AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XI, Issue 3847, 12 March 1874, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[PEE 3.3. ' HA>*GATrEA.'] The boiler of the river steam'- Little Nell exploded off Freshwater Point, on her way to Launceston from George Town, Eight out of eleven passengers on were shattered, and did not rise from the water ; three wero rescued by boats, but only one of them is not seriously injured. Their ns*nes are not yet ascertained. The Chinese New Year was observed in Syndey with great ceremony. The Divorce Court is now open in Sydney. In the first case Short v. Short, the respondent did not appear, and the petitioner having proved adultery, the marriage was dissolved. In the second case, jinderson v. Anderson, the husband, who ivua lit uue time living in Auckland, was unsuccessful in pro\ Ing adu'tery, and the jury refused to r.nnul the marriage. There is great scarcity of fresh meat at Cookstown. One man cut up a horse on the road, and sold the flesh. The country is qv ; te impassable. The skeleton found on the coast of Queensland is that of a Germn named Dicknrn. It is supposed he was ono of those who lost their way in coming from the PrJ-uer. The skull is beaten in. The Japan telegraph line has been interrupted between Nagasaki and Kobe, bv the insurgents at Hioga. It is proposed in Melbourne to form a company for the establishment of a settlement in New Guinea. The Yictorian Rifle Association suggests that the iutercolor : al matches shor'd take place at tho ond of October. M-. W. J. Clarke, of Melbourne, lias givej a ilfty guinea gold cup to bo coursed for. A Church of England clergyman has been committed for trial by the Bench at Dubbo for libel. The New South Wr'es Goveument have called for tenders for extensive improvements at the Circular Quay. An eight-oared gig, built by Clasper, of Oxford, has been presented to the Sydney Rowing Club by general citizens. It is officially announced that arrangements are contemplated for transmitting 1000 emigrants monthly to Queensland from Eu-opo. The strike in the iron trades still continues, but several of the men, unable to hold out, have resumed work. The remainder, it is expected, will shortly turn to with a short second break in the day. Tho blacks attacked Barrow's Creek Station. All hands wero outside tho statiou, and while the; wero 1 -ying to get inside tho natives speared Mr. Stapleton (tho station-master), Mr. Flint (the operator), and Frrik (one of the linemen), and a native boy. Frank is killed, and the rest are seriously injured, but hopes of their recovery are entertained. Strict watch ii being kept ogninßt fresh attacks. The station ncn i.ro well protected and aimed. They '.iterwu-ds attempted another attack. Tbr»<- :hc' we>. 2. ">d, and one native waß til ed. '-.'ierc are fires all round the station, aud 1111, hei attack is expected. Mr. Todd has telegraphed to Mr. Tucker and five men, at Tennant's Creek, to hasten to tho relief of the station at Barron's Creek, and it is expected that thoy will reach that place by to-morrow night. Two teams have arrived, and there are three others elose'by. ' Tenders have been oponed by the A. S. N. Company for debentures to the amount of £30,C00, bearing 5 per cent, interest, and having five years' currency. Tenders at par were accepted, and the balance unallotted may be obtained on Bame terms. At an influential meeting of merchants and others held in Brisbane, it was proposed to form a steam company in opposition to the A.S.N. Company. The schooner Chance has returned to GladLione disabled. When within 203 miles of New Caledonia, she encountered a south-east gale, which lasted for a fortnight. An oJicial tolegram from Cookßtown reports that the arrivals from the diggings are numerous, tnd that it is stated that numbers of men are d ving from starvation and exhaustion along th.9 road. Several had been reduced to eatir g horses that had been two dayß dead. Matters on the diggings are little better. Communication with the Palmer iB stopped by floods. The last of the flour is selling for 3s 6d per pint. There is no meat iu any form to be obtained. There are two hundred and twelve candidates v in "Melbourne for University matriculation, inoluding nineteen ladies. Captain Marr, of the Plying Squirrel, baß had his certificate suspended by the Victorian Marine Board for six months, having been found guilty of drunkenness while trading in the South Seas. The will of Mr. T. H, Power has been proved at £40,000. The steamer Royal Shepherd has been chartered to convey.the English Cricketers to Yorke Peninsula. Tho NptiorH Marine Tnst'-pnce Coy'v ly bus uii.uoail at the rate of tbiiLeeu

per cent, per unntim, and Has carried £2500 to the reserved fund. A private telegram, received by Mr. Goldsbrough, under date 2lßt, sayß that the London wool sales opened at lower prices about equal to those of the last April series—and that cross-breds are selling lower. A solicitor, named O'Hallorau, is reported to have left Melbourne suddenly and to have taken away with him some trust funds. Mr. Elder is dispatching Mr. Boss with a well equipped party from the Peake to Perth, for the purpos* of exploring the intermediate unknown country, keeping south of latitude PS; Boss wi'l start for Adelaide immediately from the Peake, end make the river at Neale's first camping place. Supplies are to be left at Beltana. It is expected that the party will reaoh Finnic Springs by the Ist of March. Better news has been received iu