased was thirty-two years old, and was discharged from the Government service a fortnight ago. He had lost his wife recently, and subsequently his wife's mother had also died, leaving him with three small children. Since the death of his wife the deceased had been in a low desponding state of mind. He and his children had lately been living with a Mrs Creighton, in Dover road. It appears that, after dinner yesterday, Watt kissed each of his children, and went into the back yard. About half an hour afterwards Mrs Creighton went to the watercloset, and not being able to open the door or get any reply, told her husband that she thought there was something the matter with Mr Watt. Mr Creighton immediately forced the door open, and found the man hanging by a piece, of manilla rope, one end of which was attached to the ridge-board. The body was cut down, and medical aid was obtained, but life was extinct, the neck having been dislocated. On the man's person was iound L 23 19a. The body was handed over to the police, and conveyed to the Morgue to await a coroner's inquest. Another sad mining accident, which caused the death of two miners, earned Harry Motion and Charles Blann, is reported by the Whroo correspondent of the Bendigo Advertiser. It occurred at Coy's diggings. The men "were finishing the slabbing of a shaft on the prospecting claim, London Reef, and had put in a stage close to the surface, the last one they required to finish their work, and had it loaded with slabs for that purpose. The mode of making the stage was with two pieces of three-quarter inch iron ; holes were bored into the slabs in the side of the shaft, and* the iron slipped in to rest the slabs on ; the iron bolts haying two holes, one in each end, to receive pegs to prevent slipping. They had loaded the stage with about a dozen slabs, Blann standing on the stage, when his mate (Motton) jumped down upon the stage to assist in putting in the slabs. The iron bolts bent and they drew out of the holes, and down went the lot, men, Blabs, and all, a depth of 150 ft. On being brought to the surface they were found to be nothing but a mangled mass— legs, arms, neck, in fact almost every bone in their bodies was broken. They were both married men, Blanu being married just ono

year, and leaves one . child. Motton had no family. They were each 33 years of age." ' ■• "On the evening of the Queen's Birthday," writes the Bendigo Advertiser, " a daughter of Mr M'Lennan, baker, of M'Crae street, who Was on a visit to a friend's at Golden-square, weut put with another young girl to have a look at the bonfiresi ' The glare of fires prevented them from seeing the road very distinctly, and crossing, as Miss M'Lennan supposed, a small excavation, she made a step aero.is it, and, to her dismay, fell down a quartz shaft 30ft deep. Her companion just escaped following her by a little hillock of earth, which made her turn to the side. She saw Miss M'Lennan disappear from her side, and heard a splash in the water at the bottom of the hole, and divining at once what had happened, she screamed for assistance. A number of men were speedily attracted to the spot, arid a clothes Jine was cut and lowered down the hole until better appliances were procured. Miss M'Lennan, in the meantime,, with great presence of mind, on finding herself al the surface of the water, jammed her feet and back against the opposite sides of the shaft, and thus kept her head above water. She seized the clothes-line" when it was lowered, and twisting it round her hands, the people on top drew her up half way, when, unable to hold on any longer, Bheletgo, and fell into She 'water again. She recovered herself and the line, arid a second effort was made to haul her up with a similar result. A miner' named West was then lowered down by a rope, and he fastened a strap round her waist, but in hauling her up she slipped through the strap, and she had a third fall into the water. West '■ again descended, and managed to fasten the strap firmly, and she was then drawn up, and to the astonishment of every one, without a scratch on her, except on her hand, made bytherope:" :; A most heartless case of wife-deßertion was heard in the City.Court, Melbourne, which by the time it was cpncluded, had expanded into a long Btory. of shameful deception and unblushing villany that is painful to contemplate; Thomas H. Jones, ,said to have been well known in Melbourne some twelve or fourteen years ago as a land auctioneer, and also to have appeared on the s!;age of the Princess' - Theatre, was brought up at the instance pf his wife for deserting 'her. When first brought up he asked to be allowed a-few minutes private conversation With ihe prosecutrix, saying that" he thought he . could arrange the case. The negotiation failed, and the case was heard. The injured woman stated that he had left her three years- ago^ -and proceeded' to New Zealand, since which he had contributed very little to her support, and latterly deserted her entirely. r.:Tlie prisoner Crossexamined his wife at some length respecting the moral character of her lodgers, until she retorted that he had little occasion to reproach her with that, when he was going about the country" in company with a young woman who was in court. The Bench- ordered him to find a Surety in L2O to pay his wife 15s a week for. twelve months. The young woman alluded to then deliberately applied to the Bench for a. warrant; against. Jones tor 'bigamy, as she had been married to him three years before in Wellington/ .She states that her name is Amelia B. J. Crosbie, and that the prisoner had met her in Wellington three years before, and representing himself as a widower, had gained her affections and married her. She had lived with hito ever since, and it wasonly very lately she had discovered he had another wife. The man had actually carried on a correspondence with the first wife all the time, and it was the discovery of some of the letters that first led to his detection.^ :■■■■■:■ . . • .