AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7632, 4 January 1887, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[PER MARIPOSA AT AUCKLAND.] SYDNEY.-December 29. The holidays passed' off without accident of any kind. , The . weather was 1 favorable, and all means of conveyance were patronised to a" greater extent than heretofore. ' .All sorts of rumors are current regarding Ministerial resignations. Mr Dibbs is said to be going to England, and that he is not iv unison with the Premier on several questions of policy. A few days since the Premier gave a dinner in honor .of the new Chief Justice, and omitted to ask several of his colleagues.' -This is said to .have given umbrage. ' Political affairs continue in an unsettled state. Several resignations by members of their .seats have taken place, but at the elections which have followed there has not been any decided change. Parliament meets on the ISth of January, when it is thought the Government will not long survive. \ , Mr Booth, the temperance lecturer, who leaves for America by the Mariposa to-day, was . entertained at a farewell banquet last iiight. Mr W. M'Millan, .chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, in responding to a toast at the commercial travellers' dinner last night, said that the last twelve months had been, commercially speaking, one ,of the most • disastrous years in the history of this colony, but that there was' promise of better times to come. ' Melbourne, December 29. The Chief Secretary calculates that the cost to the country on account of the Centennial Exhibition , will ' not exceed £25,000. The Chief Justice has been'appointed president, and Mr Lavater, of the Bailway Department, secretary. The Pilot Board Inquiry has resulted in some recommendations, but no increase in the service.- . .