AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 302, 7 September 1874, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

We clip tbe following from our Melbourne files : — v Sydney, August 27. Serious complications have arisen through the absence of the representative of the American Government 'here, there being no one to certify tojocuments going by ihe Californian mail ; but the Governor bas removed the difficulty by provisionally pjcogoisiog Mr. J. H. Williams as commercial agent. f A great fire occurred at Newcastle this morning Gardiner's draper's shop and Woods Brothers' wholesale grocery stores were burned to the ground. Tbe loss iB £20,000, and the property was only insured for £6,500 io tbe Victoria office and £3,500 in the London, Liverpool, and Globe office, , £323,305 worth of tin has been exported hence since lst January. A Fiji letter says that MrTGdteA. Woods left Kandavau for England per Mikudo. Goldsborough is n strong favorite for the Melbourne Cup, and 5 to 1 are tbe best odds obtainable. To-night Horatio is a strong favorite for the Metropolitan at 5 to 1 ; Goldsborough, 100 to 14; Arrow, 100 to 15j and Fiteyattendon, 10Q to 12. Mdlle. Jenny Glaus appeared at tho Victoria Theatre on Saturday, and received a perfect ovation. The selection from " Lombardi" was enthusiastically encored. His Excellency the Governor leaves for Fiji on the 7th proximo. H.M.S. Challenger arrived at Levuka on tbe 28th July, and left three days after for kandavau. Eden, N.S.W., August 27. The steamer Jeddah put into Edeu this morning with her foro compartment on fire, She was taken alongside the jetty,'and carried away a portion* of the structure. Very prompt measures have been adopted to subdue the flames, with hopeß of success. Bbisbaue, August 27. At a banquet at Jr>ockhf-mpton, bis Excellency the Governor, the Marquis of Normanby, expressed regret at his approaching departure, and urged ou the colony unity, not separation. Launceston, August 27. The brig Prairie, from Port Darwin, has arrived. On the way down she stayed at Bowse Island, where the whaleboat was swamped, with eight men on board. All were drowned except the mate, wbo, witb the assistance of the cook and four boys, brought the brig down. The names of those drowned are Captain Maofarlane, Wm. Clark, Martin Thomas Burgess, Wm. Harburgh, Henry Woomby, and Chas. Johnson. William Griffiths, a sailor belonging to the Mercury, of Melbourne, has been fined £20 for smuggling snuff.

Adelaide, August 27. The cattle show te-cUfc^was a success, Mr Charles Price woi^phe special prize for the best bull under 20 months. Mr C. B. Fisher's Angler took tho prize for the best blood horso, and Mr KeUy'a Lord Redesdale for the best draught/ horse. Messrs John Murray, and Sanders, James, and Co., were the principal priz-* takers in cheep. There were three entries of flax machines. Fifty rams cold at auction averaged iMO each, one fetching as high as £177. b * The ship City of Adelaide, which has arrived here vtith immigrants, is embedded in the sand, 200 yards from the shore, in ten feet of water. A lumpez, named John Thomas, swam Crom the shore to her, but was not allowed to board, being informed that fever was on board. The steam-tug Eleanor steamed round from the port, but could not get near enough to hold communication. It is expected, as the vessel j stands high and dry on the beach\ thia | afternojn, that she will not^beH&elA to get off until the cargo is discharged*/' The gale on Suuday night, it is supposed, snapped the cable and blew the vessel ashore. It ia not kuown yet what is to be done with tho passengers, pf whom there are 300. A late telegram says: — Eight deaths occurred on board the immigrant ship City of Adelaide, through scarlet fever. The passengers were landed to-day. Those not taken by their friends, were quartered by the Government at various places.

The Mersey and Deloraine tramway, i Launceston (Tasmania), of 17 miles, was sold recently by the sheriff, under a writ of fi. fa., for £500, to Messrs. John Easter and Atkinrlitoraison.