LATEST INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 738, 11 October 1870, Page 3

LATEST INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

A small salmon was caught at New Norfolk, Tasmania. • H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh performs the closing ceremony at the Sydney Exhibition. O'Neill's store, Post-office Hotel, and odjoining buildings, in High street, Maitland have been burned down. The loss is principally insured. A Hobart Town telegram mentions the death of Mr Henry Hopkins. A young man named James Clarke, employed as groom by Mr Holme, of Eagle Vale station, was drowned on the 19fch ult., while attempting to ride across the Crooked River. Hickey and Rush have been matched at L2OO a side for the sculling championship of Australia, the match to be rowed on the Parramatta River on November 5. As an instance of the spirit which animates the German nation, it may be mentioned that Oppenheimerand Co., bankers, Cologne, subscribed one million thalers towards the relief of the wounded soldiers of the German army. John M'Coy and Eliza Perry have been committed for trial at Sydney on a charge of murdering the man Smith, who was found dead at Lime Cove, under suspicious circumstances. The offer of the surveyor-generalship of West Australia has been made by Mr Barlee, Colonial Secretary of that colony, to Captain T. Couchman, chief mining surveyor of Victoria. Advices from Western Australia state that Captain Watson, formerly of the brig Layard, was lost in the bush whilst coming overland from Swan River to King George's Sound to catch the mail steamer, and no trace of him has yet been found. The tailings of the United Battery Company, Waterhouse, Tasmania, which were sent to town for examination, have been found to contain a large quantity of amalgam, which accounts for the recent decline in the yields, despite the known improvement in the reef. " A fatal accident," reports the Ballarat Courier " occurred at Bungaree on Monday, by which a man named John Geddes lost his life. The deceased and his brother were engaged with a jinker and two horses clearing a piece of land, when, owing to the horses slewing round, the de-ceased-was jammed between the shaft and ihe log. He was at once taken home on a stretcher, but died in an hour or two afterwards." A fire broke out at 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 30th ult., near the Sydney Morning Herald office, in Hunter street—The .premises oi. Mr -Turner, bookseller ; .Mr Jelfs, jeweller ;- Mr Schultz barber ; and Mr Wood bootmaker, were destroyed, but the loss is nearly covered by insurance. We understand that a Melbourne firm engaged in the furniture trade has been fined LSO for passing false entries for a quantity, of goods which had been consigned to it. The invoices which the firm produced in support of the bona fides of the entries are believed by the Customs authorities to be spurious, but the parties implicated assert that they are genuine, and intend to appeal against the fine. The report of a special general meeting . of the British Australian Telegraph Company, states that the Company have denfinitely acceptedtheproposition of the South Australian 'government. The company will, therefore, only lay the line to Port Darwin, at which place it will le joined by the land line which South Australia is about to construct. On Thursday, the 29th nit., Mr Austin Saqui and Mr Nichels, well-known bootmakers, had a quarrel, during which decanters were used as weapons, and Mr Nichols received a severe scalp wound. Saqui then ran away, and Nichols followed, but a constable interfered, and the row was stopped for the present. Saqui, however, became so alarmed at some expressions used by .Nichols, that yesterday | Ihe applied to have the latter bound over ( |to keep the peace. Nichols was arrested, and bailed out to appear this morning at the City Court to answer the charge of violently and maliciously threatening and declaring that he would kill Saqui. An attempt at suicide was made on the 30th ult. by a woman named Margaret Williams, who was about jumping into the Yarra, near Prince'3-bridge, when a passer-by seized her, and handed her over to Senior-constable Mooney. The officer locked her up, and when at the watchhouse she stated that she would kill herself as soon as possible. She was very much excited, however, and will probably change her raind after a course of prison diet. In the N.S.W. Legislative Assembly, Mr Watts's resolution, " That a bill be introduced for the formation of a railway north of Port Augusta, the gauge to be 3ft 6in, the cost of construction not to exceed L3,G00 per mile, and interest to be guaranteed at a rate not exceeding 5| per cent, fcr 30 years on the total amount

