AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Kumara Times, Issue 539, 19 June 1878, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[Per Botorua, via Auckland.] Sydney, June 4. Three cases of small-pox were reported on board the Siam on arrival at Williamstown. The vessel had been 10 days in Hobson's Bay and was ire- j quently visited from the ahore, and the j crew freely mixed with people ashore. | The man attacked was a Lascar, who j had been treated for the chicken-pox. ! Two more sickened. Captain Hector beKeved them to be cases of small-pox, and the medical authorities agreed with j him. % On examination the Siam was '! quarantined. The steamer was ex-: amined on arrival at Queencliffe, 30 days from -Gclle, and there was no sign of disease. It is believed that the men put on for the first time clothes brought from Bombay, in which germs of the disease prevalent there existed. j Melbourne, June 10. "\ The Cabinet has decided not to have I a nominee Upper House, but to sup-' port the scheme of rfo )rm advocated by the league. When any measure is passed twice by the Assembly and rejected by the Council, it shall be remitted to the vote of the people, and j the result of the plebiscitura shall be I final, the measure becoming law in spite j of the vote of the Council. i A large number of officers in the Civil Service over 60 years of age will shortly retire, .vThe Executive have decided that Richard Eeraghty, for the murder of' his wife, shall be executed. The Chief Secretary has stated that ' fully--2000 working :; men were unemployed, and hinted at the desirability of levying higher taxes for the purpose of giving work to those who were out of employment. Mr'Griffith Sinclair, a passenger from New Zealand by the Tararua, died at sea. The Italian Opera Company have commenced a short season. Captain King, charged with scuttling the Alexandra, was discharged on bail, | the jury being tumbled to agree. He has since been re-arrested for attempting to abscond. The Zealand ia has been docked and refitted at Sydney for the outward voyage to San Francisco. • _ The Colonial Mutual Life Association's'report showed that the present annual income, was .£50,000. The "unemployed" outcry in Melbourne proves to have been exaggerated. Several men refused employment at Emerald Hill, alleging that the work was too hard.

Eighty-pounder guns are being placed in position at Point Nepean; two others awHi't transmission to the forts commanding the right flank of Queenscliff. Adelaide, May 31. Parliament was epened by the Chief Justice whose speech referred to the advantage of Sir W. Jervois's presence in England, in reference to the defences of the Colony, and the negotiations in progress for the purchase of an ironclad. A Bill was to be introduced to sanction ■the formation of a small permanent force. Although the harvest was less than was anticipated, the revenue was still increasing, showing the resources of the Colony to be sufficient to insure progress. The negotiations with New South Wales and Queensland for a Customs Union were proceeding. A Bill was to be introduc d to alter the constitution of the Legislative Council, in order to prevent future collisions between the two Houses. Bills for various railway extensions, from Adelaide to Goot, Guns river to Clare, Gladstone to Georgetown, and also a second line of rails to Port Adelaide, and for the construction/ of a sheltered pier at Lorge'n Bay would be introduced. A Bill would be introduced to encourage European ; people, to settle in ' the Northern Territory,, in Dilloges community or otherwise. More liberal, terms would- be gianted by a Bill to Encourage the pastoral occupation of the unsetth-d interior, and by a Bill for tbe,-amendment of the land law. A -drainage Bill would also be introduced.