AUSTRALIA.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 241, 11 February 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

AUSTRALIA.

Sydney, February 7. A meeting of the shareholders of the Poverty Bay Petroleum Company vras held here to-day. Forty-three thousand five hundred shares were represented, and it was unanimously resolved to float a company of 200,000 shares, with a capital of £60,000, and 60,000 paid-up shares to go to the shareholders of the present CoraPa»y- ™ ,_ «

Sydney, February 4. John Grace, who was arrested on suspicion of having murdered John Stapleton, a miner, near Armidale, has been committed for trial. He has admitted that a pair of blood-stained trousers, found by the detectives, were his property.

Sydney, this day. Mr Douglas, Postal Secretary of Tasmania, caught; typhoid here, and died after about a week's illness. The ; Health Officer has communicated with | the authorities at Auckland and Wellington, urging them to take every precaution against the spread of infeciionJThe mail steamer Mariposa will be quarantined here, and the mails fumi. gated before they are landed.

Melbourne, February 6. The steamer Australasian visited the Croze t Islands on the passage out from London. Signals were made and cannon fired from the steamer wjth the view of attracting the attention of any castaways on the islands, but there was no sign of life or recent habitation on the islands. A reef not marked on the chart was discovered some distance from the Islands.

Melbourne, February 8. Mr Baker has obtained £3,000 damages for injuries which ho sustained on the Windsor Railway accident, The amount claimed Vr'aaaTlU.OOO, Another action for damages, arising out of the recent railway accident at Windsor, is pending a doctor, who was injured on the occasion having instructed his solicitors to commence proceedings for the recovery of £12,000.

Perth, February 6. Extensive floods have occurred at Geraldton, the chief port of the north of Western Australia, situated about 290 miles north-west of the city. Houses were submerged, and the occupants had to seek refuge on the roof tops, where they were kept the whole of one night and part of the next da>. The railway and telegraph lines have been much damaged by the floods. The total loss in the district is estimated at Particulars regarding the floods in \ the North show that four people were j I drowned and a number had \ery nar- ; row escapes. Large numbers of stock have also been drowned, and added to this large quantities of hay have been destroyed, so that many farmers are ruined. i

Perth (W.A.), February 7, The Governor has received an additional despatch from Sir Henry Holland, in which he suggests that the Legislative Chamber is quite sufficient till the population exceeds 80,000. He also expresses a dislike to the proposed constitution, which it) modelled on that of the United States and Canada. He holds that if an Upper House is created it should be nominated. Sir Henry recommends them to follow the precedent of the older colonies, and asserts that power must be reserved for the Queen to proclaim a division of the present colony into two or more colonies; also that the aboriginals must be placed under the care of a body independent of Parliament, and that pensions must bo provided for civil servants.

Adelaide!, February 8, The result of the Mount Morgan appeal cos* has caused a rise in the shares of that company, and shares in the jumpers' com* [uttv have fau-n to kit.*}