INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4271, 27 November 1874, Page 2 (Supplement)

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

! U4 VICTORIA. It is proposed to form a company to buy the house.pud grounds of Toorak, near Melbourne —for .some years past the residence of the Governors of Victoria—and convert the house into an academy for young ladies. The mail steamer for Galle, on her last outward trip, was detained in Melbourne from 2 p.m. to midnight of the sth instant to carry home tho result of the race for the Cup. These steamers now sail from a special berth at the Alfred Graving Dock. Rails .are now laid down, and, the mails" and passengers are received or landed alongside the wharf. A storekeeper of Emerald Hill, named Harris, has recovered a verdict of £l5O from the National Bank for dishonoring two cheques under peculiar circumstances. He had an agreement with the bank, by which he was to bo allowed to pay in what money he chose into the branch at Emerald Hill, which sums were to be transferred to the head office, where he was to operate on them. By the mistake of a clerk at the Emerald Hill office, a sum hepaid in on the 20th July was not forwarded, ;md the result was that two cheques he gave for £2B and £ll were dishonored. The bank admitted the negligence, and paid £SO into court. . ~.„ A young woman named Louisa Miller, seventeen years of age, has poisoned herself at the Adelaide Lead, near Maryborough. This is the third or fourth occurrence of the same land—added to a supposed murder or two—that has occurred in the same locality lately. A fearful dust storm passed over Echuea the other evening. Tho wind was so strong that it carried away the pontoon bridge over the Murray. A young woman who was crossing at the time narrowly escaped with her life. Had she not made a successful jump she would have been blown into the river. One of our staff (says the Pastoral Times) met in Melbourne, the other day, a man who witnessed the first dray load of wool that was ever passed through Melbourne for shipment. It is now more than thirty years ago, and Melbourne people were then jubilant. They employed a fiddler to play " See the conquering hero comes" before the dray as it passed slowly along, drawn by a dozen bullocks. Messrs. Goldsbrough's wool stores now hold upwards of 50,000 bales at a time. Occasionally these enormous premises are hardly large enough to hold the wool consigned for shipment to this eminent firm, -. and there are several other huge wool depots in Melbourne. We have received, says the Geelong Advertiser, another return showing how great a friend of the farmer is the Lincoln sheep. Mr. Anderson, of the Manse farm, Ceres, has from three two-tooth Lincoln rams, a very little over twelve months old, cut fifty-four pounds of wool, the highest individual yield being the lowest 16Jlbs. Perch have; been so successfully acclimatised in Lake Wendouree, near Ballarat, that a galadav is now held each spring, when fishing for the strangers'is permitted. The last of these holidays took place early in the present month. Fish of five' ; and six pounds weight are now commoa in the lake. At Struan Station, Mr. A. S. Robertson _s, 34,000 Eheep were shorn by sixteen shearers in twenty-four days, or an average of 88 sheep per man per day. A public trial of Roy's Patent Self-raking Reaping Machine has been made on the farm of Mr. Lyons, Pascoevale. The trial was satisfactory, the machine performing its work very well, though the crop in which it had. to work was not at all suitable for a fair trial, being too green, and much laid in places. With a ripe crop the work could be done much more easily, both as regards cutting and delivering. On November 10 the farewell banquet to the Hon. J. G. Francis was given in the Richmond Town-hall. The Mayor was in the chair, and Mr. Francis was presented with an illuminated address. The hon. gentleman was received with prolonged enthusiasm, and made a speech of some length descriptive of his political career. He intimated his intention to re-enter political life on his return to the colony, if all

A neat arrest was made in the office of the clerk of the City Court one clay lately. . A respectable-looking young man, named Frederick Spinks, went to the Bank of New South Wales, and there presented a cheque for .£260, purporting to be signed by Mr. Bartlett, of Elizabeth-street. The manager of the bank, feeling doubtful about the cheque, referred him to Mr. Bartlett, who pronounced it to be a forgery, and went with Spinks, who said he had received it from a man named Solomon, to the clerk of. the City Court, to issue a warrant against him. Mr. Whelan questioned Spinks as to the cheque, which he said first Solomon gave him, and afterwards on being asked why he took it from a stranger, replied, " Oh, I thought it was his own." Mr. Whelan seeing that something was wrong, turned to Detective Hartney, who was in the room, and said, "I think this, is a case for you." Hartney then requested Spinks to follow him, and on further questioning him concluded he was the forger. An arrest was made there and then, and Spinks was locked up, and will be brought before the City Bench.,.. The jewelry lately stolen" from the house of Mr. W. S. Lyster (of opera celebrity), at St. Kilda, has nearly all been recovered by the detectives. It - was found in possession of a tailor named Jones or Williams, who had not long been released from Pentridge, where he had served a sentence for housebreaking.

