AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1895, 23 May 1889, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

PKHSSYTERIANIBM IN VICTORIA. The report of a commission of Ihe Presbyterian General Assembly of Victoria states that there are now ISo.OOO P.-oabylerians in Victoria, and 200 minister?, being in proportion of one to every 790 of the population. The number of Sunday school teachers is 2800, or one teacher to every ten scholrrs. The stipend of ministers amounted to £55,000 this last year, giving an average of £4OO each; £I2OO was the largest, and £250 the lowest salary paid, Only 14 received the latter amount. After this year it is anticipated that none will be paid less than £3OO. Congregations bad contributed no less than £IOO,OOO for congregational and charitable purposes. The debt on buildings was £86,000, of which £65,000 belonged to Melbourne. The report was considered most satisfactory, and nnanimously adopted. ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE, Walter Brooks, a Melbourne com-, mission agent, attempted to murder Mrs Matilda Thompson, a tnrrried woman, and failing to do so shot himself in the head. Mrs Thompson had kept house for him. He was an insurance agent, but having lost his position through drink, he was unable to afford to keep a house,

and Mrs Thompson went to live with deceased's grown-up pons. Brooks went to the house in the morning, and fired two sbots through the keyhole of the door. He then entered by the back, and found Mrs Thompson alone. He forced her on the floor, and said, «' I am going to blow your brains out first, and then shoot myself,' The landlady, attracted by the shots, knocked at the door. Brooks told Mrs Thompson to answer, and say that all was right. Under that pretext she managed to open the door and escape. A shot was then heard in the house. The police having entered the place, found Brooks lying across « bed quite dead, having been shot through the mouth. In one hand there was a revolver, while in the other hand he held a letter detailing bis relations with the woman and his determination to commit murder and suicide. FIGHTIM LEGISLATORS. A fight is reported to have occurred in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. One member and one of tbe Ministers were discussing the Home Kule question in the refreshment room, and heated words were spoken, when the Minister, who is an ardent Home Ruler, struck his opponent, flooring him. Before the other eould retaliate members interposed, and prevented a continuation of hostilities. A MYSTERIOUS »EATH. She body of a man named Bryant, at | one time a wharf manager for Mesws Grico, Sumner and Co., was found in the Yarra at Melbourne. There was a wound in the head, eupposed to have been caused by a steamer staking the body. k post mortem examination was, however, made, with the result that it was ascertained that deceased had not been drowned but shot. The affair altogether is myflterioue,and the the detectives are now engaged making inquiries. RETALIATION. The Pull Court of Brisbane have refused an application for admission as solicitor made by Mr James W. Anderson, nolicitor, of New South Wales. The Chief Justice, in refusing tbe application, said this was in retaliation for the New South Wales Supreme Court refusing to admit Queensland solicitors to practice ia New South Wales. DISGRACEEFL BEHAVIOUR OF FIREMEN. According to the evidence given at the inquiry into the circumstances connected with tbe fire at, tbe Melbourne Bijou Theatre, Mr Wilsoe, proprietor of the theatre and Palacß Hole', detailed the disgraceful conduct of some of th& firemen who broke into the bars, stole l'quors, "got drunk, and even stole money from the till. The firemen, he said, did a great amount of damage, and Mr Wilson stated positively that he and,his own men saved the Palace Hotel, ard not the firemen. MURDERED WT BLACKS. A Cooktown telegram states that Edmund Watson, aged 21, of Sydney, a grandson of Mr Watson, of Wodonga, Victoria, was killed by tbe blacks on the Jlth insr. He had been mustering on Mr Fox's Pine Tree Station, at tbe head of the Archer river, and was sleeping in a hammock on the front verandah of the hot. James Evans, a stockman, was sleeping in the back verandah. The blacks stabbed Watson in tbe throat, and at the same time hit Evans with an axe, breaking his jaw and inflicting a wound 4in. long. Watson bled to death in two hours. Evans is likaly to recover. The blacks were only let on to the station a few weeks ago at Watson's request, and two bales of blankets are now on the road up for them.