Intercolonial News.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 236, 18 March 1876, Page 19

Intercolonial News.

From files to hand by the Easby and Ringarooma we make the following extracts : Two thousand Chinese are to land at Cooktown in a month. A mining museum is to be opened at Sydney. Charles Wheatleigh is playing at the Theatre Royal, Sydney. The rainy season has set in at Cooktown, and nothing can be done on the field. Scarlet fever is spreading in the Victorian country districts. A prospecting party is to be fitted out by the Victorian Government to prospect between Colac and Cape Otway. J. R. Peebles, of Sydney, has filed his schedule. The liabilities, including partnership debts, are £IO,OOO, and the assets £7O. Miss Christian’s reception at her farewell performance in Launceston was enthusiastic. The stage was covered with bouquets. Mr. J. H. Melvin, professor of music, and one of the original Christy Minstrels, has died at Launceston.

The lease of the Southern Cross Hotel, in King William-street, Adelaide, having fifty years to run, has been sold for £3OOO. A correspondent to the Melbourne Argus “ objects to £3OO on something so unworthy of support” as a portrait of the late Wilson Gray. Melancholy accounts of the drought have been received from various country districts in New South Wales. Cattle are dying in some parts of the Dubbo district. George Lewis, a shepherd, and son of one of the best shorthand writers in England, died in Adelaide gaol from appoplexy caused by drink. The Melbourne Argus says :—“For all the good the present Parliament has done, we might just as well have been without its services, and so have saved some £90,000.” Sir Richard Davies Hanson, Chief Justice of South- Australia, has died at the age of seventy-one. Sir Richard was at one time a resident of Wellington, New Zealand, from whence he removed to South Australia in 1846.

In the New South Wales Assembly on the night of the 3rd, the Minister of Lands called Mr. McElhone a blackguard, and the latter accused the Minister of being beastly drunk in the House. The galleries were cleared. A young lady has created an excitement in Ballarat. It being reported that she had become possessed of property to the value of about a million, she gave some of the local tradesmen a “ treat,” and then departed “ unhonored,” but not “ unsung.” The warehouse of Sander, Lazarus, and Co., 42 Elizabeth-street, Melbourne, has been destroyed by fire. The value of the stock destroyed cannot be estimated until a survey has been made. The stock was insured in the following companies ;—Victoria, £2OOO : Norwich Union, £2OOO ; London and Lancashire, £IOOO ; Imperial, £IOOO ; National (New Zealand), £SOO ; South British, £SOO. Total, £7OOO. # •_ The reefs at the Palmer are yielding well. The correct returns of crushings up to a late date give :—No. 3 Queen of the North from 19 tons, 6oz. sdwts. to the ton ; Caledonian prospectors, from 24 tons, 4ozs. Bdwts. to the ton ; Hit-or-Miss prospectors, 32 tons gave 6ozs. 3dwts. to the ton. The Queen of the North, though not yet washed up, is expected to give from Bozs. to lOozs. to the ton.

There is a quantity of stone awaiting' crushingl All the stone crushed has been “dollied” before, and lots of gold taken out. This news has to some extent been confirmed by later telegrams. A telegram from Talbot says “ The Stony Creek rush still continues to attract large numbers, who come and go in about equal proportions, an average of about 900 remaining on the spot, nearly one-half of these being Chinese. There are two leads, each about one claim wide and both patchy, but occasionally rich. Practical miners regard the present runs of gold as mere tributaries to a large and deep lead yet to be struck ahead. The Chinese literally swarm there.” The opening day of the Victoria Racing Club’s Autumn Meeting was on Saturday. The attendance on the Flemington Course, notwithstanding the fine weather and the attractive programme offered, did not exceed 5000 persons. The racing was not very exciting. The St. Ledger Stakes was the chief event of the day. Richmond carried off the prize, with Maid-of-All-Work well up, and Bullion third. Robin Hood did not show to advantage in the race. The Visitors’ Plate of £IOO was carried off by Stranger, with Topper second ; and the Keilor Stakes was won by Rapid Boy. M. Carme has given another interesting exhibition of billiards at the Cafd de Paris, Melbourne. In the first instance he played a French game of 300 cannons with Mr. James Deane, who is well known as an excellent bil-liard-player. M. Carme had a great deal of ill-luck at the commencement of the game, but he nevertheless scored out while his opponent was making 47- Some of M. Carme’s cannons in this game were exceedingly intricate, and he made with ease strokes which appeared impossible. The applause during the game was both loud and frequent. M. Carme next performed a series of surprising fancy strokes, such as cannoning into a hat held 3ft. or 4ft. above the table, cannoning from one table to another, &c. The greatest feat of all, however, was that of striking nine balls in quick succession from the top of the table, and making them all collect in a small semicircle at the bottom after having struck every cushion twice. This feat elicited great applause. An inquest was held at Kooringa, South Australia (states the Advertiser'), on February 24, into the causes of the death of Emma Gordon, aged 32 years, and Alice Gertrude Gordon, aged 5 years, who had been found dead in the bush. The bodies were found by young Mr. Baggs, Gordon (the husband and father), and Charles Hale, about six miles from Gordon’s hut, outside the paddock, in a piece of scrubby country difficult to ride through—a mile farther from the hut than where the nightgown was found. The body of Mrs. Gordon was lying with her head on her arm, as if she died without much struggling. The little girl was lying a few feet away with her face buried in the. sun-bonnet, and their dog was lying dead on the child’s skirt. The corpses were dry and black, and were not recognisable except by the clothes. From the evidence it was clear that Mrs. Gordon left her hut on Sunday, Jannary 30. Charles Hale, her nearest neighbor, stated that she had said her husband had gone to the Burra two days before, and she promised Hale that if the next day were cool she would go and see his sick child ; but she appears to have lost her way, and must have died with her child in terrible agony. The demonstration at the reception of Sir Julius Vogel is thus commented on in the Melbourne Argus :—“ Sir Julius Vogel may well feel proud at the demonstration in his honor which took place on his arrival at Wellington. The reception was shared in by all classes of the community, but it was in its origin, in its management, and, to a very large degree, in its realisation, a spontaneous movement of the working classes of the city. And this testimonial to the popularity of Sir Julius Vogel amongst the working classes comes with the greater weight, inasmuch as that statesman never professed, in advocating the policy with which he is identified, to labor in the interest of any particular class in the community. His aim was the welfare of the colony at large, and it is merely as sharers in the general prosperity of the colony that the working classes found their advantage. In this Sir Julius Vogel differed very widely from the spurious politicians who in this colony have taken the interests of the working men under their especial cave. He has not sought to benefit one class at the expense of other portions of the community, has not endeavored to set the interest of one class in antagonism to that of all others, but has seen distinctly that no real benefit can be done to one unless the general advancement of the colony is made the object aimed at, and that in this field there is room for the energies and the ambition of the most powerful aud most aspiring statesman. It is pleasant to see that labors thus impartial and broad in their aims are so cordially appreciated by the working classes, to whom so large a share of the accruing prosperity has fallen, and the view suggests to us how much better would be the political feeling between the various classes in this colony if our working classes could escape from the guidance of the wretched leaders by whom they have long been so miserably duped.” A number of gentlemen attended by invitation at the billiardroom of the Theatre Royal Cafe, Melbourne, on February 24, for the purpose of witnessing a private exhibition of M. Pierre Carme’s skill as a player of the French game of billiards, which as described by the Argus is something wonderful. The table used on this occasion was a new one, without pockets, made by Messrs. Alcock and Co. Though much smaller than the ordinary English table, it is the full size of the Continental billiard tables. M. Carme explained that from the size of the table it was generally thought that making cannons would be a very easy thing, but this was a great mistake, and none but very skilful players could make a large break on the French tables. M.