expended," was carried by a majority of three, notwithstanding the strcmg Disposition made by the Government', Some wool has reached Port Augusta from Cooper's Creek for shipment. At the Executive Council the case of G. H. Supple was finally considered, and it was resolved that the law should take its course. The sei t« ice was to have been carried into excution on Monday, the 10th inst. The plan af defence in respect to the shore batteries of Hobson's Bay is so far developed that is now understood that the Lighthouse Battery at Williamstovvn is to be mounted with four 80-pomiders and two 300-pounders, and the Central Battesy (adjacent) with four 80-poimder3. The contract for the aditional works required in these instances are taken up, but they do not include certain earthworks, &c, which it is proposed to carry out by convict labor. One 300-pounder will also bo mounted at Point Ormond. Our telegram mentioned that the title of Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George had been cc nferred on the late Captain Start. The following extract is explanatory of this item : — "The Gazette (London) notifies that Mrs Sturt, widow of Captain Charles Start, formely Colonial Secretary of South Australia, is to enjoy the same style, title, place, and precedence to which she would have been entitled had her husband survived and been appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George." The body of Mr Theodore Hansen drowned at Echuca was found in the Cainpaspe River. It was conveyed to Mr Redman's Hotel, were an inquest was held, and a verdict of "accidentally drowned" returned. At the funeral, the corpse followed by 300 mourners, icluding the Freemasons and Oddfellows. It was borne to the water's edge, and conveyed with the mourners in 30 boats through a mile of water to the cemetery. After the service for the burial of the dead was read, the burial rites of the Freemasons and Oddfellows were performed. All the the places of business were closed, and everyone seemed anxious to pay the last mark of respect to a man generally beloved, and whose melancholy end will remain as a sad memento of the flood of 1870. A telegram from Port Stephen states i tlvnt a large, full-rigged war steamer, apparently French, passed south-ward at 9 o'clock, and a good deal of surmise was created as to her true character and intentions. Spoculations was, however, soon set at rest by a latter telegram, from Newcastle, conveying the information the H.I.M.S.S. Guichen had put into that port from New Caledonia for the purpose of coaling, and that she was en route for Sydney to obtain the mails and Government despatches brought by the Malta. The captain of the Guichen reports that the barque Fruiterer, Captain Stevens, with a general cargo, bound from Newcastle to Noumea, struck on a reef off New Caledonia, and that passengers, captain, and crew, to the number of 24, all perished, only one passenger, named Smith, and three sailors, being saved. The following cabin passengers were amongst Ihe lost : — Mrs Smith, Mr and Mrs G. Smith, Miss Jones, Misses Smith (three), Messrs T. Smith, Atkinson, and Blakely. The body of a man was found floating in Hobson's Bay, opposite the Sandridge Sugar Works. In one of the pockets was found a certificate of discharge as an engineer, bearing the words, "T. Stewart, engineer. " He is supposed to have been connected with the Artillery corps, which left with the other troops lately. The body did not seem to be more than 24 hours in the water. Not a bad anecdote about the excitement occasioned up-country by the receipt of the war news by the telegrams via California is told by the Chiltern correspondent, of the Ovens Spectator, who says : — "The telegrams received for your Chiltern contemporary were read as received at the bar of Ruppin's Hotel de Paris. From the way in which some of the crowd could hear the reading of the news, it was very difficult to obtain its sense. • This was, however, somewhat obviated by a celebrated German storekeeper, who condensed the intelligence by giving the following exclamation to his friends : — 'Veil, you see, Napoleon is in de schtone yng, and de Prussians have yumped Ms klaim.' " The 3endigo Independent writes : — " From Echuca, ,Moama, and the districts along the River Murray, there comes a harrowing tale of sufferings and misery among the unfortunate inhabitants whose houses and lands were inundated by the late flood. A gentleman who has been travelling in those parts of the country within the last few days assures us that numerous families were utterly deprived of their houses, and were compelled to seek shelter in tents or rude gunyahs, which they constructed on the rising grounds, their dwellings being mostly rendered filthy, comfortless, and inhabitable by the water and muddy deposits that spread about in almost every dircctior, and with all their household goods injured and more or less destroyed, that return to such wretched abode 3is altogether out of the question. Dr. Pounds, the coroner, has lately been canvassing for subscriptions towards relieving the Echnca sufferers, and will be happy to receive any contributions." Almost the last, and not the least important, step in respect to the departure of the Imperial troops from Victoria was taken on the 30th ult. There was then transferred to the Victorian Government the whole of the Imperial millitary stores now in what may be called the garrison arsenal. Of course the colony will repay the cost price of the goods thus handed over. These consist mainly of a complete camp equipage, including over 100 tents and the corresponding paraphernalia, an entire set of military hospital stores, including every requisite appurtenance, apparatus, and medicine, "and about 60 Suider rifles, with nearly 150,000 ball and about 120,000 blank cartridges, of the latest Boxer pattern, together with the , whole of the tools, &c, for converting the old regulation rifles into breech-loaders. The cost of all this may be roughly guessed at L 6,000. The Western Press states that an accident of an extraordinary character, but one which, it is surprising to state, did not .Testtll in the less of the life or the chief actor, occurred on the station of Mr G. Hislop, Baangal (Skipton), a few days since. It appears that a boy who was engaged in wood-cutting, lost the axe-head from the handle, and went inside the hut for the purpose of effecting the necessary

