INTERCOLONIAL.

Southland Times, Issue 1569, 26 April 1872, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL.

Diphtheria is spreading at Ballarat to a rather alarming extent, if the following statement furnished to the Courier is correct : — " A medical gentleman informs us that a chill named Hilton, whose parents reside off the Melbourne road, yesterday succumbed to an attack of diphtheria, and that there are no less than ten other persons in the locality who are affected by the same terrible disease. He attributes this state of things to the existence of a number of pisjstyes and cesspits in the locality, and thinks the attention of the inspector of nuisances should be called thereto." The bakers have been unsuccessful in their appeal to the Supreme Court of Victoria against the fines imposed on them for adulterating bread with alum. : The Court gave judgment on the 9th insfc., holding that they could be punished under the Public Health Statute as well as under the Bakers and Millers Act. The Ballarat Meat-preserving Company have (says the Courier) received advices from their Scotch agents, Messrs Livingston and Weir, of Edinburgh. The communications are the first received from that firm, who have as yet had only one consignment of 80 cases, which was intended as a trial one. The result is exceedingly gratifying, the whole of the meats having been readily sold at 6>l and 6^d per lb, and the company strongly recommended to ship monthly. Among the new enterprises spoken of as likely to be soon started in Melbourne is one of another paper mill. The site is 1 between Mr Rainsden's mill and Prince's bridge. The Age reports that the machinery to be used is of the newest description. The three-masted iron schooner Prince of Wales, cleared out at Melbourne for Fiji on 11th April, with a general cargo | and some live stock, as welL as a large i number of passengers, some of whom have been to the islands before. The celebrated Theresa Longworth, alias Mrs Yelverton, alias Lady Avonmore, arrived at Hong Kong a short while ago, for the purpose of giving public readings there. She has come from San Francisco, after an American tour. From China she will visit Australia. A rich claim is thus noticedby the Bendigo Independent : — " The G-reat Extended Hustler's Tribute, which claim is looking as well as can be expected, and breaking down plenty of rich stone, bids fair to become the most celebrated in the annals of Bendigo gold-mining, unless amongst some of the progressive mines now at work one is found to silence its preten sions. From some statistics recently prepared, we gather that since the 6th of November last 3L,7660z., of a value of something like £125,000, have been obtained ; £111,300 has been paid in dividends to the fortunate shareholders, and £6,000 to the company." The missionary schooner Dayspring, which has now been for some time receiving a considerable overhaul and repair, in Hobson's Bay, was to proceed on the 12th inst., on her voyage to the New Hebrides group. During her stay she has had a substantial refit, and been mule almost as good as new, and it is hoped that she will do good service yet for several years to come. Captain R. G. Rae, a master mariner well known in these colonies, has succeeded Captaiu Frazer in the comimnd of the schooner. Some six or seven missionaries, with their wives and families, proceed by the Dayspring to their sphere of operations in the South Pacific, and a valedictory service prior to their leaving was hi'Li on board. The vessel was crowded, and the proceedings were conducted by the Rev. Dr. Macdonald and other Presbyterian clergymen. The Adelaide papers publish long communications from Mr Todd on the present position of the overland telegraph line. On the 16th February Mr Todd Wrote as follovrs from the Roper "River : — " There are rations and 150 miles of wire for the south end of the line yet to be carted, and the available transport power," even when reinforced by the Tarorua, will be scarcely able to carry these in one loading, so that I fear the wire cannot be connected throughout under any circumstances before the end of June or July. Long before that time, however, the express service, which Mr S. King starts in a few days to organise, will have established communication ; and as the work advances, the time occupied in the transmission of messages between the termini will be rapidly lessened. The express service will, I trust, be established in a few weeks." As a proof that the deficiency in the late harvest in South Australia has not been over-estimated, it is shown by the official statistics that in the district of Gilbert the average yield per acre has only been four and a half bushels. The South Australian Advertiser has been shown between one and two pennyweights of gold, obtained by a member of the telegraph expedition from one dish of surfacing about 200 - miles from Port Darwin, and close to the line of telegraph. The gold is roughish, and the largest piece has quartz and ironstone adheria to it. A horrible case of alleged malpractice on the part of a medical man named William H. Jackson, is reported from the Western district of Victoria. Mr JackBon being called in to attend a Mrs Petering whilst in labor, performed the operation of craniotomy, the instruments he used being a carpenter's augur, chisel, and a hook nude of fencing wire. The body of the child after birth appears to have been subject to the most indecent treatment before burial. A few days after it had been buried it was disinterred and an inquest held upon it. At the inquest, the medical testimony was to the effect that the operation was quite unnecessary, and Mr Jackson was committed to take his trial for manslaughter. In cumming up, the coroner said that "in the whble course of his experience he had never met with a case so horrible

