INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 47, 23 August 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

A grazier near* Albury, New South Wales, it is reported, bus refused an offer of £20 per head lor 100 bullocks on his station.

Further large quantities' of grain and fodder are being drawn from the West Coast* of America for New South Wales and for Queensland for stock-feeding purposes. . In the Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne, last week, apples sold at 4s 6d to 6s 6d per case; oranges, 9s to 13s per case; and lemons, 4s 6d to 7s per case. Mr. Hodgson, engineer for the Coolgordie water scheme, who was suspended after the presentation to Parliament of the interim report by the Royal Commission, haa resigned. The Commonwealth Postal authorities ore considering the question of reducing the postage on newspapers to Great Britain and other countries, but no definite steps will be taken until the return of the Prime Minister. The exodus of people from South Australia to South Africa, continues, and (says the Adelaide Register) the accommodation of passenger steamers to tho Cape is in most instances severely taxed. The Lund liner Wilcannia, which sailed on 7th August from Port Adelaide for London via Natal and Capetown, had 202 passengers, of whom MB were booked "to land at South Africa.* 1 Of the latter 54 w«re from Sydney, 86 from Melbourne, and 28 from South Australia.

The weather at Perth is very unseasonable. There has been no rain for the last three weeks. Although August is usually one of the wettest months of the year, there has been bright sunshine nearly every day. In the new, programme of instruction recently issued for the Victorian State schools, provision is made for "nature study" for the junior classes, in lied, of the formal object lessons which were pre-" viously given. In response to the applications of a number of mail contractors, the Post-master-General of Australia has offered to allow the services to be reduced by half during the drought, the payment to b« 26 per cent, leas than' the contract price. A deputation haa urged the Premier of New South' Wale* to have the Sydney Zoological Gardens removed from their present site, on the grounds of the requirements of public health. It is regarded as probable that the South Australian agitation for a land grant raifway to Port Darwin will force, on the question of the Federal Qovernment taking over control of the Northern Territory. Sir John Bee last week stated in the New South Wales Assembly that there were nine patients suffering from bubonic plague still \p the Little Bay Hospital, Sydney^ Mr. Pilcher moved in the New South Wales, Legislative Council the other day that the Woman Franchise BUI be rejommitted, to enable women to vote by post, but wa« ruled out, of order. In the annual report on the lunatic nsyairas o f South Australia Dr. Cloland states that the average number of lunatics in the asylums fof the year was 983, a decrease of seven compared with the previous year. Statistically, the \nsane population; Dr. Cleland remarks, is practically at a standstill, and has been for the past two or three years. A Bill proposing to abolish pensions nnd gratuities in case of future members of the Victorian Police Force has been circulated. Every person joining Jthe , Force, however, must insure hi* life. The present retrenchment proposals will not apply to future members. A series of extensive and systematic robberies is alleged to have occurred at Messrs. Anthony Hordern and Sons' establishment, about £2500 worth of goods bemp) mis«ei Six persons, five of whom are said to be employed by the Srm, have been arrested. While Sir Edmund Barton has been moidt cautious in his London speeches not to commit the Commonwealth to any scheme of Imperial defence, Sir John Forrest (says the Melbourne Argus) went to the other extreme, and assured his audiences that Australia must contribute more towards the defence of the Empiro, and on one occasion he is said to have added:— "l don't care a snap of my fingers what the opinion is in Australia on the matter." ,, It was rumoured among members that Ministers, in Melbourne were so disturbed by these utterances that they cabled Sir Edmund Barton, asking him Jto restrain tho Minister of Defence — in effect, to give Sir* John a rap over the knuckles. Ministers deny that they ever took a step of this kind, and ono of them, when appealed to last night, said. — "II the gag has been applied it has been in London; not by us here." , Mr. Palmer, Engineer-in- Chief for West Australia, wns recently directed by the Minister for Public Works to report on the statements of Mr. French regarding lerikagee from the Coolgordie water Bcneme. The Enginoer-in-Chief, in a report to the Minister, says there was no sorious leak or other defect along the pipe track. He admits that there arc Nome points that require attention, but the explanation is that the fourteen mKes of pipes referred to by Mr. French form a section that b*i not yet been recnulked, consequently there are somo small leaks bn they will be stopped in the recaulkinf? work that is to be carried out nt once. It is admitted that a defective pipo was found, but it has been taken out and a sound one substituted. No doubt is entertained as to the complete success of the scheme. Although Sir Edmund Barton has assured London andiences that the proposed frnngcontinental railway from AdeInide to Kalpoorlie may in all probability not be built for many years to come, the State and Federal authorities oro (according to a Melbourne contemporary) hurrvitifp forward the project in every pesib'e way. The Minister for Home Affairs has learnt that a party hns been despatched from Kalffoorlie in order to (Uncover if artesian water can bp found alonsr the suggested route, survey plans of whif>h are now being prepared for Sir William Lyne.