AUSTRALIA EXTRACTS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 305, 19 November 1873, Page 3

AUSTRALIA EXTRACTS.

The Chief Secretary of South Australia, has bsen threatened by anonymous writers who object to free immigration. Referring to Friendly Societies, the Melbourne • • Argus " writes . — •' Some time since attention was called in the columns of this journal to the fact, that one society in this Colony had actually absorbed in the expenses of management iXnost the whole of the hospital and sick fund." In a caie tried at the- Circuit Court, Maitland (N.S. Wales), the other day, where a young woman was charged with attempting to commit suicide by drowning, a witness named Taylor stated that he saw the young woman struggling in tho water, and could have walked— at a depth of from only six inches to a foot — and rescued her, but he stood on the bank of the river over two minutes, at'd did not attempt to save her, as he said " he knew the po'ice would come." At a banquet held the other day on the occasion of the opening of the North-Eastern .Railway in Victoria as^far as Wang jata, Sir George Bowen made a speech, Li the course of which he is reported by the Argus as haying spoken as follows : — " The railway question is one to which it has been my duty to give grava study during the 14 years in which I have been in the position of a Colonial Governor, and I entirely agree with the decision of 'the- Parliament of "Victoria, tharailways should be pushed on with as great a speed as is consistent with^pradence. A contemporary writes : -"The Customs department in Wellington have ascertained that certain mercantile firms in Australia are ■ supplying their New Zealand customers with duplicate invoices for the purpose of defrauding the revenue, and it is intended whenever such a case is discovered to send a circular to the various collectors with instructions that all goods coming from the said firms are to be subjected to rigorous examination, and the Government will prosecute with the utmost rigor of the law all infractions of the Tariff Act." His Honor Sir William Stawell, Chief Justice of Victoria, has had conferred upon him at Trinity College Dublin the honorary degree of LL.D., and the Irish papers refer in eulogistic terms to his Honor's loug connec tion with the colonies in testimony of his ability and high Judicial character. It is proposed to prohibit the importation of opium into Victoria, on account of the terrible disclosmes that have been made of the extent to which the drug is used for the pnrbose of debauching young girls. It may be useful to persons in this colony to know that there is in Melbourne an infirmary for the special treatment of disfeses of the throa^, chest, eye, and ear. Patients paying 5s are entitled to one month's attendance with medicine, aad every subscriber of £1 Is is entitled to four tickets for distribution to the poorer patients. These 5* fees, together with the subscriptions, and with donations from patients who had not been contented with paying such 5s fee only, make up an amount which exceeds the expenditure for the year by £3 3s 9d. During the year 1124 cases were treated. A l'orfe Darwin telegram states that, work at (he various reefing claims is proceeding rapidly. A country journal has a notice from Ah Sin, of 42. Little Bourke street, inviting sub scriptiona in aid of a Chinese Mission to the heathen in Victoria. Ah Sin hopes by the aid of such a mission to dispel the deplorable paganism which prevails, and to bring benighted Australians to acknowledge tho pure morality which Confucius taught. Tlie Vi torian -Go\e nment, it will be seen by late Australian papers, are going in for a railway scheme on a largo saale. It is rumoured that the Messrs Brogden intend entering the field there as competitors for the contracts. In Victoria, the immigrant can now take up six hundred and forty acres of land at the rate of one pound per acre, and make payment at the rate of two shillings per acre per annum, extending over a period of ten years, without interest. A Victoian exchange says : — " Owing to the high price of cattle, the increasing scarcity'of rabbits, and the fact that this the close season for other kinds of game, operations have had to be temporarily suspended at the Colac Meat Preserving Factory. " Owing to the scarcity of gentlemen draughts men the Victorian Lands Minister proposes to open the department to draughtswomen. The Itechabifes in New South Wales number 1,900, and they have funds to the amount of £11,000. We clip the following from a recent isaue of the "Australasian" in referance to a woollen factory in Victoria: — " We learn that the Victorian Woollen Cloth Manufacturing Company have now orders on hand for nearly 70,000 yards, and have been compelled to refuse orders, one being for 40,000 yards of tweed. To undertake all the orders sent in would have kept their works, with the two engines at their command, engaged for the next six months." The Melbourne "Argus" has carefully arrived at the conclusion that steamers could be built which would accomplish the passage to or from England and Australia in 42 days. The value of long'woolled sheep now to be found in Victoria is Btated to exceed £1,000,000. In 1856, there were only 50 long woolled sheep in the Colony. The first sale of flannel made by the Balkrat Woollen Company was a decided success. About 4000 yards were sold, at prices that were highly satisfactory to the company. A The Tasmaniau Council of Education provide p. scholarship of £100 a-year, which is tenable for three years in England. Tasmania may claim the credit of being the first portion of the British ompire in which the compulsory principle in primary education was practically recognised. A '• Lady Subscriber " writes to the Wellington •' Post," objecting to the introduction of females into the telegraph department, on the ground that " our frail sex will be found wanting in keeping the secrets, a thing which I don't think a woman knows h«.v to do." The " Queensland Times," in its home summary, draws a bright picture of the flourishing state of the squatting interest, the abun- j dance of grass and probable large lambing increase, the high price of wool and meat, and the activity and remunerative payment of work m the gold and tin mining districts. I The picture drawn -extends the application of our remarks to a wider area, and shews that £L© prosperous condition we refer to is shared in through all the length and breadth ' of the settled districts of Australia.