INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1180, 10 May 1872, Page 2

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

A male, child, apparently a week old,' was recently found abandoned at the doorstep, in Courtney street, Hotham, of Mr B. Hart, Town Clerk of Hotham:: ; Mr Sarjeant, maua'ger of the Band, of Hope Company, Ballarat, reports highly of the auriferous nature of the lands he inspected on the Roper, and purposes introducing Chinese to work the auriferous gold fields. ..;,-• F. -Hewitt, the pedestrian, -is matched against an aboroginal. , Whilst a party of robbers were attempting to rob the house of Mr Stott, a miner, near Mudgea, one of theaa. was fired tipon, and he was afterwards arrested, badly injured. The prisoner was identified as Fraser, a: bushranger, recently released from gaol. The Bank of New South Wales has declared a dividend of 12£ per cent. A sum of Li 6,000 has been added -to,, thereserve fund, and L 3700 carried to the credit of a new account. At Clunes, a man named John Donough has died from alcohofo poisoning. A verdict to that effect was returned at the inquest held. The Gipps Land Times, 30th April, says that a shoemaker named Smith, at Port Albert, who, three years ago, was lost for eight days in the ranges, has again suddenly disappeared! He had a large sum of money in his possession, and is subject to occasional fits. of mania. The M. A. Mail says :- ."A curious coincidence in names and ages is to be found at Guildford. Three men are working in a tunnel, each of whom bears the Christian name of Adam. They were born the same year, and in the same town in Scotland. They came to the colony at different periods, fell in with each other, and eventually became mates." ...Samuel William Cliff, a respectablelooking man, was sentenced to death on April 26; in the Circuit Court, Sandhurst, before his Honor Judge Barry, for,committing a rape on a little girl, eleven years of age, named Mary Johnson. 'The prisoner has a wife and six children. Jas. Treayarrow wa,s tried for a similar offence on a gjrj named .'Anne Ward, eleven years of age, and was acquitted, the girl haying denied several important portions of the evidence she gave at her examination in the police court. ~- '

The man named Frederic Ostercamp, who was brought up lately charged with the murderous assault on a young girl, named Christina Farkins, residing near Amphitheatre, and also for assaulting the girl's father, was again brought up before Mr Carr, P.M., Avoca, and evidence taken in regard to the assault on the father, and again remanded^ the girl being unable to appear to give her evidence. ; It is reported that Ostercamp'a mother has been in the mad-house for the last ten

..... . jjg. years, and prisoner's conduct in gaol has been very eccentric. Mr -Woods, member for Crowlands, has given notice that he will propose that a . duty of Is per cubic foot be imposed 00 • all building stone importedinto the colony. Stonemasons, bricklayers, carpenters, and all engaged in the building trade will owe an everlasting debt of 'gratitude to Mr Woods for his disinterested efforts to give them a holiday. ,: , t .- v ,^, ,;; j Proceedings have been initiated against the Government- for annulling Dalwood and Darwent's overland telegraph contract. A billiard-match, for LIOO a-side and the championship of the colonies, has been made between Hitcliin and Weston. A man named Edwards killed another called Mason, at' Adelaide, 'by a blow on the temple, inflicted during' a fight. The Sydney Exhibition, which has been visited; by about 10,000 visitors a day, continues to be a great success. ... John Coyne arid Thomas Woods, for murder, and an aboriginal for rape, have Been sentenced to death /at /Bathtynt; Mining labor is much required atTambaroora and Hill End at advanced rates. The awards at the Exhibition are ' Hot completed. Tim Whiffler takes first prize in thoroughbred entries. /. , Another man has been apprehended who was supposed to.be the identical "wild fellow"; who , has s_o long disturbed /the peace of the White .Horse: arid, other ranges. : His name is Michael .Aiams ; but beyond the fact. that-hewalß-nearly naked and nearly mad when arrested, he bears no resemblance to the alleged Simon Pure. He was brought before the Bench and remanded for medical examination. His story is that he went out some time .' ago to follow the hounds on foot, and in doing so got bogged in the Yarrpwee, which he has been exploring ever since, as he says he is fond of knowing the particulars of everything that comes "in- : his way. He appears to be a man suffering from the effects of hard drinking. Mr ' Parkes has i been chosen as the ; leader of the Opposition, in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. On a proposal by Sir James Martin' to grant six months' supplies to facilitate^ the arrangements of the i new Ministry, 1^ moved an amendment; amounting practi- . cally to a vote of censure on the late Government. The debate, after i proceeding for a few hours, was. adjourned. It is to be inferred from the telegram that , the Acting-Governor read a speech according to custom, but the nature of it is. not • disclosed. Under the circumstances, however, ., the , Vieft-regal- speech ; must have been a more formal affair than ' USUaI. : . ■.; The Bendigo Autumn Race Meeting ' r . was a very successful affair. The attendance of the public was large, and there was an excellent -field of horses . for each event; The Handicap Hurdle Race was the best contested race of the meeting, there being no less than five horses in it a quarter of a mUe from home. Polka made the pace a fast one from the start, but her condition did not last the distance. Fair Nell proved to be the winner, Roger was a good second, and Brownie c third. Sir ; Chiirles was badly staked. . The Monk won the Handicap Steeplechase easily. Royston fell at the last fence, from home broke his.legi 1 Cluriie did not go sound the last" time, ; being quite out of the race; The Corin- . thian Cup was won easUy by Native. . , Helen won the Selling Hurdle Race, and .. Blackthorn the Selling Steeplechase, after 1 a fine finish with Lady Don. The Selling Flat Race was vrori easily, by Kate Dal- , rymple. The weather was very cloudy/ P but the rain kept off until the racing 'was ' over. .-■■ / ' ■■• ;• .-■•.. ■;•; ;

