LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 897, 7 December 1871, Page 3

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Wo are indebted to Capt. Farrell ©f the schooner Northern Light for late Australian files, from which we take the following:— The Government offers a reward of £IOO for the arrest of John O'Brien, for the murder of John Holden at Laybrook, A'Beckett Plains, near Inglewood, October 25. A reward of £SO is offered for the apprehension of two men against whom a verdict of manslaughter was returned, for causing the death of Frederick Wootton, by assaulting hin in King street, Melbourne, on the night of Sept, 4. A curious hut well-known form of mania, was brought under the notice of che district coroner, Mr Candler. A patient named James Jeffery, 24 years old, had died, and the inquiry elicited that at times he would swallow pieces of bone, stone, bits of brushes, flannel, and other foreign substances which came within his reach, although every effort was made to prevent him doing so. It was found that his death had been caused by peritonitis, due to the presence of extraneous substances of the description given above,which he he had contrived to possess himself and swallow. It was stated that it was impossible to prevent patients afflicted with this form of lunacy from picking up and swallowing hurtful substances unless gagging were resorted to, and this method would be cruel. The Anchor Company of Shoalhaven, which was formed for exporting butter to London, is about to wind-up, having sustained some heavy losses. The ketch Tim Whiffler was capsized off Newcastle on Nov. 16 and only one of the crew was saved. The insurance companies decline any further risks on the sugar ship Delhi and Madura, now overdue from Manilla. Two fires occurred in Sydney on the 17th ult., but did little damage. The following additional items were received by the s.s. Eangitoto. Melbournk, Nov. 25. The Telegraphic Message Copyright Bill, protecting messages for thirty-six hours after receipt, was passed. Parliament was prorogued nominally till the 6th of January, but probably after recess til) April. Mr Vale was sworn as Commissioner of Customs. His re-election will probably be opposed. Victoria was visited by heavy thunder storms on the 22ud and 23rd. At Bendigo, a brickmakor name Jones was struck dead instantaneously. Fifteen men in one building were knocked down senseless, but recovered. A woman in Melbourne was struck blind. Hill, captain, and Hansen, pilot, of the brigantine Belle, were struck down in Hobson's Bay. A second flash killed Hansen, who had only time to say "Better anchor " and died. Docter Van Hemart has been mulcted in the sum of £250 for a case of mal-practice. The Rev. Mr Tyerman, an ex-Ang-lican clergyman, has been lecturing in justification of spiitism. A large meeting was held in the Town Hall, to procure Imperial interference to suppress kidnapping in the Pacific. One of the Zavistowski sisters was fined Is for an assault on a broker at Sandhurst for alleged slander. The steamer Albion is fitting out for a passenger excursion to New Zealand. Arrived—Maid of Erin, from Westport. Stdnet. Nov. 24. The Government are likely to sustain a defeat on the Border Customs Duties, and if so, will accept it as a vote of want of confidence. Capt. Ferguson confirmed the report of a white woman and child on the island of New Britain. A Danbury man found something offensive in his last dozen eggs, and took the dealer to task. *' What is the matter with them ?" asked the dealer. " They ain't good," was the reply. Well, that isn't to be wondered at," was the apologetic rejoinder ; "hens are drove so now, they ain't expected to he as particular as usual." A Brooklyn mother advised her daughter to oil her hair, and fainted flat when that candid damsel replied' "Oh no, ma; it spoils the gentlemen's vests ?"

The following lines, the authorship of which is unknown, give, in a few words, the history of the " Tichborne case," so far as it has been already unravelled:— The firm of Baxter, Rose and Norton, Deny the claimant g Arthur Orton, But can't deny, -what's more important, That ho lias done what Arthur oughtn't.