AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

South Canterbury Times, Volume XV, Issue 2066, 6 November 1879, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

(Per Tararua at the Bluff.)

Sir John O’Shannassy has moved the Eepeal of the Stock Tax Bill. He said sheep in Victoria had decreased by nearly two millions during the last two years, and that the tax injuriously affected eight hundred families, owing to the closing of Meat Preserving Works. The motion was negatived by 39 to 18. The Council forwarded to the Assembly a Bill to alter the constitution of the Council, and it was read a first time.

The miners’ strike at Sandhurst continues. Mr Lansell has taken on men at old rates, at two claims where the the water is rising fast. The Government are actively interfering in tho strike.

A young lady, aged 15, a daughter of a well-known Melbourne manufacturer, was found in the house of a woman of a mest immoral character. She states that she and her sister were both pupils at the Model School, Melbourne, and were often induced by the woman to visit her house instead of going to school. The South Australian Parliament was opened by Lord Loftus on Oct. 28th. The address in reply was adopted by both Houses without opposition. A terrible tragedy occurred at Sydney on board the Mary Anderson, a labor vessel. A native who was seized with a fit of madness took an American axe and clean cut off the heads of two of his comrades, and fearfully wounded two others before he was disposed of. The steamers Ly-ee-moon and Barrabool narrowly escaped collision off Cape Schaneck on October 23rd. Each attributed the blame to the other. The vessels just shaved one another. A singular railway accident, caused by a violent storm or wind, is reported in Sydney. The gale started three tucks at Picton, which, gaining, a velocity of twenty miles a hour, ran into a passenger train, throwing the engine off the line, but not injuring the passengers.