AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 121, 5 March 1872, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

NEW SOUTH WALES. The effigy of Sir James Martin was burnt ' at Albury. Sir James and his colleagues put the issue—Shall Victoria govern New South Wales or not \ The result of the first batch } of elections—those of Sir James Martin and ] Mr Wilson, both Ministers —has proved a defeat, Messrs Parks and M'lntosh being re- ( turned. Great excitement prevails over the ( second batch. ! Wondrous reports have been received re- . warding Paxton's claim at the Tambaroora ] • i reefs. A regular vein of gold appears to have been struck between the casing, eight tons of stone yielding 440 ounces of gold. Messrs Vogel and Webb proceeded to Mel- ] bourne. Temporary arrangements have been ' made with the A.S.N. Co. for a branch service to Auckland. The markets are dull. " It is seldom," writes the Wagga Wagga | Advertiser, " that to the horrors of bush tire ; in this country is to be added loss of life ' through the cruel destroyer ; but a terrible story comes to us from Buckinbong which ' unfortunately is an exception to that rule, j, As reported in our last, a tremendous lire broke out on the Buckinbong run on Sunday night. All hands at once turned out to stay : its progress, and amongst others, Mr Burke the overseer. The grass was very long, in i some places up to the horses' necks, and i '' where this was the case the tire burnt with a j fury that nothing could withstand. After working for several hours, Mr Burke, who j' was on horseback with one companion, found it necessary to retreat, and was cutting across a corner of the rapidly approaching fire, when j his horse stumbled and threw him heavily. His companion at once dismounted, and hav- ; ing with considerable difficulty lifted the j stunned man on to his horse, mounted behind him. The horse not being accustomed ; to carry double, and terrified at the roaring j flames, commenced to buck, and threw both his riders, Mr Burke again falling heavily j and lying stunned where he fell. His com-1 panion was, fortunately, little burr, but the ] furious sea of lire was now close upon them, and he had no alternative but to run for his life, and leave Mr Burke tolas horrible fate. The poor fellow had a swift if terrible end. ! The tire swept over and around him, and in j a few seconds all that was left of him was a charred and blackened mass, scarcely distinguishable from the blackened logs around it. ! His body was found the next day lying as he fell, on his si le. The side of his face next the ground was untouched by the lire, but I the upper half was burnt almost to a cinder, I ■while the body presented, as may be imagine I, a fearful spectacle. The Upper Hunter Courier in on > issue re- j

cords five local deaths from sunstroke. The wonderful yield of 4400 ounces of gold from P.ixton's claim at thy Tambiroora reefs was from eighty tons of stone. The appearance of the retf is tints described in a Sydney telegram published by t'.ie Argus: — " Trustworthy news from Tambaroora states that the vein of gold appears as a regular pillar of gold between the slate casing. (>ld miners say that nothing was ever known like it. There is scarcely a bit of quvrtz to be seen."

A visitor to the Tambaroora gold-field, who is thoroughly familiar with quartz-min-1 ing, writes:—"Tambaroora is overdone.] Everything there is in the October-November state of Sandhurst. If a man sticks in four peg?, he immediately lays his ears back, pulls at his pipe, and waits for another ass to pay hi in from L.250 to LI 000 per peg—a very good price for standing timber. The rich claims arc about ten in number, with from 30ft. to 170 ft. of reef—perhaps about two acres, and they have pegged out 18 miles of ground—each peg being considered quite a fortune. Sydney people arc paying the piper, whilst the publicans dance. The country is magnificent all about the Turon, and the place will go ahead ; but they don't know how slow quartz mining is in bard country. They will find this out presently.'' SOUTH AUSTRALIA. One female and two male false coiners have been apprehended. Half-crowns were the coins principally made by them. Filgate, a fireman on board the steamer You Vangs, while cleaning the screw-shaft, was caught by his clothes and seriously injured.

Lie subsequently died in the hospital. Rogers, a well-known Colonial comedian, died from the bursting of a blood vessel. An exodus of 500 Chinese took place by the Stonehouse to Hong Kong. They took with thorn a number of casks, said to contain their dead relatives, pickled ! News regarding the overland telegraph construction party is satisfactory.

VICTORIA. Austin, the absconding secretary of the : Prince Alfred Hospital, has been committed I j for trial. Diptheria has made its appearance in a family residing in Ashhy, Geelong. One of the children has died, two others are ill, and I a fourth is just recovering from the effects of : this dire disease. Indecent exposure eases increase. The | Police Bench has ordered a man three [months' imprisonment, and two whippings I of twenty-five lashes each. Two cases of diphtheria at Lai Lai are reported by the correspondent of the Ballarat Shir: —Two children of Mr Capcll were attacked about a week ago, and on Sunday last the daughter succumbed." The cold weather, a correspondent of the Mowd Ah .mndcr Mail writes, has at Guildford checked the diphtheria. "Mr John Cogley, whose whole | family was .attacked, lost his two eldest

daughters, seven and nine years of age, V tlie other children are improving." A man named Edward Wonell was kill at Sandhurst, in the tribute claim of the G. I Company. Whilst working in the bottom the shaft a bucket Idled with stone fell fn, near the top on his head, and death result. immediately. Mr Middling, the mining manager of K G tribute of the G. G. Company, has he; committed by the coroner for the ma slaughter of Wonell, who was killed by bucket of stuff falling on him. The rope k insecure, and had not been removed by t: manager, as was shown by the evidence the inquest. The grain harvest is being brought to a cloj in the wettest season Victorians have expe enced. The farmers in the late district therefore, are likely to have little good grait whilst those in the earlier parts of the Colo; have in many cases turned their wheat it gold, and in so doing have escaped all t: risks of Hoods and bush-fires that make fan ing in Australia so risky an affair. H.M.S. Rosario reports having inflicted severe castigation with shot and shell on t: murderous natives of the Santa Cruz island The papers, both in Victoria and New Sou Wales, condemn the action. A Melbourne Cup winner for L.G ! Fan that ! Toryboy, the hero of 186i3, lias knocked down by Mr Bowes for the mode sum of six sovereigns. Mr James Gan was the purchaser. ; and there can be no d: puting the fact of the bargain being a clier-j one, for the grey is worth treble the mom i for hacking purposes. The short-tail' Monkey, who has won several rices durij his career, was sold to Mr Smith for L.l and Joe Morrison, the jockey and trainsecured a decided bargain in Protection, wk. was knocked down to him for L.9. The ColeniUui Album says: —"In ft™, township of Merino the other day the wi,, of a labouring man was delivered of thr* children at a birth —all boys, healthy x j strong. It is proposed to collect subscrix« tions for the purpose of securing assistan„, for the trebly blest mother and father." „ A sad ace mnt of the fatal effects of diphtheria comes from Bright. Mr Smith, a Sv, e] tier, of Boggy Creek, has lost his who ra ; family, which constisted of seven children. a - Nine children have died at El 1 within the last fe v days. The cause of deat a ; has been attributed in some casjs j sumption of unwholesome water. 3 El Dorado the other day was visited by^, I terrific storm, accompanied by enormo'.j-. I hailstones and vivid lightning. Many , a j the houses were unroofed, trees were blow down, and the streets extensively flooded. a