LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS,

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1476, 28 April 1873, Page 2

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS,

By the arrival of the s.s. Claud Hamilton at Hokitika on Saturday, we have Australian., n&ws to- the. 19 fch^April.,**. The- - following are some of the latest items : — I / A| tdlegiia)nrf?om .Darwin states that Messrs Abbot and Masters have made ~&* new~discossery. at Sandy Oreekyou -~the •« Priscilla line o£ jeef,, four miles south of Westcott's. "Thesh'ow of gold is acknowledged to be superior to anything in tlje Northern Territory, not excepting ivjijtestcott's. Several persons are suffering from fever- • . : - -■ ■ . . .- : . •.• .:. . ■ ■ r ; The Hector, bound from Adelaide to New Zealand, has put in at Tamar Heads leaky,, She has gone up to Launceston for repairs. ' '- The North German ship Alardus, 158 days from Hamburg, bound to Brisbane, put in at Queenscliff, in, consequence of the loss of her captain, who disappeared from 1 the ship at 4 o'clock in the' morhing. There is nothing to show whether the occurrence was accidental or suicidal. The, chief officer is suffering from phthisis, and has been incapacitated from duty since January. : She has :339. immigrants on board. Twenty-eight deaths have occurred during thei voyage, inclusive of four newlyborn infants. : The Sydney Government intend refusing any contribution to the Suez maiTseryice, if Melbourne is made; the terminus of :; 'the' route. The Adelaide- Government received, a despatch by the ' last mail from thie Secretary of State, expressing approval of Sir i James Fergusson's administration, of the Government of the Colony. i • A private English telegram states that James M'Robie,' -first inate'of *he igfiile' of Canada, sailing between Liverpool "and Calcutta, • was ■= washed overboard; The second mate and three seamen lowered. a' boat to got o the rescue, but they were all drowned. M'Robie has brothers. They were formerly diggers, iv Yictoriai The Government have despatched tiro' men from Daly Waters- -to inquirer-after the Springbok,- but; they have not yet returned. Theylhave also asked the Coin.modpre <in Sydney to instruct the^Warships cruising about to make inciuiris3j and he/has ccansen ted. ; /. ; , j ; ; i ./. 77 J ' Grant, the jockey, who was thrown (in the ,Mor,tlake Steeplechase, : and, -sustained concussion of the brain and internal injuries, died this afternoon, having lingered in great agony Wo 'days. j Another colliery- is about to be opened near Newcastle, within a. few hundred yard 3 of- -the town. . . .The .Mpunt Pleasant .colliery strike has terminatedby the men accepting the proprietors' offer. Sir Robert Officerxeports that 'an doubted shoal of salmon has been seen in the Upper Der went. The funeral of the late Hon. R. Towns, who lately died at Sydney, this morning was largely attended by old colonists and leading citizens. Two more companies for working the reefs at Sandy Creek and Howley Creek, South Australia, have been floated today; one company has 12; 000 shares and the other 20,000. A private telegram from Sandy Creek states that 41b weight ur B»A4.t_ i^«, stained in 16 days. In the Sydney Assembly, Mr Tarkes notified his intention to move that the Govermrietit ; be empowered to enter . into, a; contract, fpr a Calif ornian mail 'se'tvice; and to negotiate with New 2Jealand to i participate in such : - service, provided that: ttie cost fp ' this Colony does no£ exceed t3o,b'oo;yea'rly.' ' ' H.M.S. Dido *s' ; interference in the Fiji difficultj.causes surprise. After. keeping Messrs Ireland and ''White : prisoners for several days, Captain Chapman released them on their signing a paper promising .to (Conform to ,Fiji lawa. J.H.M.S. Dido was-. reported in/a Jate telegram to have gone to Ba, and we must' suppose that on her arrival these 'gentle%n were' arrested as disaffecjfcedto't^e :GbvCTnmenit.l > :A .telegram, .from,, Port Darwin . states that the gold parties are waiting for provisions before starting for the diggings!. ' , The Eleanor reef, at Yam ,Creek,,is still causing a aensatiori'. The first batcbof leases has ; been surveyed... ; The Priscilla men are leaving the companies' to work on their Qwn account. A discovery of a very rich r leader three, miles south of Westcott's leases is rumored. Things will" be at a, standstill till labor and, machinery arrive. The surface show, on No. 1 Eleanor, south of prospecting; claim, is pronounced to be equal to the Royal Standard, only the gold is finer. Very" good prospects have been obtained at Nos. 2 and S;/ adjoining. * : Many ; claims haye been pegged out within the last few days. • Most of "the miners are going to Palmerston fpr .rations. A parcel of over lOOoz of alluvial gold has been obtained at Lowley reefs. Prospects are steadily im-.. proving. Inquiries are made, for labqrers.' 7?he dry season has fairly set in. ' An unusually, large peirl, found on the north* west coast of Australia, is to be seen at Messrs Brush and Drummond's, jewel- ' lers, Melbourne. * It: 13 pear-shaped, weighs 159 grains, is of a very fine texture, and has: an excellent lustre,. : Its size is about equal to that of a common acorn, though it is of course 'different in shape. No fair estimate of its value can be made, as there is no Australian market for such gems. But Mr H; Emamiel, F.R.G.S., in his book on " Diamonds and Precious Stones," mentions only three larger pearls than the;- one now referred, to. These three, which; when the Ipook was written,: wigre in' the J " Crbwri Treasury* of France, were valued as far back as 1791-4 one of 388gr at LBOOQ, and the two',,otners,.eaoh of which weighed 214gr, at L1i,660.> The 1 pearl at '■■. Messrs 'Brush: and. Drummond's was found by a pearling expedition fitted out from this port. Its owner, a Mel-' bourne merchant, purposes exhibiting it at the Vienna Exhibition, and then testing its value in the London market. „, ; Sentence has . at last been pronounced on Mount and Morris for their connexion with the murders on board the brig ' Carl. Mr Justice Fellows, on taking his seat in the Criminal Court, had the prisoners brought before him. He . then ' informed' them that the judges Had arrived at the conclusion that' they could be sentenced to penal servitude for life, or for any term not less than seven years, or to four years' mprtsonment, or a fine ; and that the Chief Justice before he left the Colony wrote a. memorandum that the sentence he wished to be passed was penal servitude for fifteen years. This sentence was, therefore pronounced. Mount read a long statement, in which, on behalf of himself airid Morris, he' declared their in- >, ; nocence of any intention when they left i Victoria, or evph when they left jftji, of entrapping the Polynesian natives, and

