AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1898, 5 September 1874, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[MELBOURNE PAPERS TO ADGPST 29. J VICTORIA. A private letter from Noumea says that O'Ferrall had returned there from Tanna. Tfc has-been determined that the four oarsmen who are to represent Victoria in the Intercolonial boat-race shall take their departure for Sydney by next Tuesday's steamer, which will enable them, to have a good three weeks' practice over the " convincing ground," Captain Edgar, of the Oak worth, took | his trial on the 25th ult., for deserting the smack Olive after he had run that vessel down. To the surprise of most people, the result was a verdict of acquittal, the jury adopting the view that there would have been danger in sending a boat off, in consequence of a supposed difficulty of reaching the vessel again. The Bndget speech was delivered in the Victorian House of Assembly on Thursday, 27th ult., to a crowded House. The chamber itself, indeed, presented a curious appearance, as the Ministerial benches were deserted, and hon. members crowded to the Opposition seats in order to face Mr Service and hear him better. The hon. gentleman spoke for two hours and :

a half, and must be held, therefore, to ( have exhausted his subject, though he did j not his .hearers, for the attendance was c equally full throughout. Mr Service pur- \ poses to modify the tariff in a practical j manner by re-classifying a number of ] articles, remitting the duties on others, \ and changing certain ad volorem duties i (especially those on boots and shoes) into fixed duties. He deals with imports valued at LI 000,000 per annum in this manner. The changes involve a loss to the revenue, but the Treasurer partially recoups himself by raising the duty on wine from 3s to 4s per gallon, and on sparkling wines from 33 t& 6s. The total expenditure for the year is L 4,480,000, and the revenue provides for this without the necessity of any direct taxation. Mr Service was severe on the operation of the Langton scheme of keeping the public accounts, and the attack was evidently enjoyed by Sir James M'Culloch, who has always been severe on this method. Mr Langton replied to the hon. gentleman with some warmth, but there was practically no discussion on the Budget itself, the House rising very soon after Mr Service had sat down. Considerable excitement was manifested in Sale on Saturday morning when it became known that 4500z of gold had been lost from the escort from Stockyard Creek, which arrived the previous evining. The escort left Palmerston at 8 a.m. on Friday. Ort reaching Sale at a quarter to 10 o'clock, Constable Byrne informed Sergent Scanlon that one of the bags of gold containing 400oz was lost, and on going to the bank the Sergeant ascer-

tamed from Mr Wallen that 50oz from : another bag was aliasing also. Mr Wallen also , stated that the gold was placed in double linen bags, and packed in two , corn sacks, and the loss was caused by those not being sufficiently strong to ] sustain such a weight. As soon as the men had partaken of refreshments, Mr Wallen, Higgins, and Constables Byrne, and Martley, started back an fresh horses, and searched unsuccessfully the old Port ' Albert road as far as Merriman's Creek, and at daylight divided into two parties, Mr Wallen and Constable Byrne coming on towards Sale, while Constable Martley and Higgins \7ent towards Four-mile Creek. In the meantime, however. Senior-' Constable Irwin and Constable Westcott had also started from Sale at daylight to assist in the search, but were met on the way down by Constable Byrne and Mr Wallen, the former of whom conveyed the pleasing intelligence that he had picked up the bag containing the 400oz! about eight miles from Sale and about twenty yards off the beaten track. Out! of the oO?z ; most of which is fine gold, at least 4"Toz are still missing. Great praise is due to the police for the energy and diligence they displayed in the matter. The body of a tinker named Harper ' was found in Sawpit Gully, near Linton's, on Sunday, 23rd August. He is supposed to have dead two days. His feet were burnt a3 though they had been in a fire. The inquest on the Yankee Company • (C)unes), accident was resumed today. The evidence of Thos. Angove, who had been appointed by the coroner to inspect" the mine, proved that it was insufficiently; timbered. The jury returned a verdict of negligence against the owners, and incompetence on the part of the manager, and added a rider that a district inspector should be appointed. Fallow deer have now so increased in numbers on the Werribe Park estate that! they are sometimes seen in herds of from 200 to 300. It is estimated (says the u Geelong Advertiser") there must be; fully 700 of them on the station. The; red deer, which are so numerous, are kept in a well-fenced paddock by themselves. Nine shillings divided, nearly half the ! capital of the Uuion Company in one^ month, the miue richer than ever, and ; betting 5 to 2 on a 10s dividend next monthly washing off. Dividends already! paid 250 per cent, on the paid-up capital, j The richest part of the reef being worked! 616 ft from the surface. A nice pill this ! latter (says the "Tarrengower Times")! for the scientists and croakers who prog-; nosticated that the Maldon reefs wouldnot pay in the deep ground ! A circumstance anything but comfort- i ing to those ladies who wear false hairoccurred at the City Police Court, Mcl- j bourne, on Augusb 28. A wretched: female habitual drunkard, with blackened ; eyes, arid a face like a bulldog, was '■ brought up for threatening language, and ; the nakednesa of her head attracted the ■

