AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 155, 4 October 1876, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[Per Otago at Hokitika.] MELBOURNE. September 26 r riic Government concluded negotiations for Gape service subject to ratification by Parliament. Sentence of death passed on Ellen Francis, for the Emerald Hill murder, has been commuted to 21 yams. The barque. E ingrove, Captain Leddra, and ten men, from Newcastle to Adelaide, has been totally wrecked at Rabbit Island. Leddra states when the Eliugrovo went ashore the crew took to (he rigging, and were washed otf or crushed to death. Leddra and Hoyle, got on a plank and were wash'd ashore. They lived on limpets and crabs, and were reduced to (be last extremity when rescued. The beach wai strewed with wreckage, but only two bodies were found. It is supnosed that the others have been sanded up Insurance of £2200 in Mercantile Marine Company. - During the gale the schooner Carlaon lost two men and deckhouse. An inquiry is to be made into the loss. The Dandenong enquiry concluded on the 27th, but the Board reserved their decision. The Chinese at Cooldown petitioned the Governor to refuse to consent to the Goldfields Amendment Bill. They also petitioned the Emperor of China, calling attention to the breach of treaty by England. NEWCASTLE. September 26. Captain Har'ess of the barque King Oscar reports passing the body of a female off Jervis Bay, dressed in dark clothes. The sea gulls were settled on it and had eaten the face away. The weather was and and they did not pick up the body.