AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Feilding Star, Volume X, Issue 78, 5 January 1889, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

By Electric Telegraph. — Copyright. I IKS UNITED PKESS ASSOCIATION.! Melbottbxe January 4. Potatoes are commanding famine prices in Ballarat. £22 per ton is asked. A large portion of Castlemaiue has been wrecked. The damage is roughly estimated -at £200,000. Large numbers of live-Btock have perished. During the floods :n the Castlemaine district many houses were washed away, and the occupants, who had a narrow escape of their lives, had to ta&e refuge in trees. Fitzgerald's Brewery, Winter's Flat, was flooded, and it is estimated that the damage will amount to £10,000. The Catnpaspe river rose twenty-three feet, but is now falling. .Brisbane, Jnnuary 4. The drought is being severely felt in New Giuuea, and there is a scarcity of fond. It is anticipated that famine will result during the year. A Cingalese named Peter has been murdered at Charters Towers, and two persons, supposed to be connected with it, have been arrested. Adelaide. January 4. There is an alarming spread of oodlin moth among the orchards. Stdnbt, Janunry 4. Strenuous efforts have been made to obtain a reprieve for Louisa Collins, who was convicted after two trials of poisoning her husband, but his Excellency the Governor has declined to accede to the request.