LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 640, 2 April 1870, Page 2

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

• Melboubne, March 19. Harris and Hjwitt have agreed to run the 300 yards race, for which they tied, on the 2nd April, with a view to decide the champibnship. The suicide «a(inia still continues, chiefly among women. Mr Dawson, the eminent barrister, is dead. Mr W. 11. Bray, Sandhurst Hotel, Melbourne, has been arrested, charged with committing an unnatural offence on two lodgers. The authorities have decided to arraign Draper m a fresh trial of forgery. Ah Piew, a Chinaman, has been committed for trial, charged with murdering a girl at Glenluce. It is proposed to establish a Victorian Academy of Music. Government is willing to assist. Commercial Btnk drafts on London have been refused, owing to accounts being complicated through Draper's manipulations and erasures. The notorious Edward Bathurst has been again committed for trial for fraud. Gold has been struck at the High Plains between Harrietville and Crooked River. The prospectors got a quart pot full of gold from their claim. • A fatal explosion of fire-damp, resulting in the death of two men and injury to the third, has taken place at the claim of the Guiding Star Company, Mona Lead, between Indigo and Eutherglen. Adelaide, March 19. The unemployed, after commencing, relinquished Government work and wages. Winnerah farm, Port Willunga, has been destroyed by fire. The damage is estimated at three thousand pound*. Sydney, March 19. A deputation from the Chamber of Commerce had an interview with the Postmaster-General, and urged on him the adoption of a four weeks' Californian route. The Postmaster-Gene-ral spoke favorably of the proposal, but said it was a Cabinet question. The schooner Mariposa has been wrecked in Broken Bay; the crew were saved. Mr Fawcett, Police Magistrate, has been committed for trial on a charge of manslaughter. Severe floods continue. Gympie is flooded. A publican named Duelling, of Newcastle, has committed suicide. Clontarf picnic on St. Patrick's Day was a great success. With regard to the Treason Felony Act just expired, Government do not intend to re-enact it. Great floods have occurred. The rivers are still rising. The Richmond River is 21ft., the Nepean is 15ft., and the Hunter 29ft. above ordinary level; all still rising. It is likely to be the highest flood known in the Hunter district. Public building and others that stand high are crowded with sufferers. Railway traffic is interrupted.