attention of Mr Sturt, M.P., who asked what had become of her hair. Her husband stated that she had cut it off and sold it in order to obtain drink. Perhaps some lady is supplementing her charms by the aid of this drunkard's tresses, artistically made into a chignon. The following tale of three deaths in one family in five days io reported by the " Creswick Advertiser" of yesterday — " Diphtheria has again been committing its horrible ravages in the family of a poor man at Sulky Gully, named Michael Murphy, who has lost three children within a few days. The tirst who succumbed to the disease was a boy aged three years and fa've months, who died on Friday last, after being bad twelve days. On the same day that the first died, two more were taken ill, one a little boy aged seventeen months. The boy died on Snnday night, and the the girl yesterday morning. The mother of the unfortunate family was confined on the day the disease first appeared among her children." Another sad instance (remarks the " Dunolly Express") of the risk and danger of leaving childi en unprotected in places where there is a fire, occurred at Bealiba lately, in the family of a person named Davies, who, with, his wife, had that day gone to a funeral, and on their return home were horrified to find one of their children— a little girl, three years old— burnt to death. Having fallen on the fire, she was unable to extricate herself from the danger, and thus met with an untimely death. The last mail brought further documentary evidence to Ballarat that the faith of some people in the Tichborne impost er is not even shaken, Mr Bard well having received the following letter and handed it to the local press for publication :— "Kopley, Alresford, Hants, 16th 1874. My dear Sir— l have not replied : to your letter in reply to mine, because 1 have been waiting with great anxiety to hear from you about Messrs Throckmorton and the Osprey. Will yon kindly -if you have hot done so already— will you ask : Messrs Throckmorton to write me fully 1 ok the subject— a letter I may publish to the world, to show an innocent man is. in prison. Please ask Throckmorton, or the Melbourne official assignee, to forward me all , copies relating ' to the

Osprey and shipwrecked sailors, and please oblige me by a full account yourself. Everything is devoured with interest here in this sad, sad caße. Should you ever fall on the track of A. Orton, please say I will give him LlOOO and Lord. Rivers L5OO, to come to London and prove himself the son of George Orton ; a free pardon, and a free passage to return to Australia. Should you ever find him, and will telegraph, I will pay all expenses by telegram on the bank at Melbourne. Trusting you will not forget the matter of Throckmorton and,. the official assignee in Melbourne, and hoping to hear from you by next mail, — I am, yours faithfully, GXTILDFORD ONSLOW." A little girl five years old, named Helen Honey, was drowned at Egerton nn Friday afternoon, August 21, through falling into a waterhole some 9ft deep near her parents' residence. Sandhurst, Aug. 28. , A woman named Margaret Burgess died very suddenly at Sebastian on Thursday, while drinking in the bar. of an hotel; An inquest was held to-day, when! a verdict was returned of death: fronr serous apoplexy, accelerated by the use of stimu- | lants. Andrew Bassi, who was found by the police insensible on the bank of a waterhole near Kangaroo Flat,. on ( Thursday, and brought to the hospital anddied there, not having recovered sensibility.