relation to the gold reefs of the Northern Territory. The Telegraph Company has obtained 180 oz. from 65 tons. The Bishop of Melbourne left by the B.M.S. Baugalore. _ •' 120 03. of sold w? • stolon .".'Dm a claim at Matlock iu Victoria. Messrs. Montofiore, Joseph anl Co,, of Sydney, have received the following telegram, dated London, Februi"*y 25 : —Copper, £88. Tin market s*- : ll declining, Australian has been sold at £38. Tallow has been sold at a further decline,-and bs3 a drooping tendency. The Kev. P. S. Menzies, Presbyterian Min'iitor of the Scotch Church, Collins-street, Melbwne, c'ied on the 23rd February, f'om At a meeting of tka Sydney Ur : * 10mnibus Company, it was decidod to soil the interests of the company to the Sydney and Suburban Tramway Company now being formed. Mr. J. Mullens, sbarebroker, reports that the balance of the Queensland 4 per cent, loan of £250,000, tende.-ed for on the 17tk of December lt3t, r-d of which only £107,000 was taken at tbst l ; rr-->, has now nU been placed at the Government minimum of 88. The Rookhampton Sub-Co'!ector of Customs lip i r lived u leUer f'om if". Ross, a squatter rosiding at Bald H ;l ', twenty ir-les from North Eojkhampton, stating that a very large ship, name unknown, came in sight this moiT'ng, and anchored twelve miles northcnt of his (Mr. Boss's) house. Her foretopmait and mainmast were goje j the mizenaiast was broken in the middle, and not a rag of sail was left. The ship'B flag was not described. The foremast remained. Mr. Boss had no boat, and was unable to go to the vessel. The wind was north-east, and there was a smooth sea ; but Boss considers that the vessel would be : >i a bad position if the wind '"norfisi-- He believes it is not the Laudsbo-'ovig 1 , w! 'ch left the port for Callao shortly aft.r the commencement of the late cyclouo. My. Kilder loaves in a schc sner tonight, and i l . is expected that he v. 11l reach the ship to- norraw. A mm with the railway eitension at P >oky Creak was carrying blasting powder in his pocket yesterduy, when the powdor exploded, disembowelling andinstantly k'Uing him. The B.isbane Courier strongly deprecates any rc?h to tbs Palmer goldfields at present, as it would be lrghly suioidal to the interest of the min°vf. Xhe privation experienced there now is far beyond anytb'ng which can be pictured by the imagination. It js impossible to state certainly when communication v. .11 be between the Palmer and the Endeavour rivers, notwithstanding that the Colonial Secretary has telegraphed to the Police Magistrate at Cookstown to use every effort, and to spare no expense, to open communication for the transit of supplies to the Pa'.uier River at once. He has directed tho purchase of timber, and the employment of labour, to construct rafts or punts for tho transport of supplies aoross flooded rlver3 between Cookstown and the diggings, and to use ail endeavours to get food to the diggers in their present critical position, 1 The Melbot—ne Harbour Trust recommend tho formation of two Boards—one to have control of the shipping, and the other to take charge of the improvements of the port. A movement is afoot iu Melbourne for a public holiday ou the 12Lh—the day of the Duko of Edinburgh's entiy Into London. A petition has t jen presented to the Government asking that the day may be proclaimed a public holiday. The Nelson was docked safely in the caisson at Melbourne. 80,000 bushels of wheat sold in Adelaide at Gi lid. Country flour sold at £13 15s to £1-4. Letters have been received in Adelaide, p—■ Ripp'e, from Mr. Warburton, who says that his men were so by famine that they I cou'.d scp'cMy crawl a hundred ya. ds. The I "Western Australian G-overnment have arranged to brir / them to Perth. Tho i>'hambra will leave Melbourne for New Zealand, via Hokitika, on sth March. Meat is a la par lb. at Townsville. Mr. and Mrs. Lachlan M'Growan have arrived iu Sydney, fid have been engaged by Mr. Bennett for tho Victoria. Deveiv.auT a professional violinist, has committed suicide at Melbourne. The entries for the Autumn meeting are good. The horses remaining for tho Cup are Hercules, Blue l";ter, Ace of Trumps, Formosa, Contessa, A Lor Dark, Protos, Calabsr, Me -itor, Beujiroo, and Tramp, for the Newmarket Handicap : Cyclops, Toppe:, Contessa, Beniiroo, Atrlente, Maid of Avenal, Hercules, Blue Peter, Formosa, Protos, Poodle, Zenobia, and Dagmar. There is a great rush on Protos for tl ,; s rr ?e. That Hume is' rather given to exaggeration is evident from what the JTaputida Guardian hoard from a member of a survey party who oucounUvel him in tho interior. "He was then circulating a stoi/ about tho existence among the blacks of a large idol, composed entirely of diamonds and precious stones, which he said he had made up bia mind to take away from its worshippers if ha could prevn - ' upon any one to joiu him ; *i tho achome. Perhaps tho Btoiy of the discovp - j of one of Leichhardt's men may be ua apocryphal as the diamond idol narrative." A Brtbane correspondent writes to the S. M. Herald;—A scaroity of labour seems imminent, owing 11 the stampede to the Palmer. Notwithstanding all warnings as to the flooded state of the country, the scarcity of provisions, police reports qb to the hostility of tho blacks, &c., men are going in hundreds, and tho worst of it is the belter olass of men are now beginning to ■' take the fever." Tho late fatal explosion of nitro-glycerine has assumed a slightly d : <Ferent phase sinco the adjourned inquest on Mr. .Reynolds. It