AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2592, 27 April 1869, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

{From the Argus, April 10 to April 15,

inclusive.')

The Warrenheip Distillery Company lately gent to the mother country to secure the services of a competent distiller of whiskey, an expert as regards gin having previously been engaged. By the Great Britain the person expected arrived, and it may now be anticipated that with his help the Warrenheip Distillery will ere long turn out “ f'cots drink as good as has ever been imported. _ A party of gentlemen interested in the wine trade, and others on whose judgment in colonial wines reliance is placed, met on Saturday, at the stores of the Victorian and Upper Murray Wine Company, 74, Lonsdale street west, for the purpose of tasting some of the wines in stock. These were principally Shiraz, of two different vintages ; Reisling, of 1866; Tokay, of 18t>7; and Pedro Ximenes and Gouais, of the same date. They were all pronounced to he of fine quality and in good condition, the Pedro Ximenes, perhaps, being most admired. Some of the soda-water bottles lately made at the new works on the Lower Yarra were yesterday submitted to a severe test to try their strength as compared with the imported bottles. They were taken to a well-known aerated water establishment, and submitted to the full force of the machine without giving way. The imported bottles burst at half the pressure. Some giuger-beer bottles were much admired by the trade, as they held the usual quantity, but were much more portable, being sixty pounds lighter on the gross than the bottles now in common use. The following extract from a report by Navigating Lieutenant Stanley, R.N., Admiralty surveyor, to the Commissioner of Tra ?e and Customs, is published in the Gagette :—“ I consider the whole of the strait between King’s Island and Tasmania as most dangerous, and one which, if possible, should be avoided altogether. The tides run very strqrg, and nothing but great local knowledge would, I should imagine, be able to form any conception of them. Vessels would do well, at night time, to keep in the centre of the strait, out of the tidal influence, or else borrow on the Tasmanian shore.” The information possessed by the Launceston journals as to the real character of the new gold-field at Ringatooma seems to be very scanty. One day the reports are extravagantly favourable, and on the next they are just the reverse. We now learn that the finds of gold in the alluvial have been but ■mall, and that the metal appears to be confined to the neighbourhood of the reef which runs through the ground. Three experienced miners had arrived in Launceston from Victoria, for the purpose of giving the new field a thorough prospecting. They were to take with them provisions for three months. From our Tasmanian files we observe, with regret, that his Excellency Mr Du Cane is at present considerably indisposed. On Thursday last a very numerous deputation proceeded to Government-house for the purpose of presenting to him a memorial signed by 1500 persons, praying for the restoration of Dr Crowther to his position as an honorary medical officer of the hospital. His Excellency, however, was unequal to the fatigue of meeting a numerous deputation, and the memorial, therefore, was presented by a subdelegation of three, to whom Mr Du Cane promised that he would give, with his Ministers, his early and careful consideration to the prayer of the memorial. “ A suggestion has been made,” says the Bendigo Advertiser, “ that some of our clever engineers should propose a scheme fur canalising with locks, like a Lancashire canal, the Murray, Campaspe, Lachlan, Darling, Murrumbidgee, and other rivers, which would always keep them navigable, and also keep up the water in the tributary creeks and lagoons at a high level, and so preserve this all-iniportant element in the continent, instead of letting it run uselessly to sea. There is plenty of fine timber on the banks available for the purpose, and plenty of skilful engineers to carry it out. The cost should be borne jointly by New South Wales and Victoria, as it would benefit both banks of the river. The locks might be so made as to be used as bridges for stock or passengers, instead of the clumsy punts in use.” “ A warrant was issued on the Bth instant,” ■ays the South Australian Register, “ for the apprehension of Heinrich Frederick August Kruger, a well-known wheat-buyer of Freeling. The charge is embezzlement, but a public Interest has been given to the case by the report that the defendant has not waited for service of the instrument of detention upon him. Report has it that he was seen at Port Adelaide on the day of the sailing of the Aldinga for Melbourne, and has not been heard of since ; but investigation has proved that he was not on board that steamer on her arrival at the first port at which she touched. The latest rumour is that a Fort Adelaide gentleman saw him yesterday, and this is supplemented by hints of a passage having been taken for Wanganui; but of course all these are vague surmises.” The Gazette of last night contains a notification from the Colonial Secretary of Natal (Mr Erskine), dated the 9th of February, addressed to the Chief Secretary of this colony, cantioning miners not to proceed to that colony under the apprehension that “ payable gold-fields ” exist either in Natal or in the country of the Chief Moselikatse, “at a distance of upwards of 800 miles in the interior of Africa.” Mr Erskine states that the Government of Natal are not in possession of evidence of the existence of gold in remunerative quantities either in Natal or the territories referred to, “ although auriferous spots have been discovered in both.” 't he authorities of Natal also caution the public of this colony generally that there is not such a demand for labour there as would supply by its profits, to any person without capital, the means of proceeding into the interior. W e understand that the private advices received by the Polynesia Company are very encouraging as to their proposed business operations, and it is expected that a steamer will be laid on directly to proceed to the islands from this port. The Springbok is advertised to leave Melbourne direct to Fiji on the sth proximo. Several excursionists purpose visiting the islands during the present jteason, both from these colonies and New -Zealand. They will doubtless so time their departure as to arrive in Fiji before the Duke of Edinburgh, who is expected to reach Ovalau from Auckland towards the end of May. The news of the arrival of the Alfred, which sailed hence on the 14th of February for Levuka, is now daily looked for. Despatches, we learn, were sent by the steamer Dandenong on Thursday last, via Sydney, to Fiji, by the Polynesia Company, for the Bau Government.

