INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4135, 22 June 1874, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

By the Claud Hamilton, Captain Bawden, which arrived yesterday, we have our Melbourne files to the 9th inst., from which we make the following extracts : VICTORIA. Superintendent Kabat, of the police, has seized an illicit still in full work on the farm of a free selector named Frawley. The magistrates have fined Frawley, and a man named Brennan who was supposed to be connected with him, in a hundred pounds each and costs. The fines were paid. The discovery of a strange being is reported from Geelong. He was found in a cave on the beach. A constable was searching for the body of a man supposed to have been drowned, and as he looked round he perceived the outlines of an uncouth-looking object, huddled up in one corner. Approaching the figure, he . was astonished to find that instead of some amphibious monster given to habits of seclusion, a human being stood before him. The hermit—for such he was—stated that he had made his home in the cave for many months. He had no bedding, no food, or cooking utensils. How he lived seemed a puzzle, but although covered with rags, he expressed himself well contented with his quarters. The constable gave information to Inspector Palmer, who had the man arrested on a charge of lunacy. Negociations between the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Company and the Government are still in progress, and Mr. Gillies told the Assembly that he had good hopes of then- successful issue. Any compact made . with the company is to abide the decision of the House. An action was lately brought by a servantgirl and her newly-married husband against the Hon. J. T. Smith, " seven times Mayor of Melbourne," for defamation of character, in accusing her of being a thief, and causing her boxes to be searched, and herself given into custody. The amount claimed was £IOOO, but the jury—under the direction of Mr. Justice Stephen assessed the damages at £320. Certain law points are reserved for the full Court. It was feared that another wreck had occurred on the coast, as the finding of a small boat with the name of Zuleika painted upon it was reported from Cape Schank. Mr. Home, the owner of the yacht Zuleika, has forwarded to the Press a letter, stating that " the dingy found at Cape Schanck, with the name ' Zuleika' painted on the stern, was lost from the yacht Zuleika last Easter during some heavy westerly weather, when lying at anchor off Queenscliff." Jone Bone and Thomas Young, two miners, were jammed in a drive on Friday, in Union Jack Gully, Buninyong, the sides of the shaft having given way. A mate, named Hall, descended at great risk to his life, bored a hole through the loose earth to the mouth of the drive, and thus gave them air. The stuff was then got out, and the men rescued unhurt. Great praise is due to Hall for his efforts, for if he had not acted as he did the men would have been suffocated. At the meeting of the Villiers hounds, Warrnambool, on Saturday, William Bristow, the master, was killed. His horse jumped at a fence, struck, and then threw him, and after falling the horse rolled over Mr. Bristow, crushing his chest. The deceased was well known as rider of The Deer and other steeplechasers. The Church of St. Thomas Aquinas, Clunes, was opened on the 7th June. The choir of St. Patrick's, Ballarat, supplied the music. Father Corbett, of St. Xikla, preached the sermon. He said that the Roman Catholic Church was at the present time rising in vigor and splendor. The building was crowded, although five shillings were charged for admission ; a large collection was made afterwards. The Very Rev. Vicar-General officiated at high mass. The Dunolly Express has the following report of a live thistle destroyer:—■" Mr. R. Steel, of Wedderbum, states that a very singular occurrence has taken place of late upon his farm at Craigie Lea, a thistle exterminator having appeared in the shape of some animal or animals not at present known. It attacks both old and young plants alike, and a large paddock belonging to Mr. Steel has already been almost completely cleared. The animal scratches away the surface of the ground until access is obtained to the root of the plant, when, if of tender growth, one bite is sufficient, but if old and tough, two or three holes are made, and the root 13 attacked on all sides. Tin's is followed by the death of the plant, which may be knocked down by the sb'ghtest touch of the foot. We confess that we should have been inclined to doubt had the story not been told to us by such reliable authority." The erection of a fifty-ton crane at the Yarra Bank wharf will be delayed through the loss of the ill-fated ship British Admiral,- as there were about forty tons of fittings for the crane on board. The monster stone to bear the iron foundation of the crane was safely tedded in its position on Saturday, June 6. It was placed on rollers, and drawn up an inclined piano by two ix»werful derricks with ease and Bpeed in three quarters of an hour. Duplicates of the lost fittings will have to be supplied, and a message has been telegraphed to England to forward them as early as possible. Mr. MeKonzie, member of the Shire Council, Newstead, was brought up at the Castlemaine Police Court on Friday, on a charge of larceny as a bailee, and committed to take his trial at the General Sessions.