A singular case of poisoning from the bite of a parrot, says the Ararat Advertiser, is now being treated. A German youth of about nineteen years of age had a pet bird in confinement for many months, and on releasing it the other day it bit him severely in the first joint of the third finger, causing phlegmonous inflammation. The hand and arm are now swollen to twice the natural size ; there Fis a great deal of constitutional disturbance and intense agony. This is the first case of the kind we have heard of. It is well known that a wound from the claws of the platypus is poisonous, but it was never thought before, so far as we can. remember, that poison could be imparted by the bite of a parrot. A small land-owner near Deep Creek, named Kelleher, has been killed by another named Do Sauter—a half-caste—with an adze. The men had been bad neighbors for some time. The City of Melbourne Bank is a new institution. The shareholders have just held a halfyearly meeting, and declared a dividend at the rate of seven per cent. The construction of the Geelong and Colac railway has been commenced at Geelong. The line will be. carried under that town by a tunnel.

Tin Leicester, from London, reports seeing a ship, apparently American, of 1000 tons, burning, in long. 2 W., lat., 37 S., on September 11. There wag no sign of the crew. HeDry Gerald Supple, who is undergoing sentence at the I'eutridgo Stockade, is said to be nearly blind. Within the last few months his sight has so much failed as to prevent him from reading the largest print, and ho finds it difficult to walk unless the ground is quite level. It is thought that before many months he will bo completely blind. The Melbourne Chamber of Commerce has initiated a movement which has for its object the abolition of the customs duties now being collected on tho New South Wales border. A sub-committee has been appointed to arrange for a general meeting on tho subject, to bo held at an early date, in order that the views of the public in regard to it may be elicited, and "the Government urged to take some immediate action in the matter." A quiet-looking man was found by the police in a hollow tree at ICow. He had at the time a razor in his possession, with which, when he was discovered, he threatened to take his lifo. At first he refused to give his name, but after being taken before the mayor of Kew (Mr. Hodderwick, J.P.), he gave his name as Henry Jackson. He had no monoy about him, but in his waistcoat pocket was a pawn ticket for an umbrella in the name of Johnson. The Melbounio Herald- says :—" Mr. Joseph Thompson, the bookmaker, is building a superb mansion in Albert-street, a little past tho Hon. J. G. Francis's. Mr. Thompson's house is nearly finished, and will cost altogether, with its furniture and tho price of tho land, probably

not less than £20,000. The place is of very elegant architecture, stuccoed, with ixou verandah, and balcony in front, of airy design. It is built close to the road, with an iron palisading and gates, bearing the inscription ' Don Juan House,' named after the great racer with which Mr. Thompson made such a coup last year."

A man named Skinner, who lately settled at Scarsdale as a produce dealer, has taken French leave, leaving his wife with the business. Skinner had had business with Armstrong Brothers, of Ballarat, who the other day came out, and took some flour from the premises as payment for their debt. Mrs. Skinner laid an information against them, and they were prosecuted at the Scarsdale Police Court. They were committed for trial. ATTEMPTED MDRDER AT PENTBIDGE. The notorious convict Weechurch has again made a murderous attack, this time on one of the warders. Yesterday morning at eight o'clock, Weechurch, accompanied by two other notorious criminals, Osterchamp and Cook, both of whom are under sentence for murder, were escorted to their place of labor by Warder James Coghlan, who was simply armed with a baton, the prisoner Weechurch having a garden hoe and Osterchamp a hay fork. It is supposed that Warder Coghlan, who had been on the sick-list previously, sat down to rest himself, and whilst watching Osterchamp and Cook, W eechurch sneaked behind him and dealt him a violent blow on the right temple with the hoe, which felled him to the ground, where he lay insensible. Weechurch thinking he had succeeded in doing what he has repeatedly threatened to do, viz., murder some one, and so get rid of his life, quietly walked to that portion of the building where his cell was, where he met Warders Gayner and Forsyth, telling them, " I have killed the warder outside. I am tired of my life. I want to be hung. I am persecuted. I will go to my cell quietly." He was at once locked up, the warders proceeding to where their comrade lay, whom they found bleeding profusely from a wound extending from the right temple, about three inches down the face. Coghlan was at once removed to the prison hospital, where his wound was attended to by Dr. Reed, who does not think that any dangerous result will ensue. NEW SOUTH WALES. Upon the meeting of Parliament the Government is likely to be met with an attempt to force a dissolution. A general election is considered almost inevitable before the end of the year. A marble bust of Sir Hercules Robinson has been executed in Sydney by an artist named Simonetti, and placed in Government House. The work is said to be a very fine one, and the likeness is perfect. The same artist is now engaged on a bust of the Premier, the Hon. Henry Parkes. During the storm that visited Sydney on the 25th October the spire of the Wesleyan Church at the Glebe was struck by lightning, and a small portion of it detached. Fortunately, no one was near when the piece of stone fell, but the electric fluid passed down the spire of the church on to the zinc roof of a house, and finally through the house like (as described by those who saw it) a sheet of fire. A little girl who was in the house was near the track of the lightning, and she was noticed to become black in the face ; but providentially she was found to uninjured. A fatal accident occurred on Saturday, at Ultimo, resulting in the death of an elderly man named John Fisher, and severe injury to a little girl six years of age, his granddaughter. On that afternoon Fisher was driving a horse and cart along Harris-street, his grand-daughter, a little girl named Watt, being in the cart with him. He was under the influence of drink at the time, for in consequence of careless driving the cart fell over the bank at one side of the road. Fisher was killed instantly, and the little girl was severely, though not fatally, injured. The Rev. Adam Thompson, principal of the Presbyterian College, is dead. Mr. Matthews, of the meat-preserving works at Newcastle, has died suddenly, of English cholera.

