LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Kumara Times, Issue 406, 14 January 1878, Page 2

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Wellington, January 14. The Wakatipu, from Sydney on the Bth, arrived last night. The news ia unusually meagre. The Victorian Government received a telegram from the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company iutimating their preparedness on behalf of the Chairman to arrange for a duplicate line, and that if the other colonies would join in the scheme the tariff might.be reduced to 6s or 7s per word. 'The racehorse Pluto which ran in the Champion Race has died. The Chief Secretary of South Australia ' has informed the Victorian Government that owing to the outbreak of phylloxera vastatrix importation of vines, grapes, or cuttings is strictly prohibited. Experiments with the telephone are being made. A successful balloon ascent, the first in the colony, was made in Ballarat by professor Jackson and Mr Drew, a hairdresser. A large deputation of Ministers of religion and. members of Parliament waited on the Minister of Railways with reference to the goods traffic carried on upon Victorian railways on Sundays. Mr Woods, the Minister of Railways, pointed out that the work was one of necessity owing to the limited quantity of rolling stock. He saw no difference between carrying goods and carrying passengers. They were not going to have a Puritanical Sunday- in Victoria, although, at the same time, be deprecated- adoption of the Continental Suuday.iu its entirety.