AUSTRALIAN INTELLIGENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 1330, 1 November 1870, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN INTELLIGENCE.

By the 5.3. Gothenburg, which arrived at the Bluff on the evening of Thursday last, we have Melbourne dates to the 22nd ultimo : — The trial of Gerald Henry Supple for shooting at with intent to murder G. P. Smith was to take place on the 23rd. When Supple was informed that his friends had engaged Mr Ireland to defend "him, he said that he had no objection to counsel appearing on his behalf if he confined himself to facts, but that he would not permit him to prove insanity, for the reason that he (Supple) was not insane. The trial of Elton is fixed to take place on the following day. It will, however, be a formal one, as the board appointed to inquire into the the prisoner's sanity have sent in an adverse report, and they will be called upon to give evidence in sub stantiation of the view which, after imature consideration, they have taken of his irresponsibility for the crime he committed. The Eight Worshipful the Mayor has acceded to a numerously-signed requisition desiring him to allow himself to be placed in nomination for Bourke Ward. The . Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have approved of the following design for the " Governor's Flag " to be used in Victoria, viz. — The Union Jack with the badge of the colony (the Southern Cross) emblazoned in the centre. The Society for the Promotion of Morality was to hold a congress on the 25th. ."" . Harris, the absconding secretary of the Bulla Shire Council, appeared on remand at the City Court charged with embezzling £650 belonging to the shire. It was proved that, on the 6th August, the prisoner received a sum of £650 from the Treasury, that being a moiety of the Government endowment to the shire. This sum he paid into his own account at the Bank of Australasia, on the same day, and on the next day he drew it out again and absconded, without accounting for it. No defence was offered, and the prisoner was committed for trial, bail being allowed in two sureties of £300 each. Shearing goes on with great activity, and in a week or two will be pretty well concluded in many quarters. A good deal of important work, however, remains to be done in connection with the pastoral interest, especially in constructing new eheepwashes, and in taking precautions against the spread of scab, which is appearing once more. The general entries for the Victoria Bacing Club Spring Meeting are thirtyfour, as against thirty-three last year. In the Hotham and Spring Handicaps each thirty-four entries have been made, whereas last Spring Meeting the numbers were twenty-one and thirty -three respectively. Sixty-eight horses are entered for the Free Handicap, being nine more than in 1869. Eor the V.E.O. Handicap the entries are twenty-nine. The Ledeourt Sheepwash (probably one of the best and most effective in Victoria) is now in full work, and (says the Ararat Advertiser) would well repay a visit, to witness the process of washing, performed with so very little "inconvenience "to the sheep. The system is totally devoid of all the cruelty and illtreatment to which the poor animals were subjected under the old system of river washing. It is really a pleasing sight to see the washers all dressed in uniform water-proof dresses, carefully handling sheep after sheep, and turning them out a 8 white as snow, without the animals showing any sign of exhaustion. Wool is coming down the Murray and the Darling in large quantities. A Mormon elder has arrived in Melbourne from the Salt Lake, and is busy making converts in Carlton. He was formerly a doorkeeper at the Haymarket Theatre in Melbourne. A ton of iron pyrites, sent to Sydney from Carcoar, near Bathurst, have produced 84ozs. of gold. Monivae estate, near Hamilton, comprising 16,277 acres of purchased land and improvements, with 17,076 sheep, 79 horses and cattle, wool-press, bullock drays, carts, harness, &c, had been sold for £39,600. A new diggings has been discovered near Thompson's Gulf, in the Inglewood district, in country hitherto untried. The prospect obtained was two dwts. of coarse gold off the bottom, the sinking being only six feet. A miner who sunk a shaft on the edge of the proapecter's claim obtained four dwts. off the bottom, including a nugget of 3 dwt. 6grs. It is believed that two runs of gold will be traced in this new diggings, on which a great number of claims have already been marked off. Another tribute to the excellent manner in which meat is preserved by the Melbourne Meat Preserving Company is paid by Captain Williams, of the Lanarkshire. It will be remembered that when he was last in Geelong he had some preserved meat stowed away, which he was unable to lay his hands upon when other preserved meats were being tested aboard his vessel. On his passage out this voyage he found the meat, which was then two and a half years in tins. He opened some and found it excellent. There is still some left, which has been nearly three years in tins, and in the course of next week he proposes to invite a number of gentlemen to try it, when, if as sweet as that opened six months before, he says it will taste as good as if it had only been preserved months instead of years, He also intends to let the connoisseurs of G-eelong try some of their own district grown wines — " Hope's Hermitage " — which have made a voyage round the world. The nugget lately found at Berlin has been named the " Viscountess Canterbury.'* Its discovery, it appears, was due to the flooding of the claims by the late rains. The finder was aMr Felstead, who states that the sinking on the ran where bis claim is situated is about