and brutal." In a letter to the local paper, Mr Jackson defends his conduct, and says that the emergency of the case justified hi* action. The disease called strangles haa visited the iWaribyrnontr sHr! with great severity (his year. A splendid Oily from Hose de Florence died from the disease, and all the valuable youni> stock on the estate are still suffering from it. Strange to say, not only the foal**, but many old brood mares have suffered severely from the disease. Twelve 18-ton sruns are now on the way to New South Wales. Each gnn weighs IS tons 2 qrs. 4 lbs. Its calibre is exactly 10 inches ; its length, 15 feet 4 inches ov;-?r all. It carries a Palliser shot 400 lbs in weight, and a shell of 390 lbs weight when empty. It is worked by a detachment of one non-commissioned officer and fourteen gunners ; the charge u-ied is about 60 lbs of powder. The Sydney Herald, quoting from the Moniteur of New Caledonia, says that "the chief item of intelligence from Noumea is the report of the devastations of a hurricane which was experienced not only at the capital, but apparently throughout the island, lasting from the night of the 29th February till 8 o'clock on the morning of the following day. News of the devastation caused in certain parts of the interior, though believed to be considerable, had not been received. At Noumea, although no serious accident to human life had been reported, several houses were unroofed, verandahs torn down a*nd damaged, and trees were uprooted and otherwise more or less injured. The ships in the roadstead, although frightfully tossed about, were saved from going ashore by the skilful efforts of their captains. The Surcceuf, the Lion (English barque), and the Claymore, also an English vessel, held each by two anchors, and safely weathered the storm. In the Bay of Adventure a small coaster was stranded. At Boarail the rivers rose to a great height. Several houses , were inundated, and some of them were washed completely away by the flood. News from Canala stated that there houses had been demolished by the hurricane, trees razed, the crops of maize and rice were lying flat on the ground, and. the coffee trees in the coffee plantations had sustained such damages that it was believed they would not survive. The Irene, a schooner belonging to a colonist of Canala, was wrecked while under sail and seeking an entrance into the harbor of Kouaoua for shelter. The crew, consisting of four persons, were saved." The special punishment which the law awards to miscreants who outrage, or attempt to outrage, little girls, was inflicted upon three prisoners at the Melbourne Gaol on April 10th. Twentyfive lashes were given to each. Some anxiety was felt in G-eelong lest the 2000 cases of preserved meats, reported as having been seized and condemned in London, should have been shipped by the GeeloDg Company. The agents, however, mention they haco received no information concerning their origin, but, on the contrary, have by the mail highly satisfactory reports of the quality of the company's manufactures. Late telegram*, remarks the Age, inform us that wool is a penny lower. Our squatters can stand it. Runor ayers that one Victorian M.L.C. has cleared £40,000 withiu the last twelve months over his wool. The Melbourne Daily Telegraph says:— The stars in their courses fight against the overland telegraph line — and the blacks also in their hunting expeditions. On Section E., the roving tribes who chase the emu and the kangaroo hav.e made a notable discovery. The wire makes capital fish-hooks and spears , and the insulators, when smashed-up, do duty admirably for whet-stones ; and thus the heart of the aborigine is made bappy. On the whole one is sorry for the black man. Neither public nor investors would submit to be inconvenienced by a stoppage Of telegrams Whenever an aborigine found it necessary to replenish his armoury. There would soon be a call for teaching the blacks a lesson, and there is ouly one way known to bushmen of teaching these gentlemen. As it is, the operators and line- repairers by no means relish the idea of gailopping 200 miles to repair the damage done by these predatory sportsmen, and the correspondent who communicates the particulars to the South Australian Advertiser, speaks already of the necessity of ' vigorous measures.' While they are chasing the kangaroo with telegraph wire, the proba bility is the blacks will be chased with revolver and carbine. It would appear that the wreck of the Sussex is not destined to be a very promising or payable speculation in the bands of the second purchasers. Although they were valuable, neither anchors nor rigging have been recovered, and the hull is said to be fairly broken up and submerged. A journeyman baker at Launceston, named James Moss, has just inherited property at Newbury, in Berkshire, worth £100,000. He had not been fortunate in Tasmania, and for some time had been a residenb of the Invalid Depot, at Launceston-