Late Australian News.

Hastings Standard, Issue 152, 22 October 1896, Page 4

Late Australian News.

<N.Z T.".i

A C'ri'n- wa- v>rinted from tvj'-c for tlio i":r<t time in Australia on Saturday. Mrd i::-=t.

" Popularity hunting is one of the cuves of Australia," declared theliishop of (ir.'fton and Annidalo, in a recent lecture. •' The first question asked about a man is not- whether he is honest, or upright, sincere, or cleanliving, but whether he is popular. ' Messrs Fitzgerald Brothers' Circus, which is now travelling to Melbourne to fulfil an engagement- to the Jewish Carnival on the 29th inst., has been prevented from entering Victoria, owing to th" hor -es having been in ti:-k-infestcd country in Queensland within the last four months.

A peculiar method of raising funds for the Coonainble hospital was adopted at Wingadee station on a recent Sunday. Shearing being over, it was decided to make the last Sabbath at the station a Shearers' Hospital Sunday. J»v way of attraction a cricket match was* played. A collection was taken up, and i'HO was handed over.

A terrible and fatal accident occurred the other day at the Inverell Uiile Company's butts. A marker named William Eliiswas in the mantlet, which it is said was not in good repair, when a bullet entered by a crevice, striking him on the right temple. He was removed to the hospital we re he died. An important discovery of opals has been made in Cawnamuetee paddock, on Purnanga run, the property of the Momba Pastoral Company, about 70 miles from Wilcannia. A party of prospectors left that place for the scene of the discovery. From Kalgoorlie comes the statement that on the route of the railway survey to Xannine, K. Simpson, who proviou>ly picked up a nugget weighing lOoz (uhvt, found another at the same spot weighing ; ">oz Idw t. 1 >ry blowers are doing fairly well on the alluvial ana six miles from the i!at. The Daisy Hell mine at Peak llill has crushed (30 tons for SlOoz. A compositor ai the Adelaide Go-vernnif\-it Printing Oilice, named A. A. Weiss, did not return to work from lunch one afternoon, and he was subsequently found dead on the bank of the riw r Torrens, having shot himself wiih a revolver. lie left an affecting

note, bidding his wife farewell, -|)cn 1;i.. 4 nf lu r ;is lit tor In ;t.vi-11. and commending hi,• children Id the care of (iod. The deceased was about 'lO Ve r- of : Tin: Ai-.n: !:■ -t> r co-operatives delegate.-; when in ensland promised th:- Minister of Agriculture to set apart a space in their warehouse in London fur the purpose of exhibiting samples of Queensland products, and also, if thought advisable, grant similar space in their warehouses at Manchester, Newcastle, and other places. The Minister is how making arrangements to carry out the idea. An attempt was made to wreck the special train retiming from llopetoun to Warr-tcknabeal (Victoria) after bringing the passengers from the Beulah show. A large log v..is placed between the points near iiettlah. Some of the permanent way was damaged, but no further harm war; done. There was no >i:i.sseiigers on the train, but an hour iuf'ire it p;..s-ed over the same spot laden with passengers. In liathurst recently seven 1 men had a drunken row. and a free fight ii) ud. A man giving the name of Montagu Smith was knocked clown during the disturbance and received injuries to his head. Though very drunk, he walked to his lodgings, but during the night he became ill. J>eafne.s.s set in, growing rapidly worse, until he lost his hearing entirely. A medical man was ca'ied, and he ordered Smiths removal to ttie hospital, where he became unconscious, and in a few hours he died. A New South Wales legislator is responsible for the statement that the water supply of Jiroken Iliil is so filthy

am! stinks so terribly that people do not carc to wash themselves in it, to say nothing about drinking it. Since bis arrival in Victoria, Mr Rondurant, the tobacco expert of the Agricultural Department, has imparted a considerable amount of instruction to tobacco growers with regard to cultivating the plant and curing the leaf, and lie is satisfied that his work has borne fruit. The European growers are eager to follow his advice, hut the Chinese prefer to adhere to their own methods. Some growers are taking up the tobacco industry with great enthusiasm. Signor Branchi, an Italian, shothim self with a revolver under the verandah of the All Nations' Hotel, at the corner of Collins and Elizabeth streets, Ilobart, and died a few ruinates afterwards. The deceased had been an operatic singer, and ree T.tly had a fruit shop, in Hobart, but was very poor. A letter was found on him showing that the deed was premeditated. His wife had left him, and he declared that he was mad with gri.-f. (Quaker weddings are few and far between in Sydney. Only three have been solemnised in about ten years. The fourth took pi; c? on a recent afternoon, when Thomas Wardell, of New Zealand, a member of an intlueiitial Dublin Quaktr family took to wife Ellen Susannah Neave. A marriage among the Society of Friends is a strictly religious ceremony, or, rather, a meeting simply for worship. Ceremony there is none; and, moreover, there is no officiating minister—the bride and bridegroom actually marry each other. Great indignation has been expressed at Coolgardie because of the Premier's intention to bring in a Bill for the construction of a railway to Menzies from Kalgoorlie instead of from Coolgardie. Tn view of Sir ■1« hn Forest's repeated promises to < start the railway from Coolgardie, his 1 change of front as expressed in the I Bill to be placed before Parliament is

regarded as a distinct broach of faith with tl 10 people of Coo!ga: - die. A sample of cation pvtnl'.v "d m tr.o Mncleay district %va.-s recently forwarded to the 2>«\v South \v ales Agricultural Department. The Minister had the sample sent to Liigland, and received the report of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, which states that the cotton is similar to what is known as Sea Islands cotton, grown in the United States. The expert who examined the cotton stated that it was a kind of cotton for which there is a market in England, and he estimated the value in the Liverpool market at Hd per pound. The preservation of an old gum tree nfc Moonee Ponds, under whose shelter the ill-fated Burke and V* ills expedition made its first halt after its start on 20th August, In6o, has ever been a matter of concern to the local Council. It is a grim relic of the courageous attempt of the intrepid explorers, and here it was that they watered their camels and rested under its shelter. The Council has now decided to erect a picket fence for its protection, and to mark the dead eucalypti with a commemorative tablet.