protested that neither of them reaped any pe&umary /profit from the transaction, having had to borrow money to pay their expenses from Fiji at the conclusion of the voyage. Both the prisoners were very much afietted at the sentence pronounced on them. _ w _..^ i . .^. ----- -• We following ISTIhe passenger fist of the Springbok, /which ;left Pprt^Darwin January 6 and Roper River January 16, mie I njingrjg, : call at Nejrcastie, s^tjias not since been heacd^ pf '• — Cabin — Wm. Shepherd, John Gfecfrge Macdonald, Geo. Deane, Mrs Deane, Ralph Milner, Thos. Barrett, Wm. Barry, "James Barry, John A.shmeade^James i Bell, James Johnston, Wm. Marshall, Thomas Bendett, John Birch, Daniel Grant, James Jacobs, D. Daniel, Dalyotto Peters, W. E. Addock, Thomas Pitman, J. H. Lawrie. Steerage —John Haines, Henry Haine3; George Mellonship, Samuel Saltmarsh, George Dodds, James: Hogg, Joseph Lopeze Hen- | ricksen , Law, ; Savage ;/ Walter ; Woodard, Samuel Merridan, Jas. Gillespie, Rudplph Tehner, James Burton.,. R. G-, \ M, ..Gum, Jas. Ryan, Donald I&ac'kay:, Pavid' .Stutridge, John Allingham, Charles Dineen, Henry Lawrence^ FranK Walker, Richard Woodcock, Fredk. ; Siihl, : Wm; Honor, Daniel Fielding, Thomas' Fielding, iThos. Williams, R. Sef ton, Archibald ■ Black, John Turner, Henry Newman, John Doh'man, H. Hohran, Thos. Sergeant, Edwd. Hill, Jbhn; Ball/ W. T,, Aleat; John Dimohj' Fredr Johnson', Chas. kbtaharas, N\ Abrahams, Michcel 'Sweeney'^ T. Brown, John' Clatke, John Swein, Jos. Olgh, f Har^ -l^nai^ X' *^J> JMunrOj Rudolph i . Falkjaer,; .J.'^Hpnbury, and nine of the crew. The vessel had no chief mate and.no doctor -on board. She was provisioned . on a moderate scale for 60 days., : „ ;, / :. ?