eight feet deep ; and generally, for facility of working, the drives are put in in the pipeclay bottom, and the washdirt | knocked down from overhead. The i saturated condition of the ground at present, however, rendered this method of work unsafe and inconvenient ; and Mr Felstead and his mates were compelled to resort to paddocking, and very lucky it turned out, for their nugget was found two feet from the bottom, and would consequently have been missed if they hal been working in the usual way, as they would never have thought of taking down two feet of washdirt, the general thickness being from six inches to a foot. The wool season has fairly set in in the north, and in the Witnmera district every shed is full of shearers. The roads have dried up, the bridges are being repaired, and wool therefore is beginning to come , down in quantity. The first load had I passed through Ararat, towards the seaboard. It came from Langerenong. The second and third loads were from South Brighton station. The wool crop will be over the average, and there will be abundance of fat sheep, for the country has not looked so well for years past. Erom the stock report of the Pastoral News (Deniliquin), we take the following : — " Large quantities of fat sheep will be sent from the Darling after shearing, and_sorne.of the mobs will find their way, it is said, to tEeTrreai-preaHrviujj esi/abllsliment at Wentworth. Pat cattle will then be in moderate quantities. Considerable efforts are being made to improve the breed of sheep and cattle in Eiverina ; 230 stud merino rams were landed at Sydney last week from "Victoria ; the sheep are the pick of Messrs Learmonth and Curries stock, of Victoria, and of Gibson* Tasmania ; they are intended for Messrs E. B. Blackwood, Taylor, and M'-Kinnon, who seem determined to spare ! no expense to improve their flocks, which now stand well in this respect. At Gladstone, Queensland, considerable ex- ] portations of fat cattle take place to New Zealand, and Queensland seems to be in danger of its stock in cattle and sheep being disposed of, for exportation, at a more rapid rate than the settlers can supply by breeding." Eully 1500 persons assembled at the Sandridge Railway Pier to witness -the departure by the Hero of Major- G-eneral Sir Trevor Chute. At an early hour 120 men of the East Melbourne Artillery, with six 121 b howitzers, paraded on the vacant piece of ground near the Sandridge Railway Station. On his arrival the late Commander-in-Chief was accorded a most cordial reception by the assembled crowd, and His Excellency the Governor, accompanied by Mr Manners Sutton and Captain Rothwell, A.D.C., arrived just in time to bid the Major- G-eneral farewell. The departure of the steamer from the wharf was signalised by cheer after cheer ; then followed a salute of thirteen guns, fired by the artillery ; and shortly afterwards smoke from the guns of the Nelson told that the Hero was abreast of that fine old specimen of naval architecture. Major-General Chute, before he arrived in the Australian colonies, did duty as brigadier in India, and took a prominent part in the suppression of the mutiny, for which he received three medals. He also commanded the 70th Regiment in India and afterwards in New Zealand. He arrived in Victoria, as Brigadier-General, in 1863. Ballasat, October 18. A man and his wife named Proctor poisoned themselves in Ballarat East today, under the following circumstances :- The wite received a letter from a man in New Zealand, and the husband thereupon ; accused the wife of infidelity. After a great deal of squabbling, they both agreed to take strychnine, and took it accordingly. The wife is dead, but the husband is now recovering under medical treatment. Hamtltoit, October 21. A shocking murder has been committed at Karabeal. Two Germans, named respectively Bees and Zimmerman, who were hitherto the best of friends, were drinking together. Bees, after both were drunk, bolted with a bottle of whisky, which had been paid for by Zimmerman, and drank it all. Zimmerman followed the man, who by this time, was too drunk to offer any resistance, and beat him to death with a stick. Zimmerman was also too drunk to know what he was doing. An inquest was held on the 20th, when the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Zimmerman. \ Syditbt, October 21. At Dubbo the rains have been very heavy, and the river Macquarrie is fast rising. A flood is expected. At "Wellington on the same river there is a high flood, and the water is over the bridge at Newrea, a village about nine miles from Wellington. MriV\ Stephens has been appointed Under Secretary for Lands. A meeting of Frenchmen was held last night, with a view of taking steps to assist the widows and orphans and the wounded of their countrymen. The sum of £20 was subscribed at the meeting. The debate on the budget was adjourned last night until Wednesday next. New South Wales appears to suffer from rust as badly, if not more, than any parts of Victoria. Many of the farmers around Maitland have already commenced to cut the green wheat for fodder before its total destruction. At present this dire visitation has ! principally made its appearance among ■ the earlier sown fields, and on the lands flooded in the months of April and May, but it is feared that it will spread to the higher situated localities before long. Adelaide, Oct. 21. The revenue for the quarter ending 30th September amounted to £146,000, and the expenditure to £237,000. The farmers are complaining of a great scarcity of labor.

I The lessee of the Strathalbyn Tramway I will shortly run only one train a-day on the line, traffic has fallen away to such an extent. The Legislative Assembly has rejected the amendments made by the Council in the Audit Bill. An influential deputation to the Oommisssioner of Crown lands asked for the fee-simple of 10,000 acres of land on the Murray Flats, where they proposed to search "for gold at a great expenditure of money. The hon. the Commissioner replied favorably. There has been nothing doing in wheat, but a sale of flour is reported to-day at £15 per ton.