AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5372, 4 February 1879, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[PEB 3.5. ' AItAWATA,' AT THE BLUFF.] Melbourne, January 29. The Government will cordially co-opente with Sydney to render the Exhibition there a success. It will place £2000 on the Estimates for expenses. The Press is requested by the Government not to publish the movements of the police pursuing the Kellys. Governor Bowen will sail for Mauritius on February 22. Lord Normanby will arrive on February 26. No administrator of the Government will be appointed during the interregnum. The Customs wharfage rates on returned packages will considerably reduce the revenue. The Hev. John Eggleston, Wesleyan Minister, Brighton, who died on the 23rd inst., has laboured in Australia since 1839. The shock killed his widow three days later.

The certificate of Captain Gayship, of the Seagull, has been suspended for twelve months, for causing collision with the schooner St. Kilda, on December 21. The police are proceeding against him also. The Union Bank has declared a dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, for the past half-year. £20,000 is added to the reserve fund, and £7465 carried forward. Government remit 30s rent for £1 expended by Crown tenantß on the destruction of rabbits. Captain Balton, of Imperial Penal Department, is visiting the colonies. Fourteen persons are still under arrest as suspected confederates of the Kellys. Mr. David Blair has written a history of Australasia, from the earliest discovery to the establishment of self government. The Argus accused him of plagiarising the historical accounts of Victoria published in its columns.

prospects looked bad, with 225 to get. However, they did it. The scores were—English : Ulyett, 51 and 20 ; Lucas, 7 and 15 ; Webb, 1 and 27 ; Hornby, 12 and 20; Harris, 50 and 21 ; I'enn, 56 and IS; Emmet, 9 and 16 ; Bnyle, 13 and 29; Absolom, 16 and 22 ; Scully, 13 and 1 ; fToran, 16 and 0 ; sundries, 4 and 27. N.S.W.:— A. Bannerman, 2S and 15 ; Murdoch, 70 and 49 ; Thompson, 50 and 9 ; Massie, 30 and 78 ; Allen, 0 and 5 ; Evans, 21 and 1 ; C. Bannerman, 0 and 60; Garrett, 12; Sealc, 0 ; Tindall, 9 ; Coates, 2 ; sundries, 18 and 9. At the close of the match, £3S was collected for C. Bannerman. At the regatta, the Magic, 2S tons, beat the Waitanjji, 22 tons, by 12min. The time allowance was smin. The Champion Outrigger Race was a surprise. The start was good. Trickett took water iir. [ :', and, near Dawe3 Battery, was leading by haif-a-length. Here he fouled the boat moored off the point, and this lost him several lengths, and Laycock got the lead and kept it till the finish. Trickett was evidently not in condition, and apparently gave up, coming in 100 yards behind. Trickett next day issued a challenge to row over the champion course for £200, and in the following day Michael Rush accepted the challenge previously issued by Laycock. The inquest on the fire at Grossman and Harding's lasted over a fortnight. The jury were locked up nine hour?, unable to agree. The Bulli lock-out is ended. The conference shewed that the employers misconceived the action of the men. The latter retain their Union, independent of the Newcastle Onion, and 14 days' notice is iu future to lie givn on either side of ceasing to work or discharge. Mr. Goldie, the New Guinea explorer, is here lecturing on the country. He has a nativo with him. He advises no one to go to New Guinea who is not thoroughly prepared to meet death. Diamond-drills are working very satisfactorily at depths of 900 and 1312 feet. The Assembly has passed a Supply Bill of £905,093. Brisbane, January 29. The Parliament does not meet again till May.

Tlio late Treasurer, moving the vote of £300,000, said thia loft ail available balance of £148,000. Mr. Rlcllwraith has since stated that no such balancc exists, and, instead, there was a. deficit of £47,000. Mr. Dickenson now says it was an available balance, but unappropriated one, and that the apparent defict ia owing to the delay in the revenue returns from Northern ports. An at'empt to float a compressed meat company failed. The Wesleyau Chapel at Paddington was struck by lightning and burnt in less than an hour. Th» Government geologist reports the Barnum Coalfield capable of yielding 10,000 tons per week, equal in quality to Newcastle. He recommended the construction of a cheap railway. A number of immigrants landed here are reported to have gone to New South Wales. The newspapers demand the despatch of a war vessel to avenge the murder of Mr. Ingram by the natives of Brooker Island, Caluadoa Group. The wool ship Scottish Bard struck the Banner Beef, but regained Keppel Bay without much injury to the cargo or the vessel. The Premier states that the deficit amounts to £17,000. No one is being blamed for the recent fatal artillery accident. The state of the stock market is alarming stock-owners. Adelaide, January 29. An order has been sent to the War Office for 500 Snider carbines fi; ■' i use of the boys learning drill in the pui> schools. A branch of the Lon'loi' Shipmasters Society lias been formed in Ai". laide. Unusually dry weather prevails. Hobart Town, January 29. John Bridges Mason, a medical practitioner at Longford, has been committed for trial for an unnatural offence. The medical evidence does not support the charge, and Mason alleges it is a conspiracy.