INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Southland Times, Issue 1284, 26 July 1870, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

I — • — VICTORIA. j The resignations , of ,two ex-ministers \ ) have' been received by the Speaker. Mr Macdonnell, late Attorney General, having vacated his seat for Villiers arid He'ytesbury, Mr O'Q-rady has been elected in his stead. Mr Grant has also resigned his seat for Avoca, but the vacancy has not yet been filled up. Mr Grant has refused to accept the proffered gratuity of £7000. Parliament was prorogued on thdlsth inst., and will probably meet again in October next, for a short session, to pa%s the Estimates, and it will tuen expire by effluxion of time, and a general election will take place in the beginning of the ensuing year. The heavy rains have aaaterially interfered with farming operation*, and feara are entertained for the result of the next harvest. For the last week the weather has been fine, and comparatively warm in the daytime, but the nights have been j cold, and homoeopathic doses of London fog have been experienced. . Business has been quiet, the attention of mercantile men having been concentrated on the proceedings of the Intercolonial delegates; The cry. about;, want of employment has gradually died out ; ana certainly, judging by the demand for miners at a fairrate of wage, and by the contracts for public works, there appears to be ample labor for those who.choose to avail themselves of it. The formation of a Customs "Union has been found by the Intercolonial Conference to be impracticable. They have agreed to petition the Home Government for a British protectorate over the Fiji Islands, and in view of the withdrawal of all Imperial troops, to seek further naval protection. The resultof an enquiry into the cause of the great fire in Bourke-street, was that there was nothing to show how it originated. Mary Tucker; the? girl who was so severely burned, died in the Hospital on the 10th, inflammation having set in. There is not much doing in the sporting world. The Melbourne > Cup is engrossing attention, and there is plenty of work for the bookmakers. Betting will, however, increase considerably after the acceptances have been made known, the Australian ■ public having a strong partiality to have a start for their money. The following letter received by the City Council from Lady Darling, was read at the weekly meeting held on Monday, and ordered to be inscribed on the minutes : — " Monsewald place, Dumfriesshire, KB., 17th May, 1870. Sir,— l have this day received with most grateful feelings, an address from you as mayor, the aldermen, councillors, etc., and tsitizens of Melbourne, expressing your and their profound sorrow at the death of ray beloved husband, and assuring me of their sincere condolence. For this act of great kindness I beg to offer you my most sincere thanks. The feeling of I universal respect and esteem, thus manij fested for his- memory, is, I need not say, most gratifying to me, and I thank God for permitting me to receive such a testimony to my noble husband's worth-. Believe me, Sir, yours ' faithfully, 'Elise Darling.** We are informed, writes the Ghelong Advertiser, that ttie reflection of the great fire in Bourke-street, Melbourne, on Tuesday morning, was distinctly^ seen in Geelong. The person who saw it was oh his way to work, and 1 formed the idea that some large ship in the bay was being burned. ; \ Mr H. G. Turner, for many years accountant of the Bank of Australasia^ has been appointed .. manager of the Commercial Bank in Melbourne, in the place of Mr Vallentine, resigned. ; Mrs Cook, widow of James Cook, who shot Mrs Moss, at Ballarat, and then committed suicide, a little over six weeks ago, is reported to have attempted selfdestruction, by endeavoring to strangle herself with a worsted scarf. She was, however, stopped just in time by some neighbors, who gave information to some of the unfortunate woman's relatives, who have taken charge of her. It is supposed that her mind was affected by the late shocking tragedy in which she was so nearly concerned. Educationin Victoria will bear favorable comparison with that in any other country. By the annual report of the Commissioners of Education, it appears that 983 public schools were in operation during the year 1869. On the rolls there were 107,524 children, and the average attendance was 60,883. If the private establishments and industrial schools be taken into consideration, it will be found that, out of a population of 699,950, 130,172,. or 1860 per cent, of the total, were receiving instruction. The report dwells upon the good results that have attended the isecula* system. ■■-•'' ; The yield of gold from the Sandhurst district during the month of June was 19,8370z., or a weekly average of 4,9590z. This is an improvement on the previous month. The large "nugget weighing 1,1160z., called the " Viscount Canterbury," and found a short time ago at Berlin, has been forwarded to the Bank of New

South "Wales, Melbourne. A plaster, of paris cast has been taken of the auriferous stranger by the Mining Department. Two pieces of good luck are recorded by the Ballarat papers. On Sunday afternoon some boys were pitching quartz pebbles into the orifice of an - old boiler lying near the "Winter's Freehold Hotel, in Rubicon street, when one of them finding the missile in his hand rather , weighty^ checked- his jhy and examined it. Tp his delight, he found that he lhad more gold tKan stone in his hand. On Monday, the " naughty little boy " proceeded to Mr "Wittkowski's with his prize, which was found to.be 10| ounces gross weight. A fossicker at Little Bendigo, -while in the act of carrying some 7 dwt of gold, the result of his week's work, to Ballarat for sale, picked up ft 60s nugget in Moppke Gully. On "the morning of the 10th the chief and third officers, three seamen, and an apprentice, belonging to the ship Kirkwood, which arrired a few days previously from Liverpool, went out in the ship's pinnace to visit St. Kilda, and have & sail in the bay. The day was a bad one for boat-sailing, a strong wind blowing from the northward, a quarter from which treacherous puffs and sudden squalls are always looked for. The boat, too, was not well adapted from her "rig*' for baysailing in such weather. They were last iseen in the afternoon standing in towards ;Ebins Cook, and about a mile off shore, when all appeared to be well with them. The body of the third mate was picked up in the bay on the 13th, and it is supposed that the others have been drowned. A man named James Cusack, a native of Clare, Ireland, has been committed for trial at the next Criminal Sessions, Melbourne, for beating and kicking his wife to death at Alexandra. A man named Bobert Campbell has been arrested at Jamieson, charged with murdering the two hawkers Pohlman, about two years ago. Patrick Smith has been committed for trial, charged with the wilful murder of his wife at Hotham on the 9th inst.The details of the case show thai; he must have used inhuman violence towards his victim. Every rib on one side but thje twelfth was broken, and some into small pieces. It is the most barbarous tragedy committed for a long time in the colony. The Ballarat papers notice with regret the death of James Sutherland, M.D., one of the ablest medical men there, and formerly among the best known prae-j titioners. He seems to hare been exceedingly well read, and a classical scholar of no ordinary attainments, as it is said he could speak Greek and Latin as fluently and correctly as his mother tongue. But he had gradually acquired intemperate habits, and these at last excluded him from society, and finally destroyed him. . . t^ -. . The Herald says the can canilourisb.es in the city of Melbourne. "We are not going to say where, lest wo should draw the attention of one person to the beastly place where,! in its grossest form, the disgusting dance is indulged in. Never; in' the city of Melbourne has propriety been ; outraged as it was on Tuesday night. Our informant, who was a police officer, visited the place to ascertain whether the report that had reached him was true, asserts that tbie dance stopped by Mr Gh P. Smith -was innocent and delicate compared to the disgusting exhibition some one dressed in women's clothes made last night. ' \