INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1094, 30 January 1872, Page 2

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

The report^r^HS^a&lelaide Meat-pre- , servingCpmpany.giyeS'a favorable account of operations. The report for 1871 snoi|ed g,2§9,PoQlb, ibeinga large 'increase over previous years., , t A shocking occurrence 'has taken place at Cblbinabbin, north, and isireported in the Warat)^aGhrmicle t ,^ A man .name, d William Lassom, poisoned ' himself t>y taking strychnine on "the 10th instant, while 'suffering- ifrom. tremeiis. His infant daughter,: shortly after he took the poison, found the glass and drank somei of ; its remaining contents,; Theyi were both taken in the convulsions consesquent on. poisoning by. strychnine, and both died,^bpjat the, same'tiriie.' The D&niliqitin Clir&tiicle reports the death , of. Thomas Hams,. a .bushman, last week, oh WUlurak fun :—" Oh Sunday week he left Oonargo with a pom r paniou for that place. : When within foup and a miles of ; their -destination, they thpught they had missed . their, became confused, and then separating- to search for water, one was ultimately found dead' under a tree, ■"'ari& r the other pipked up on the fourth, day still wandering. The journals to hand' report' several other cases of a h'ke nature as. occurring in different parts of these 'cpjb^ies' duriijg the present excessively hot weather." j Poor John King' was closely preceded by another member of the exploring expedition. ; . The intelligence, of ( the death of Mr Landells is brought in a letter received by the last mail from Calcuttar^ It will be remembered that liandeUs arrived in Victoria, in charge of the camels f:>r the expedition, and afterwardSj aqcompanied it r for some distance as second in comniand. ■ In consequence of 'disagreements with Burke, he . left it at Menindie, and came back to "Melbourne, where he pubJishe^hig_Qpinio.n that ißurke. wj}uld4iey,er return alive. „..„■.,.. ,v. Some Ballarat'mine'rs (says the Star) have conceived a desire to go, gold-hunting in New Caledonia; and they havef fiut themselves ,in ; communication v witK the French Consul fop the purpose of ascer? taining if passages' Would f be giVeif them, in the Caledonienne, or other, facilities be afforded to theni for carrying out their wishes. The consul replies that a free passage would be given „f c tp a few competent miners^ but at their own, risk' and peril." He adds/:—" Therewprild doubtless be room for engagements ; on account of the. late gold discoveries, Jrat, hejcan make no fixed appointments." A solicitor, known 5 the name of Whiting, who frequents the District Gourt, Melbourne, on the 17th inst. rendered himself so obnoxious that the Bench ordered him: out of, qour,t; ; ; He, was, intoxicated, and continually made remarks upon the proceedings in cou'rtj and at last I thre.>y.a pen, which struck Mr F. Sjtephgn on the nose. Mr Call, P..M., said that something must be done with the man. as he was continually tipsyi and in the meantime ordered him put of court. jYSTiiting objected to one pf r the lawyers describing him as "this .perspn," and . wanted . ip argue the point,' but was quickly induced to quit the court; ; r ; ;> y; " . The Union. Bank,, 3aliarat, was, diV covered to be on 'fire at midday on the 2£jth. The " old strong rpom^ where ai

mass of papers is stored, was the scene of the conflagration, which was extinguished by the firemen before it had done much mischief. The volume of smoke proceeding from the premises naturally occasioned great alarm, and rumors of a serious disaster to deeds and property Bpread. The Mail says :— " No securities are destroyed. The bank's papers and vouchers are as safe as they were before the fire took place. The sole result of the fire is the burning of a few books, useless to the bank, tho customers, and .the, shareholders." The outbreak is attributed to spontaneous combustion. Another accident, the result of the ordinary carelessness f or,. recklessness shown by the workmen in mines, occurred on Friday in the claim of the East Windmill Bill Tribute, Bendigo. A shot had missed fire, and one oj ;tjie mejij who was known by the name of "Prussian Bill," commenced to pick out the charge, without adopting proper precaution or tools, and the consequence was that the shot exploded while he was so engaged. He received the full force of the charge about his head, face, and upper portion of the body. He was immediately removed where he could be attended to, when it was found that one of his arms was shattered, and his head so much injnred that his recovery is very doubtful. The evidence against Captain Collard on the charge of neglect of duty as master of the ship Sussex was advanced a short stage in the District Court on Saturday, the 20th, whetf Fisher and Taylor, two of the look-out men on board the ill-fated vessel, were examined. Considerable dissatisfaction was expressed by several witnesses at the Iprobable' or actual loss of situations obtained since the wreck, in consequence of having to remain in the colony, and from the remarks made that it was doubtful whether they could be detained against their will to give evidence, it seems verY likely that some of them will depart if not sharply looked after. The case was further adjourned till this morning. It is stated that the prosecution is instituted^, by » the Qrpwn,t on whose behalf Messrs C. A. Smyth arid fr-^k P. Smith appear. m "The complaint* made respecting the nature of the weather during the past ten days have not been uncalled for, #hen it is considered the thermometer has generally ranged in Melbourne from 96deg. to lOOdeg, in the shade j but even this appears to be moderate compared with ,tl?e state of affairs in some of the up-country towns. A correspondent writing from Eltham informs us that on Monday the thermometer in the sun stood at 140deg., and inside the schoolroom, in the shade, at 106deg. In Sandhurst ; the thermometer recenty regis* tered lOodeg. in the shade, while a solar radiating thermometer showed 177deg. The heat must have been intense, but owing to the sky being clouded the number of attacks of sunstroke were not so numerous as anticipated.