INTERCOLONIAL.

Southland Times, Issue 1572, 3 May 1872, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL.

♦ (From files per Albion, to 24fch ult.) The Rev. Mr Abraham and Mrs Abraham have been acquitted by the Supreme Court of the charge of cruelty to the little girl from the Industrial Schools in their employment. In the case of Anne Miniver Davis, charged with attempting to murder her husband by mixing strychnine with his medicine, His Honor the Chief Justice, who presided over the case, summed up most unfavorably to the prisoner, and the jury, after a retirement of about four hours, returned a verdict of guilty on the second count, viz., " causing poison to be administered " The prisoner was remanded for sentence until the 24th. A law point was reserved in favor of the prisoner, which will be submitted to the Full Court next term. The woman was charged with administering the poison on the 3rd March, and the Crown gave evidence with regard to poison being given on the 7th and 12th March. The point reserved, is that the Crown should have confined itself to the first date. A local doctor has been burnt in effigy at Cooma for refusing to attend a lady when called upon. The case was one of childbirth, requiring medical aid. With regard to the progress of the overland telegraph, the South Australian Government have received a message by telegraph wire from Burton's camp, Daly Springs, which is the furthest point towards Adelaide reached by Patterson's party. The information states that the country is getting dry, and the weather clearing up. Work, on the line had been impeded by reason of the wet season, but the parties were all right, and little sickness had occurred, and no mortality. A light party had been started with despatches to meet Mr Todd at the Roper River. The girl Earkens, who was brutally assaulted by her rejected lover, Osterchamp, near Avoca, is said to be recovering. An extraordinary adventure lately befel a settler in the Western district, who was hunted by a pack of wild dog3. The Australian wild dog, or dingo, usually prowls about by himself, and is easily scared away by man, but on the occasion in question a number of these animals appeared to have got together for a hunt, after the manner of wolves. Mr P. Morrison, returning from Camperdown to his farm in Carpendeit, had nearly reached home, when he noticed that he was followed by a pack of native dogs, which gradually came close to his horse, and, though he was going at a smart; pace, kept close up to him until he reached the neighborhood of some settlement. The dogs must have numbered not less than 35, and were at times bo close to his horse that he could almost touch them with hie riding wkip. Morrison shouted out at the top of his voice as he rode

along, and his cries had the effect of -arousing a selector named Lynch, whose hut was not far distant. The doga were ultimately put to flight, and have not been seen again in such large numbers. It is expected that telegraphic communication with England will be estab- j lished in five or six weeks. The line will not be completed by that time, but the gap will be bridged by borse expresses. A report reached Sydney on the 23rd that a large ship, supposed to be the Q leen of the East, from California to Newcastle, has been totally wrecked on an unknown reef. The disaster occurred on the 18th ult. The captain and crew reached Clarence Heads in safety. Latest advices fro-n Adelaide report that wheat is very firm at 5s 9d, and holders of good sample.* require more. Country flour has been sold at £13, town at £14. It is estimated that, with the old stock in hand, there are 25,000 tons of wheat for the purposes of sale. Neither in Victoria nor in South Australia has the harvest realised the expectations which were formed respecting it. From the returns published by the Registrar-G-eneral of South Australia it appears that in that colony the average yield was slightly under 5-J bushels per acre. The Q-overnment returns for Victoria have not yet been compiled, but from 84 reports from the largest farmers in the most important districts, published in last week's Australasian, it seems that the average yield there will be from 12 to 14 bushels per acre. The general prosperity of the country has told directly on the Victorian revenue, and the Customs receipts for this, the third quarter, show an increase that makes Mr Berry right for the year. When the half year closed in January he had £50,000 to the good, and now he has another £50,000 to add to that. He estimated that he would obtain £3,500,000, or an average of £887,500 per quarter, and last quarter's returns were £939,000. For the three quarters he has collected £2,770,000, leaving him only £780,000 to obtain in the last three months, and that term has opened, it may be added, very well. Should it be as productive as its "predecessor, the Treasury will have £150,000 to the good when the books are closed for the financial year. s The total profits of the Melbourne Meat Preserving Company, from the start up to the last advices, are stated by the Hamilton Spectator to amount to £28,000, after paying the salary and share of profits Cone-fifth) of Mr Ritchie, the manager, and also after paying 10 per cent, dividends all through. For the first two years the paid-up capital of the company was only £14,000, but when the profits, after paying dividends, etc., had reached £8,000, the capital was gradually increased until it has attained the present figure of £38,000. The case of the man Carl Ebel, who was convicted of attempting to poison a family by putting strychnine into a keg of wine, is attracting a good deal of attention. The Albury Banner thinks that the sentence of death should be commuted, and one reason it gives is that since his committal the prisoner's property has been set on fire by an incendiary and burnt. This evidently shows that there is some one willing and capable of doing him a malicious injury ; and those who can be guilty of the crime of arson would not be likely to hesitate to lay a plot whereby an innocent man might be found guilty of murder. The sentence of death passed on Feeny, of the Carlton Gardens tragedy, has not yet been confirmed by the Executive. L'irge quantities of cattle are running wild in the unsettled areas lying between Cooper's Creek and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Attempts have been made recently by smart horsemen, in the shape of gangs of stockmen, unemployed in regular pursuits, to secure some of these wild animals; but, though in many instances the speculation has turned out well, in others several of the horsemen have fallen a victim to fever, and the gangs have been broken up in consequence. The proposition for the formation of a South Pacific Steam Navigation Company is favorably regarded in Adelaide. The Newcastle shipowners are taking active steps for the abolition of the tonnage dues. The Baptist Association, of Adelaide has passed a resolution strongly in favor of secular and compulsory education. The young wheat crops of South Australia everywhere are looking healthy, but rain is much wanted. The Queensland Parliament sat for a short time on the 19th ult. The Railway Commission's report was laid on the table. It recommends the continuing existing lines without delay, the gauge on the Northern line to be 2ft. 9in., and the present rolling-stock to be transferred to the Southern line. Gold has been discovered on the Macleay river (N". S. W.), 25 miles from Kempsey. Some very good quartz specimens have been received.