NEWS IN BRIEF. INTERCOLONIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LIV, Issue 19, 22 July 1897, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF. INTERCOLONIAL.

Premier Reid- will leave Vancouver on Bth August, and reach Sydney on the Ist September. Probably Premier Kingston will travel by the same steamer. In connection with the telephone trouble at Sydney, Park-street, at the point where it crosses the tunnel, has been closed against traffic by the Mayor, in the interests of public safety. It was stated at a meeting in Melbourne that the Amalgamated Society of Engineers had to the end of 1896 spent £844,248 iv superannuation benefit. The Acting-Premier of Queensland has promised a deputation that the Government will accord assistance in connection with the erection of central flour mills. The Queensland Government intends to assist settlers to check the rabbit pest by granting subsidies. The dividends for the quarter ended 30th June paid by the goldfields at Charters Towers (Q.) showed an increase of £30,349 compared with the corresponding quarter of last year, and the calts a decrease of £19,475. Jt has been decided to convert the old Pitt Town settlement (N.S.W.) into a casual labour farm or colony. The Sydney Exchange Company has declared a dividend of 7 per cent., and carried forward £1620 to' the next halfyew. ' The total output of gold within NewSouth Wales for the quarter ending 30th June is estimated at 63,C160z., as compared with 63,6336z. for the 'first quarter of the year. The Salvation Army has opened a Workmen's Hotel in Harbour-street, Sydney. ¦Of a,party of four which recently left Port Moresby for the Mambare goldfields, one was murdered by natives, two were drowned while returning by sea on a raft, and the other reached Port Moresby in a terrible condition. An English fox has been captured near Bftthurst, where it has been destroying large numbers of sheep. A jiumbef of fires, supposed to be the work of incendiaries, have occurred in the Crookwell district near Goulburn, and the residents are becoming alarmed. Mr. Scot Inglis, the well-known Australian actor has left for Amei ica. / 'Two women were suffocated by gas at their residence at North Melbourne. The gas main in the street was broken by a heavy load, and the gas escaped along the drain to the bathroom. An engineer named D. Davey, aged 70 years, took a fit at Adelaide while cleaning an engine, and set fire to his whiskers with a lighted candle which he held in his hand. He was found with one side of his face and neck burnt in a horrible manner, and he died in a few minutes. The Queensland Minister for Railways has intimated that the railway policy for the present will be confined to the extension of the .main trunk lines, and possibly the extension of feeders on the light railway principle. An amendment of the Federal Constitution Bill, providing for the abolition of the Senate and government by one House, "was negatived in the Sydney Legislative Assembly by a large majority. Mf. D. O'Connor, late Attorney-Gene rSl of New Bouth- Wales, moved the adjournment in the Legislative Council to protest j against the recent ukase of the Government, ordering the Sunday closing of all shops. The N.S.W. Minister for Mines and Agriculture has op-ined a conference oE delegates from agricultural societies at the ! Hawkesbury College, near Sydney. There were 130 delegates present. In reply to a/ deputation which d emanded fromjhe New South Wales Government " work immediately," the Minister said that the tendenc}- to look to the Gove rnment to supply work was growing, and the more work that was given the more the Government was expected to give. Bookmakers at the last race meeting iv Sydney were officially informed that they would not prosecuted for cash betting, and that the summonses recently issued had be?n withdrawn. Mr. Ho6ley- has been cabled, to from Sydney for further information regarding his scheme for the amalgamation of the meat freezing companies of Ausi aralia.