AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4797, 7 August 1876, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

No fewer than 250 rabbits, 23 wallabies, and 5 kangaroos were lately killed at Broughton Park, the residence of Mr. W. Wonson. A party went to the mountains in the Goulburn district, and after nine days' sport succeeded in killing 1806 wallabies, 23 wallaroos, 1_ snake, several eaglehawks, and others of less importance. The quartz crushed at Bendigo, Victoria, during the last three months amounts to 90,699 tons, from which 55,9630 z. 15dwt3. 3its. of gold were obtained. °The agricultural returns of Tasmania show a surplus of only 225,000 bushels of wheat available for export. Charles Whitmore Babbage, late teller at the Bank of Adelaide, was committed for trial for embezzling the sum of £1616 3s. 6d., and forging a cheque for £9955. Bail was refused. A committee has been formed in Melbourne to disseminate free-trade views, and has circulated 40,000 tracts. Several persons were arrested for stealing property washed ashore from the wreck of the Gettwood, on the coast of South Australia. One man was fined £lO, another was committed for trial, while others .are to be brought up. One of the prisoners, iu whose possession was found £7OO worth of tobacco, is said to have been carting goods away for a fortnight before the wreck was publicly made known. It is said that a great-granddaughter of Dryden, who is upwards of 80 years of age, resides at Ballarat. His Excellency Sir Hercules Eobinson proposes to offer three prize 3 to be competed for at the Sydney University in an examination of the characters and language of Shakspere's plays. For the most efficient prosecution of scientific matters the Royal Society of _ New South have formed themselves into section-s after the manner of the British associations. Two of these sections have held preliminary meetings. A blacksmith named John Elliott, a resident of Coolah, deposed at the Mudgee Quarter Sessions that he was 100 yeara of age. A collection of twenty-four magnificent photographs, by Vernon Heath, have been lent by Mr. E. L. Montefiore for exhibition at the Academy of Arts, in Elizabeth-street, Sydney. Thi3 gallery is open to the public every Friday and Saturday without charge. Two children died at Adelaide through accidentally drinking a liquid intended for poisoning ants. The population on the North Queensland goldfields is said to amount to 11,000, of whom 8000 are Chinese. A lad employed in -v furriery establishment in Melbourne has confessed to having participated in an extraordinary fraud. He took, at different times, 150 dozen valuable native skins and handed them to an accomplice at the rear of the establishment, who conveyed them round to the front entrance, and resold them to the owners. A discovery has been made of an old stockade at Fort Grey, in the far west, erected by Sturt's party, thirty-one years ago. The eucalyptus timber used in its construction was found in a perfect state of preservation, and seemed as if it would endure another thirty-one years. A remarkable mineral substance, said to possess great curative properties, has been discovered at Mount Wingen, where a bituminous coal-bed has been on fire for the last fifty years.