INTERCOLONIAL.

Southland Times, Issue 1738, 9 May 1873, Page 1 (Supplement)

INTERCOLONIAL.

Melboxtbne. In 1872, the Victorian alluvial mines paid dividends to the amount of £180,000, while the dividends from quartz reached' the enormous sum of £1,069,000, having increased to that amount from £470,802 in 1870. Mr Hamilton Hume, one of the earliest and most successful explorers of Victorian country, died lately in the 75th year of Ms age. A slight- earthquake was felt in the neighborhood of Melbourne on the afternoon of 22nd April. A Chinaman named Ah Hen, along with another named Ah Sing, has been arrested for imposing on a pawnbroker named Mendell Cohen, by pawning chests full of sawdust, stones, and bricks, but which they represented to contain tea. " Wild dogs," the Geelong Advertiser learns, " are becoming very numerous at Wormbete, and have done Mr Hopkins, M.L.A., no inconsiderable amount of harm by worrying his sheep. Mr Hopkina states he never during his long residence in the country knew them to be so plentiful, no fewer than 17 being seen by a farmer on the edge of the forest in one day. They are the real dingo breed, and the least bite from them will kill a sheep. The animals are so bold that they sometimes come close to the house." Mrs Fraenkel, the wife of Louis Fraenkel, lately a storekeeper at Bairns dale, and now of Melbourne, has been committed to prison for three days for prevarication in giving evidence at the Insolvent Court respecting some property which was connected with her husband's insolvent estate. Two pure-bred heifers, one and two years old, bred by Mr Morton, of Derrimut, Victoria, were sold at the recent Sydney exhibition for £L 250; and a young bull, bred by the same gentleman, was soid for £700, and was considered the best beast in the yards of the exhibition Mr Lauibton L. Mount, who has just returned from England in the s.s. Northumberland, has brought out with him a number of expert bottle blowers, and also tne requisite apparatus fur the bottle-works to be shortly set in operation at Sandridge. The Mining department have invited tenders for sinking a coal-pit at Coal Creek, near Cape Pattersou. It is intended to sink the shaft between 50 and 60ft., at which depth it is expected to cut two seams of coal, knowa in the locality as the Kock and Queen veins. Oae is reported to be 4t't. and the other 3ft. thick. A subscription for Seringue has been «et on foot, and the Argus announces' its willingness to take charge of contributions. Sydney. Splendid quartz reefs are reported to have been discovered near Condobolin. The Border Customs Bill has passed the Assembly. A most enthusiastic meeting of squatters, representing three millions of sheep, besides cattle, was held on the 24th, at which all the unallotted shares in the Sidney meat-preserving company were taken up. Parliament was prorogued on the 25th. The speech delivered by the Governor regretted the change which had been proposed for the mail terminus, and stated that the Assembly having given authority for. entering into a Californian mail contract, it would be acted on without delay. Adelaide. Good reports have been received from the Lady Alice Keef, Barossa, which is showing 20z. to the ton. Diphtheria is prevalent at Mount Gambier, where* three deaths have occurred in. one family. Messages from Port Darwin state that dteturfc&nces have taken place /at Yam Creek digjpnga, and that one man had betn shot. Neatly all the policemen had resigned. This information has since been contradicted. Twenty-one pounds weight of gold has been obtained from Howly's Creek aince December. A company haß been started for the manufacture o£ ierosene from Coorong caoutchouc. Two hundred tons of country flour has been sold at £12. Wheat dull, 5b 3d to 5s 4d.