A contract has been accepted to complete -tho Tf mM u .Catholic—Cathedral within three years. Mr. E. Lee's training establishment at Randwick has beeii burned down. One horse and an imported greyhound were destroyed. The proposal of the Government to give the late Chief Justice a gratuity of £7OOO was negatived by a majority of three. New South Wales won the small-bore match by 201 points. Captain Sleep (of Victoria) won the Victoria special prize. The Irish team won the International match. Some calcined human remains have been found in the bush near the Necropolis. They are supposed to be those of a missing broommaker. The Australasia Coal Company, at Newcastle, have passed .through a I Oft. seam of excellent coal. This company was only formed lately in Victoria. Miss Isabella Alexander has given £IOOO to found a bursary, to be called the " Maurice Alexander Bursary," in connection with the Sydney University. A committee has been appointed by ballot to inquire into the management of the Postoffice department, especially respecting the alleged surrender to the French Consul of a letter from Noumea addressed to Henri Rochefort. The correspondence regarding Sir James Martin's demands to be Acting-Governor during the absence from the colony of Sir Hercules Robinson, shows that the Home Government did not wish the appointment of an Acting-Govornor to be made unless an emergency should arise. Two boy?, named respectively Claud Arthur Kingston Underwood, fourteen years of age, and John Michael Dooley, eleven years of age, were suffocated by a sand-bank falling on them. The boys, with some other youths, were playing at the game of "hide-and-go-seek" near the toll-gate at Mitchell-road. Underwood and Dooley went to hide, and selected a sand-cutting near the railway line for their plant. While they were in the sand-cutting the overhanging sand fell upon them and smothered them. Notwithstanding diligent search, the bodies of the unfortunate boys were not discovered until about two hours after the occurrence. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. The Intercolonial Tree Trade Bill has passed the second reading in the Assembly. It is estimated that 20,000 persons were present at the demonstration to Mr. Forrest. Private telegrams report the probability of copper advancing to £IOO. John Paxton,. an old resident of Mount Barker, has committed suicide. The St. Vincent has arrived with nearly 300 immigrants. Over 87,000 tons of breadstuffs have been exported this year. The Government has decided to reduce the cost of telegrams on the Port Darwin Hue from 14s. to 10s. for ten words. George Dawson, a well-connected bushman, made a bet that he would be dead in twentyfour hours, and he died within twelve hours, from bronchitis. Richardson, who was tried for forgery today, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, escaped from gaol yesterday, but was soon recaptured. The Glenelg Railway shows a net profit for the last fifteen months of nearly £SOOO. Another dividend has been declared at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum. Mr. Douglas, lato Government Resident at Port Darwin, lias been appointed as acting police magistrate at Singapore, and will probably become one of the resident magistrates in the Malay Peninsula. The Government telegraphed to the Home authorities permitting the United States Government the free use of the overland telograpli for the transmission of messages relative to the approaching transit of Venus ; but in the Assembly complaints were expressed that the request had been sent to Victoria instead of to this colony. Parliament has been proi-ogued till the 15th January. The speech expressed pleasure at the increased salaries granted to the civil servants, and stated that it was proposed to extend the telegraph to Western Australia.

