INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

West Coast Times, Issue 358, 15 November 1866, Page 2

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

VICTORIA. (FROM THE MELBOURNE PAPERS.) At a public meeting held at Tylden, some extraordinary comments were made on the public conduct of Mr Sands, M.L.A. for Dalhoufie, in connection with a testimonial recently pre--sented to him. Mr Armstrong made the following remarks (as reported by the " Kyneton Guardian") on a matter which seems to require explanation :—: — " Most of the donations for the testimonial were not given as mementoes of the high appreciation in which the individual was held, but for services rendered. He did not make statements now. that he would not do if Mr Sands were present. That gentleman had received timely notice, and every publicity had been given to the affair, and yet he chose to stop away. He next alluded to the appointment of Mr Bowman as contract surveyor under the Amending Land Act, for the survey of twenty-acre blocks under the 42nd section. When the act first came in force, the survey of the blocks in question was left to the mining surveyors, but it

was subsequently thought necessary , to amend the regulations, and on the new regulations being issued, the board took the survey of blocks under the 42nd section from the Mining department, and gave it over to the Crown Lands department, consequently there was an opportunity afforded of "casting about to see who should be appointed. Contract surveyors were of a higher class than mining surveyors, and before qualifying they were subject to a veiy strict examination, and there was a difficulty experienced in obtaining men possessing the necessary qualification. The only local man who passed the examination in the Kyneton district was Mr Stuart Murray, a thoroughly upright and respectable man. From his having the favorable opinion of Mr Couchman, district surveyor, and the department, and not being aware that any interest was required, he became an applicant, and Mr Maxwell being aware of the fact, came to him and said, ' I have sufficient Parliamentary interest to get you this appointment, conditionally on your giving me half the fees.' This Mr. Murray refused to do, and shortly afterwards a person named Bowman, a perfect stranger, who had only been ten days in the colony, received the appointment, and shortly afterwards receipts for fees appeared signed for him by Maxwell. Muroy being unaware that Sands was mixed up in the matter, went to him, and complained of how he had been treated. The only satisfaction he received from the hon. member was being told he was a fool for his pains, as he should have accepted the offer which he (Mr Sands) had sent Maxwell to make. Bowman subsequently got into very bad health, and had to resign, and he afterwards 6tated that during the time he was in office he was paid a salary of L 5 per week, while the others pocketed the very handsome fees, amounting in his time to about LI6OO. He considered this was not compatible with that highsounding character for integrity and honesty of purpose which a certain hon. gentleman was said to possess. It was difficult to arrive at tbese matters, as it was only when an accomplice split that things came to light. . The honorable gentleman alluded to was cognisant of most of these matters, as also Mr James Maxwell."

" Within the last few days," remarks the " Bendigo Advertiser," "nearly 200 Chinese have quitted the Ironbank encampment, the majority of them for Melbourne, en route for the West Coast, New Zealand, while the rest are bound for Rockhampton. The clearing out of this large number is consequent on the receipt of letters from their countrymen containing good news of the progress the Chinese are making in those places. Barely 300 Chinese are now resident in the Chinese encampment at Ironbark, where some few years ago there were upwards of a thousand. The most unpleasant fact is, that while it is the moneyed Celestials who are removing they leave many of the worst class — gamblers and thieves — behind them."

" Among the visitors to the Police Court at Geelong, on Monday," says the " Advertiser," " was King Jerry the First, and last, of the aboriginal Royal line. Matters of State had influenced his mind. His gait was not steady — the Imperial eye flashed fire. His Majesty has been unwell for several days ; and, under the influence of an undue number of glasses of rum, has proclaimed his intention of damanding restitution of all provinces of which he has been illegally deprived, after having held them by indefeasible title from time immemorial^ together with all improvements thereon, and revenues accruing from all sources. King Jeremiah has seen the Governor, and his Excellency said — ' All right, Mr Jerry ! No gammon 'bout you — you"" English gentleman, like o' me, not immigrant to take away all land from blackfellow.' Had not Sergeant Morton ejected his sable Majesty from the Town Hall, the State crisis would have come on. 1 As it is, Jeny threatens appeal, and only wants ' tickpins ' to carry out his sovereign rights." " A respectable tradesman, residing in Chilwell," says the "Geelong Advertiser," " was stuck up on Saturday last, between the hours of eight and niae o'clock in the evening, n^ar Kardinia, being on his way from the Barrabool-hills to town. The night was very dark, when the rascally footpad pounced upon his victim ; first haying knocked him down, he then essayed to rifle his pockets, and on resistance being made, he at once seized him by the throat, when a desperate struggle ensued (as the man afterwards declared, for life). A, car coming up at the moment the wrestle was going on, the fellow released his victim, and decamped." The foundation stone of an hospital is to be laid in Sale on the 23rd current.

