MELBOURNE EXTRACTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 49, 11 January 1862, Page 2

MELBOURNE EXTRACTS.

O ir Bald Hills and Creswick correspondent states that one of the shareholders in the Proprietors' Claim, Mopoke, died last week, leaving his malt' £200 and his share in the claim, in return for kindness shown him by that person during his illness. The claim is at present averaging an yield of £5 per -week per man.— Ballarat Star, Dec. 25. Mr. Don, M.L.A., has embarked in the publican interest, having rented and obtained a license for the Rifleman's Arms Hotel, Brunswick-street, . Collingwood.— Geelong Advertiser. Mr. Frederick Everingham has returned to Dow ling Forest from England, after an absence of ci^ht months. On board the Great Britain he received an ugly blow with a cricket bat from one of the All-England Eleven, which inflicted a severe blow on the cheek bone, and caused him to be laid up for a month. The injury was quite accidental, and was caused by the bat flying out of tho player's hand.— Ballarat Star, Dec. 30. The Murray Gazette states that the Prospecting Board have awarded £1000 to Messrs. Mitchell, Keene, and party, as the discoverers of the Kuthergleri gold-field. 11 U notified in the Gazette that the pastoral licenses for 1802 will be issued on the following conditions :—" No such license shall authorize the holder to depasture cattle or sheep on any lands already proclaimed, or which may hereafter be proclaimed, as a common ; nor shall such .licences include any common already proclaimed, nor any land which has been granted or occupied under the regulations respecting residence and cultivation licences issued by the Board of Land and Works." A vtrdict of " wilful murder" has been rej turned by a coroner's jury at Beechworth against a woman named Clara M'Coy, who was apprehen ded a few days previously on a chrrge of having caused the death of a man named Castles at Pennyweight Flat. When apprehended, M'Coy said that the deceased had entered her tent and insulted her, and that she had in self-defence struck him on the head with an axe. The medical evidence was contradictory as to whether death was the result of the blow, or arose from natural causes. Tho Geelong Advertiser, of Dec. 31, says : — " Messrs. Michaelis, Boyd, and Co., the purchasers of the wreck of the Empress of the Sea, commenced operations yesterday morning, for the raising of the cargo. A steamer and a lighter are now anchored off the wreck, and a great number of men and boats employed, including divers. Three casks of sprem oil*were picked up on Saturday night, and hoisted on board the lighter yesterday. Previous to the sale, Mr. Paterson had in his charge 115 casks tallow, 4 casks oil, ■ and G bales wool. The agents for Michaelis, Boyd, and Co., claim all over sixty-four casks, but the tenor of Mr. Paterson's instructions is, to give up nothing that was saved before noon on Friday last."

Bound to Otago. —The carters, who hare for so many years past gained a livelihood by carrying i goods between Gcclong and the Western Diggings, have declared almost to a man that they are oft" for Otago. They state, and with a good show of reason, that so soon as the Gcelong and Ballarat Railway is completed, their occupation will to a very considerable extent be gone, and that there will not be anything near sufficient traffic from Ballarat to other parts of the interior to maintain so many drays and waggons as tire at present employed between this and the western" capital. The "announcement by letters from Otago of the success of tho.se who have gone over with horses and have entered upon the carrying trade, is very encouraging to those who are about to follow.— Geelong Ckroniclc.

Incbxdiart Balls.—The Paris correspondent of the Times, writing to that journal on the 25th of August, says : —Experiments with incendiary cannon balls, invented by Mr. Fontaine, manufacturer of chemical ingredients, residing in Paris, and Lieutenant Marehland, of the Imperial navy, were tried at on the 23rd and 24th inst. The result was not perfectly satisfactory. The balls deviated from their course and rendered the effect uncertain. It was proved, however, that the inflammatory composition enclosed within the balls is of a most dangerous and desstructivc nature, and costs very little. During the experiment on the 23rd, a ball struck the Dromedaire, a hulk which served as a target, on her quarter, which was not cased with iron, and bursting, causcd'an opening as large as a coach-house gate. The water rushed in so violently, that there was only time to slip the cable and beach the vessel, otherwise she would have sunk in deep water. The Dromedaire is now lying on the rocks near Fort Louis, and in this position she is to be cannonaded by the newly invented projectiles.