The passing of the University Bill, it was hoped, would be followed by the introduction of a measure dealing generally with the education of the people. His Excellency also referred to the interest with which he would meet a larger House of Assembly next year, and spoke of the promise of an abundant harvest.

The glass-workers have arrived, and the building is commenced near the gas-works, Bowden. Coorong sand is excellent, Alberton good, and Semaphore suitable; so there is no lack of the raw material, free of duty. It is hoped to commence work by Christmas. The Gazette contains an account of the total value of the exports of staple produce from the colony for the week ended October 31. It amounts to £377,297. The larger items consist of wool, £299,079; copper and copper ore, £51,386 ; wheat and flour, £17,137 ; living animals, £5045. The other articles include bark, bones, bread and biscuit, eggs, gum, jams, and preserves, leather, skins, and hides, tallow, wine, and wax. At Signora Coy's benefit she was presented by her friends with a handsome diamond bracelet. She handed a sum of £73 to the hospital from the proceeds. KECEPTIOX OF THE WEST AUSTRALIAN EXPLORERS. (From the South Australian Advertiser.) Tuesday, the 3rd November, was a day long to be pleasantly remembered in Adelaide, as the occasion on which South Australians gave a hearty and universal welcome to six brave men who have safely struggled through toils, privations, and perils to the accomplishment of as noble an exploit as any of which Australian exploration furnishes a record. Not only did Mr. Forrest face a horrible wilderness, and travel through it league after league, and week after week, without any landmark appearing above the sea of spinifex to cheer the eye 3, without any break in the desolation of the scene ; but he continued on his journey with the full knowledge that other brave explorers and experienced bushmen had retired, baffled and beaten, after their utmost efforts to penetrate this fearful desert from the side at which he was resolved to emerge. From the time Mr. Forrest struck the telegraph line he was amongst friends and brother bushmen, till he arrived with his comrades in the settled districts, to receive a series of ovations, culminating in a grand national demonstration in Adelaide. The gathering of people of all classes was about the largest ever seen in South Australia. An immense procession proceeded and followed the heroes of the hour, while the whole line of route was thronged with thousands of colonists of both sexes, and all ages and ranks, in holliday attire. As the bronzed travellers, in bush costume, on their worn steeds, with then- pack-horses and exploring equipment, entered North Adelaide, they were received with prolonged bursts of applause, the cheering being often renewed with less vigor, till in King William-street the enthusiasm was again fairly aroused, and lound prolonged and vehement expression as the members of the expedition dismounted in front of the town hall. The numbers of persons forming the procession and spectators were variously estimated at from 20,000 upwards. There was a good muster of old explorers to meet the party. In the evening a banquet took place in the town halL The chair was occupied by the Chief Secretary, and there were not less than 400 gentlemen present. Mr. Forrest responded to the toast of " Australion Exploration," and, in doing so, paid a graceful tribute of recognition to explorers who had preceded him.

QUEENSLAND. A man named Banbury has been killed at Camden Harbor.

The wrecked crew of the pearler Enchantress, numbering twenty-four, have landed here in distress.

