LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 555, 16 September 1869, Page 2

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

We have Melbourne news to the 31st of August. As already reported, the screw steam clipper Somersetshire, of Messrs Money Wi grain and Sons' fleet, entered Port Phillip Heads early on the 30th. The present voyage of this fine ship—-fifty-eight days—is the most rapid and successful which she has ever yet accomplished. But for the Eoyal Mail steamer putting in the appearance she did on Sunday, the Somersetshire, it may be stated, would have placed us in possession of at least a fortnight's later English papers. In the passenger list, besides the the dramatic and musical celebrities, are the names of Mr W. Collet Smith, of Ballarat, and Mr B, jSeill, of M'Callum, Ncill, aud Co. Among the passengers by the Somersetshire is also Mr Kobort Sinythe, formerly connected with the press in Melbourne, and for the last six years the manager of the PoussardBailey musical company. During that time, he and his companions have visited the principal cities in China, Japan, and East Indies, and the colonies of South Africa., travelling upwards of 25j000 miles in the prosection of their professional pursuits. Mr Smythe expects the early arrival from the Cape of Miss Bailey and Miss Florence Calzado, a contralto of repute. Herr Bandmann and Miss Milly Palmer are also passengers by the Somersetshire. Both are under engagement to the management of the Theatre Eoyal, where the new star will probably open in the drama of " Narcisse," in which he first made his mark before a London audience.

No public building in Melbourne has been erected with more expedition and less fuss thaH the Town Hall. Precisely one year has elapsed since tho contractors commenced with the freestone, and the whole of the masonry of the maguificeut structure is now completed with the exception of the tower. A melancholy calamity occurred in Hobson's Bayou Sunday afternoon, by which three lives were lost. Geo.. Fillery, a fisherman, his son about ten years of age, and a Dutchman named 11. lloedyk, were drowned by the upsetting ot a boat which was struck by a sudden squall. Fillery was a man of about thirty summers, and a first-class swimmer, having saved the lives of ten drowning persons It is supposed that he became entangled in the rigging of the boat when it capsized. He leaves a wife anil four children. On Saturday morning a boat belonging to the Pharos, whilst endeavoring to land the harbormaster near the site of the proposed new lighthouse at Arthur's Seat, was struck by a roller, and capsized. The crew, composed of Captain Fullarton, the boatswain, quartermaster, and two boys, were washed out, a - id some of them severely bruised by the boat falling ou them and rolling over in the surf. The whole of them, however, stuck to tho boat and each other, and after being in this perilou-; position for nearly an hour, drifted close in shore, when one of Mr BurrelPs sons swam off w r ith a small line, and the boat was hauled on to the beach. Telegraphic messages received from Sale and Bairnsdale, in Gipps Land, report that the shock of an earthquake was experienced at both places about ten minutes to five a.m. There was some alarm, but the shocks were not prolonged. The barque Fury, from Newcastle to Melbourne, coal-laden, struck on a reef on Thursday, near Wilson's Promo.'itoiy. The vessel bumped heavily tor an hour before she got clear, when the water gained upon the pumps at the rate of one foot per hour. Captain M'Bumey set the vessel, under full sail, tor the mainland, and was able to make the north point of Sealer's Cove. The captain, his family, and some of the men, were left in temporary tents there. Tho others reached port Albert. Mr Charles Summers, the sculptor, who for thirteen years resided in the i • • • colony, is receiving great encouragement from the patrons of the tine arts in London and Rome. From the latter city he has commissions for ten marble busts and three groups of figures.