NEW SOUTH WALES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 707, 17 August 1859, Page 5

NEW SOUTH WALES.

; The Dart brings papers to the 28th ult. The news is not of striking importance, but several in- \ teresting items are summarised in the following extracts from the two daily papers, referring to the week ended J,'y 23rd :— ; The great feature of the week has been the .opening festivities ut the University. The annual commemoration "took place on Monday, and^ the splendid Hall of the University presented the.most I general and brilliant gathering of " notabilities " ;on this occasion that we have ever seen. On all other days of the week there have been musical entertainments of the highest.order. ; ; The annual poultry show "was held on Tuesday and Wednesday, in the Temperance Hall, and the display of feathered bipeds on both days was very fine. Notwithstanding the counter- attractions at ithe University, and the state of the weather on Wednesday, the attendance was very good. • , i Qn Friday last, the house of Mr,. John Taylor, near Kiama, tools; fire and his son, a youth of i'our.teen, was so frightfully burned that he expired on {Monday. ; ; ;

;' A social soiree was held on Monday evening, at the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association. It was well attended, and, in particular, there were a great many-ladies present. This is to he considered, we . understand, as but the first of a series of such entertainments. ■

: A new Wesleyan Chapel at Yass has. been opened for public worship. The last mail has brought out a despatch and a warrant from the Queen, directing that in future the provisional government of the colony during the temporary absence of the Governor'rGeneral shall be committed to the senior military officer alone, instead of to three administrators, as heretofore. ■■■:■.:■'

A despatch has. also been received, directing that officers of the civil service in the colonies shall have the same standing as officers of corresponding rank in the parent country, and each class shall be distinguished by a different uniform. There are five classes, embracing all sorts, of employes, from governors down to senior clerks.

■ The members of the Land, AUiance met on Tuesday evening, at the Robin-Hood Inn, South Head Road, and adopted certain resolutions, pledging themselves to agitate for a Parliamentary investigation of the illegal occupation of Crown lands. A deputation from the Alliance had, it was'stated, been sent to the Minister of Lands and Works on the subject, and- had' been received! by him rather coolly. . ■: :

: The committee of the Cotton Supply Association of Manchester have sent six barrels of New Orleans seeds, and six patent hand-gin,s,-to Sir William Denison, for distribution in thiscolony. : The annual meeting of the members and seatholders of and in the Scots, Church, Church Hill, was held on Monday. The Rev. Dr. Lang gave a report of his visit to the interior, and various matters of business were disposed of. The accounts showed a balance of £50, after paying the whole -expenses of the year. Several petty robberies in the city and suburbs have been reported during the week. There have been other rumours of gold discoveries, but there is nothing very definite from any one quarter.

There have been several sudden deaths. George Gray, aged 44, has died from the effect of injuries received some time ago by falling from a scaffold. -Eobert Clarke, aged 75, a servant to Mr.. George Hill, M.L.C., died from apoplexy. Benjamin iNichols, aged 70, died from the bursting of a blood 'vessel—the result of intemperance. This man had been for many years in the police^ and was in the receipt of a small pension for past services. Peter Byrne, a publican, has also died : from the,effects of ■continued intemperance. Michael Madigan, aged 23,/ who was run oyer by. a dray on the North Shore some weeks ago, has .died from the effect of ;the thus\received. There have been inique's'ts in all these cases. " ;,

