AUSTRALIAN.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 86, 24 January 1885, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN.

Melbourne, Jan. 16.— Mr James Service recently addressed Mr Stout regarding the Conference of Premiers -which is proposed shortly to be held, and inquired whether Mr Stout would be able to attend the Conference if held at Melbourne or Hobart early in February Mr Stout prom'sed to l give a definite reply next week. In replying to a letter addressed b> the General Secretary of the Free Church to Earl Granville with reference to the New Hebrides Islands, the Imperial Foreign Secretary states that he considers the agreement entered into with France regarding those islands to be still in force. Melbourne, Jan. 16.— The manager of the National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand (Limited) reports of the local markots ts as follows -.—Wheat, in fair demand, 3s 8d to 3s Qd ; malting barley, dulU4s 4d to 4$ lOd. New Zealand

oats : Feeding sorts (slow of sale), 3s to; 3s id ; milling ditto, 3s 5d to ,3s 7d.< Market dull. Now Zealand oats under, bond, 2s 8d to 2s lOd. The market for kauri timbor is quiet. , < Melbourne, January 16.— ;1n order to, test the truth of the confession made' by the convict Barnet, that he had raur-, dered the late J. B, Stack, who was beliovod to have committed suicide, the body has been exhumed, and on examination it was found that the bone of the throat was broken, leading to the belief that the deceased was strangled, and that the throat had been cut, : Melbourne, Jan, 19.— -The Conference is not yet arranged. Melbourne, Jan. 20. — Reichdeld, the i Dunedin insolvent, who was arrested here, j has been discharged from custody. » Melbourne, Jan 21. — Major-Genera} Scratchley has proceeded to Sydney. The proposed Conference of Premiers on the annexation question has been abandoned, owing to the difficulty of fixing a date for the meeting. Sydney, Jan, 10.— Commodore Erskine, who has been superseeded in the command of the Australian Squadron by Admiral Tyron, has been appointed Commodore of the first-class, and his promotion was acknowledged yesterday by a general salute from the war-ship in the harbour. Sydney, January 16. — Dr. Quinn, Roman Catholic Bishop of Bathurst, died suddenly to-day. Sydney, January 16. — Cripps, the proprietor of the Coffee Palace, who is under arrest on a charge of arson, was brought up at the Police Court to-day and remanded. Sydney, January 16. — By the capsizing of a boat in the harbour to-day, three persons lost their lives. Sydney, January 16. — New Zealand wheat, per bushel, 2s 9d ; Now Zealand oats, 2s 8d ; maize, 4s lOd ; Sugar Company's No. 1 pieces, por ton, £26. Sydney, Jan. 19. — Tho small-pox outbreak is increasing, soveral frosh cases having boon recently reported. Sydney, Jan. 21.— 1t is reported that Lord Augustus Loftus will leave for England in July or August. There has been general rain throughout the colony during tho past 24 hours. Adelaide, Jan. 21. — At a largely attended public meeting, held last evening, resolutions were passod supporting the action of Victoria in regard to Pacific annexation, and deprecating the action of tho Imperial Government thereon. Hobart, Jan 16. — A conference between Victorian and Tasmanian Ministers with a view to the establishment of a mutual Customs tariff is now being held here, but it is doubtful whether any arrangement will be arrived at.