International News.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 230, 5 February 1876, Page 19

International News.

A telegram from Brisbane in the Herald says :—" Six hands left Charleville on New Year's Day for the Nive Downs Station, all under the influence of liquor, and talcing more with them; the heat was intense, and they finished the grog early on their journey ; subsequently they suffered much from thirst, and during the night the party separated to search for water ; the dogs they had with them all died except one, which was killed for its blood. A man named Larkins found water on the 2nd, two others, Nolan and Schmidt, reached water on the 4th, half mad. The search party found another of the men, named Green, dead ; and a fifth man, named Wilson, was discovered alive, but with ants and flies ; he died soon afterwards." "Live minnows," remarks the Ballarat Courier, " are the best bait for perch-fishing, and the son of a well-known milk vendor a few days ago, unknown to his father, placed some minnows in the family tank. The following day the milkman was delivering the morning supply of sky-blue to one of his best customers, when out from his measure plumped a dead minnow into the customer's jug. The presence of the finny one was not easily explained away, and the milkman was obliged to admit that in 'fortifying' the lacteal fluid he had dipped his bowl a little too deep into the tank. That milkman's boy has since promised that he will never fish again with anything but worms." Under the heading "Sending them to New Zealand," an Australian contemporary writes :—Who can read the following suggestive appeal, cut from the Irish Times of July 2nd, without a heart-throb ? " Matrimony. A mother, suffering from a mortal disease, and longing to see her two daughters suitably married before she leaves this world, wishes to meet two gentlemen ; respectable parentage, minimum income £IOO, age under 40. Girls are good-humored, trained housekeepers, very handsome {advertiser can guarantee this), ages 22 and 19, eldest very sensible, youngest a little flighty, fortunes £3OO each. Enclose carte, &c. —Address Y 72, office of this paper." A case of what was at first styled " elopement " occurred, states the North-Eastern Ensign (Victoria) of the 18th January, about ten days ago, when a blooming young lassie, rejoicing in the name of Ruth Mumford, was boldly carried off from the banks of the Broken Creek by a man named Charles Taylor. The father, however, did not view the affair in any such light, considering that the man had been his working mate for some time, and the girl only rising seventeen, and he therefore procured a warrant for the arrest of Taylor, who was captured at Euroa on Thursday the 13 th, where the happy pair had been passing the honeymoon, gipsy fashion, in the wild green woods, without sanction of Mother Church. The young lady, apparently much against her will, was handed over to the care of her mother, while Taylor was locked up pending theypolice court investigation. . it / The ammnt raised for the ping a cargo of frozen meat from N/sw South Wales to England, is, the S. M. Her/dd learns, now about £7OOO, in addition to the £3OOO, which was subscribed some years since for the same cause. We understand that the circulars which have been issued throughout this and the adjoining colonies, are meeting with a hearty response, and we note that public meetings on the subject have been held in various centres of population. The machine for board ship, to be employed in producing the necessary cold temperature, is in course of construction, at the works of the Fresh Food and Ice Company, Paddington, and will be quite ready in a very short time. The secretaries are still actively canvassing for the £15,000 yet required to complete the necessary amount to freight and fit out the ship, which, it is hoped, will be despatched in about two months' time. Except when in overwhelming numbers (writes a correspondent of the Queenslander) the Chinese are probably the most cowardly people on the face of the earth, not even excepting our gallant allies, the Fantees, in the late Ashantee war. There is something absolutely ludicrous in their terror of the blacks in the North, and in the contemptuous estimation in which they are held, as though instinctively, by the noble Australian savage, wherever they meet. A gentleman just down from the Palmer states that, when he and another reached the neighborhood of Hell's Gate, on the road to Cooktown, they were met by several Chinamen running at the top of their speed, and in a terribly distressed condition. One of them could speak very tolerable English, and when able to do so, informed them that a couple of blackfellows had come suddenly on their party of six, a short distance ahead, and without any ado, grappled one of their number and dragged him into the bush, the others, though armed, offering no resistance, but taking to their heels without a moment's delay. The fugitives accompanied the two Europeans back to the scene of the attack, and on the road, and on tbe spot itself, evidences of their " bravery " were not wanting in the shape of revolvers and guns thrown away in their flight. Everything was quiet, however, and it is supposed the Chinaman, although in poor condition, furnished material for that

