AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 257, 31 October 1871, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

.--'A : ' CQfca'gDthent; of 70 stqns, of sugars was recently received at Sydney from the Manning River. . •; ■ „.'.': ..The Sydney insurance Company has. declared a dividend of 15 per cent, per annum. ' The Melanie, from Torres ,. Strait?; : brought 30 , tons of pearl shell to. Sydney, and reported , that M'NaiDi a direr, who was in charge of a party of pearl gatherers, : had been drowned. The TaßtnaniaD Government has undertaken .to communicate- with the other colonial Governments regarding: a copyright protection of 48 hours for English through telegrams. ' Governor Ducane has bpcome -the patron of the Launceston Turf Cluh, which is now -successfully fonnsd, ajid has' .adopted a prograrnmfi of three days' -racing, when over '700 soys. of added money will be run for. Captain Rae and three men recently arrived at Rockhainptoti in a wb^leboat, ' 47 days out. They report the loss of the hargue ; - Corypheus. at „-Ailu, ; Marshall's . Archipelago..; .The;, vessel!, was. .becalmed, ■■ and was sucked ashore by the current. The crew, in two boats, made for Snndy Cape,.' and parted company four days afterwards.-; The men suffered great, privations, , catching wat^r in the boat's sails, and subsisting on provisions damaged i>y sea- water. )They,caut»ht-,siKht ,nf,.uo vessel, and heard. iio tidings of the, other boat. The Corypheus was from Foo-nhow, bound to -Melbourne, with a cartro-of tea, consigued to Messrs. Dalgety & Co.; , ' •■ ADELAIDE. r ..The German peace demopstratroDS at Tariunda came off successfully. P ._;.!About IjOOO persons were present. After a discourse from Mr.'Fidler,. there, was a, grand procession, with symbolical representations of peace and war, the army and navy. At night the jtoJsro was brilliantly illurai.yrrated-.. „-.«• ■ • ... „ ; •:■/ ; ; ■••_•; -. . The Treasurer has delivered his budgetspeech. The actual deficiency at the begininriing of 1871 was £180.000, to meet which £100,000 worth of bonds had been sold at par. The improvement in the revenue during 1871 has already reduced the deficiency to £77,000 .The income, derived from the; Customs is better than was estimated by £23,Q00; -the rents from Crown lands, are, however, less than the, estimate by £36,000. There is< an. increase on the estimates on railways, telegraphs, and land sales, The total land fund will be £190,000, including land sales.. The excess of. revenue „over the estimate is £56,000. , ,The revenue and expenditures of . 1,872 are estimated to balance without any more taxation. A sum of £4,000 is put down towards assisted immigration. ,

The Bishop op Victoria and Confirmation Dresses.— The Australasian has the following severe remarks upon a scene that, recently, occurred at. a .confirmation in Melbourne : — There is just as much 1 cant 'and humbug in a relentless crusade against church millinery, as in the most" pronounced stickler for fancy altar ..coatume. — That.. most_ worthy, gentleman, his lordship the Bishop, has a crank about confirmation dre^s. He won't havje young girls appearing in emblematic white to receive the imposition of his episcopal hand?, an operation in itself essentially emblematic. He. forgets his own starched neckcloth, .his gaUered legs, . hia lawn sleeves,, an.d, smells Popishness in the nunlike costume of the postulants. And thus when a n'umberVf young girls, 4 ul y Prepared by. their i minister to relieve their spo'nsors"of/th«! vows rn^de on their behalf, present J tiie'msclves for' the riite, his lordship produced a most unse«niy unrehearsed effect He. ordered^ them back fromithe comraunion rails tocf.esu me their habitual ? costume. The aisles of Ghrisi's Church, St; Kilda, were, for the nonce^ resolved into a green room, and the astonished congregation was edified by the sight of a number of young $\v\b tbrust , into, p,ainjul . pr.omineuce, struKgliner into: jackets, .and, jpepl urns, and j^aniers by Bpeciai;/!epißcopal. command. I womler if the.T,d.e.v,v.tional.? spjfi't ,?. of „j; t hese yountr persons was^heiphtened by the rebuff they were compelled to endure. I wonder whether 'a kittle episcopal blindness would Anttt have <; beep aisconduciye |o, ; the solemnity of the occasion as that petty, restless, keeuness 'iiof: f obseryation which seeks offence where none is intended. How many 1 pVetksj Would 1 again submit their children in^lt ( ,of „ this f kind even , 'at * ttie '■■■nandsl-^^b^hp.py'j isoitfle people' , think that his lordship's desire for, the elttction of a successor is by no means premature.