INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Southland Times, Issue 1207, 8 February 1870, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

VICTORIA. The following new Ministers have been sworn in : — Mr Aspinall, Solicitor-Gene-ral ; Mr M'Lennan, Public Works ; and Mr Graham Berry, Treasurer. The election writs have been issued. An opposition is rumored. The English mail arrived in Hobson's Bay on the 20th. Charles D'Aloustel, a French 'teacher, has been fully acquitted on a charge of criminal assault. The prosecutor's story is entirely disbelieved.. "Waldock's Canary jumped sft lOin. in Kirk's Bazaar, winning a £120 bet. The Southern Insurance Company has declared a 10 per cent, dividend. Chinese lepers and leprosy are creating considerable public uneasiness, Charles J. Davies, a passenger per, J Yorkshire, is charged with forgery, and | | has been remanded to London, j Mr Mophet's filly My Dream is dead. I The London Navigation Board has reversed the certificate of suspension of. the decision of the Victorian Board in the case of Captain Trumble, of the Explorer. Parliament is prorogued till the 15th February. Mr Poole, proprietor of the Herald, contests the election for West Geelong against Mr Berry. Mr Holmes, solicitor, died suddenly in the Bull and Mouth Hotel, Bourke-street, oh the 25th ult. Little hope is entertained of saving the life of Mullagh, the well-known aboriginal cricketer, who has fallen a victim to consumption. He may linger for a few months, but his ultimate recovery is not lookeJ. for. Mr E. Denison, M.P., nephew of the Speaker of the House of Commons, expired at the Melbourne Club about three o'clock on the morning of the 26th ult. The deceased gentleman arrived by the Yorkshire on the 15th, having made ; the voyage for the benefit of his health, which was evidently too much shattered to admit of restoration by such means.; Mr Andrew Rutherford, of Connewarre, formerly member of the Assembly for Polwarth and Grenville, has expressed his willingness to come forward in opposition to Mr Graham Berry for "West Geelong. He states that he does not* like to see a walkover, and if the electors want a Liberal candidate, ho is the-man. At the Rothsay claim, Scarsdale, Robert Roberts was at work iv a shaft, when a nut, weighing 60z., fell down 220 ft., and struck him on the head, taking the scalp off and injuring, without fracturing, the bone. He is seriously injured, but is likely to recover. The Bellevue Tribute, Sandhurst, have struck the New Chum reef. The Echuea Meat-preserving Company, after having boiled down over 30,000 sheep, have now fairly commenced their tinning operations, and their manager is now in the market making arrangements for the purchase of a large lot of sheep for that purpose. The plant is working most satisfactorily. " During a concert given at Wagga Wagga, on the 17th inst., an unfortunate accident occurred. Miss Nordt had just finished singing a ballad," says the Express, "when the audience were startled by the crashing descent of a large mass of plastering from the ceiling into the space behind the curtain. Part of the plastering struck the wooden framework to which the curtain is attached, and shivered into fragments, raising clouds of dust, and covering piano, pianist, and stage with broken rubble and fragments of mortar. The audience, actuated by a sudden impulse, rose simultaneously to their feet ; but as the ladies behind the curtain had given utterance to no sound, it was bopedthat they had escaped unhurt. A good' deal of; excitement, however, naturally prevailed, which was in no degree lessened when it became known that Madame Simonsenhad been struck on the head by a portion of the falling plastering, and, though not seriously hurt, had still sustained some painful injuries. The performance was interrupted for about 10 minutes, and was then resumed, Madame Simonsen, when she again appeared upon the stage, being received with loud and long-continued expressions of enthusiastic applause. The Melbourne Corporation and its oflicials (says the Argus) would seem to be rapidly returning to the state of inefficiency reached by them some dozen years ago. They are flcti^e where negligence would be a virtue, and inattentive where the welfare of the public demands prompt action. On Monday some of the council's myrmidons made a sudden onslaught on the unoffending borders of the street verandahs, and yesterday, when the air of Collins-street was poisoned by the usual monthly fumes of corrosive sublimate from the bank chimneys no attention was paid to the intolerable nuisance. Could not a little of the spasmodic energy exhibited by the city surveyor be transferred to the health officer ? Signboards are harmless things compared with the arsenical fumes which hundreds of citizens are compelled to breathe on the days preceding the departure of eac^h mail. Mr J. C. King, business manager of' the Argus, and a colonist of 30 years standing, died on the passage from Hobart Town to Melbourne, on the 26th ult. The immediate cause of death is stated to be chronic bronchitis and liver complaint, the deceased gentleman having gone to Tasmania for the benefit of his health.