AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 137, 21 November 1846, Page 3

AUSTRALIA.

A poisonous herb has made its appearance in the district of Rivoli Bay, and the settlement is nearly deserted in consequence : one party alone has lost nearly 2000 sheep in consequence. Mr. Horrocks, who led the late expedition to explore the interior of South Australia, died from the effect of the accident he met with (shattering his hand by the accidental discharge of a gun), and the subsequent exhaustion caused by his return home. As much excitement with regard to the mineral wealth of the colony was beginning to be felt in Western Australia as has been so long prevailing in the neighbouring province to the south. The embryo smelting operations in South Australia have received a check, it being discovered that the fumes arising from the piocess destroy the vegetation on the surrounding lands to the extent of two miles. A cloth factory on an extensive scale is in course of formation at Adelaide. Port Gladstone, thirty-five miles from Freemantle, is highly spoken of by the Western Australian papers; there is said to be good coal in the immediate

vicinity. Steam Communiation with Singapore. —Mr. Wheeler one of the most active friends of South Australia in England, had called the attention of Sir Geo. Larpent, chairman of the j meeting called by Mr. Waghorn, to the very superior advantages of the line via Swan River, South Australia, and Port Phillip, to Sydney, over that by Port Essington and Torres Straits. —South Australian.