AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 968, 7 May 1872, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The first section of the North Eastern Eailway, consisting of G4> miles has been opened. Banquets have been given at Sey. mour and Kilinore, the latter was attended by the Ministry. Ministerial banquets are to held at Maryborough, and Carisbrook, to-day. It is proposed to form a South Pacific Steam Navigation Company, with a capita] of £200,600, to buy up the nine boats belonging to M'Meckan and Blackwood, who propose to retain an interest in the Company to the amount of £50,000.

Feeney has been convicted of the murder of Marks, by shooting him in the Eitzroy Gardens, and sentenced to death. lie received his sentence perfectly unmoved, as, indeed, he was throughout the whole trial. The sentence will in a'l probability be carried out, iu spite of the attempt to show insanity. The ' Australasian ' thus alludes to the collapse of the great Tichbourne case:—After the facts had been brought together and illustrated in the Attorney-General's monster speech of twenty-six days, few persons entertained any doubt as to the result. It seems that after the examination of a few witnesses for the defence, the jury interfered, and Sergeant Ballantyne found it prude'nt to accept a nonsuit. The plaintiff was immediately arrested by order of the Chief Justice, and committed for perjury. It appears by the latest telegram that bail was refused, and we may expect to hear by the next mail that the worthy Mr Orton has been obliged, in lieu of a baronetcy and £25,000 a year, to accept the" less profitable, but much more suitable position, of a workman upon her Majesty's roads. So ends the most audacious imposture of modern times. The following appears in the 'Argus' of a recent date:—" One of the greatest feats ever accomplished in acclimatising has just been performed by a young Norwegian, who has succeeded in bringing two live grouse to Melbourne. This gentleman, whose name is Mr Graff, previous to leaving his native country to join his brother in New Zealand, procured some grouse eggs, and set them under a hen, and was fortunate enough to obtain six young grouse. Of these one was killed fighting, and Mr Graff started for Hamburg in the Eugenia, bound for Hobart Town, with five young birds. After a passage of 15S days, he arrived in port with two couple of birds, one having died soon after the commencement of the voyage. The unwonted si"ht of two couple of grouse in Hobart Town exeited the greatest curiosity, and the Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company, with commendable liberality, passed Mr Graff and his interesting charge on his way to Melbourne by the Southern Cross on the sth instant, and Mr Graff irtends proceeding to Orago, where his brother resides, by the first opportunity. The grouse are in excellent condition and quite as well grown as birds of their age would be on the native heather. Mr Graff was induced to undertake the experiment at the request of his brother, who represents the mountainous parts of New Zealand as being extremely will fitted for grouse. If these young birds succeed in the mountains as well as the pheasants have done in the lowlands, it is not too much to expect to see black game sold in the Melborne markets ere many years have passed over. Mr Graff will have the warmest sympathies of every sportsman in Australia in his interesting experiment." A notable old Australian, Captain Wm. Hovell, who performed, in company with Mr Hamilton Hume, the first overland journey from New South Wales to Victoria, arrived iu Melbourne by the overland mail last week. Captain Hovell landed in New South Wales in 1813, and his trip across the continent was made in 1824. He is now iu his 86th year, but is halo and hearty, as may be imagined by his sustaining the great fatigues of the coach journey from Sydney. Some years ago Mr Summers executed a bust of Captain Hovell, which is now in the Melbourne Public Library. The captain has of late years travelled a good deal, and is in better health than Mr Hume, though the latter is his junior by 15 years. At the Albury Criminal Sessions, April 11, Carl Ebel, charged with an attempt to murder a whole family by administering poison in a _ cask of wine conveyed by him to a neighbour's house for use at a birthday feast, was found guilty, and sentenced to death. The jury recommended the prisoner to mercy. There never were more coal mines than there are at the present time (remarks the ' Geelong Advertiser,) nevertheless, so much has the demand increased that coal never was, in one sense, scarcer. We hear of one instance in England where an old road to a coil mine has been dug up and the dust sold at 15s or 16s a load, and notwithstanding the large coal mines iu these colonies where manufactures are not so plentiful as at home, the supply, except in summer, hardly keeps pace with the demand. The scene on the Yarra-street wharf was amusing when the Medea came in on Monday. Every coal merchant in town was out of coals; coals were wanted for Ballarat, and the Victorian Woollen and Cloth Company required a fresh supply. The consequence was a rush set in to the vessel, which was being rapidly cleared out until dark, and perhaps after it.

The quantity brought by the Medea will last only a few days, the quantity of coal consumed here and at Ballarat being so great; Captain Le Neveu's vessels, which are on the way, are therefore anxiously expected. If the demand is so largo now that our factories are so few in number, what will it be when the factory at Ballarat commences operations ? At a demonstration in Queensland, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, branches of the Hibernian Society, established there, blended the orange with the green, in the colors worn by tho=o who took part in the proceedings. In Victoria a short time ago, a female Eechabko tent was opened, numbering eighteen members, all of whom passed the doctor but one, who still retains the position of honorary member. This is supposed to be the largest female tent opened in Victoria.