WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 691, 22 June 1859, Page 4

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

We have news to the 15th of April,

The foundation-stone of a new. Government House, for the residence of his Excellency, had been laid at Perth, with great masonic pomp, by Lady Kennedy; the occasion drew together:the-largest assembly ever seen there. .■-.•■-. •.•■:// : ■ .

• We have some farther information respecting the captured convicts, one of whom has revealed .the particulars as to the death of the missing man Lacey, who .in the.first instance was stated to have died from, diarrahoea.. As was suspected, from certain expressions let drop during their passage from Shark's Bay to Freemantle, : the death resulted from violence on the part of his fellow-absconders. The murder, it is supposed, arose from the irritation of his comrades caused by the large inroads by Lacey upon their.slender stock of provisions and water, and the. deception practised by him. when first arranging their escape, in stating himself, to be a capital seaman, and proving to be qiiite. the contrary. A party had been sent to thejsland upon which the capture, was made, in order, to verify the' statement of the approver, by the exhumation,of the murdered man's remains. The ' Perth Independent' of the I.s]th of April thus reports the .result-.—The schooner '-Favourite returned from .Shark's Bay on Tuesday last, .with the party who; proceeded thither, ; to .examine, into the, truth -of, the. alleged .murder, of the. escaped ,convict Lacey by ;one . 6r,.other of .his companions.; - The._.body was found b ( uried.in the.sand a-short distance from the .beach., Md^',.from, the, dry. natn"re of ;t.heplimate was. id almost a.perfect state of. pruseryatipn, r sp.. as to'allow ofimmediateidentification,; but -jit.also still retained some of-the^prison underclothing* • ( .Death had undoubtedly resulted,from violeu.ee,. being ; .the effect of shot wounds in the face and.a ; brqken neck, caused by a.heavy blow., but the reported ibullet ! wound, in : the abdomen proved. to be, merely the mark left by an.ulcer or.boil. An examination into the contents of the stomach. disclosed only .some ferries and remains of oysters. The body. : was;re- ! interred and the funeral service read over it. With respect to the reported discovery by the convicts of human bones and a broken gun, the. barrel, of which was brought away by. Mr. Clifton on his former, trip, an investigation of thercoast. was made for four or five miles, but the only bones seen were; those of turtle, but the stock of the gun. was found, which proved to have been an English cavalry carbine, almost exactly corresponding with those now in use by the Water. Police ; further proofs were also found that some years ago, -probably four or five, a party of eight or ten had been .there for some time, five old circular huts or.rather breakwinds r having been found at different spots, and from the turtle bones and remains of shelb-fish round them their tenants had evidently been in distress•;..' the carbine had as evidently been designedly/broken to. serve as a means for knocking oysters off the rocks,.-and the brass of the butt had been turned up to be used as a

lever. The convicts also report that one. of;theThuts they saw. had been covered in, a small hole being left -for ingress. and egress. . Who the party could have been it is difficult .to•conjecture, or how they got there or-got away again..leaving^Ho traces be T hindthein. -.'.,.'. -.. . ■ '■■,','■[■' ...;,'■' ■/';,-;

■'On. St., Patrick's Day.'the, foundatiori stone of,.a hew Catholic .Chapel was laid; at .'York', by Eisiiop

lerra. .•• ..' „ . </" .:,.-■ ■■/'-•:•.;;... •..'.,;,'? ■: ■' •■. A. .well attended public meeting,had tieen held at the,Meehaiuc's Institute, Pertli.-for the purpose of considering the propriety of memorializing; t the Gp■vernmeriton the "subject,of •the.improvement of, the river',, Swan.. '.Jlesolutipns' were. passed advocating tlie immediate commencement, .'of/ the! breakwater from House's Head, and calling the attention of ,the Government to the state of the river from.the .-mouth to, the head of navigation, and a committee, was appointed to draw up a memorial embodying the resolutions j>assedL "

f.i\A) -.I!.,■•:: ■(; / >'iiwi\vi}tness of theseaison apprei ons^neil<;ofi&STtn'e vintage, but letters '. hensions wore entertained ioi mi. ° „,..,.,. o f, ; from the southward, report OT^oumb|y^o>lig ; blubber had'been completely .stripped by the- sharks I and:the captors secured only the bone.. , . :. j. • Some . disagreeable, rumours hav e< of. la e^eeti iprevalent respectingthefinancial affairs of^<fV£: vict Establishment; • As a consequence oftlw.se, Mr. Dixbn, the Superintendent, has/be*en sufended 1 ' the inquire^ states 3at.the 4 muleral1eral -, wealth- of the nortlierrMistriet of Western Aiistaahj. : is be-inning to attract attention in the neighbouring : colonies ; several lettei-s having been receivedirom, :-speculators :requiriug; further. information witlvreiferenae to the mines, their position, produce, an*

probable.yield. „!-,;•■■■'.;•:. ■' ;v ;•' •;,;i,,, the .• Commercial News' com plains ;; tlu^ there: i? ; ,it-present sufficient cargo:in-the. colony to freigHa ; large vessel; but:no vessel is, forthcoming. In en-. devouring: to: account for -this anomalous ,^t<y* things, thl< News'adds with, the exertion' of ■wool, our principal exportable products, cop/er ore; lead, and timber, are dead; weight,and until we can- furnish a proportion of hghf'cargo, the prospect of our having a regular supply of ships to convey our produce direct is^very uncertain. ..