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fixture. A box of matches was lying on the bench inside the hut at the time, which the youngster amused himself with in a listless sort of manner by striking, when a spark ascended to one of the rafters whereon a keg of powder rested. The explosive material went off with a deafening report, and, as one would easily imagine, blew the roof of the hut into fragments. Strange to relate, the boy himself, although much frightened at what he had done, escaped uninjured, although the keg of powder was but 3ft above hij head when he struck the match. A young man who arrived a few days ago in Victoria, went to Brighton in company with a " young lady," and at that rural village took so much refreshment that he remembered nothing more till he woke up on the roadside minus all his money, consisting of 36 sovereigns. He complained of the matter to the police, but is not likely to recover his money again. Although Florence still remains at the head of the betting for the Derby, it is evident that her f>roving the victor in that race is not looked upon as such an absolute certainty as it was some time back. Within the last week a disposition has been shown to hold one or two of the field safe. Keepsake has been the most fancied, and she has been largely taken both in doubles and right out. Florence was backed yesterday at 6 to 4 as long as it could be got. Keepsake was backed at 4 to one to win about LSOO, and more would have been taken but the bookmal ers declined to go on at the prico. Pyrrhus was bac'ied to win a fair amount at 35 to 10. For the Cup, Warrior wa3 wanted at 100 to 14. Keepsake was taken at 1,000 to 20. Some inquiries were made about Milesian ; his price is firm at 100 to 7. Croydon is constantly asked for, and 6 to 1 about him would be readily taken, but the books are all full. Double event books have been opened on the Hurdle Race and Grand National ; the odds given are 100 to 3. Kaled and Dutchman are the most sought after. The latter has been backed pretty freely for the Grand National at 4to 1. For the double of Hunt Club Cup and Grand National the odds offered are 100 to 4. For the double event of Derby and Cup, Pyrrhus and Keepsake were taken at 1,300 to 3. This filly has also been taken with all the Cup favourites of the Derby and Cup. A new steam motor, invented some years ago by an American, arid- secured by letters patent both in America and France, has recently been introdued to this colony by Mr W. J; Lande, and an experimental trial of its capabilities was made lately at Mr A. K. Smith's foundry, Carlton, in the presence of several civil and mechanical engineers. These engines have been in use in America for a considerable time, and it is alleged that they have stood the test of long and hard usage, and have been pronounced by many Government and other engineers to be superior to any in use for stationary purpose. Their chief merits are said to be that they are equal to the best position engines in economy of f i e l ., that they can be constructed at much less cost, that their simplicity renders them less liable to get out of order than others, that they can be set up without an expensive foundation, and can be worked without the assistance of a skilled engineer. From a description which appeared in the JVeio York Tribune in January last,and which is acknowledged to be correct, we learn that the eugine is worked upon the principle of reaction wheel, being simply a hollow shaft, having two or more hollow arms, steam issuing from opposite sides of theae arms causes them to revolve by force of reaction or unbalanced pressure. Just outside the hollow arras is a wheel having buckets, on the inside of its rim. This wheel is hung upon a shaft in line with the hollow shaft, and the steam, after exerting its power of reaction upon the hollow arms, strikes the buckets, and forces the outer wheel in the opposite direction. The power of both wheels is used in driving machinery by means of a cross belt. These engines can be made from 1 to 40 hirse power, the one tested being only 2-horse power. By its means a circular saw was driven, and a quanity of hard, well-seasf>nerl Gin. timber cut into lengths with the greatest ease. The trial, through scarcely a crucial one, iras succesful. and appeared to give satisfaction to the professional gentlemen who -witnessed it. Mr Lande has registered the invention as its introducer, and will probably apply for a patent for this colony.