Australian News.

Hastings Standard, Issue 329, 22 May 1897, Page 4

Australian News.

(Evexi.\G Post.) At o, conference between the New South Wales and Victorian Railway Commissioners it was decided that the under-cutting in wool rates should not be carried during next season beyond the limits which marked the practice last year. The new merchandise book of New South Wales in connection with the railways is to be issued on the Ist June, and from that date reductions will be made for the conveyance of wool over the shorter distances, which will mean a concession of nearly £20.000 to the wool industry. At the St. Kilda track last week A. A. Middleton lowered the Australian cycling flying start quarter-mile record to 25sec ; and T. Kelph made a new mile record at lmin 48sec. Cardinal Moran, the Archbishops of Melbourne and Wellington (INew Zealand), and a large party of prelates and laymen, visited Bathurst on Bth May to bless the new altar and consecrate the sanctuary in the new Cathedral. In the Conclobolin district rabbits, which were becoming alarmingly numerous, are dying in thousands in consequence of the drought. Four Maxim guns, valued at £2OOO, have arrived in Melbourne for the Victorian Defence Department. The New South Wales Minister for Justice has refused to entertain a proposal ay Mr Anderson, M.P., to celebrate the record reign by the wholesale liberation of good - coTiduct prisoners. William Sheard, a baker at Bega, N.S.W., has been lined £57 10s for selling bread under the required weight. Efforts are being made to float the barque Adderley, which is ashore on Stockton Beach. Owing to the continued drought in the Jerilderie district farming is at a standstill, and stock are dying in hundreds. In the Coolamong district rabbits are dying in hundreds. They have eaten the bark off the trees as high as they can reach. At Melbourne recently C. Bergman, the master of the barque Leona, was fined £1 and costs for allowing work on Sunday. H.M.S. Dart left Port Jackson on 13th May for the purpose of resuming surveying operations in Torres Straits. The inspection of dairy cattle in the shire of Rodney, Victoria, led to the discovery of a large number of cases of tuberculosis. It is probable that the record reign will be celebrated in Sydney by a military review and illumination of the city and parts of the harbor. The N.S.W. Government has appointed Professor Blunno viticulturai expert to the Agricultural Department. Mr A. M. Howell has been selected as N.S.W. Government tobacco expert, and has sailed from Vancouver for Sydney. Since the beginning of the year £1,026,000 in gold has been shipped from Sydney. The Government of New South Wales has granted £I7OO towards the expenses of a team of riflemen to visit England, but the Rifle Association is unable to make the necessary arrangements in the brief time at their disposal. In order to prevent the periodical flooding of the Hunter River Valley it is proposed to construct an enormous dam at the town of Denman, just above Singleton. Premier Reid who expects to arrive in London on the 18th June, will visit Naples, Rome, several towns in Switzerland, Metz, and Brussels en route. He will return to Australia via Canada, and will leave Vancouver on Bth August, reaching Sydney on Ist September. There are now 1495 homestead selections in existence in the colony of New South Wales, covering an area of 461,940 acres, and 400 settlement leases, covering 1,227,495 acres. The Minister of Agriculture (N.S.W.) is convinced of the necessity for grading butter and other dairy produce intended for export. During the past wool season 393,025 bales have been sold in Sydney, as against 412,074 for the corresponding portion of last season. The inter-University in which Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney will compete, will be held on the Paramatta River on the 23nd inst. During the past five years the deep leads of Victoria have produced 1,250,0000z. of gold, or 35J per cent, of the total production. The horses of the New South Wales Mounted Rifles have suffered greatly during the cold weather in England. The Colonial Secretary (N.S.W.) favors the appointment of a Royal Commission to consider the necessity for protecting the people of*the colony against the arrival of consumptive patients from other parts.