VICTORIA.

Southland Times, Issue 1233, 5 April 1870, Page 3

VICTORIA.

The Hon. James M'Culloeh has been created by Her Majesty a Knight Bachelor, and is now Sir James M'Culloch. Mr E. P. 8. Sturt, P.M., took his seat on the bench at the City Police Court on the 21st ult., for the first time since his return from England, and was warmly greeted by the other magistrates present. Geelong, which has for some four or five years been doomed to the gloom of kerosene lamps, was on the 26th ult.! lighted again with gas. The corporation and the Gas Company, after lengthened disputes,have at last arrived at an amicable understanding, and a contract has been entered into for lighting the lamps with gag for three years at £5 per lamp per annum. The oat crop of Mr John Eason, Lai Lai, has shown the high average of 77 bushels to the acre. An accident occurred at the sunken ship Eliza, on the 19th ult., whereby one of the divers engaged on the wreck lost his life. He descended for the purpose of stripping the copper off the ship's bottom. His son was pumping the air into the helmet; bat finding after some little time that there was no movement, lie became alarmed, and the life rope was hauled up, bringing with it the body of the deceased, when it was found that by some means the helmet had been knocked off. The search party dispatched along the coast in the neighborhood for any traces of the South Sea Islanders missing from the wreck of the Marie Gabrielle, lost at Moonlight Head, has returned to Camperdown without meeting with any success. The contracts for the first four sections of the line of railway which it is proposed'to construct from Melbourne to Belvoir, on the Eiver Murray, in a north«astern direction, have been settled. The distance is fifty-six miles, about onefourth of the work, and the sum accepted was £293,690, or about £5,230 per mile. This does not include rolling-stock or stations, but as this contract is for the heaviest portion of the line, it is anticipated that the work may be efficiently executed and completed for traffic at about £6,000 per mile. j Two elections have taken place, one for the Council, in which Mr Camming has been elected to fill the South-western Province, caused by the death of Mr M'Crae, and the other for the Assembly, Mr Gillies having been elected for Maryborough, in the room of Mr Bowman, resigned. Upon the receipt of the intelligence of the death of Sir Charles Darling, late Governor of Victoria, both Houses of Lesiglature adjourned out of respect for the memory of the lamented gentleman. Mr Fellows at once brought forward a motion .for. a money grant to Lady and this proposition was unammcfufly ftsiented to. A bill has

been passed through both jHouses which provides for an annuity of £1,000 to Lady Darling for her life, and a sum of £5,000 is to be invested in trustees for the benefit of the children when they become of age. Snme samples of meat preserved by Professor Gamgee's new process in England, and forwarded to Melbourne by the overland mail, were opened on the 23rd ult. at Messrs R. Goldsbrough and Co's wool stores. The meat, which, after being treated by Professor Gamgee, had been packed in tallow, was contained in four cases, two of which belonged to the Australian Mortgage, Land, and Finance Company, and the others to Messrs Dalgety and Blackwood. On opening the cases, a most offensive odour was emitted, and when the meat had been got out, it was evident that all of it, the mutton especially, was in an advanced stage of putrefaction. It was of a sickly greenish color, exhaling a very offensive smell, and appeared to have lost all consistency. Two of the best specimens were taken by Mr Miller, of Collins street, with a view to ascertain if it was fit for cooking, but a closer inspection distinctly showed that it was quite unfit for human food. It was the opinion of all present that the process of preservation, so far as it was brought under their notice, was a complete failure, although some were disposed to ascribe the cause to the tallow in which the meat had been packed. The tallow, however, forms no part of Professor Gamgee's system, and moreover was perfectly sweet, except where it had been in contact with the meat. Another trial, however, may prove more successful, as we learn from Professor Gamgee's pamphlet that specimens have repeatedly crossed the Atlantic and been kept a long time in store subsequent to the voyage, and yet been found to be perfectly fresh. The office of Chief Harbour Master, which became vacant by the death of the late Captain Ferguson, has been conferred on Captain Payne, E.N., of Her Majesty's V.S.S. Nelson. The appointment does not meet with the approval of the shipping interest. The rain which has fallen in some parts of the colony indicates a break-up of the drought which has been experienced throughout the interior, and has removed the cause for alarm which was becoming prevalent of disasters to the owners of stock for want of herbage. The Autumn Meeting of the Victorian "Racing Club passed off most satisfactorily. The Australian Cup was won by Norma, beating half-a-dozen competitors. A bill has been introduced into parliament to incorporate the club, and vest in them the control of the Flemington Racecourse. Thomas Webb Draper, late accountant at the Commercial Bank, and now undergoing a sentence in the Melbourne Gaol for embezzlement, was brought up on habeas at the City Police Court on; the 22nd ult. on a warrant charging him with embezzling the sum of £1,990 12s 10d., the property of the Commercial Bank. Mr Casey prosecuted on behalf of the bank ; and Mr Byron Miller was retained for the prisoner. It appears from the evidence given that in September, 1868, Messrs Clarke and Co., sharebrokers, purchased some 500 shares in the bank, paying for them partly in cash, and partly in two bills at three and six months. On the Ist of February, 1869, Mr Clarke, having sold the shares, wished to retire the bills, and went to the bank for that purpose. He there saw Draper, and arranged to retire the bills, giving Draper for that purpose a, cheque for £1,990 12s 10d., which he a day or two afterwards paid into his own account at the National Bank. When the bills had matured, the bill-clerk not being able to find them, spoke to Draper on the subject, and was told to pais them on the credit-slip as if they had been paid, and he (Draper) would debit them himself. This the billclerk did, and it is also said that Draper debited them to the London account of the bank, probably hoping that before the transaction was discovered he would be able to refund the money in some way or another. The prisoner, who reserved his defence, was "fully committed for trial at the next General Sessions. The Benalla police (states the O._ and M. Advertiser) have returned to their old quarters, after the fatiguing duties of a five days' unsuccessful reconnaisance over an uninhabited and unfrequented country, in search of the notorious Power. The troopers, with the assistance of two black trackers, pursued the bushranger with apparent success until they arrived in the neighborhood of the Strath Bogie ranges. In the almost impenetrable fastnesses of these ranges the robber's tracks became faint, and suddenly disappeared altogether. While in pursuit the police had occasion to pass through a paddock at a place called Blanket Flat, where they perceived some horses in the distance. On approaching the animals, it was observed that a saddle had been recently removed from the back of one of them. It was quickly discovered that the horse answered the description of that recently taken from Mr M'Bean. At the entrance of the paddock the tracks of three horses were plainly visible, but further on the footmarks of only two horses could be detected. On the boundary rider of the " Seven Creeks Station beins questioned as to how the horse came into the paddock, he first denied all knowledge of its presence, but subsequently admitted that two men — one of whom answered the description of Power — had passed that way, and had turned the horse into the paddock. The rider's statement goes a great way to strengthen the supposition that Power is aided by associates and admirers throughout the district he frequents. It was rumoured in Benalla on Tuesday morning that Detective O'Leary was wounded in an encounter with Power, but the report proved to be unfounded.