OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 7750, 23 October 1888, Page 2

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

(From Our Melbourne Correspondent. Monday, October 15. THE COLURRY STRIKE, AT NEWCASTLE, Fresh complications have occurred in connection with the colliery strike at Newcastle, and an amicable settlement seems as far off as ever. The miners who have recently been employed at the Stockton Mine have struck work because non-union men are employed on the coal steamers as trimmers. The unionists feel all the more strongly concerning the employment of these men, as some of them had been previously employed filling small coal at Burwood and other places, and were witnesses against those who were placed on their trial as rioters. The seamen on board the steamers are union men, and have stated their willingness to go on strike to aid the miners directly authority is obtained from the secretaries of the Seamen’s Unions of Sydney and Melbourne. Disturbances have taken place at Wallsend, where laborers have been employed filling small coal under the protection of the police and military. On Friday evening, as the men were knocking off work, an immense mixed mob, consisting mostly of young men, congregated near the boundary of the mine property. On the appearance of Mr Humphreys, the colliery clerk, Mr Neilson, the manager, and Messrs Bonsfield and Maddison, overmen, the mob became very excited, and attempted to block the exit from the mine to the officials. A stone was thrown and the police had all they could do to clear a passage. The crowd followed Humphreys, who was on horseback, and the others, who were in a buggy, all the way home, shouting, pushing, and throwing stones. Several stones struck Humphreys and Neilson, but no serious injury was inflicted. One policeman, however, sustained a nasty cut on the head. On Saturday the mine was visited by a large number of people, and between three and four o’clock in the afternoon there must have been an assemblage of fully 4,000 men, women, and children. About 150 tons of coal was brought up from the workings of the mine by non-union laborers, and sent away to Newcastle in two trains, which went off accompanied by the groans and bootings of the crowd. One man was seen by the police to throw a piece of wood on to the place where a non-union man was working, and was soon afterwards arrested. The mob groaned and hooted, but the constable stuck to his man, and brought him before Mr Mair, the police magistrate, who was at the military camp on duty. There was some doubt, however, os to the identity of the man, and he was dismissed with a strong caution. Shortly afterwards a train came from Wallsend with forty soldiers. The crowd “chaffed” them, and cheered derisively, but no harm was done. At five o’clock, however, when the laborers knocked off, trouble began in earnest. The main road was complely blocked and impassable. It was therefore decided to take Neilson, his son, Humphreys (the mine clerk), and the overman Bonsfield to Wallsend by train. The miners were incensed not so much against Neilson and his son as against Humphreys, who had acted asoverman at the mine, instructing the non-union men how to work. The miners considered him worse than the “ blacklegs,” and wanted to get at him. While the crowd was hooting and yelling at the “blacklegs” coming out of the tunnels, the opportunity was taken to get Neilson, his son, and Humphreys into the train, and thence on to the main Wallsend line. Some one discovered the rase, and gave the alarm, and while the train went by a roundabout route to the Wallsend township, the crowd ran up the main road shouting and yelling with the design of intercepting it at the Wallsend railway station. Mr C. Neilsqn’s residence )s on rising ground at the end of the company’s line, which extends from Wallsend station to the mouth of the old workings. This has been closed for a long time, and gates were put across this part of the line. The train reached this place before the crowd, but time was lost in waiting for the gates to be broken open to get the train through. The crowd caught the train there, and poured through the gates on to the line, running alongside the train demanding that Humphreys, whom they term a “ blackleg,” should oe given to them. The miners maintain that without Humphreys’s advice and assistance the work could not be proceeded with so well as it is. No attention was paid to the cries of the qiob, who were warned to keep off. The police, under Sab-inspector Duffy, showed great firmness, but combined with it extreme caution. The crowd comprised men and women. The latter were very conspicuous in urging the men op. After passing through the gates one of the police picked up a colliery prop lying across the line. Whether it was purposely placed there or not is uncertain. However, as the train was proceeding slowly, no harm was done. When the train arrived at the end of the line a strong body of police escorted Neilson and his son to their residence, and remained to protect it all night. Humphreys, with Bonsfield, was afterwards seen safely home, and guards were placed to protect their houses all night. Two mep who were engaged in Sydney missed the steamer and did not arrive at Newcastle until Friday morning. They took the train for Wallsend, and were proceeding towards the Wallsend pit when they were surrounded by some 200 or 300 people, and asked the object of their mission. They stated that they had been engaged to fill small coal at the Wallsend mine at 10s per day. They were informed that they would be allowed two minutes to make themselves scarce, and that if they were not out of sight by then the consequences would be serious. Both men dropped their swags and made off as hard as they could, but their luggage was sent after them. When they arrived at Newcastle they proceeded to the police station, and stated their case. Both men had previously filled small coal at Greta. One of them, an elderly man, stated that he had been walking in the streets of Sydney idle for a long time previous to being offered tfils worjt, or else he would not have taken It. He also said that he had a wife And fourteen ohildfen dependent upon' him for sustenance. The other was a young Dane, who had just lost his wife'and one of his children in Sydney. He had two children living, who, he said, would have to starve if he were not able to procure employment in tjhe district, as he had tried in vain to g4t a situation in Sydney, whore hundreds of men were walking about the streets for want of employment. The South Bull! miners have struck because an increased price will not be given to them for hewing. At the commencement of the Newcastle strike they were offered an increase of 3d per ton for hewing, but they demanded fid. This the management refused to give, and afterwards withdrew their original offer. The miners then offered to accept 3d, but, as certain stipulations were wanted, the management refused to give in. One of the objects the men had in view was to compel the company to abandon present contracts, with A view of making new ones at higher prices ; but the cessation bf work will not affect the contracts, as the company is not responsible under them in the event of a strike.