During the past week (says the Codktown Herald of October 7th) our town has been as lively as possible owing to the large numbers of men here preparing for return to the Palmer. The scenes at night remind one of the old days of Victoria, as all the hotels are more or less frequented, and in many of them champagne has been knocking about as freely as draughts from the crystal brook. Money is most !*!*»>+.ifuVand nnr—storekeepers-ajid merchant are reaping a fine harvest, for it is as much as they can do to supply customers. The large shipments that are daily arriving seem of little more use than to carry out orders of long standing; and at the present rate of demand, it mil, we imagine, take much larger shipments than are coming to hand to keep the place going. Rockhampton will, in a short time, be lighted with gas, the plant having arrived. A great disturbance occurred at Ipswich, at the School of Arts, consequent on the Eev. Mr. Porteous, Wesleyan Minister, lecturing on " The Monk that Shook the World." Three hundred persons of all denominations were present, and several Eoman Catholics gathered in the centre of the hall, interrupted the lecture, and rushed the platform. A general fight ensued, and the lecturer sought the protection of the police. Several persons were injured, and one was stabbed. The police magistrate read the Riot Act, and the police cleared the hall. There was fighting in different parts of the town all night. The season in Queensland is said to have been very fine for the purposes of the squatters. The lambing has been good—as much in the remote Barcoo district as 120 per cent. A gentleman who has lately visited the goldfields at Charters Towers gives the Rockhampton Bulletin rather a glowing account of the prosperity up north. He writes : —" lam much pleased both with Townsville and the Towers. Signs of prosperity are everywhere apparent, and there is none of that state of semi-starva-tion, that we have heard so much about, visible among the people ; at least, I saw none. The miners seem pleased with their prospects and the country. As one good sign of prosperity I may say that the road from Townsville to the Towers is crowded with loaded teams and people from the Palmer. Millchester, too, is a busy and a thriving little place, and gives promise of a grand future. There, a few days ago, £125 was collected for the local hospital, which will enable the managers to claim .£275 from the Government. A national school was also opened there lately, with one hundred children as scholars. TASMANIA. A number of curious relics have been discovered by the workmen engaged in pulling down old St. David's Cathedral in Hobarton, built in 1817. Coins were found in different places between the stones. The last discovery was twenty-four rounds of ball cartridge, said by the Mercury to be very different to the ammunition of the present day. After the lapse of over fifty years since it was embedded in the wall, the powder had lost none of its explosive qualities. At the annual meeting of the Cornwall Eire and Marine Insurance Company, the usual dividend of 10s. a share, with a bonus of ss. a share, was declared. The reserve fund stands at £72,000. The Supreme Court has dismissed the suit brought by the Rev. Mr. Storie against the presbytery, allowing two of the defendants their costs. The Court deprecated the plaintiff's conduct in trying to make it a court of appeal from the presbytery, and seeking its opinion on ecclesiastical matters under the pretext of asking civil rights. A prisoner named James Kilpatrick made his escape from Hobarton Gaol a few days ago, in the forenoon, by clearing the wall on the Melville-street Bide of the establishment, dropping down on to the roof of the stone shed, quietly walking through the premises of Mr. Atkins, the governor of the gaol, and making his way along the public streets of the city without let or hindrance from anyone, although he was seen in the act of dropping on to the friendly roof which aided him in his descent, and was afterwards observed inarching up Murray-street in full uniform not excepting the helmet which is worn by the prisoners as they perambulated the streets during the week. This did not excite curiosity enough to occasion any unpleasant questions being asked him, and he was thuß allowed to glide into space without any interruption.

The Hoharton Mercury relates the followiug concerning the valuable qualities—presence of mind—possessed by a grand nioce of the gal-

lant Sir John Franklin :—A nursemaid in the family of the Rev. R. Hayward accidentally fell into the St. Paul's River, Avoca, and but for the presence of mind shown by the eldest of her charges, a little girl six years of age, must have been drowned. The child, after sending a younger sister home to the parsonage for assistance, went further down than the scene of the accident, and climbing into a teatree, pushed out a branch to her nurse as she drifted down, which the nurse managed to catch. Finding this insufficient to save the girl, she then let herself down into the river, grasping a bough firmly with one hand, while with the united aid of the other and the teatree she helped the girl into a place of comparative safety. Meanwhile, the help summoned from the parsonage arrived, and the nurse and her brave little preserver were safely landed on the bank and conveyed home, much exhausted from then- immersion and efforts. A real salmon, according to the JSbbarton Mercury, has at last been taken in Tasmania : —" On Monday night there was taken in tha lower Derwent a fish which is undoubtedly the smolt of a true salmon on its first journey seaward, and is a very fine specimen, weighing nearly one pound. It is almost a counterpart of the fish sent to Dr. Gunther, in the early part of 1870, and which he pronounced to present all the usual characters by which the true salmon (sahno salar) is distinguished from its nearest allies. The recurrence each spring of specimens of smolt on their downward journey proves that the parent fish must have visited the upper waters and deposited ova year after year, and nothing but patience is wanting to demonstrate the success of the experiment ; and nothing should be better calculated to induce that patience than the recurrence, if even at long intervals, of such specimens as that just added to the evidences of successful acclimatisation." There must be something exciting about the life of a newspaper correspondent in Launceston. Some time ago, during the railway rate riot* there, we read that Mr. J. Kidgell, the Mercury correspondent, had a narrow escape from being hanged by the mob, who had provided themselves with a rope for the purpose. Kidgell evidently means to die game when the Lauaceston people do finally operate upon him. The Mercury branch office was lately burglariously visited by a man, who was captured. Amongst the stolen property was " one Colt's five-barrelled revolver and a powder-flask." The account of the robbery states that " the revolver was usually kept loaded, and there was a supply of ammunition on the premises—bullets, caps, and powder."