AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5679, 4 May 1880, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY

[per ringarooma, at the bluff.]- " VICTORIA. . '-:-l The clauses of the Reform Bill have been finally adopted by the Cabinet, and the bill is only waiting completion in-cer-tain minor details. . . „ . A deputation of the unemployed waited on the Premier on the 23rd of April asking for work. The men behaved in a highly offensive manner, and demanded to be provided with suitable and remunerative employment, not with stone-breaking, which they declared was disgraceful to speak of. They could get stone-breaking without Government aid by going to prison. The interview lasted three Hours, Finally Mr Service, who showed great dignity throughout, sent for a hundred railway passes to enable the men to go to a place where stone-breaking was quired, but only a dozen applied. At the end of two days only .19 men consented to work at stone-breaking. The Cabinet are taking up seriously -the question of water conservation for th^f" colony, and with this object have lagpointed a board of enquiry to report fiilfjr on the question. Mr Gordon, the late chief engineer of the waterworks, is one of the members. Diphtheria is prevalent in the vicinity of Belfast: It has also appeared in Sandhurst, and reports have been received that it has appeared in other districts. . The Board of Health are taking strenuous measures to prevent the spreading of the disease. Measles has also appeared in the suburbs of Melbourne. , r ■''■'". ■, On the 21st of April the Chief Secretary unveiled the statue at Mansfield erected to the memory of Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lorigau and. , Scanlon, , who were murdered by the Kelly gang last October twelvo months. Mr ■Smy the, .Thomas Cook's agent, has arrived in Melbourne to arrange L a round the world tour this year, which will include the geysers and terraces 'of Rotoma-' hana," The Argus discredits the report of Charles Clarke the lecturer having joined the Romish Church. ' - ■ '. A Gazette notice cancels .the reward for the capture of the Kelly gang after .three months, but notifies that any constables wounded in endeavoring to capture the gang will be .pensioned, and the family, of any one killed will be provided for. The Gazette also notifies that the Aot requiring civil servants who compromise with their creditors or become bankrupt to resign will be rigidly enforced hence- ; forth. , : .'.'\. .", i"i ; ; A deputation waited on the. Premier asking Government co-operation in sending a -competitive team of Victorian ploughmen to England; Mr Service approved the idea of the movement heartily, but owing to tho financial position of.the colony he could not promise assistance in money. . . . : Tlie Chief Secretary has intimated that the Indian Government will purchase nearly a thousand horses for army purposes next year. . . Oscar Rouleaux, representing a large number of German and Austrian papers at the Melbourne Exhibition, intends shortly to visit New Zealand. The Mayor of Melbourne has offered a prize of £200 for the best essay on a schome of underground drainage f or Mel^^ bourne.

The Daily Telegraph states that Mr Graham Bony, having severed his connection with the Gcelong Advertiser, is about to start a now daily paper in Melbourne, which will represent the interests of the Liberal party. The Kensington races were successful. The fields in all the events except the Steeplechase were very large. Devilshoof, won the Hurdle Race, Mymiong second, and Stampede third, Dollar won the" April Handicap, Fizz second, and Francisca third. Ace of Trumps won the : Steeplechase in a canter. He led from the start to the finish. The meeting concluded with a Onal flutter, which was won by Paterson, King second, and Serpent third. ; It has been intimated that owing tq the financial condition of the colony the Ministry will refuse all application? .for promotion in the Civil Service next year. The Government have been found, to,

rank as creditors for £4000 of the Pro vincial and Suburban Bank, owing to the railway department having accepted i deposit receipt from that bank, on accouni of a contractor-for the Oaklcigh branch.