An unnatural mother appeared at the City Court on a charge of vagrancy; Her name was Annie Wilson, and constable Egan stated that he found her child, a crippled boy, about four years old, dying in the street gutter at half-past 9 o'clock in the evening. He had observed it to be about there from 4 o'clock that afternoon. The prisoner "came up to where the !chijd was, said she had no home to take it tq, and she was locked up, A woman at whose house Wilson had stopped for four or five weeks ' said that for the lilt ten days Wilson had not come home sober. The child had ; one leg injured so that it could not walk, and Wilson had frequently threatened that she would smash the other leg. The witness looked upon it as a wonder that Wilson had riot killed the child long ago, as she used, when drunk, to tall upon it. The Bench informed, the mother that she was a wretch, and that even the : beasts of the field would look after their offspring. They sent her to gaol for 12 months, with a view of ascertaining whether she could be cured of her drunken habits, and "they ordered the child tojibe sent to the Industrial School for seven years.

Following quickly on: the fatal boiler explosion at Collmann and Tacchi's claim, Sandhurst, another disaster, of an almost precisely similar character has occurred at the Catherine Reef United Company's claim . On Tuesday night the boiler exploded, destroying a considerable portion of the premises, and seriously, if not mortally, injuring several men. The fre-r quency of mining accidents at Sandhurst is becoming alarming, for our correspondent writes that on Wednesday morning a miner named Bolitho was killed at Long Gully by a fall of earth, while at the North Pegleg claim, another man 1 , named W. Thomas, was injured so severely by a fall down a shaft that he is riot expected to recover. It is a somewhat singular coincidence that there should have been a boiler explosion at Ballarat on Tuesday also. In this case, however, the only injury done was to property, the sufferer being Mr H; Chvke, the saw-mill proprietor. ...-,. i ■"■-.

The success of Australian racehorses on the Indian turf has led Messrs Hunter and Co., of Calcutta, to embark in a venture of the greatest importance toi the breeders of thoroughbred horses krVictoria. Yesterday, the ship James Service hauled off from the Sandridge town pier, 1 having on -board 20 thoroughbred horses, from three to five years, shipped to the order of the firm mentioned. These valuable animals have been specially selected by Mr W. C. Yuille for racing purposes. They are all from well-bred mares, and by such sires as Panic, King Alfred, Touchstone, and Boiardo.^* As this ship is veiy: successful in her trips with horses, there is every/ prospect; of the shipment being landed ih good condition, and from tbeir breeding and form we may expect to hear of them makiug a name on many an Indian racecourse, though as yet they are all untried.,-Un-fortunately of late some traders have been in the habit of manufacturing a

t:.k ! rg pedigree for any likely-looking animal they could pick up in the market, and this fact has led to Victorian pedigrees being viewed with great suspicion •by Indian sportsmen. In this instance the agent has taken great pains to get the breeders' certificate as to the pedigree of each animal shipped. The 'tween decks of the James Service are roomy and wellventilated, and the fittings and accommodation for her living freight are admirably contrived to secure the greatest amount of safety and comfort during tho sea voyage. The barque was to haul off from the pier last night, and proceed to her destination early this morning. The South Australian Government are paying a penalty of oner cent, on about L 600,000, owing to the non-completion of the overland telegraph. A few weeks ago, a broker, who is still to be seen plying " Under the Verandah" in Melbourne, with notebook and pencil, instead of the more appropriate Pentridge stonebreakers' hammer, negotiated with an occasional speculator the sale of LBOO worth of G. G. Consolidated scrip. The sale was effected in the sharebroker's office, and the vendor asked for a marked cheque on transferring the scrip. It was promised and drawn out, and while a messenger was despatched to the bank to get upon it the talismanic initials of the ledger-keeper, the sharebroker, saying he would be back in five minutes, slipped out with the scrip in his pocket. Within the five minutes the messenger returned from the bank with the cheque marked "no funds/ but the rogue with the LBOO worth, of scrip returned not, and from that hour to this the vendor has seen neither his scrip nor the price of them. They have passed into the possession of various persons. Robbing on the hightray for a living is a genteel craft compared to this method of plunder, but the heroes in the one case are placed in Beclusion, while this hero of the share market is still figuring in Collins-street.