AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2648, 15 September 1881, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The Australian mail via Bluff arrived at Timaru yesterday per express train. The following are some items taken from files received :

A man named Hughes has been arrested at Melbourne for embezzling about £2OO from his employers, Dalgety Blackwood and Co. He was manager of their smelting works at Yarraville. The defaulter was a district local preacher, and a man of great apparent piety. Only on the previous Sunday he had exhorted his congregation to observe strict honesty in all their dealings. A Melbourne undertaker named Stevens, kept the bodies of two children entrusted to him for burial for a period of fourteen weeks unburied in a stable at the rear of his premises in Hoddle street. The only excuse he gave for his conduct was that when he took the coffins from the parents’ houses he quite forgot to bury them until called upon to produce the certificates. The case will come before the Court. The Victorian Government intend to undertake the revision of the Customs Tariff, and will appoint a Commission of nineteen to whom the task will be entrusted. Ten of them will be members of Parliament, and the rest leading commercial men.

The Victorian Minister of Railways is inviting designs from colonial builders for railway carriages, and offers a premium of £IOO for the best. The Victorian Government deny all pecuniary liability for the result of the late fatal railway accident near Melbourne. At the inquest on the victims the fact waselicited that the new tires for the wheels of carriages are two inches thick, whilst the fractured tire which caused the accident had been reduced by constant wear and repeated turnings in the lathe down to five-eighths of an inch A regulation was known to the enginefitters, condemning tires when worn too thin. Mr William Cummings, of Mount Fyans, won the champion prize for the best ram at the Australian Sheep Breeders’ Exhibition, in Melbourne last month. The ram weighed !G4lbs. Mr John Gumming won the champion prize for ewes. A Waterloo veteran, the Rev. Henry Cheltham recently died at Melang, South Australia, aged 61. The Wolverine reports having been. to I\alo Island, and inflicted punishment for the late massacre at the mission station. After a short fight the village was taken, and the Chief’s house burnt. Five natives were killed and three sailors wounded. The tin mining industry in Tasmania is looking up, and shares in new mines are eagerly sought in Melbourne. A Melbourne merchant offers to subscribe £SOO towards the formation of a company to provide a lodging house for women. The project has been received with warm support. Sparrows have been found to be a pest in South Australia, and a Commission appointed by Government have reported in favor of small rewards being offered for the production of sparrows’ heads or eggs, as a means their extermination. A considerable stir has been caused in Melbourne by the resignation of the Hev. Charles Strong, pastor of the Scotch church, Collins street, and the excitement has been intensified by the impeachment before the Presbytery of Mr J. C. Stewart, one of the Elders of the church,bn charge of speaking against the principles and teachings of the church, at the public meeting of the congregation whereat Mr Strong tendered his resignation. The impeachment was made by or at the instance of a country congregation. Mr Stewart expressed his regret at having hurt anyone’s feeliugs, but he believed his opinions were shown by othoi’s. One of the Ministers present said the congregation of the church were become almost Unitarians. The South Australian Assembly has resolved to spend £loo,oooin building a new Parliament House. A Queensland telegram states that a large aerolite was seen to fall near an up country station, making a noise like thunder, and leaving a smoke like tail in the air, which lasted for twenty minutes. The heads of tho railway systems in Victoria have recently revised the charges for carriage of produce. Grain is to be carried for l*d per ton per mile irrespective of distance ; implements to be carried at uniform rates, no matter of what kind; dead meat ikl per lb. but when refrigerating cars are provided, Id per ib extra will be charged for their use. A conference of delegates from local bodies in Victoria, allinnod the dcsi rabilifcy of stops being taken to check tho present waste of forest timber. A sugar plantation on the Mackay river, Queensland, was sold last month for £95,000 cash. It contains 5,000 acres, -nd is estimated to produce 1,200 t'-us of sugar. The purchasers were a Melbourne firm.