A new merit has been discovered in the Castlemaine flagging stone, which will bring it into general use for a novel purpose. It appears that when quite new, while it has still what is called the “ quarry sap ” in it, the stone is capable of being bent to some extent, and this renders it valuable as a rest for the ends of beams and girders that have heavy loads to sustain, inasmuch as it diminishes the danger of unequal pressure arising through the shirking or subsidence of the materials of the walls or piers on which they depend for their support. Slabs of the flag-stone will be placed on the tops of the pillars that have to carry the heavy iron girders spanning the large apartntent of the new Town Hall, and they are now being got ready for their places. It is only a few days since we reported that the Castlemaine flagstone was first polished and formed into ornamental table-tops. The following story has found its way into the Launceston Examiner of the 13th inst: — ‘‘His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, when he left Sydney, was not accompanied by the Earl of Belmore. The journals have been suspiciously silent, but private advices have not been so reticent It is said that the Earl absented himself, or rather did not attend to bid the Prince a public farewell, because of a quarrel between himself and the Duke. It seems that a few days previously the Earl of Belmore announced his intention of giving a dinner-party at Government-house, and the Prince wanted him to invite the Carandinis. This the Earl positively refused to do, and the Prince, in a huff, threatened be would not honour the party with bis presence. The Earl of Belmore was firm, and the Prince