A lock-out has occurred at Malmsbury, and the following telegram is published in the Kynelon Guardian of Saturday :—" Usual meeting of Malmsbury Council to-night. Quorum present, consisting of Councillors J. Maher, Coghlan, Davy, Hooppell, and Milvain. The town clerk locked them out, and refused to hold the mooting. J. Milvain." A full length portrait, in oil, of Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.E., has been received as a gift by the Corporation of Melbourne. His Excellency, who is at present Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, about twelve months ago intimated to the City Council his desiro to present Victoria with a memento of his tenure of office in this Colony, and it was arranged that this uhould take the form of a portrait of himself, to be hung in the council chamber. The portrait ia life size, and mounted in a massive gilt frame about 8 ftet by 4£ feet. Sir Henry is painted, attired ia tlio blue Windsor uniform, with the

star and ribbon of the Bath upon his breast. It is the work of an Italian artist named A. Baccani, who could hardly have discharged his commission (says the Aqc) in a more slovenly and unsatisfactory manner. It is a wretched likeness, the subject being represented as a man whose features are corrugated by age, worn by care and sickness, and the expression is that of intense mental or bodily anguish. A Little Child Lost in the Busfi.—The Lancefield Examiner states that on Sunday, the 17th May, a little boy, aged two years and a half, a son of Mr. Towers, blacksmith, Mount Macedon, followed some other children, who were going to a hut some distance away from their home. They tried to make the child return, and went on their way supposing that he had done so. The parents thought he was with the others, and only realised the fact that he was lost when they returned some hours afterwards. Immediate search was made in the neighborhood, and all the neighbors were quickly aroused and joined in the search. As night advanced the matter became more serious, and the news of the loss being spread, the search parties became larger, and extended in all directions. Night came, but no trace of the missing child could be found. Fires were kindled, and search in extended line kept up all night. To make matters worse, heavy showers of rain came on. The dreadful anxiety and suspense of the parents can be well understood. All the following morning the quest was continued. About noon on Monday two of the searchers were descending a thickly-wooded gully when they saw a tiny head appearing over a log, and a pair of little arms grasping the top in a vain endeavor to mount the obstacle. They also heard a little voice crying bitterly for aid. In a few minutes the baby was in the arms of his mother, whose feelings were too great for expression. When Mr. Grant took up the little fellow, he clung to him with a grasp rendered like steel by the dreadful reaction and the sense of terror. The wanderer had been out for quite twentyfour hours, but was none the worse for his night in the bush. He said in his childish patter "no supper," "no tea," which was as eloquent as if he had spoken volumes. Extraordinary Accident.—The following singular accident, which fortunately led to no serious result, is related by the Learmonth correspondent of the Ballarat Star :—"Returning home on Tuesday evening, with his horse and dray, darkness over-took a man named Phelan, and though knowing the turns and twists of the various tracks to avoid the holes, his off wheel came in contact with a post and rail fence, and became jammed. Phelan, without a moment's thought, jumped off the dray on the near side, and into a hole fifty feet deep. On the following morning a neighboring farmer named Storm, on passing the spot, noticed Phelan's horse and dray, and took them to the farm, and was surprised to learn that Phelan had not returned home on the previous night. It was noticed by Storm that Phelan's dog did not follow him with the horse and dray, but remained at the hole, and fears being aroused, Storm and the neighbors went to the shaft, and calling out " Below," a

