INTER-COLONIAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1210, 11 September 1874, Page 2

INTER-COLONIAL NEWS.

" Atticus," writing in the Leader says : —At some of the stations on tho North-eastern line the train only stop 3 when there is a passenger who wishes to be set down there. The other day an old gentleman, as he entered a firstclass carriage at Spencer street, asked the guard to.be very particular to tell him when they got to Beveridge. Afc Essendoh the traveller put his head out of the window and asked, "is this Beveridge." "No sir," replied the the guard. " I'll tell you when we get there." The same question was repeated, and the same reply made at all the stations along the line. At last the guard opened the door, and addressing the traveller exclaimed, " This is Beveridge, sir, look sharp ; train five minutes behind time." "Oh ! thank you very much. But 1 don't want to get out. Only my daughter told me that I was to take my pills when we got to Beveridge, and I always like to be exact." A Melbourne paper "states that a gentleman, whose reputation for gallantry is not the least of his social distinctions, lately met with a singular adventure. He received a letter in a lady's handwriting asking him to meet her in the Botanical Gardens, a and specifying peculiarities in dress. .'„_ he recipient of the letter "kept the appointment, and met a well-dressed female, deeply veiled, who answered to the description of her whom he expected to meet. A conversation ensued, which was so interesting, that the swain did not notice that he was walking towards a lonely part of the gardens. At last he was disagreeably aroused from his dream by the lady throwing her arms around him ; and before he could recover from his surprise a man had emerged from the bushes, relieved him of his watch, purse, and some trinkets, and then, speedily accompanied with the fair one, leaped the fence and made off. Possibly the gay Lothario will for the future not boast so much of his bonnes fortunes.

The next edition of " Vicissitudes of Noble Families" might be supplied with an instance from Victorian life. The Bacchus Marsh Express in its last issue writes as follows :—" Our reader will notice with regret the announcement in another column of the death of Mrs Farmer, or more correctly, Lady Farmer, although herself and husband abandoned the title during their residence in Bacchus Marsh, as their circumstances were not in accordance with it. The deceased was striving to pass an examination as telegraph operator, as the office at Bacchus Marsh had been promised her, and it was over-anxiety to effect this object by attending lectures when suffering from a severe cold that caused inflammation of the lungs to take such a hold of a somewhat weak frame that Mrs Farmer just lay down after returning from one of these lectures by a teacher of telegraph operations, and never rallied, but died three days afterwards, leaving four children, aged about eight, four, three years, and fourteen months. Her husband has suffered for years from weakness of sight, and is now all but blind. The case is a sad one, as Sir George Farmer has not an income, although we believe there aro family expectations of some value. The present baronet is the third, the creation dating from 1780, and having been conferred in consequence of the gallantry of the father of tho first baronet, who, while in command of H.M.S. Quebec, had his ship blown to pieces during a contest with a French frigate of much superior force."

A good " bag" was made by five gentlemen of New South Wales, who went out shooting on the Bundaburrn run, in the Forbes district of New South Wales. Its contents embraced twenty-two wild horses, thirty-three wild pigs, fifteen kangaroos, fifteen Native companions, six swans, eighteen ducks, four turkeys, and one white pelican.