Australian Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 777, 11 April 1870, Page 3

Australian Items.

It is intended to establish a school of design at Albury, New South Wales. Those destructive animals, flying foxes, are again appearing in the Yass district in , great numbers, and playing great havoc with the fruit. W ater must be wanted badly enough in some parts of "Victoria if the following from the Tarrangower Times is to be relied on:—"Our dams are all dry, saving only one; machines are idle; tanks are empty ; water, even for the purchasing, is very scarce. The wind has got round to the rainy quarter j the clouds lower heavily ; but not a drop of the precious element descends on diied-up Maldon. Disease—especially throat and chest affections—is rampant, and unless we speedily get a heavy fall of rain, our prospects will be gloomy in the extreme." A truly melancholy snake story is recorded in the Burrowa Advocate. A young girl named Eliza Randall, residing at Jerrawa, left her home a few morning since to shepherd a number of sheep; and not having returned at the usual time, she was sought for, and found seated by the trunk of a tree, with her mouth open and eyes widely distended, as if suffering from fright. Startling to relate, she was a corpse, though retaining the same position as when living. On removing the body, a large snake was found coiled up on the spot where the unfortunate girl had been sitting. The following suggestive paragraph is from the Ararat Advertiser, a Victorian journal:—" What was the value of the boots stolen by the prisoner ? " " Twelve and sixpence, your Worship." "Six months' imprisonment, with hard labor." And so the unfortunate, hungry wretch was carried off to durance vile. "What is the total amount of the insolvent's liabilities ? " asks the placid Commissioner. "Only £1,500," responds the official assignee. "Any creditors oppose the certificate ? " "No your honor," again replies the official, with a satisfied smile, " the assets merely covered the Court charges, and the creditors reside at Elysium Flat; the distance is too great for them to appear in opposition." " Certificate granted," remarks the commissioner. " Thank your honor," drawls the newly whitewashed, and saunters to the nearest hotel, where, over half-a-dozen of sparkling No. 2, he imparts to one or two of his boon companions his projects for re-starting business on a more extensive scale than hitherto. And thus the world goes on. Petty larceny committed, let us charitably suppose, to save a family from starvation, is met with the stern frown of offended justice, and a bitter expiation must be madej while gigantic robberies, made in the broad light of day, are taken under the law's protecting wing. The Melbourne Argus of a recent date says: —An illustration of the lack which some people show of a capacity for making use of the opportunities of advancement thrown in their way by fortune, was afforded at the City Court, recently, when a man with a wooden leg, named Alexander Munroe, was fined for drunkenness. This man, many years ago, discovered a goldfield, which was called "Pegleg Grully," in memory of the finder's wooden limb, and out of a hole which he sunk he obtained £II,OOO worth of gold. The mont»y, however, was not long in disappearing, for he failed to invest it profitably, as he might have done, and is now poorer than ever, not being able to pay the fine of a few shillings. It is said tbat when all his money had gone his wife left him, and having succeeded in amassing some property, ob tained a protection order to prevent her husband from spending her savings as he had his own earnings.

Said an old merchant one day—" I never did an act of kindness to any human being without finding myself the happier for it afterward. A single friendly act, cheerfully, pleasantly, and promptly done to a fellow-creature in trouble and difficulty, besides the good to him, has thrown a streak of sunshine into my heart for the remainder of the day, which I would not have taken a five-pound note for."—The Cottagei and Artizan,