lusty answer was returned. Ropes were immediately procured and lowered, and Phelan having secured himself, gave the signal, and was quickly raised to tho surface unhurt, though stiff and cold. A nobbier of whisky restored the circulation, and Phelan trudged home without any assistance, and as if nothing had happened. The most singular coincidence in connection with this most miraculous escape remains to be told. About six months ago Phelan was breaking in a young horse for dray purposes, and on one particular day was putting the animal, harnessed to a dray, through his facings, and in close proximity to the hole in question. The horse became ungovernable, and ultimately fell head-foremost, dray and all, down the hole, or rather midway, and was soon choked to death by the pressure of the collar. To save the dray, the harness was cut away, and the dead horse descended to the bottom. It was on this decomposed matter that poor Phelan alighted, so that his position may be more easily imagined than described, and which he evidently bore like a true philosopher."

NEW SOUTH WALES. The murderer Breen has been pronounced insane, and his sentence is commuted to imprisonment for life. Mr. Weaver, police magistrate at Armidale, was found dead on the 2nd June on his child's grave, with his throat cut. It is supposed that he was insane. Fears are entertained for the safety of the barque Springbok, from Newcastle to Melbourne. The Flintshire, with the Torres Strait mail, left Batavia for the Colonies on the sth, with a full cargo and a large number of passengers. Mr. W. P. Bowes was brought up at tho police court to-day, on a Melbourne warrant, for child desertion. QUEENSLAND. ■A young man named John Flumarty, who stuck up the Tamworth mail, was arrested on the 31st May by the Dalby constables, Smith and McMahon, in a shepherd's hut at the Murila Creek, on the Cameron Station, 180 miles from Dalby. He confessed to the robbery, and inquired if the bags had been recovered. He had a splendid horse, and carried a revolver, and had in his pocket two notes, a cheque, two flash notes, a memorandum regarding the stage to the Palmer, and a pocket-book containing a letter addressed to his father at Tenterfield, to be forwarded in case of accident to himself. His father was formerly a tailor at Toowoomba. The prisoner was brought before tho Dalby bench, and remanded. 104 tons of tin ore have been received from Warwick during the week. Mr. Lilly's acting judgeship is extended, in consequence of the severe indisposition of Mr. Justice Lutwyche. An accident occurred at Gympie, by which a man named James Hayes, whilst blasting at Hilton reef, was so injured that he had to have his leg and both arms amputated. The inquiry in O'Ncil's case has resulted in the arrest of a man and a boy on a charge of manslaughter. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. A rather curious advertisement, and one tint should be of interest to persons concerned in Zoological Gardens, appears in the Wilcannla Times. In it, Mr. Harris, the manager of the Mount Murchison station, gives notice that there are two camels on the run, and if they are not removed within three months from the 22nd ult., they are to be destroyed. The animals thus threatened hayo been objects of curiosity in the locality for some years, as they were there as far back as 1807. It was not known then, and probably is not yet ascertained, where they came from or who they belong to. At an anti-immigration meeting, held in Adelaide, a resolution was carried that free immigration is unjust in principle, and injurious to the best interests of the Colony. It was stated at the meeting that several newly arrived immigrants had left for other Colonies, and that sixty women and children were now housed at an hotel at the Government expense. The Jlcjister calls for an inquiry into these statements. Mr. Melville, an old colonist, and late secretary to the Chamber of Commerce, has died, aged seventy-eight. A woman named Mary Townsend has been arrested on a charge of murdering her child. Two want of confidence motions have been tabled. Mr. Cavanagh has given notice of motion that the Education Board should have been consulted previous to the appointment of Inspector Hosking, and Mr. Carr has given notice that the conduct of the Government, in spending money on railway works before the bills have passed, is unconstitutional. A bill to borrow £600,000 has passed through committee of the Assembly. Tho Council has passed a resolution in favor of extending telcgrapliic communication to Cape Borda. *