INTER-COLONIAL ITEMS.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 749, 13 December 1870, Page 2

INTER-COLONIAL ITEMS.

The following extracts are from Australian papers to the 28th ult. brought by the Waterman, which arrived at Grreymouth on Friday. Hickey and flush have been matched at Sydney for £IOO a side, to pull in three weeks. Two large salmon trought were caught in the Plenty, and were brought to town and showed at the " Mercury " office. On Friday, whilst a man named Henry Stokes wns engaged felling timber at Middle Grully, a tree fell upon him, and killed him almost immediately. On Tuesday last, Thomas Mitchell, a miner met with bis death at Drv Creek, near Mansfield, through a quantity of earth fa lling in upon him whilst he was at work in his claim. He was working alone at the time, and h>>w the earth fell in it is not known. The skeleton of a man was found a few tlays ago near the Shaw liiver, at St. Helen's. An inquest was held al Belfast, when it appeared likely, from the remains of the clothing that were found near the body, that it was that of a man who early in. September passed through Waltrira. A horse that the man was riding came back about two hours after with the bridle and saddle ou, and appeared to have been swimming. The horse was subsequently found to have been stolen from Tower Hill The assumption was that he was drowned, and that it was his remains that were now discovered. The enquiry was adjourned for further evidence.

The Sandhurst Borough Council, sittiug in committee the other day, had rather a stormy meeting. In the course of the proceedings the mayor said that " the way in which some of the councillors sought to carry on the business reminded him of a paragraph he had read the other day in the " Chicago Tribune," which referred to the doings of one of the public Councils there, when one of the members said they had come to regard one another as " either a liar or a thief." He thought that the'Sandhurst''Council was drifting into a similar courser" The " Ovens Advertiser " reports : —" The amount of gold forwarded on Wednesday from the Ovens district by escort for the past eight weeks was 16,7500z 2-dwt 3gr, an increase of 8630z on the quantity previously sent down. Although the fact pf there being an increase is to a certain extent gratifying, yet the returns are considerably below what might be expected at this season of the year. This may be partly attributed to the damage done to many of the sluicing claims by the recent floods, and the suspension -of works in the quartz reefs, owing to excess of water, but there is no doubt that it is also partially due to the gradual exhaustion of the shallow alluvial workings in many parts of the district."

The " Kilmore Free Press " reports that " some evil disposed person or persons made a determined attempt, at an early hour on Wednesday, to burn down the Dry creek bridge, on the main Sydney road, near Bradford The first person who saw the fire, and who immediately gave the alarm, was Mr Jeremiah .!?yan, of the Bradford toll-gate, who was also moat active in endeavoring to extinguish the .flames, which had taken a strong hold 'of the bridge when he first saw them. He was ably assisted in this work by Mr Philbrick and" Mr M'Loish, both of whom were brought to the spot by his cries for assistance, and the flames were got tinder after much trouble. Mr Ryan ran a risk of being severely burned in his laudable efforts to save

'-"-- ' ■"■■ ■■-■■ ij i '•• l -iljjW the bridge, and whilst removing some driftwood from* underneath; the :&rches, hot cinders iqjl upon himself froui getting severely bijrned 1 , he had >»to throw JiimseTf Jjifo the water. The question of the validity of a marriage celebrated in Scotland between two domiciled Victorians came before the Equity Court on Saturday, under, somewhat,, peculiar.ckcumstances. Mr William Swan, a wealthy settler in the Western District, 'and the father of eleven children, became "attached to Ca harine"''M*Arthur," the daughter of his deceased wife's sister, and finding some obstacles to- their unii)u in Victoria, determined to go to Scotland to get married. In October, 1868, they sailed together for Scotland, and in the following May were married by a Scotch clergyman at Greenock. A few weeks after vards he died suddenly without- making another will. Steps were taken by his relatives in Victoria to prove a will made previous to his marriage, and probate was granted. His wife shortly afterwards returned to the colony, and took but a rule to revoke probate, on the ground that her marriage revoked any prio ls will. The question then arose, waher marriage with her uncle a valid one, revoking the will,, or was it null and void, and, consequently, not able to affect it? The case was elaborately argued on Saturday, numerous' authorities being cited on either side, and judgment was reserved.