THE JPUXIOAL SITUATION, Th’e Opposition 'baulked the 'endeavor of the Government to pdsU forward the jElectoral JDistricts Alteration Bill in a most effectual manner on Thursday evening. A complaint was made by petition that the representative of ‘ The Victorian Farmers’ Gazette,’ a weekly journal, had been refused admission to the Press gallery, and the members of the Opposition seized the opportunity of an all-night debate on the subject. The matter was a very simple one. The Press gallery affords but limited accommodation, and the rule has been made that only reporters of the daily Melbourne newspapers and those connected' with ' country agencies shall be admitted. The Speaker nominally controls the gallery, but he has delegated his power to the chief reporters of the

metropolitan Press and the * Hansard staff, who form a committee, and who refused to recognise the claim of the journal mentioned. The subject afforded little real necessity for debate, yet the discussion on it lasted from three o’clock in the afternoon till eleven at night. The whole question of reporting the debates of the House was brought up, the publication of a daily ‘ Hansard ’ and other side issues being dragged in for the purposes of a discussion, which was palpably for the purpose of obstructing the real business of the country. The Government are much incensed at the action of the Opposition, and ore determined to do their level best to make some progress with the Bill in committee this week. Were it any other measure and a popular one, it is extremely probable the Government would resort to the cloture to prevent the shameful waste of time which the Opposition now threaten, A few all-night sittings under present circumstances may be looked forward to with certainty.

A YOUNG WOMAN’S SUICIDE. A painful case of suicide occurred in Melbourne last week. On Thursday evening a young man named Walter Martin was fishing in the Yarra, at Abbotsford, with two companions, when he saw a young woman divest herself of her bat and ulster on the Johnston street bridge and jump towards the river. The party ran to her rescue, but found that instead of reaching the water she had struck the bank heavily and broken her neck. For some time the body remained at the city morgue unidentified, but it is now known that the deceased is Mrs Mary Morris, whose husband was found drowned in the Kororoit Creek, and who, on the 18th ult., was only prevented from jumping off the Victoria street bridge into the Yarra by the intervention of some ladies who were passing. The deceased was a most prepossessing looking young woman of about twenty-four.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. A man named Jeremiah attempted to commit suicide in an extraordinary manner on the Port Melbourne line of railway on Sunday night. As a train was approaching the North Melbourne station he jumped off the footbridge leading from one side of the station to the other on to the line. He miscalculated his jump, and, instead of falling in front of the train, he dropped between the two sets of lines, and lay there with his arms extended. The whole length of the train passed over his right arm, crushing it terribly, and almost severing it from his body. When the train stopped he was picked up and sent to the Melbourne Hospital, where the arm was amputated at the shoulder by Dr Beaney. When admitted to the hospital he was quite conscious, and told Senior-constable Flannery, who took him there, that he had not been able to sleep for the past five or six months, owing to some trouble into which he had got, and from which he was unable to extricate himself, and that he wished to commit suicide. He is forty-two_ years of age, is unmarried, and lived with his brother and sister in 43 Evans street, Port Melbourne. The extraordinary part of the affair is that he sustained no injuries from his fall from the bridge from which he jumped, which is about 25ft in height.