was equally obstinate. He absented himself, and did not again trouble the Governor with his presence.” What the Admiralty surveying party are doing to ascertain the tidal condition of Bass’s Straits, is shown by the following circumstance communicated to us by Mr Henry Levy, one of the directors of the Victorian Coal Company. Mr Levy received on Friday a letter from Mr J. Andrews, who is employed by the company to keep in charge the Cape Patterson coalfields, to the following effect: —“Cape Patterson, April 4, 1869. — Mr Henry Levy. Sir, —The letter that I send to you I found on the beach in a bottle, one mile and a half west of the boat harbour, Caps Patterson. I found it on the 20th March. It was not on the beach on the 19th, for I was by the same place on the day before,— Joseph Andrews.” The post-mark of the letter is " Bass River, April 7,” and the following was the inclosure : —“ H.M.S. Surveying Vessel Pharos, Off Cape Liptrap Eight Miles, Victoria, Australia, March 10, 1869. This bottle is set afloat to get set of tides. Anyone finding this, please send it to nearest newspaper, for publication.—Sidnkt S. Cbispo, Writer, Admiralty and Colonial Survey.” We have received a report on “ Tasmanian Industries, with Some Notice of Those of the Australian Colonies and New Zealand, Accompanied by Illustrative Tables,” prepared by Mr. J. 11. Calder, surveyor-general of Tasmania, by direction of the hon. the Treasurer. The report contains a great deal of information, and wil ! , no doubt, prove useful to Tasmanians, inasmuch as it gives a brief history of their principal industries, and indicates the wants of the other colonies which possibly they might be able to supply to a greater extent than at present if they would conduct their business operations with that view. But readers at a distance, iu search of fresh information in regard to the present productions of the island, find the report a little disappointing. The useful Tasmanian intelligence that it contains is mixed up with information respecting the trade of the other colonies, of New Zealand, and of Great Britain, and the information really wanted is swamped in a mass of uninteresting details. For instance, under the heading butter and cheese, we find as much about the English consumption as about the Tasmanian production ; and some articles are introduced which are neither produced nor consumed in Tasmania. The general scope of the report is not encouraging. The youth of the colony are not fully employed, and most branches of productive industry are declining rather than progressing. A new enterprise has been initiated in the Western district, in which farmers all over the colony will take some interest. Six miles from Warrnambool there is an extensive and highly improved farm, on which Mr Orlebar has achieved no little success in years past in the production of cheese, wheat, and other articles of great excellence. His cheese has taken many first prizes at our agricultural shows, and his wheat has been imported into England to be used there as seed. This farm has recently passed out of bis management, however, and has been taken by a company, for the purpose of manufacturing cheese on a large scale. This company is known in the district as the “Yankee Cheese-making Company,” and it is their intention to purchase milk from the surrounding farmers, and manufacture it, along with the milk on their own land, into cheese of a superior kind. This operation will be watched with some interest, for if it succeeds, it will be the means of introducing a system here which has been found to work well in America, inasmuch as it lends to greater evenness in the quality of the cheese produced, and relieves the farmers’ families of a great deal of anxiety and labour. There is some difference, however, between the system commonly in use in the United States, and that now being introduced at Warrnambool. Under the former, the farmers of a locality combine in setting up a cheese factory, and each sends in his quota of milk, receiving in return a corresponding dividend in the form of cheese; whereas the Warrnambool company propose to buy their clients’ milk at a fixed price, and make the best they can of the manufactured artcle. We are informed that the price offered at present is only fourpence per gallon, which is certainly very low, as compared with the price that milk fetches in this city. The vicissitudes of squatting life are indicated by the following paragraph from the Pastoral Times, in reference to Messrs F. and G. Desailly :—“ Our Lachlan correspondent mentioned in his letter of last week that these gentlemen had abandoned their stations there. We have been making inquiries as to the accuracy of the report, and it is not yet confirmed. We hope it is not true—we hope as well for the sake of these spirited squatters as for the public. The failure of a squatting firm, possessed once of such large means and vast experience, would be a serious blow to the interest itself. Five years ago the Desaillys had amassed a fortune of about £BO,OOO. With this sum, and with their great practical knowledge of squatting in its entirety, they plunged into the waterless wilderness north of the Upper Lachlan, and lost the whole of their capital. They left the scene of their misfortunes last week, perhaps for ever. These misfortunes were mainly caused by drought. After leaving Mossgiel stations they made their way, via Hay, to the Hon. William Campbell’s stations, in the rear of Between Hay and Conargo, the rain which they had prayed for during four or five years, overtook them, and followed in their wake like a deluge. But the storm threatened the lives of the Desaillys; they were travelling in an open buggy through such rain as the white man never saw here before. For four weary days and nights they ‘ voyaged’—for it was through water—and forty-eight hours they were without food or shelter when the buggy became buried in a swamp. To try and extricate it, they took as much of it as they could to pieces, but in vain. There it stuck, and there they left it, iu order to save themselves from destruction.” Our contemporary concludes by expressing a hope that the rain may assist to retrieve the fortune of the Messrs Desailly, and enable them to reap a return for their outlay.”