evening's feast. At the old Gilbert they killed as many as six at a time, down the river, and one occasion made a raid on the most populous camp of the Chinese, some half a mile from the Gilberton township ; and, after spearing two or three by way of warning, deliberately denuded the camp of whatever it pleased them to take away. It was fear of the blacks alone, that three years ago drove the Chinese, to the number of 200 or 300, from the Gilbert, where they were doing well, and at a time when they had great heaps of washdirt ready for washing as soon as the wet season commenced. All these, and a number of splendid vegetable and fruit gardens, and everything but the most portable of their household goods, were abandoned in their hot haste to get away. I once heard a half-civil-ised aboriginal patronisingly remaark to a Chinaman, one day, that " he'd be all the same blackfellow by-and-by " —meaning, of course, that after a more prolonged intercourse with the blacks, he would be admitted to a tolerated companionship amongst them, if he proved worthy of it. A private letter, written at Port Darwin on the 29th October by a young man to his friends in the neighborhood of Clare, has been published in a South Australian paper. The writer, who went overland with a party taking stock, thus describes another affray with the Northern Territory natives : —" We have been twelve months on the road, and had an awful job to get through the blacks. They attacked us about the same time that they killed the party the account of which appeared in the papers. None of us were injured, and we were well armed. One tribe of about 300 tackled us, and at the time only two of us were with the stock, the rest of the party being back at the camp, about three miles distant. When the blacks attacked us I took eight out of the lot, but I could not tell how many my mate took ; he is a plucky fellow —the best I ever travelled with. There were a great many natives wounded, and it was dreadful to hear their screams. The party at the camp heard the noise, but by the time they got to us the affray was over. This was the first attack we had." Rumors have often reached us {Sydney Morning Herald) that the survivors of the " desert ships," imported many years ago by the Messrs. Imlay, had been seen between Nelson's and the Dromedary ; but we never had a positively authentic case of one of these strange animals, strange to Australians, being actually seen. The following authentic story reaches the Bega Gazette this week. Two gentlemen who were enjoying a holiday at Nelson's were out in the bush on horseback, and one of them saw what he took to be an ant-hill from its color and shape. As they passed the "ant-hill" got upon four pretty long legs, made tracks, and our explorers gave chase. The camel went off at a leisurely pace, and the horsemen were soon close up, but the horses took fright at this strange denizen of the bush, and the riders had to discontinue the hunt. We are informed that three camels have been seen in the same locality, close to Lake Wapengo, lately, one of them a foal, but horses can never be got to go into the chase with anything like interest, and so_ no one has ever succeeded in " running them in." This sets the question at rest as to camels living and increasing in the Australian bush. The Burrangong Chronicle relates the following :—" Mr. Hancock, while sitting near his rod and float, at the Burrowa river on New Year's Day, while the sun was rising, felt rather sleepy, he having tended to his rod and float carefully all night. He was, however, soon broiight to a state of wakefulness by a strange hissing noise which somewhat startled him, and on opening his eyes be suddenly opened his mouth, and for a time each particular hair on his head stood upon an end, while a clammy, cold perspiration distilled itself all over his body. A large brown snake, 7ft. long, having taken up a position between Mr. Hancock's knees was the cause of all the alarm. His snakeship was sitting on. a few coils of the tail end of his body, with the rest erect, and its head level with the face of our worthy angler, bent evidently on giving Mr. Hancock a quick passage over the other river. Mr. Hancock was awake then, but he felt at a loss to know how to proceed, but only for a moment, as the nature of the case admitted of very little delay. To attempt to move away was sheer madness. What was to be done ? Yes, Mr. Hancock had it, and with the most heroic pluck and presence of mind, he seized the monster by the throat close to the head, and there held it at arm's length. It was with the greatest difficulty that the snake could be prevented from coiling its body round the arms, legs and neck of Mr. Hancock, each of which the reptile attempted. Now came the difficulty. What's to be done with this caught snake ? Mr. Hancock had no way of keeping it at home, and no desire that way ; what's to be done with it ? Oh happy thought —drown the wretch ! The thought was no sooner conceived than executed, but the brute didn't seem to drown well." A visitor from Melbourne to Echuca found himself in an awkward and unpleasant situation. Tempted by the heat, he sought a secluded spot on the Murray, some distance from Echuca, and stripping, jumped into the water and swam across the river, the effort exhausting his energies. A new and serious difficulty now presented itself. The stream was broad, swift and deep; his clothes were posted on the opposite bank. He was unequal to the effort of re-crossing the river; Ms best strength was gone. The setting sun waned, and the shades of evening fell upon a figure, like Adam at his birth, crouched in despair and hiding behind the covering of a gum-tree trunk. That night, as the moon rose, a swagsman crossing the punt was startled to terror by the spectacle of a white spectre-like form flitting from tree to tree. Petrified with fear and astonishment, he stood motionless, speechless with horror, and unable to move. The figure beckoned him to approach. Fascinated with awe by its appearance, he obeyed the signal; and on approaching the fearful object he found it to be the rash youth whose natatory

tastes had reduced him to a state of nudity. Matters were soon explained, and the countryman, relieved of his groundless alarm, was induced to take the promise of a handsome bribe to obtain the necessary vesture, and after a lapse of time which seemed an age to the cool promenader in a state of nature through the sylvan woods, he regained his clothes, and it is hoped returned home a better and wiser man. The above, for the accuracy of which the Riverine Herald vouches, contains a moral to bathers to eschew the foolhardy venture of swimming a river of which they know nothing. An unwonted conjuncture of the Press and the Public Service has been witnessed in Melbourne recently, which is indicative of the true position of the " fourth estate," a position which is not properly understood by colonists generally, and perhaps least so by members of Parliament (according to a correspondent of the Queenslander). The interest felt in the Budget debate upon the new fiscal policy of Sir James McCulloch prompted the Editor of the Argus to propose to the Premier and the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly to give full and adequate rejDorts of all speechesdelivered up to midnight of each sitting; and this proposition was accepted with alacrity. After a few days, however, lion, members who could not catch the Speaker's eye before eleven o'clock p.m., would not rise except to move the adjournment, fearing that the exigencies of the demands upon the valuable space of the broadsheet might involve a serious curtailment of their eloquence; and the consequence was the protraction of the debate for a month! It is known that Victoria has a Hansard, in which hon. members' speeches are x-ecorded more folly than in the Argus; yet the majority of the people's representatives are painfully anxious to be reported in the daily press rather than in their own financial organ. Every pretext is availed of to secure an appearance in the leading journal. Incidentally, I may mention that the sittings do not, as a rule, exceed three days a week, and six hours each sitting day. As evidence of the good understanding subsisting between the Houses and the Press, a cricket match was played on Friday, the 10th instant, between eleven members of the Council and the Assembly, and eleven gentlemen selected from the staffs of the various metropolitan and provincial newspapers and Hansard.