AUSTRALIAN.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1224, 13 December 1882, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN.

(BY CABLE.—REUTER’S TELEGRAMS). SYDNEY, Dec. 12. Telegrams are to hand from Newcastle tonight reporting that a serious fire has broken out iu the centre of th it city. The conflagration assumed l»rge dimensions, and is still raging. At ten o’clock five shops were iu flames, and all efforts to extinguish them hid proved futile, and it is feared that the large block of buildings of which they form a part will be consumed. MELBOURNE, Dec. 12. News has been receive i fr >m < 'reswick tna! »he Australasian Gold Mine has b*en flooded. Forty men were at work when the outburst, of a'er occurred. Of t irs •14 escaped, and 2< are still underground., T isre is now 40 fee' of water in the main shaft, and the pumpavailable are quit e inadequate to cope wit i t' e task of pumping out. the mine. Arrangements are being made for additional pumps uid engine power. Faint hopes are entertained however that those in the mine wi succa eI in escaping. The scene at thejmouth of the mouth of the mine when the disastei was ma le known, was most distressing. Great efforts are being made at Creswick to clear the Australasian Mine of water, b\ means nf additional pumps which have beer, obtained. The depth has already been reduced by six feet. Alli hope, however, oi rescuing the men alive who are underground has been abandoned.

The Legislative Assembly met to-day, after adjournment, for the purpose of considering Mr Munro’s vote of want of confidence. Before proceeding to the discussion of Munro’s motion, Mr Wood, member for Stawell, moved that the proprietor of the “ Age ” be summoned to the bar of the House fer publishing in that paper an article reflecting upon the efficiency of his railway brake in connection with the recent railway incident on the Hawthorn line ; the puhlica‘ion of the article being alleged by Mr Woods to he a breach of privilege. The motion was supported by the Premier, but after an animated discussion of some ength it was ultimately withdrawn, and the debate on Mr Munro’s motion for a com mittee of seven to investigate the railway (({ministration of the Colony then resumed. The debate proceeded with vigor, and at ten o’clock Sir Bryan O’Loghlan was replying in •i lengthy speech. MELBOURNE, This Day. The Manager of the National Mortgage md Agency Company of New Zealand 1 Limited), reports of the local grain market is follows’--whe it shipping, per bushel, 5s 2d to 5s 3d, with downward tendency ; malting barley in firm and active demand at 3s lOd to 4s 2d ; New Zealand feeding oats, duty paid, 3s lid to 4s 3d ; ditto, in bond, 3s 4d to 3s Bd. The market beinj. piieter and barely maintained. After sew•al days rainfall the weather is now ven inc, and arrivals of grain from the country •re increasing. The debate in the Legislative Assembly on Mr Munro’s motion was continued to a late hour last night, but was at length adjourned to to-<1 ay. Telegrams from Creswick timed 11 a.m. to-day report that the wa'er had not been sufficiently reduced at that time to allow of descent into the mine, but it is hoped that this may be possible during this afternoon.

The accident at the Australasian Mine at Creswick, was caused by the miners breaking into old workings. According to the 1 (test reports, the water at mid-night was rapidly diminishing ; fifty thousand gallons an hour being brought up by pumps. It i-’ expected that the men still in the mine will he reached this morning, but it is feared th »t if they have not been drowned they will have been suffocated.