LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 82, 3 February 1876, Page 6

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Melbourne, Matters generally are very dull in Melbourne. The war steamer Dido has sailed for England. Two miners were smothered by a fall of earth in the Duke and Timor mine, Maryborough. Scarlet fever continues prevalent, but the recent hot weather has been beneficial. The racehorse Dagwjrtb, injured in the last Champion Race, has been destroyed. The election for Villiers and Heylesbury has been narrowed down to a contest between Sir John O'Shaaassy and the Minister of Railways. Sir George Bowen landed on Friday last, and was received with the customary honors. He had made two or three public appearances. A deliberate attempt to murder a servant namad Mary Hanley, was made by a fellow servant yesterday. She received several large shots in the back, but they are not likely to prove fatal. The " Stonewall " policy of the Opposition is being carried out in earnest, and although the House sits nightly, nothing is done. Party feeling just now runs very "high, and in the heat of debate some very harsh things are said on both sides. On Thursday night last Mr Lalor, late Commissioner of Customs, struck Mr Thomas, another member, in the lobby of the House. The matter was brought before the Speaker, and Mr Laylor was called upon to apologise, which he did. The Government asked for supplies, but the Opposition insisted upon affirming the desirability of their being first of all discussed, but they refused to abide by the result in the event of the issue being against them. Sir Jas. M'Culloch thereupon declined any such one-sided arrangement, and said that he would not permit a minority to tyrannise over a majority. There will soon be no money available ior the payment of the public creditor, and people are asking what is to be the result ofit all. People wonder how the crisis is to end. Sir George Bowen is no doubt much perplexed as to the course of action he should take, and it is thought likely he will telegraph to England for advice. Everything is in confusion. Public business has been dammed up for more than six months. The general impression is that a dissolution will be brought about in some way or other. If there be a dissolution, it is probable that the intoxication of public feeling will prevail on the stonewall ticket, which is a bursting up of the great estates. The trouble will then be only commencing. The land- owners are alarmed now, and are concerting measures among themselves. The Legislative Council, or Upper House, is their great bulwark. It will never give way to a crushing land tax proposal. The landowners say the democrats will be driven to subvert the Constitution, and in that case the Imperial power must step in. Altogether, the Legislative Assembly is sinking into utter contempt. Sydney. The Commercial Bank at Cannonbar was broken into and robbed of £1500. The Rev. John Graham has resigned from the Congregational Church. The drought in Queensland continues. Grass and water are becoming very scarce. M'Mullen, shot at Wagga Wagga by Boon, a publican, has died. Boon has been charged with wilful murder. Ten thousand pounds have been subscribed to send a trial shipment of frozen meat to England. The employment of Chinese labor on the sugar plantations at Mackay has proved a failure. Jacques Martin r the escaped murderer from Noumea, has been discharged from custody, the French Government authorities having failed to claim the support of the law of extradition. The proposition for the establishment of a Celtic Chair in Scotland, has been warmly taken up by the Celts in this part of the **world, and several large subscriptions have been promised.

Adelaide. A man named Hare has been found dead, with a pistol lying beside him. He was brother to the Rev. Francis Hare, late private secretary to Governor Fergusson, and nephew of Professor Maurice,