AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 893, 25 February 1879, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

(Per s. s. Tararua at thb- Bluff. ) Melbourne, February 18. Camperdown was visited on the 11th bj' a terrific thunderstorm, which caused much damage to property. The Presbyterian Church was completely ruined. On the same day a man named Philip Dowling was killed by lightning at Colac. Messrs. G. T. Weston and Healey have retired from the contest for West Bourke. The jury at the inquest on Mrs. Collins, the scandal of which has been causing much excitement, returned a verdict of •''Death from, criminal abortion," but that that there was no evidence to show by whom caused, and that the conduct of Dr. Crooke had been somewhat suspicious throughout the case. David Montgomery, a mining manager, fell down a shaft at Sandhurst, and was killed. Sydney, February 18. The miners of Lambton have struck, owing to some dispute as to the underground working. The Treasurer, in his Financial Statement, said there was no necessity for a change in the fiscal policy. The revenue for the present year would be probably L 125,000 iii excess of the estimated expenditure. Brisbane, February IS. The captain and crew of the Day Dawn, from New Caledonia, were prostrated from exhaustion and fever. Adelaide, February IS. The boat of the Runnymede, which left Port Pirie for the lightship about a month ago, has been discovered at Port Paterson, containing two dead bodies. Perth, Feb. 18. Traces of Leichardt's party are supposed to have been found in the far east. A Naval Volunteer force is in course of formation at Fremantle.