INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1071, 13 May 1873, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

The pearl-fisheries and the trepang or beche-de-nior trade on the Pacific Corst of Western Australia are beginning to attract the attention of capitalists and speculators in the other colonies, and may occupy the attention of parliament in the same way that the whaling industry has done. At present the business of searching for mother of pearl is carried on in a very primitive style, and yet the results in some cases have been very successful. Specimens of shell obtained have been considered worth as much as £3OOO a ton, and not very long ago a single pearl found in a shell from Western Australia was sold for £SOO in London, and resold again for £IOOO at St. Petersburg. During the last twelve months 211 tons of pearl shells were despatched from Torres Straits southwards; and ,the value of these at £2OO per ton is £42,000. Private advices announce that the yield from a crushing of st one from Stone from the "White Boy Beef, Black Boy, Tasmania, was 2oz Gdwts. Vithin about a mile of the White Boy Seef » situated the Derby, the last

crushing frbin which gave 1950z from about 146.t0ns of stone. This gold has been taken to the Victorian Mint and valued at £4 Oa 5d 'per ounce. These returns have imparted a remarkable impulse to the. gbldmining interest in Tasmania. It has been ascertained that as the sinking "gets below the water level the stone increases in richness. Mr J. M. Creed, writing to the Sydney Morning Herald upon the subject of the annexation of the Landwich Islands by the United States points out that by the navigation laws of the United States all ships carrying cargo between any two American ports must be under the American flag, unless the vessel sailing under a foreign 'flag pays a tax of two and a-half dollars per ton to the American Government. And this is the case where the cargo is that originally brought by the ship from a foreign port to the American port of departure. In the eventof a British line of San Francisco steamers making Honolulu a port of call,'they will be mulcted at the rate of many'thousands a year for the cargo shipped from Australia to the United States, via Honolulu. Mr Creed suggests that representations should be made to the Home Government on the subject. The Fiji Times is given to understand that the Government of that country has contracted with the owners of the s.s. Duke of Edinburgh for the conveyance of mails between Sydney and Levuka once in five or six weeks. According to the Sydney Morning Herald the Bank of New Zealand shares in the Sydney market have fallen to £l7, and up to latest advices they had not recovered. There is a promise of a rich libel case in Melbourne. A gentlemanly young man, belonging to the dramatic profession, recently arrived there from England. He obtained an engagement at the Royal, and was cast to make his first appearance as lloderigo in " Othello." On visiting the stage for rehearsal, the " star " declared that he would not play with such a person ; and when asked for an explanation, asserted that the would-be iioderigo was nothing more than the Park, of Boulton and Park notoriety. In vain the comedian disclaimed the impeachment, and the manager, under the circumstances, refused to let him appear. The result is that he has issued a writ for defamation of character, the service of which has been accepted. He also sued for damages for dismissal, and obtained them, but the evidence was very equally divided as to whether he was Park or not.