AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1039, 21 January 1873, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

At Sydney a man, woman, and child were struck speechless by lightning. They are recovering. Gastric fever has been very prevalent in many parts of Australia of late. A rich copper discovery is reported to have been made near Katherine, in the Northern Territory. The cost of construction of the new Eastern Arcade in Melbourne was between £17,000 and £IB,OOO. The laying of the foundation stono of the new Roman Catholic College of St Francois Xavier, at Kew, Melbourne, was to take place on the Bth instant. At Bathurst an old man has been choked by a kidney he was eating sticking in his throat. Private letters have been received in Melbourne from Fiji, announcing that coal had been discovered of good quality. Should this intelligence be confirmed, the importance of Fiji as a coaling station will be very great.

Lollies are being made in Victoria from sugar produced from beet, and manufactured by the Victorian Beet Root Sugar Company. The ' Argus' reports that the experiment has been entirely successful, the lollies being quite equal to any made from cane sugar. The Polytechnic Hall in Melbourne is now occupied by a Chinese troupe of performers. To detail the incidents of the drama represented would be a difficult task, so much being left to the imagination. Scenic effects are dispensed with with, but special attention is paid to the character of the dresses; they are gorgeous. The amusements aro freely patronised by Europeans and Chinese. The Sydney correspondent of the * Argus' writes : —" Nothing is known positively as to the tender* of the Californian service, except that colonial tenders were sent in. It is understood that both the A.S N. Company and Mr H. H. Hall sent in alternative tenders. I cannot ascertain that auy have been actually received trom England ; nor is it known at present whether the Government will reserve their decision until the January conference, or deal at once with the offers ■ubmitted to them."