AUSTRALIAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 78, 1 April 1874, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN.

Melbourne!, March 25. The elections and the proba ?le result to the Ministry are the principal topics of conversation, but although the polliDg for the first batch of elections is taking place to-day, very little real earnest interest is being shown. The feeling against raising a quarrel with the Upper House on an abstract question is strong in many quarters, and it is not unlikely that a majority will be found against the Government on this question. Several ministers have addressed their constituents. The polling for the Melbourne constituencies is not until April 23. The population of the colony on the 31st December was 790,488. Ihe Government have it in contemplationto prosecute Maher for perjury in connection with the Buckley will case. In the libel action of Walker v. George, the publisher, of the Australasian, in reference to the pulling of the horse Marquis of Lome in the steeplechase, a verdict has been returned for the plaintiff, damages £300. The verdict is much commented on. Likely application new trial full Court gave judgment for defendant (?) in Depraves ». M'Mullen, Inspector of the Union Bank, where the jury had previously awarded Degraves £10,000. The steamer Cyphrenes, after discharging her cargo, failed for Sydney; she' is superior to the Macgregor but inferior to the Tartar. : New Zealand fours have sold at 92. The English cricketers played a concluding match against 22 of Yorke's Pen'nsula, and won in one innings by nine runs. The scores were : — Peninsula, 42 and 18; the Eleven, 64. Greenwood and Jupp only made double figures. The Englishmen leave Adelaide by the;mail on Saturday. Foster, the spirit medium from California, has given seances, but has not been very successful. Messrs Juto and Ireland leave the Australian stage to proceed to England. Mdlte Palmiere, the new prima donas, is scarcely up to expectations. She has a fine well-cultivated voice, full of sweetness, but nothing particularly great. A collision occurred between two goods trains at Caetlemaine station on Monday evening. No one was injured. Three trucks and the engine were damaged. The representative of a London and Melbourne firm has absconded to California, leaving heavy liabilities on the Bank whose losses are £6000. Victor, the gymnast, Lottie's husband, was drowned in a water-hole while bathing at Benalla yesterday. The Garrison Artillery proceeded to camp at Sunbury to-day. The volunteers encamp next week. Heavy rains are falling. Sydney, March 25. The agent for Siemen Brothers has submitted to the Government an offer to lay a cable to New Zealand. i The representative ot the Torres Straits line has offered to make Sydney the permanent terminus if subsidised. The Government will not prorogue the Parliament before passing the Electoral Bill. Encouraging news comes from the Palmer goldflelds. Several reefs have been discovered. Previsions are very scarce, and large numbers of miners continue to arrive. Several deaths have occurred through dysentery. The blacks are troublesome on the road.

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