v On the plains situated about twelve or fourteen miles to the south of Ararat, embracing the agricultural areas of Kiora and Lispower, and thence to Wickliffe," says the "Maryborough Advertiser," "no rain of the slightest use to the crops has fallen, while the grass is thin and stunted. This tract of country comprises some excellent wheat land, in which we learn some large crops have been sown. It is feared that some of the Kiora settlers will experience serious losses this year from the impossibility of obtaining a sufficiency of feed for their flocks and their increase." The Rev. Dr. Tucker supplies the " South Australian Register " with a note of correction and information on the subjects of Australian geography and history, that is worth recording. He says : — " It is l-emarkable that so many mistakes are still made respecting the geography and history of the Australian colonies. The English papers tell us that Professor Kingsley said at Southampton that Governor Eyre once walked 700 miles round the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is evident that the learned professor must have thought that the Gulf of Carpentaria was on the south coast, somewhere between Perth and Adelaide, because he knew well

that the Governor had never travelled round the northern coasts, where every schoolboy here knows that the gulf, named sifter Carpenter, a Dutch captain who discovered it, is to be traced on the map ; and the mistake is thfe more surprising because the Gulf of Carpentaria has been so often mentioned in England recently as being explored and settled by the colony of Queensland. I have been reading with great pleasures ** Words and Places," "by the Rev. J. Taylor, M.A., or " Etymological Illustrations of History, Ethnology, and Geography," and have been a little surprised to find the following notes on the' early discovery and name of the island of Tasmania. The discovery is traced to an expedition of two vessels equipped by the Governor Antonio Van Diemen, under the command of Janz Tasman, and the author says, 'An attachment as romantic as a Dutchman may be sup- , posed capable of feeling, caused the rough sailor, if tradition speaks the truth, to inscribe upon the map the name of the beautiful daughter of the Bataviau Governor, Maria Van Diemen.' Who has ever known the island to be called by that name ? The Dutch captain named the land that he first discovered, and that he thought was only a part of New Holland, after his Governor, Van Diemen's Land, aud gave the name of his lady-love to a small island on the east coast — Maria Island ; but the two are as distinct aud separate as the Isle of Man from the highlands of Scotland Then follows the observation : — ' In -consequence of an ignorant prejudice which was supposed to deter intending colonists, the name of Van Diemen's Land, or Demon's Land as it was called, bras, after the lapse of two centuries, been changed to Tasmania, in honor of the sailor who preferred the fame of his master to his own.' It is somewhat amusing to think of the hideous name Demon's Land frightening intending colonists, only the conceit is shadow}', for no one in Australia ever heard such a name : but we all know that the original name became associated with the peculiar settlement of the island, and that the ' ticket-of-leave-men' over all the other colonies were called ' Van Demonians ;' and it was to be expected that free, intelligent, and interprising colonists, whose indomitable energy and honorable character has contributed so much to the fair fame and wealth of the mother country, would wish, if possible, to throw into oblivion such painful reminiscences of the land they had made their own ; and therefore to escape unmerited odium, and at the same time honor the first discoverer of the island, the name was changed ; but they have had the gallantry to leave the Maria Island — which as you pass in the steamer any captain is pleased to mention in connexion with the romantic tradition — so that now if the two are to be joined we may read Maria Tasman, which no doubt was the cherished idea in the mind of the Dutch captain."