j John Norris, who was convicted during the last Criminal Sessions at Darlinghurst, of having violated the jiersoh of a child six years old, suffered the extreme penalty of: the law yesterday morning. jThe prisoner^ who was very old and very'deaf, was joriginally transported to the colony for poaching. ;He did not absolutely confess the crime of which 'he had been convicted, but said that he might have committed it while in'a state of-intoxication. In the opinion of the gaol chaplain,Norris was amonomaniac, and appeared to labour under a belief that the Almighty was continually talking to him. He Imet his death with apparent indifference, ■: No public demonstration with reference to local defences has yet.beenmade in Sydney,,though the subject has caused much discussion. There is a general impression that, whatever land force may be raised, efficient aid from the British Navy will be absolutely necessary in the event of England going to war with a maritime power. As to the French settlement of New Caledonia, it is certain that Commodore Loring visited Port de France in H.M.S. Iris a short time ago, and no doubt he is : fully alive to all that maybe neeessaiy. It has been remarked that placards have appeared in Sydney during the week, inviting seamen to join H.MVNavy. ■■■ ' .;■ c I";'1"/ ■■■■■./ ' The- Sydney University the opening of the new Great Hall, arid the Musical Festival held therein during four days, and to be continued this day, are events which have occupied a considerable share of attention, Several degrees of M.A. and B.A. were conferred on the day of the commemoration. The prize poem was recited by the author, Mr. Yarrington—the subject being Captain Cook meditating upon the future of Australia. The Musical Festival has been very successful. Very inclement weather for two days did not prevent a gqod attendance, and the rain haying cleared off yesterday, still greater took advantage of the fine weather to visit the hall. Mr^ Stuart, one of the most successful and intrepid of „ modern explorers in South Australia,, Has returned to Adelaide, reporting the discovery of some splendid pastoral country, and of a fine river three miles broad, which he came upon at a point 300 miles beyond the furthest previous exploration, and left running •to the eastward in latitude 26. The brfeadth .of this stream, and other ■circumstances, lead to the belief that this.presumed river is but a deposit of surface waterfrom recent rains. At present our information is imperfect, i being only'by telegraph. The Soutli Australian Government has offered, a reward of £1000 to the first person who shall succeed in reaching the north coast by'travelling straight across from Adelaide. Fiom the O«im» of Good ljopo we have news of f i tpinblo shipwreck. The barque Shepher lens, bound fiom London with meicluiidibi., was iuinim«; in(P pojr Elizibetli, atlho late of nine knots an Uqui, when, just; as the ciou wpu« pxttin^ the anChoi' »padv, «Jho stutck upon the Tliunaeiboll Keel, ,jnfi imtpe'lhiiely went down. Two s^mi'ii wie pulved up, fl(ulin» on si),u-.;l>Ht 11 pei.ui-, in (\ul,n!Tt1i.'!V'll«(l1lflv' I'11l)IIJ- U° <mi) ' ,»■. J n i il

Mr. Grisborne's memorandum on the subject of his proposal to connect the Australian lines of telegraph with those in course'of formation to the eastern extremity of the island of Java affords such information as to encourage sanguine hopes of the success' of the enterprise, if taken up with spirit. The whole distance from Java to Moreton Bay is 3024 miutical miles, being fifty miles more than the proposed lin.e from Aden to KJunach.ee. The estimated cost is £800,000, being the same as .the estimate for,the last-mentioned line. This sum Mr.Gisbqrne proposes to divide amongat the colonies in the following proportion, viz. • —Victoria, 58 5-16 per cent.'; New South Wales, 22 12-16; South Australia, 7 4-16 ; New Zealand, 5 11-16 ; Tasmania, 5 5-16;. and Western Australia, 15-16. The new colony of Queensland is not included ; but if nothing occur to jivevent the intended separation, that colony will be able to bear a fair proportion of the above divisions, as Moreton Bay is. likely to derive great benefits from the work if carried out.

At Goulboum District Courts, a man named Patrick Bryan McMahon, has been fined £2 for "assault," he having aided at a prize fight, by acting as second to one' of the combatants. ■

The Act of the Victorian Parliament, limiting the duration of that Parliament to three years,, has received her Majesty's assent. From* South Australia there comes intelligence that on the Ist of the present month a shook of earthquake was felt in several localities. ,

The authorities of the convict department at Swan river seem to be realising the -wise man's saying, " evil communication corrupts good manners." Mr. Dixon has been committed to take his trial for acts of peculation, and subsequent inquiries are likely to lead to the implication of others. In South Australia, addresses have passed both Houses of Parliament, praying the Governor to take steps for the organisation of an armed force for that colony. A publicmeeting held for a similar object was defeated, a motion in favour of the formation of a volunteer corps haying been negatived by a large majority. ' Papers from China speak doubtfully of the continuance of amicable relations, and of success of the late treaty. A new celebrity—a certain Prince San-ko-lin-sin—wa sdiligently engaged in fortifying the mouth of the Peiho river, so lately thrown open by Lord Elgin.

A robbery to a large amount has been committed upon the National Bank atßendigo. Notes to the value of £3,500 have been abstracted in a somewhat mysterious manner, and a Mr. Abraham Solomons has been arrested and remanded for eight days, on suspicion of being implicated in the robbery. Bail has been refused.

A large number of forged notes of the Union Bank are said to be in circulation'™ the neighbourhood of Maryborough, in the colony of Victoria.

