AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2547, 6 March 1877, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

(FBOM THE AUSTRALASIAN.)

A party of Russian ruining engineers ■ have visited Castlemaine, and intend to go to other goldfields, for the purpose of investigating and reporting to parties in [Russia. The thing was done in great 'secrecy, and they expressed great astonishment at the Town Beef, which employs 1 about two men only, stating that there waa, from their experience in the Ural Mountains, rqom for 20C0 or 3000 men; and at other times they were astonished at the lethargy of the miners leaving, such treasures under-foot. This party of gentlemen intend (says the Bendigo Advertiser) to visit, as members of a Russian School of Mines, other goldfields, and so far "as could be seen, they are , very reticent a^s to what they are about, i Several very unpleasant incidents occurred on Tuesday'afternoon and evening (our Sandhurst correspondent writes) at th 3: exhibitions of Cooper and. Bailey's circus; which have caused a considerable display of 1 feeling amongst the residents here." Pi? man named "Bruce, a respectable citizen, /was: struck a violent blow between the eyesbecause,he unwittingly tendered money to the ticket-taker instead of first procuring a ticket at the box-office, which it was almost impossible to get at in consequence of the great rush. A_suminons was taken out against the ticket-taier—Mr-Bailey, one of the proprietors •—and; the: case was to have been heard this morning (Wednesday) at the police courts butthecomplainantacceptedthe sum of !'i£o and /expenses, with several free admissibns, to'settle the matter. A gen-, fleman was also: prodded, in the chest with "•a bar pf iron by,pne of the attendants of th^ circus. !A'child receivea a thrust under the eye frota some sharp instrument from 'one of 'the circus employes, which is said tb!,be serious.> The arrangements for the sale of tipkets on Tuesday night were execrable, the scrambling and crushing being. frij?htfuK : Inside the circus, the stench and Asmoke arising from the oil ■ lights, .combined with the. heat and crowded'state of the place—-over 6,000 people being present—were intolerable, and hundreds left disgusted. Many more wbuld;have done sb.bufe were'deterred by the difficulty of getting out. ■,'■', Colonial authors, have long been complaining of the present staie of the. Copy-, right Acfrin force in England. At present they have no copyright over their works vhen published out of the colony, but a few years, since a promise was made by tho Secretary of State for the Colonies that this, matter, should be remedied .by the introduction into the Imperial Parliament of an amending copyright act. .No. steps have; however, been taken in the matter, and consequently^ a petition has befch prepared for submission to the House Of Commons, praying for an alteration in the present law. This has been signed t>y a number of the literateurs of the colony, and forwarded to Sir George Bowenyl with a request that he would transmit it to the Earl of Carnarvon for presentation to the Imperial Parliament. A frightful,-.tragedy occurred here (Wedderburn) this afternoon. Mrs Hickmott and her two sons were standing in the doorway of their house, a wood and bark erection, when they were struck by lightening during the storm, which broke with tropical; violence over the town about 6 o'clock. Mrs Hickmotfc and'her son Samuel, aged 20, were killed. James, the other son, was stunned, and his right side is paralysed;.' He will probably be removed to the St. Arnaud Hospital in. the morning. T^e medical men think he will survive. A man who..was litting at tea in the house .was rendered insensible by the lightning. When he came to, he; found Mrs ■ Hickmott lying dead just inside her door, with the breast of her dress on fire. Her eldest son was lying outside the. door dead also. Thunder and lightning still continue, but with abated riolence. The Hickmott family are old and respected residents, and the sad affair has thrown quite a gloom over the town. A heart-fending scene occurred when Mr Hickmott, who was. upon his farm when his loss occurred, returned to find himself a widower and bereaved parent. - Regarding the supposed murder of two brothers by blacks -on ; the road from Coottown to the Palmer River, the Cooktown Courier of * February 8 supplies the following particulars:—" Intelligence has been received which indicates that two poor fellows have lost their lives on the old Palmer road..; It appears that - two packers,' brothers., of the name of Macquarie, left Edwardstown on. the return trip last Friday "reek, and another packer named Qttile left the next day, both parties by. the old road. On passing through Hell's (Jates, Ottile saw the camp fires of the two brothers just at the foot of the hill, and on proceeding .two or three miles farther in this directtion he found the remains of two horses on the road, with papers and a pocketbook lying about. Picking these things up, and seeing the tracks of horses going along the road; he followed on to lheLaufa> where he- found three packhorses and one saddle horse belonging to the brothers, ail saddled.^ These he brought into town, together with the books and papers.. No trace was seen of the bodies of the unfortunate. men, although a man who "-came in since says he saw a mark as of a body having been dragged into a creek. The two poor fellows had valuables about their persons, for tfiey .were carrying the proceeds of their trip; but as the bodies have not been found it is not known what has become of the money. The circumstances seem, to point to a sudden attack by blacks, who are known tp be numerous and dangerous on the Hell's Gates track." A telegram has since been received from Cooktown to the effect that the remains of the brothers had been found under circumstances which left no doubt that they had been murdered.