AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 701, 19 July 1869, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Prayer for the Squatters.—The Pastoral Times (an Australian paper) contains the following:—" To the Divinity that doth shape our ends we commend the Australian squatter—he is one of the first in the race of (he producing powers of the earth—he ' will outlive many generations of patriots. The avocation of feeding and clothing mankind is sure to be durable —it does not require an Act of Parliament to settle this point." The Chronicle (a rival journal) observes :—" Till we read this we did not think our friend was at all inclined to leave the squatter in such good hands." BONTJS FOR COLONIATi MANUFACTURES. In the Queensland Assembly, on the 18th •Tune, Mr Grroom moved, — "That this House, recognising the great importance of manufacturing industries, is prepared to grant a cash bonus of £I,OOO and 1,000 acres of land for the first 5000 yards of woollen cloth, and £I,OOO and 1000 acres of land for the first 5000 yards of cotton cloth, to be manufactured in any part of the colony of Queensland." The motion was carried. Another Letchardt Search Expedition. —On the 14th April of this year (observes the South Australian Advertiser) another—and very probably the last— Leichardt Expedition started from Perth. It is to be hoped that now the painful mystery respecting the fate of the brave explorer will be at last cleared up, and there reallv appears to be more ground for hope in this than in any former expedition, ' The party now on their way to attempt the solution of the problem is of picked men, specially adapted by experience in . bush life and knowledge of native charac: ter for the laudable work they have entered upon. It will be commanded by Mr John , Forrest, of the Survey Department, with Mr G-eorge Monger and Mr llammersley, squatters, as second and third in command. Besides these, there will be a farrier, black- , smith, and two aborigines—one of them the black the information which led to the expedition.

Fatal Effect of the Use of Ciilo- I ROFOIiM. —The Melbourne Leader reports ! that another death has taken place from ! the administration of chloroform. A young i man named George Maxwell was recently admitted to the ovens Hospital, suffering I from a bite from a horse, in the fingers, 1 causing disease of the bone. The resident I surgeon decided that amputation was ne- ' cessary, and determined on administering i chloroform. Dr Dempster, one of the hou. I medical officers, was called in to aid. The ' usual examination of the patient's chest < was made, and nothing abnormal was dis- ' covered. Chloroform was then adminis- < tered, a very small amount sufficing to j produce tho usual excitement, which was 1 followed by cessation of respiration, arrest * of the heart's action, and other dangerous • symptoms. Artificial respiration was then ' commenced by Dr Dempster, and con- ' tinned until it appeared all danger was over. The operation was then performed. Alarming symptoms again supervened, : fatal syncope took place, and all the efforts ! of the surgeons proved unavailing. An inquest was held, the jury finding that death resulted from stoppage of the heart's action under the influence of chloroform ; but that every care had been taken in its administration. The CtJitsE of Intoxication - .—We do not remember reading a more sad revelation —socially—than the following, which we take from the "Burrowa Express." It sliows why wife-beaters are usually dealt with so leniently by magistrates. George Clifford was accused, at the .Police Court, before Mr Campbell, J.P., and Mr Kyan, J.P., with having assaulted his wife on the previous day. Constable Leonard deposed that Mr Scott had sent word to the station that accused had violently assaulted his wife, and suggesting that, if he were not speedily removed, something serious might result. He, therefore, went to Clifford's house, where he found Mrs Clifford bleeding from the mouth. He also picked one of her teeth from the floor. Mrs Clifford was put into the bos, but pleaded tearfully not to be asked to give evidence against her husband, who, she said, was always kind, unless when under the influence of drink. She further pleaded that if he was sent to gaol, she and her children would be bereft of support, and urged that the publicans who served him with drink were really the cause of all her misfortune. The accused admitted that after going home from Court on the previous day, where he hud been to answer another charge arising out of intemperance, some bitter words passed between them, and he struck her without just provocation in the mouth; but it was all owing to the drink, and he asked the Bench if it could not make an order prohibiting publicans from serving him with drink, lor when he took two glasses, he could not stop himself, Mr Campbell replied that under the former Act the Bench could do so, but the present Publicans .Act did not confer that power, lie to have sullicient control over himself to avoid drink, but certainly it was very wrong for publicans or'others to give it to him, when they very well knew the wrutched state in which such a curse placed his unfortunate wife and children. Under the Act 18th of Victoria, for assaulting female?, the Bench could fine him &IQ, or imprisonment lor six months, without imposing any fine, as the law considered this kind of crime most reprehensible. However, as his wife pleaded so sirongly for him, the Bench would discharge him this time, but wurncd him not to repeat the s offence. The accused then asked that one of the officers might be permitted to &c----i company him to the priect's house, to wit . ness his taking the pledge, which was acceded to.

Death from Over-eating- Potatoes. — A. singular cause of death is reported as having occurred at Bathurst, K. S. Wales. The local paper states that an inquest was held at the residence of Mr Brown, White Rock, recently, touching the death of hi* wife, which took place very suddenly the day before. She had appeared to be in good health, and had gone out to the yard, when her long delay in coming in induced a visitor, who was staying at the house, to search for her, when she was found about twenty yards fro n the rear of the house, lying on her back, with her head to one side, her face quite discolored, and lifeless, j Dr Machattie, who made the post mortem, examination of the body, said that the stomach was enormously distended with potatoes, and that this distension was suf fieient to cause sudden death. Eabtj Belmore.—The G- overnor of New South Wales, it appears, is very popular with the inhabitants of that colony. He is at present on a tour through the colony, and the accounts of the grand receptions he has met with remind us of the progress of the Duke of Edinburgh through similar districts. At Orange a levee was held, at which "Mr Thomas, of the 'Examiner' Office, on behalf of the employes in the office, handed Earl Bolmore a copy of the last issue of that journal, printed on blue silk, in gilt letters, and enclosed in an elegant sachet, fastened with a gold button, accompanied by an address." At the same place a bullock was roasted whole, and at night the town was illuminated. At a public supper in the evening, Earl Belmore " thanked the company lor the very warm manner in which he hid been received

Nothing was more encouraging than to see such unmistakeable tokens of loyalty manifested at the places he had visited during the year and a-half he had been in the colony. He gratefully acknowledged the kind manner in which the colonists had received him, a total stranger, on arriving amongst them two years ago, when previously Ihey had not, perhaps, so much as heard his name." Australian Hureicane. —" On Tuesday evening," says the Benalla Ensign, " a terrific hurricane, accompanied by thunder and lightning, swept over Faithful's Creek, between Violet Town and Euroa, causing devastation to everything in its course. At Mr Lorimer's, the kitchen, stable, and farm buildings were all unroofed, the haystacks levelled to the ground, and several rods of fencing blown down. The trees, for a width of several hundred yards, were uprooted or torn asunder, eoma large ones being carried a considerable distance from where they stood. A dry limb, which was carried 200 yards, was dashed through the weatherboards of Mrs Lorimer's bedroom, striking her in bed, and inflicting a severe soalp wound. Immediately after, another limb came with a crash through the boards smashing the bedstead, and precipitating Mrs Lorimer to the floor. After the storm abated, the branch that struck Mrs Lorimer was found with blood upon it. Miss Lorimer had a narrow esc ipe. She was rushing from the house, when her brother seized her, and at the same time a large tree, which she would have passed near, was blown down. A farmer, who was passing along a lane near Lorimei's, was lifted olf his horse by the wind, his hat and whip were blowu away, and the horse was found prostrated, with the limb of a tree lying across him."