AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4952, 5 February 1877, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

In ,»■ there will be a daily mail overland between Melbourne and Adeliide. - '■•■ ■' JMx. lE._ Langton, _.ei-Treasurer, _ proceeds tigainßt the Melbourne newspaper j for I al-' leg«dlibel,. : ■' ■. v '-a ( j ,/. A/A I ;r The } Mechanics' Institute, - at. Kyne'ton,Yictoria, ~was: burned. down.. It 4 was linsured forje6sß. ;., ...-,• <-':., ■•' '•; ■;■ '■ I Great progress is being made with the'.sur-f >Sey (ft theriYe«o( Northern Queensland, 1100 "mile*, having. been__Bounded by-meaijs of r » launch and boat*. ' ■ p.;; "<. -<r -■. \'< •• '•'■■' '•At Nfewpastle ; a man attempted to ;destroy himself by ; ' drowning,,in. a shallow, witerhole with' a mfflstpne tied, to, his, 1 neck.-;,,He was committed r fo'r tria1.,'..',:,...,.) <,■:,. ■- u j 1 Mr. 'Francis, Bell, the City Engineer, proposes ,to discharge,the sewage of ;Sydney into the i'bo'ean at Boiidi' through a tunrlel four mile's longl ' '".,' ",'.'' I ■i The 'fourth New South Wales and Queensland Wesleyan Conference commenced its session on the 16th"Jariuary,'in the Centenary Church, York-street. • The 'Rev£ W. j Clarke was eleoted President. v> j Mr. John Anderson, who, when a lad sailed withTLord Nelion, and was present inj several noted naval battles, died lately at the residenceof Mr. Richard near Young, at (the age of'9l years. ■ \ • : Mr. W.' : Clark, ; the hydraulic . engineer," accompanied : by Mr; Adams (the Sujrveyor-, ; General) and Mr; J.'Manning, has beeninspecting the varioas localities from Which it is proposed to derive a supply, of. water for "Sydney,",'',. ,"/' -\ > ■■ '•■ ; ! ', ' ! ; ''' ; ' ; ' ; J Mr. WaltW; Hill, Superintendent ,of the Brisbane Botanic;, Gardens, h»a published an interesting'report' of his exploration I of the country ot,TH4ity Bay. Kauri pine (Dammara i-wetp foujid, /in. isolated! placegVfrom 6 to, 6 feet in diameter,'wl ilethecharacter'of /the 1 " soil''indict ted its stdtaMelekrfor' the growtfi of trtpWal 5537 semi-tropioftlplutta. Some portion of the.ex-; pl6reac||i&ro , (r*Ss found toWalso available,; t f6r J p(«rto^^vC*J^w» ; ' •. '/,'..'". |

■ While a -proapecting-.party-were boring-in the neighborhood of Horsham, Victoria, a beautiful shell," comparatively new! in- the colony, a species of Pleurotoma,'came up, with: the boring-rod, attached' to a lum'rxof pyrites. The shell is regarded to be. associated with limestone' and coal. , \ ,"","_ ! At the quarterly meeting of the' United Melbourne district of the; A.O.F. about fortyfive representatives, of ; the'various courts were present.- The quarterly balance-sheet showed the funeral donations for the' quarter to be £SBO, and the receipts £526 10s. I'd.', leaving a balance in the funeral fund of £4OOB 7s.' 7d.; and in the incidental of £59 18s. }od., the total funds of courts being £43,196 6s. lljd. Four men made a remarkable journey from.

the Gulf of Carpentaria to Cooktown. They subsisted for some time on the tuberous roots of a kind of grass, but reached their destination in good health, : after travelling j for two months, during-which they.traveised nearly a thousand miles in a devious track. , The blacks of the interior never molested the travellers;' but when nearing the coast, they had to resist a long-continued attack. The rivers they crossed abounded plentifully in fish.; • It is mentioned by the -Oeelong Advertiser that on'a recent Sunday evening the Ven. Archdeacon Slatt'ery expressed himself strongly in his sermon at St. Mary's Church, when referring to marriages - between Catholics and Protestants., Having deprecated such mixed marriages in the strongest language, he further remarked that, in* a great many ; instances, they were, only effected for the purpose of covering shame.; ! •■ - , ' A somewhat peculiar, case came under the notice of the Chief Justice recently, in arising out of the removal from Victoria of the infant child of the jlate Mr. Edward S. Smith, who died some months ago in Fiji. The child in question had been for the last five years living with her aunt (Mrs. Mitchell), a lady residing at Toorakj;'but by the will of the'late Mr. Smith, she.was,consigned to-the guardianship of i Mrs. ;Blacker, living in New Zealand. On the 21st December last, Mr. Justice Stephen madejan order that the infant should be deliveredj over to Mrs. Blacker ; but at the.same time expressed an opinion that she. should not be removed from the .jurisdiction, of the court. ; On the 23rd of December,-'a bill in equity was filed against the trustees, under the, will of the late Mr. Smith, and against Mrs. Blacker, for the. purpose of restraining them from taking the infant away; but, - notwithstanding the usual Mrs. Blacker went to New Zealand, and took the child with, her. ,Mr. C. A. Smyth" now applied for,, an injunction to restrain Mrs. Blacker from taking away the infant, Mr/Worthington, who appeared on the other Bide, argued that as the_ child had already gone outside the .jurisdiction of the Court.there was no,power to act. Mr. Smyth, however, contended that Mrs. Blaaker was guilty of contempt of court. He cited the ,case of Ware v.' Ware, 1 Vic', L.R., and asked his Honor to make an order for the defendant to produce the infant within a month. Hjs Honor'decided to adjourn the whole case until the Equity sittings. " j