appears that the deceased gontleman had been heard to say a few days prior to the explosion that he had made all necessary arrangements for the manufacture in the colony of the " giant powder," but had declined to divulge the namo3 of the persona who ivere engaged with him in the transaction. Some one of these persons might possibly, if he would, clear up tho painful mystery, or it may bo that a diabolical scheme was laid to prevent , tho new " giant powder" from becoming so popular as it promised to be. The Government, in response to public opinion, have offered rewards for tho discovery of the person who left tho box at Mr. Reynolds' office —£200 to be paid on conviction if it should turn out to have been a malicious act, or £50 if the person engaged in it should not be convicted of malicious intention. The latest rumour is that the police have obtained something like a clue to tho solution of the mystery, which they are assiduously following up. Suspicion is said to ■ attach to a person once in the employ of the deceased gentleman, but this diabolical mode of revengo is too horrible a thing to think of. " What will thoy say in England ?" asks the Sydney Morning Herald. Tho summary per Tartar contained a Government advertisement requesting tenders for supplies to the "Reformatory for Girls, Biloela ond among the articles to be supplied are tobbacco, tobbaccopipes, rum, and colonial ale. LATEST FBOM PALMER RUSH. A special correspondent's letter, published in the Sydney Empire of the 2nd, gives some important items about this rush. "We give the following extractWe arrived here on Friday uoon —between six aud seven dayu under gleam, the rest at anchor—nine dayß in all.

Since then any quantity of letters hava gone back by the Florence Irving, condemning the whole proceedings that have caused [thia heartleas rush. An old acquaintance ,pfter shifting for himßelf came and [had a drink of tea 'with us. His account of the state of the road beats all X have heard of. Eleven days since, he and mates started from here with about from7olb. to 801b. each. The first mile out they had to camp. The rain came down frightfully. It tcok them eleven day to make 18 miles, and this convinced them it was madness to attempt to go any farther. About eight miles out of the eighteen they waded i 1 from one to two feet of water. The only way they could make any headway was by going off the road, and beating" the long grass down before them, generally up to ' o waist, and sometimes up to the l - shoulder? . . . Tte Normauby River •* about -*3 miles from Cookstoivn, p.nd tho saddit news ofall are the accounts resi ■ct ing those men that are blocked in between the Normonby and tho Laurie. The men on this side of the Normonby can see those upon the other bank of tno : 'ror, but are powerless to render them any assi;' - nee. The poor fellows have been compelled to kill their horses to save life, end those that have come down state that thoy are driven ti kiil not or'y their own but any one else's they can see. Thoy have been warned that they cannot be helped. The men are there, and 1 B h pe that something will turn up to save them. The privations and lip' dsb : ps that a great number will have to endure are heartrending to contemp'ate. These things, couplod tilth the fact that the blanks are murderously hostile, render travelling extremely dangorous'to'thoso who attempt it. With a flooded river in f.-ont, and hostile blacks behind who may pouncu upon them at any hour their position is perilous in the extreme. I called on tho police magistrate to-day, and asked him to bo kind enough to give me all the particn'ars about what gold was got, ind if there really was any truth about two thousand ounces having been seat away by any steamer, as was rumoured. He denied any knowledge whatever of it, and as a positivo fact knows of no gold having been sent by escort. . . . . There may be payable gold at tho Palmer ; but I vei j much doubt it. In tho face of all the news that is sent back it will be sheer madness for any one to come until such time as gonuine bona fide news goes back; and as sure as gold does happen to be to"nd, so sure Bhall they have the truth. The blacks are very hostile. Thoy murdered two out of one party, and had to pay dearly for it. In the case of a man with only one eye, the blacks actually speared that one out; and a German, with his swog New Zealand fashioD, was speared in the shoulder, and then naturally dropped down, when the fairlv riddled his swag with spears; whether they thought it was a part of hiuiself or not it is diffioult to Bay. It was lucky for him if they did. A considerable portion of those that are bore are perfectly sure now that thoy havo made a mistake in coming. Several that I worked with on the Canadian are here, and have written back for their friends not to come. In fact Ido not know what to think of the future. I sincerely hope and trust that the Press will give all possible publicity to these and similar truthful statements. There will soon bo many men here from Victoria, New Zealand —in fact, everywhere ; and if active measures are taken to spread the truth, thousands may be spared the expense and hardship they will have to uudorgo if they come. A friend of mine has just told me that the mail has closed. I havo no moro time for any more. At the sitting of the Central Criminal Court, Sydney Joseph Underbill, in tho Bega rape case, and William Pyno and Jas Evnns, were for the Poi o rape caso each sentanced to death.