More information has come to hand with reference to the appearance of the salmon in the Derwent. Dr Officer wrote to Mr Morton Allport the following letter on the 4th inat: “On Friday, the 2nd inst, at a quarter past five p.m., Mrs Officer and myself, standing on the north bank of the Derwent, at a spot overlooking the now celebrated reach of the river, which has long been a favourable resort of the salmon on their return from the sea, and at a distance of about twenty-five yards, saw a salmon rise to the surface with a great splash, raising wavelets that extended to both banks. After coming to the surface the fish swiftly swam towards the bank on which we stood, until it reached the overhanging brushwood, under which it disappeared. In one part of its course it raised its head and shoulders for a few moments above the water, indicating a fish of very large dimensions. Several mullet that leaped out of the water before it in terror looked like mere fry when compared with their huge pursuer. A few minutes after this fish had disappeared a second rose, at a somewhat greater distance, creating a similar commotion in the water. At this second exhibition Mr W. Bromby, of Shooter’s-hill, was present. After another brief interval, a third fish rose near the same spot, disturbing the water in an equally conspicuous manner. Satisfied with what we had seen, and night approaching, we returned to New Norfolk. The fish could not have chosen a more secure retreat than this portion of the Derwent affords. The stillness and depth of the water forbid the successful use of the rod and line, and the character of the bed of the river, covered with huge rocks, and full of deep fissures, sets the net at defiance. But the numerous and authentic observations of the present season prove that the fish have increased in a most satisfactory manner, both in size and in numbers, and it is to be hoped that at no distant date some of them may be drawn from their watery home.”

Another accident has happened to show the dangers connected with the sort of snake exhibition which twelve months since was attended with a fatal result, and which is now going on. nightly at the Polytechnicball, Shires showing his snakes, and Mr L. L, Smith giving an illustrative lecture. On Friday evening last, the hall was crowded as

usual, and the “ experiments ” were performed. Two dogs were bitten, and one, having the antidote applied, appeared to recover ; while another, to whom the antidote was not applied, lay apparently dead. Mr L. L. Smith was describing the various phenomena to the audience, when the latter, prompted by the frequent references made to the beneficial application of galvanism to cases of snake-poisoning, urged the lecturer to try and revive the apparently dead dog by similar means. Mr Smith, after some hesitation, consented; galvanism was applied, and, just as he was referring with unction to his successful application of galvanism to a Chinaman who was bitten by a snake and recovered by means of the treatment used, the dog came to life, and with a convulsive snap caught hold of the fleshy part of Mr Smith’s hand and bung there for a few seconds. In an instant the room was in an uproar, and a babel of tongues urged the lecturer to apply a variety of remedies, but the latter, with characteristic coolness and pluck, pursued his own course. He .tied a ligature tightly round bis wrist, sucked the wound, applied Shires’s antidote, and then set to work at the galvanic machine to complete the recovery of the dog, who, it may be said, was eventually restored to life and health. Mr L. L. Smith, however, speedily experienced all the symptoms of snake-poi-soning, which were of course communicated by the bite, which was a deep one, causing much bleeding. Nausea, depression, and vomiting came in due course, and the patient felt considerable alarm, for the dog had been suffering from tetanus when galvanism was applied, and he naturally feared similar consequences for himself. He took stimulants in the shape of brandy and champagne plentifully at intervals, and for some time they were partially vomited as fast as they were swallowed. Gradually, however, the symptoms subsided, and by three a.m. a considerable change for the better had taken place. Before Saturday was over the only remains of the accident were the mark of the bite and a slight amount of local inflammation. In the evening the lecturer resumed his place, and discoursed pleasantly upon the new theme and “ experiment.”