Some time ago a .shepherd named Neil Campbell was found barbarously murdered on Mr. Cameron's run, near Araarat, Victoria. Circumstances have now come to Ught which tend to fix suspicion on another shepherd named Cuny, and the police are following up the clue. '/„/■ A Mr. Pierce, of Carisbrook, Victoria, having accidentally slipped from s the enclosure into a stocky yard, has been so terribly gored by a bullock that his life is despaired of

Mr. T. Gr. Arnold, a young man of 28, recently appointed police magistrate ,at Beech worth, vacci? dentally fell from the Beechworth mail coach a few days ago, and was killed on the spotjl having dislo? cated his neck.

A lunatic, named Mary Ann Willock, 22 years of iige, killed herself in the Yarra Bend Asylum, Victoria, by obstinately abstaining from food.

In the case of Job Neale, an innocent man, who was falsely charged with a horrible murder at Dunolly, Victoria, much indignation has been excited by one of the Victorian magistrates having discharged the perjurer Unwin, under the plea that there was no proof of his own knowledge that he had sworn falsely. Two of the other witnesses, a man named Dun beer, and a woman named Dodd, are in custody on the charge of having themselves committed the murder.

Gately and Knight, two of the coiners lately detected in Hobart .Town, have been found guilty and sentenced to terms of imprisonment. A Chinaman; named Chow a Kay, was found guilty and: sentenced to be hanged,.for the barbarous murder of Robert MpElligott, in Victoria. On Sunday night last, he committed suicide by hanging himself to the bars of his cell, with some strips of blanket. He was to have been executed on the Monday; ntorning. The convict Flannery, condemned to death in Victoria, for an unnatural crime, has been reprieved, on the ground that there is no precedent for capital execution for such an offence in" that colony.

Camel and Swordsman, representatives from Tasmania, have sqfely arrived in Melbourne to run for the Champion Sweepstakes. The horses are all going well, Strop continuing the favorite by long odds, Charles Bragshawe, convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of James Boyje, in Victoria, has been reprieved.; He is condemned to fifteen years' hard labour—the first three years in irons. .. George Doran, a journeyman butcher at Collingwood, in the same colony, has cbinmitted suicide, by swallowing an ounce and a half of arsenic. An important work in connection with telegraphic extension is to be carried out in a few days. The telegraphic cable to be laid down between Cape Otway and Tasmania is now ready, and the Omeo is expected to proceed to Bass's Straits for the pur^ pose of (effecting' that object towards the close of the month.

A literary gentleman of some celebrity, Mr. Edward Whitty, son of the editor'of the ' Liverpool Chronicle,' is shortly expected iiv Melbourne. The 'Land Reform Alliance' are agitating for an enquiry into the subject of illegal tenures of land. They maintain that many large tracts of country are held..without legal right. They .have, during the week had,an interview with the Land Secretary on the subject.-.

The Island of Peeim.—The fortifications on the island of Perim, regarding which so much was lately written in the French journals,turn out to. be neither batteries, ravelins, nor 'counterscarps, the only ereetipn on the' island of Perim being, according to Captain Playiair, a lighthouse, \y:hich is not yet finished. Perini. is situated in the Straits of Bab-elrMaiideb, a mile and a-half from the Arabian, and eleven miles from the African coast. The formationI:is purely volcanic, and consists.of long, low, and gradually sloping ranges of hills, surrounding an excellent and capacious harbour, .about a mile and a-haif in length, half-a-mile in. breadth, and with a varying depth of from four to six fathoms, in the best anchorages. The hills have formerly been intersected with bays and indentures,-which in the course of time have.been filled up witli coral and sand, and are now low plains, scantily covered with salsola, sea lavender, .wild mignonette, and other plants which delight in a suit "sandy soil, These plains occupy about one-fourth of the island, and occur principally on the north side. The rocks, which ar« all igneous, are no\yhere exposed, save where ■'they, dip .perpendicularly into the sea; they are covered witlia layer of volcanic mud, of from two to six feet in depth, above K-hieh is another layer of loose boulders, or masses of black: vesicular lava, in some instances so thickly set as to resemble aa-ude pavement. The highest point of the island is 245 feet above the level pi the sea. All endeavours to procure water upon it have failed, and but a scanty | supply is ■ procurable from the adjacent coasts. ! Water-tanks have been constructed, which are i eh tally supplied. from Aden, and it is proposed to erect; [reservoirs to collect the rain, as well as a conden- ! sing- apparatus. Peri in has never b^en ; perm;i- ] ' neatly occupied by any nation anye the British;

A P-BfiFEpT Cuitjj.—Tlie toothache may b4 cured by holdipg hi the hand, n certain, root—;tfia,t of the to,oth.