INTER-COLONIAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1199, 4 August 1874, Page 3

INTER-COLONIAL NEWS.

It will be remarked in connection with the dismasting of the two ships John Kerr and Loch Ard, as a curious coincidence that not only did they start together and arrive together, but they was dismasted on the some day and at no great distance from each other. The Loch Ard's report says : " On the 2nd of April, in longtitude Gl E., latitude 4i'3o S., in a very severo storm from S.E." It was in this storm that her masts went. The John Kerr's report says : —" On the 2nd of April, when she was in 45' S. and 71. E. a gale set in from the S.E." The masts were lost during the gale. Thus in the same gale, and on the same day, and almost in the same place, the two vessels were dismasted. Now they lie at the "Williamstown Pier, Melbourne, next to one another. Surely there is no such strange series of coincidences as in the narrative of the voyages of those two ships, nor any ocean story more interesting in its details. The following story of the ruling passion strong in life is told by the Ballarat Evening Post • —" A snake some 3ft. in length had been killed by some woodcutters in the neighborhood and thrown across a fence, where ho was espied by Mrs , who was at once struck with a happy thought. She bound up her left arm in a handkerchief, and securing the dead body of the venomous reptile, she rushed into Beaufort, describing how she had been bitten, but had succeeded in despatching the snake. Brandy was at once administered freely as an antidote, and this was repeated at so many hotels in the place that Mrs at length subsided by the wayside oblivious to everything. "When the trick was discovered, general indignation was expressed by those who had so readily administered the antidote and if thier word is to be depended on, it will require more than the pre duction of a black snake to excite their generosity again. Mr Gosse, an explorer sent out by the South Australian Government, in his report of the proceedings of the expedition, mentions the discovery of a high rocky hill whence perpetual springs of fresh water issued. At its base were numerous caves, of which he says:—"'J hey are formed by largo pieces of rock falling to the foot. The blacks, who are numerous in this part of the continent, make holes under them, and the heat of their fires causes the rock to shell off, forming large arches. They amuse themselves covering these with all sorts of devicessome of snakes (very cleverly done), others of two hearts joined together, and in one I noticed a drawing of a creek with an emu track going along the centre."

An interesting lecture was recently delivered in the Mechanics' Hall, Hobarton, by the Rev. Mr Law, the subject, being " Polynesia." The rev. gentleman, in the course of Ins lecture, remarked that the islanders were very happy for the following reasons :—lit. they had no lawyers. 2nd. They had no demand for municipal or railway rates. And 3rd. They never had to suffer from bad debts or bankrupts—they had not yet become quite civilized for "that!