A sad and fatal accident occurred on Monday last at Dunolly, to a family named Farmer, which has deprived a husband of his wife, and five small children — one an infant — of their mother. -The " Express " says : — " Mr Isaac, the livery stable keeper of Inglewood, was driving the family to join Mr Farmer, at Ballarat, when, in passing through Broadway, one of the horses became frightened, and suddenly bucking, drew one of the rein buckles through the terret of the saddle. This caused the driver to lose control of the horses,, which turned suddenly round, and running the vehicle against the kerb overturned it, throwing its living freight violently to the ground. The children, with the exception of the youngest, which was in its mother's arms, escaped with a few bruises ; but the unfortunate woman, upon whom, in addition to the fall, a heavy box likewise descended, sustained such severe internal injuries, that, after lingering in intense pain at the hospital for two hours, she expired. The husband, who some time ago received a sunstroke, which affected his brain, and who has only recently been discharged from the Melbourne Hospital, was immediately telegraphed for, and arrived only to find himself a widower and his children motherless."

A distressing case is reported by the " Ovens Constitutional," which says : — " AKard-worlvingminer attheWoolshed named Wallace, who was employed three or four years back in wet claims, caught cold ; his lungs became affected, and he has been slowly dying of consumption. The unfortunate wife, who was only confined six weeks back of her sixth child, from overwork in waiting on her husband and anxiety about her children, has gradually become deragner!,, and on Monday was reported by the police as" raving mad, and brought to the Beechworth gaol, where it has been found necessary to restrain her. The poor woman, who was very religious when sane, is under the delusion that everyone who approaches her is a fiend come to torment her. It is not probable that she will recover for some months, though she is now more quiet. In the meantime, the children are wandering about their father's hut only half clothed, and with very insufficient food. It is due to the neighbors, who are all working men by no means well off, and living at a considerable distance, to state that they have been very liberal to the family. Mr Ingram and one or two friends of these unfortunate people are making an effort to get the dying man into the hospital, and have offered to guarantee all expenses that may arise from his removal. To add to the catalogue of calamities, Mrs Malcolm M'Gill, of the Woolshed, who had taken charge of the youngest child, was so much affected by the sight of her friend's misery that her own mind became deranged, and on Monday she attempted to destroy her own life by swallowing four or five grains of strychnine, which her husband kept in the house for poisoning dogs or rats. As soon as it was known that she had taken the poison an emetic was given. The usual remedies were applied, and she is now out of danger."

A singular scene in a church is reported by the " Ovens Advertiser," which says: — "In reference to the scene which took place in Trinity Church, Wangaratta, on Sunday evening last, our correspondent says that the greatest horror and disgust were occasioned amongst the members of the congregation by the Rev. Mr Booth's conduct towards a poor little dog, the presence of which so excited his displeasure. It seems the animal iv question was running about the church shortly after the service commenced, when the rev. gentleman, who had just given out the evening hymn, noticed it. He immediately left the reading-desk, gave chase to. the dog, and having captured it, was proceeding to . cany it to the door, when one of the congregation offered to relieve him of his burden. Mr Booth relinquished his capture to the gentleman who volunteered his services — at least a portion of it — giving him the fore part of the animal to hold, but retaining its hind legs in his hand. It is with the greatest reluctance we record what followed, but justice compels us. The rev. gentleman took one of the dog's hind legs in both his §ands, and after several attempts, deliberately snapped it in two. This act of cruelty gave rise to the most sickening sensations amongst those in church, and a large number rose and hurriedly left, quite shocked at what they had witnessed. We received particulars of the affair by telegram in time for our last issue, but could not bring ourselves to believe that such a wanton act of cruelty would be perpetrated by any one ; even now we would fain hope that the rev. gentleman may be able to give some explanation of his conduct." " The strike at the Stoney Rises still continues. A number of new men were set to work on Wednesday," remarks the " Geelong Advertiser," " but they were molested by the old hands in the evening, who marched down upon their tents some 250 strong, and battered and roughly handled the new hands. The majority of the navvies are desirous of returning to work at the wages offered, 6s 6d a day, but they are prevented by the threats and jeering of the loafers who infest the neighborhood."

"As a general rule," remarks the " Ovens Constitution," " the Chinamen in this colony do very little in the way of quartz reefing. Within the last week, however, a most prominent reef has been discovered at Running Creek, near Myrtelford, by a Chinese prospecting party, and we understand they are going to work it. From the appearance of the stone raised, it is expected that tlie yield of the first crushing will be over three and a half ounces to the ton. Several other quartz claims have been marked out in the vicinity."