AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5006, 1 February 1878, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The political outlook is still very dark. The Government have apparently stayed their hands in the matter of dismissals, as five departments remain untouched, and the Government, as if doubtful of their past proceedings, are making arrangements to carry on the business of the law courts. Governor Bowen, it is stated, disclaims any sympathy with the unconstitutional proceedings of the Government. He says he signed the papers at the Executive Council, on the good faith of the Attorney-General that what was being done was within the law. In the meantime the Governor is becoming very unpopular among certain classes. At a dinner on the Murray lately several of those present refused to honor the toast of his health. At a country church the prayer for the Governor in the litany met with no response from the congregation, and generally amongst £he better classes the Governor is regarded as one of the causes of the present state of affairs. The clergy of all denominations have taken the matter up, and political sermons are delivered from the pulpits, while the heads of all Protestant churches, headed by the Bishop of Melbourne, addressed a memorial to Mr Berry, who at his meeting treated the matter as a joke. Mr Berry held an immense meeting at Geelong on Monday night. Train's full of his partizans were sent from Melbourne and Ballarat. The greatest enthusiasm was exhibited. In his speech Mr Berry said that he submitted a minute to the Governor, in which he maintained that under the existing law payments could be made on the votes of the Legislative Assembly alone, without an appropriation bill, and the Governor had referred the matter home before acting on that advice. Pending the receipt of a reply the Government were carrying on as economically as possible by reductions in the public service. It was the intention of the Government to submit a new constitution to the people, and in such a way that it could be adopted whether the Council liked it or"" not. He thought that even the Imperial Government could be prevailed upon to erect a new constitution, if the choice of the people were deliberately recorded in favor of that course. These were the leading points in Mr Berry's speech, but in all his remarks he never referred to the dismissal of the County Court Judges. The drought continues. There are very disastrous accouuts from various parts of the country of the absence of water and feed for sheep and cattle. Twenty members of the Legislative Assembly now refuse to take payment, believing it illegal and that the session is practically at an end. The Ministers of Works and Customs, in recent speeches, held out all sorts of threats of what the Government proposed to do in the crisis, but none of them were referred to by Mr Berry. Business is dull and unsettled from the effects of the political situation. Four theatres are still open. They are only doin.if fairly. The pantomimes are still running. Cooper and Bailey's circus has gone up country.