ARRIVAL OF THE 'ALICE CAMERON.'

New Zealand Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1873, 17 January 1870, Page 5

ARRIVAL OF THE 'ALICE CAMERON.'

LATKH FROM AUSTRALIA. The arrival of the Alice Cameron from Sydney places us in possession of Syil;iey papers to the 4th inst., and Melbourne to the 3lst uU. We cull the following from the Herahl : — Mklboukxe, January 3. The City of Adelaide (s.) and Daadenong (s.) have arrived. - -Half premium. Mr. Crisp received 40 diamonds from aiudgee, and Mr. Clarke 130 from Two Mile Fiat. Hiirri* has challenged the English Champion Pedestrian* to run a quarter of a mile, and it. is likely that fire races, at various distances, will bL> arr.mired. It is expiM-ted Mr. .Tenner will succeed Mr. Reeves, who intends to resi":i, and that Mr. Kerlerd will take the offic-e of SoUeilorGrencml. The Emerald Hill Artillery won the Challenge Cup. Tlio markets are quiet owing to the departure of the mail. Flour. £11 to £12 -, wheat, 5s to 5* 4d; maize. 3s H ; oats, 33 6d ; potatoes, £3 per ton. Two diamonds have been fouud in the Ovens district, which passed through Hunt's machine. The recall of Major-General Chute is authoritatively contradicted. The wool clip this year is calculated at 37,000 bales l.ss than last year, including Riverina. The weather has been very sultry, which culminated in a thunderstorm, this afternoon, anrl the rain fell in torrents. We have files of Melbourne papers to the 31st ultimo. Thomas Webb Draper was brought before the City Court, on Thursday, on three charges —one of forgery, one of embezzlement, and the other of larceny. The first (says the Argus) was postponed till Thursday next, at the request of the prosecution, a material witness (Mr. Clarke) being away from the colony, and the charge of larceny was also left over till that day ; but on the charge of embezzlement Draper wa* committed for trial at the General Se-sions on the Ist February next. It was proved that on the Ist November last Draper had been paid cheques by Messrs. Darbyshirc and Trunke, amounting to £1030 9s. 6d., fw the purpore of opening a mining account in. their name, but that, instead of doing so, he had paid £727 18s lid into his own account, and £260 into that of Messrs- Clarke and Co., to whom he owed money, keeping back only a cheque for £42 odd. Afterwards, on the 24th November, Draper paid in the cheque for £42, together with a debit slip for £987 ISs lid on the Colonial Bauk ia London, to the account of Darbyshire and Trunke, twenty-six days after he been given the money. It was shown, however, that besides appropriating the money to his own use, he had handed in a fictitious debit slip on the Colonial Bank in London, and this will form one of the documents he is charged with forcing, besides an accountable receipt for £4000 It was stated that there were many other cases of forgery against Draper, those proceeded with being, in fact, only individual instances of a series. Sail was allowed in £ 10,000, that sum, however, being divided into two sureties of £1000 each in the embezzlement case, and two sureties of £4000 each in the postponed cases ; but the former securities refused to renew, and Mr. Crisp had to give up tho idea of obtaining bail for that day; Draper having, consequently, to go to gaol.

It appears by the Police Gazette that the notorious bushranger Henry Power, alias Johnson, is identical with Henrj Johnstone, ticket-of-leave holder, illegally at large. He is also identical with Henry Jones, who, about the year 185G, was tried for the murder of a boatman named Owens.

The lamentable breakdown of the Victorian share market, observes the Daily Telegraph, ie so complete that some of the jobbers are Faid to contemplate turning their attention to the trade in wax matches, or to the hawking of game. They have been selling " pigeons" for so long that this hitter business, in. their hands, is likely to be vigorously conducted. For the ruin of their legitimate (?) trade they have only themselves to thank. Slowly and surely they have e3l ranged their clients, and at last have been compelled to fall baek upon the device of devouring one another. Even this description of cann • balism must, have an end, and it is suspect' 1 that the end has come already, inasmuch >3 some of the weaker Knights of the Verand -.h and Corner have already been utterly coaaumed, and their remains consigned to that common thoroughfare, which, in their palmy days, they were wont to playfully indicate under the name of " Queer-street." In spite of—perhaps because of— f he depression, we are glad to see that the promoters of honest enterprise at Ballarat are making efforts to get the local quartz reefs tested at a great depth; and this without having recourse to a jobbers' company, or to any of the tricks familiar to the share-conjurors. Why does not Ballarat at the same time agitate for Sworn Brokers, and cast its weight into the scale in opposition to the present rascally system of jobbery?

The Steam Navigation Board investigated a charge of drunkenness preferred against Captain Corrigall, the master of the ship Napoleon the Third. The evidence of the chief and second officers, pilot Singleton, the carpenter, and one seaman, was taken, and fully confirmed the charge. The Board suspended the certificate of Captain Corrigall for one year. QUEENSLAND. A private Irtter from Crla Istone states (>;iys the Courier) the Ouitoiu-house defalcations there :i>v proving to bo far more serious than wiis anticipated. Abstractions from the revenue, which ought to have been found out in 18C>" ami ISikS are being discovered, and great blame is being attached to he:id quarters. The deficit, it is said, will be nearer £1000 thau £000. Hilliard. is about to assign his estate, and his liabilities are stated at £1300.

SYDNEY. Counterfeit Xotes or the Ukio.v Ba*e. The public would do well to be on their ertiard against a number of spurious bank Holes, in imitation of those issued by the Union Bank of Sydney. The counterfeit paper i= elegantly photographed, and very closely resembles the dona fde issue of the bank, -liinosfc the only particular dissimilarity which xnnld strike the casual observer, is, that the o x e, which are printed across either end of the note, are of a light blue colour in the genuiue note, and of a darker shade in the forged one. Several of the notes have been passed upon unsuspecting tradesmen; buf, in all probability, a knowledge of the circumstances will be sufficient to put a stop to the fraud which been perpetrated.— Herald, 4th Jan.