AUSTRALIAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 56, 6 March 1874, Page 2

AUSTRAL I A N.

Melbourne, Feb. 28. Parliament will bo dissolved on the 9fch of March. The Chief Secretary's election address 1 appears next day. In the first batch of elections the nominations were 18, and the polling 27. Several candidates are holding meetings. The elec-' lions are likely to caute a good deal of excitement. Bishop Perry left for Europe hy the mail steamer. .Addresses were previously : previously presented to him. . Blyhop Enfnell, of Brisbane, also proceeded to England, and will notjreturp. The Rev P. S. Menzies, the popular Presbyterian Minister, died of : consumption, much regretted. He. had a large funeral, Four members of Government recently visited Maryborough to be present at the turning of the fod of the railway. At the laying of the foundation stone of a State school, Mr Stephen made a speech on the success of the Education Act. At the adjourned inquest on the body of Reynolds, nothing was elicited as to who seat the explosive . material. It is believed the deceased was experimenting in compounds. The Nubia lletf t Galle. fpr Australia on the IBtli February, and will arrive here about the 12th March as two days late. The Englishmen won tbe cricket match against the fifteen Victorians by seven wickets The. match excited no interest. Grace then batted with eleven in thefleld, and scored 126, and the fielding was very indifferent. The eleven since . played . at Launeeston, and made 2.47 in one innings. Oscroft, 96; G. F. Grace, 45; W. Grace, 33; ■ Jupp, 33. ■ The Tasmanians in their flrst innings only scored 90, ten of the number . making nil. In the pecond innings, eleven wickets were, down for .112 runs. After playing at Hobarton the eleven return here to play a final match. People here are heartily tired of cricket. New Guinea colonisation movement is progressing Btrongly. 'lhe promoters intend to ask for a cessation of 10,000 acres irom the natives. The barque Don. Diego, from Liverpool, went ashore tbis morning near Mud Island, and is expected to be got off shortly. H<M. s.s. Nelson is to be docked today. fcYDNEY, February 28. The Parliament is now sitting, but the business is unimportant. The strike In the iron trade continues, and large orders fqr machinery are mean ivbile sent elsewhere. There have been heavy rains and a southerly gale during, the weekMr «M' Lea vy h-s presented l his natural history collection and £7,000 to the Sydney University. ■ "Hume reiterates the story about Letchardt's Relics having been stolen from him, which nobody believes. Ihe Palmer river rush is over, andall aie returning. Many are dying from starvation and exhaustion on the way. The township is deßerted, and provisions Bre so scarce as to be at famine prices. The rivers are flooded. jj „.. Adelaide, February 28. The Register estimates that there were 870,000 acres under wheat, being IIO.COO less .than last year. The average yield was a little over 7i bushels to the acre. The surplus available for export will be 105,000 tons. An attack waß made by the blacks on Barrows Creek telegraph-station, on Sunday evening, when all were outside enjoying a smoke. Staple ton, the telegraph-master, and Frank, a linesman, were killed. Flint, the operator, and a black boy, were seriously injured. The next day the natives re-appeared in force, and were fired at, and one was killed. Since then reinforcements have been sent to that and all the stations on the overland line. Mr. Elder has been despatched with a wellequipped expedition to Perth to explore the country passed over by Mr. Warburton.