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL. Miss Amy Sherwin’s concert at the Melbourne Town Hall last week was a great success. It is said that the Australian Nightingale, on the 30th inst., embarks for Batavia on a three years’ tour round the world.

Messrs Williamson, Garner, and Musgrove will inaugurate a season of comic opera at the Princess’s Theatre on Saturday next, when ‘Olivette’ will be produced. The company includes Miss Nellie Stewart, Miss Fanny Liddiard, Miss Aggie Kelton, Miss May Pollard, Messrs W. Elton, C. M. Leumane, W. H, Woodfield, Knight Aston, Howard Vernon, and Edward Royce. The members of Mr Martin Simonsen’s new English and Italian opera companies arrived on Saturday by the it.M.S. Austral, and the Italian members will commence the season next Saturday night in Verdi’s ‘ Ernani.’

New Zealanders will regret to hear of the death of Mr J. L. Ball, the well known comedian, who expired at the Melbourne Hospital yesterday from phthisis. The late Mr Hall came to Australia soipe twenty years ago with the Wiseman family, a member of which, Miss Emily Wiseman, became his first wife. They played a very successful burlesque season at the old Princess’s Theatre, and from that time were well known on the colonial stage. Mr Rail afterwards spent some time in America and New Zealand, but has played almost continuously in different parts of Australia for the last seyen years. On the doath of his first wife he married again, his second wife being professionally known as Miss Jessie Grey. Mr Hall was best known as a grotesque comedian, one of bis best parts being that of Captain Gingah,’ in Byron’s comedy ‘OurCHrls.’ He tyaa tfie first to sustain the part of Dick Deadeye, in ‘ H.M.S. Pinafore,’ in Melbourne, and was very successful in it. His last appearance was as the Gravedigger in * Hamlet/ during Mr Charles Warner’s season at the new Princess’s Theatre.

PERSONAL AND GENERAL. Among the passengers by the Orient Company’s s.s. which arrived from London on Saturday, was Lord Hastings, who is en route to Sydney. Lord Hastings is a brother-in-law of Lord Carrington, Governor of New South Wales, and last year was senior steward of the Jockey Club. He will be a guest at Government Hoqse until' Wednesday, on which day the Austral will continue her voyage to Sydney. Another passenger was Mr E. M. G. Eddy, who has been appointed to be chairman of the Railway Commission of New South Wales. Mr Eddy was for upwards of twenty-two years connected with the London and NorthWestern Railway Company. An old man named Felix Foster committed suicide at Brighton on Saturday morning by hanging himself to a rafter in the kitchen.

A sad fatality occurred at the Ararat Lunatic? Asylum on Saturday. Two lunatics named Forster and Spellary were working together in a perfectly amicable manner, when the latter suddenly struck the other a terrible blow with ‘fats spade, so as to fracture his skull and cause hit death within a very short period, Another official of the English, Scottish, and Australian Chartered Bank in Sydney is reported to he missing, the defaulter being a teller in one of the suburban branches. Nothing has been heard of John M, Drnoe, teller of the' Pht-street branch, and a warrant jias been issued for his arrest, charging him with embezzling L2,4Q(f. ' A notorious' biltlaw named Burns alias the “ Hairy Man,” who has evaded capture for several years, has been sentenced to fifteen years’ hard labor for sticking up and robbing the Bundarra and Jnvereil mail in 1883. A case of masquerading in female attire came before the Water Police Court, Sydney, last week, when a youth of feminine appearance, named Joseph Hanslow, was charged with vagrancy. It was stated by the ponce that the accused was continually wandering about dressed in female attire, with apparently no means of subsistence. The father of the accused said that the boy was of good character, and was maintained at home, and the accused was dismissed with a caution. This practice Is said to be rather common, and the police’are directing their efforts to putting down all such masquerading. A curious and serious loss has befallen an old Chinaman at Talbot, who has been “saving up,” doubtless with a view of returning to the Flowery Land, Jbhn had amassed in all L 32, of which L 7 was in gold, and L 25 in five L 5 notes. John for safety buried his money in a 1 box in his garden, and the other day on taking up the- box to look at his hoard found the notes reduced to a pulp and Consequently useless.