LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1531, 1 July 1873, Page 2

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS

A Sydney telegram states that the intended rise in the price of coals is only likely .to be temporary, as several new mines are about opening. Commodore Stirling has no official information that Captain Moresby, R.N., took possession of New Guinea. If he ■did so it was on his own responsibility. Two Northern ..Territory claims — the Melbourne and P6rt Darwin and the Nina — have already produced 2500z gold, lOOoz'of which will be received by the Gothenburg. Though the 21st was one of the brightest days of the season in Sydney a star was visible at noon. The phenomenon excited great interest. Great floods have occurred in Queensland, and the wharves at Brisbane were covered with water. Sentence was passed by Mr Justice Barry on David Goodwin, the clerk in the Colonial Bank, who had. by , his manipulation of the books of his employers defrauded the bank of a sum of £10,000. The prisoner stated that his books had not been checked for five or six years, and if they had been examined any. time within the last 1.8 months the falsifications would have been. discovered. His Honor said the prisoner had been guilty of frauds of great magnitude. He had not merely committed one crime, but he had pursued his course of deception for months. The prisoner was sentenced to seven years' hard labour. Another new horse disease is reported by the Talbot Leader : — A disease for which there is no assignable, cause has made its appearance among the horses in this and the surrounding districts. Tae symptoms are general weakness and sleepiness, and inability as it were to do half the work ordinarily expected, and this not withstanding good feed, and careful grooming. Mr Foley, a "farmer at Mount Cameron, has recently lost a hitherto valuable horse from this unexplainable debility. Regarding the bank embezzlement case at Sale, in which the accountant of < the National bank is the accused, the Gi2)ps Land Mercury states :—" On. search being made by the police a box was found at the Club Hotel in a n.om occasionally used by Gibson, and in it was discovered the payin slips of customers for various sums, in the aggregate amounting to sonre thousands of pounds, also letters writtenbj those having accounts at the bank asking for information with respect to alleged overdrafts." It is just 12 months since the first telegraphic; message; was despatched from •London to Melbourne. The message, which was sent to The Argxis, left London on 22nd June, and was forwarded by

cable to Port Darwin and over the unfinished portion of the overland line by horse express to Tennant's Creek, reach- ' ing ita destinati®n on 2nd J uly. Since I that date communication- between the old ' and the new world has been more rapid, and messages have been received in something like three hours and a-half. In the future, when additional, means of communication are afforded, a considerable reduction in that time will no doubt be made. The pedestrian match between' Hewitt and Mahony came off at the Friendly Societies' Gardens. A good deal of interest was taken in the match, there being fully 2,000 persons on the ground. A couple of handicap races were got up to make an . afternoon's sport. The 150 yards handicap race was won by A. Armfield. The two-mile handicap was won by G. Bent. The match between Hewitt and Mahony consisted of three events. Hewitt won the first event, which was for 300 yards, Mahony receiving three yards start. Mahony: won the second event of 440 yards, in which he received 12 yards. I.i the final event of 300 yards Mahony received seven yards start, and won by about four yards. The Ballarat Courier reports that on Thursday evening, between 8 and 9 o'clock, a disastrous fire broke out on the premises of Mr King, draper, 62 Bridgestreet, Ballarat, a large quantity of' drapery stock being consumed, .andL.ajpianofprte and other furniture damaged fo the extent (as estimated by the proprietor) of overL2,ooo. The schooner Florence, of Auckland, which was sailed; away with by her master to Tahiti, where he sold the cargo, and from- whence he intended to make for an American- port and sell the vessel, has 1 been , heard of , again. From Captpin Wilkinson, of the American brigantine Hesperian, which has arrived at Melbourne from the Humboldt, via Apia,' Samoa, we learn that the Florence, after leaving Tahiti, had met with bad weather and had put into Samoa for repairs. On arriving there, the vessel was seized by the British consul, and the captain, imprisoned, until he should answer for the barratry. [The schooner has since returned to the Colony, with the Captain a prisoner.] The screw steamship Omeo, which- is intimately associated with the conveyance of men • and material to the Northern Territory for the overland telegraph construction party, an<? also with the successful navigation of the Roper River, is about to make another trip, to Port Darwin. present venture is also under South Australian auspices, and she will leave Melbourne next week for Adelaide to embark passengers and ship cargo for the "Far North." During the last few weeks the Omeo has been undergoing a thorough overhaul and refit, especially aloft. Her rig will be lighter than formerly, and she will now be able to make better headway in steaming against heavy weather.