Carme then gave an illustration of his skill by performing some very intricate strokes, which, until he had accomplished them, appeared to be impossible. He made cannons with the balls placed in all soi’ts of cramped positions on the table, then he cannoned on to a ball held in the marker’s hand, 18in. above the table, and, finally, on to a ball on the headof a boy standing a couple of yards away from the table. M. Carme’s skill in-playing from under the cushion, and putting strange and fanciful “screw” on the ball, is something marvellous, and very frequently he was most heartily cheered. M. Carme then played a game with Mr. Albers for 200 cannons, in which the former scored game to his opponent’s 36. The largest break made by M. Carme was 44 cannons, but in practice during the morning he made no less than 146 cannons running: No play like that of M. Carme has been seen in the colony before. It is stated that the younger Roberts is about to visit Austral: a, and M. Carme announces that should the English champion come to Melbourne he will be prepared to play a match with him, giving him 200 out of 1000.

The Colac Times, Victoria, in reporting the placing of a number of fish in Lake Colac, says: —“ When the last of the fish had been consigned to the deep, Mr. Adam Rea called upon those present to join him in offering up a prayer for the success of the venture.” An unlimited supply of cognac was subsequently disposed of. The Melbourne Argus mentions that a large shoal of fish, said to be a species of bonita, were fallen in with by the schooner Eliza Mary, on her passage from Oamaru, when about 400 miles E.S.E. of Cape Howe. The sea was literally alive with them, and they followed the vessel until she arrived at the outskirts of the Strait. They took bait freely, and a large number were caught. Continued reports reach the Cooldown Herald of depredations being daily committed by black savages, whose insatiate thirst for blood it seems impossible to quench. On the 11th February the “ flying packer ” arrived in town, and reported considerable ravages by the niggers on the road near the Laura, the bloodthirsty scoundrels occupying a piece of country through which it is a terror to white men to pass. Some of our informant’s horses were speared, as were several belonging to teamsters on the road camped at the Laura, and he reports that some Chinamen, and one European, were supposed to have been murdered by them. Some portions of the route are strewn with Chinese remains, said to have been the victims of these terrible marauders. Valuable property is being destroyed hourly, horses speared, men lulled, and loading scattered, although said to be done in almost immediate sight of police camps. A curious fact in connection with the Electoral Act has come (says the Ballarat Star) to our knowledge. One day a man sent to the Ballarat registrar for an electoral right, but when asked to sign his name he said he could not write, and he was therefore refused the right. Forthwith a friend took him away to a neighboring hotel, and by dint of laborious repetition the man after a while achieved the task of writing his name in a passably legible fashion. He then went to the registrar, astonished him by a specimen of his newlyacquired caligraphic power, and so obtained the electoral right. He had done as. much as the Act required, and was, electorally, as good a man as the Chief Justice. The Adelaide Advertiser, referring to Sir Julius Vogel’s stock-inscription arrangement with the Bank of England, says : —“ The New Zealand Minister may probably return to his adopted colony with the conviction that he has by this measure done more to strengthen her financial position in the Home market than it had been previously weakened by detraction, and perhaps to some extent by excessive borrowing. The representatives in London of the colonies on the Australian continent must feel that it is time for them to be up and stirring if they would keep abreast of their energetic and adroit compeer, Sir Julius Vogel. We shall await with interest the announcement of a move in the same direction by the Chancellor of our own particular Exchequer.” An amusing account is given in the Fiji Times of a matter in which the new colony was concerned, and which led to diplomatic correspondence between the Foreign Offices of England and Germany, and a threatened disturbance of the pacific relations between the two empires. When Fiji was still a kingdom under Cakobau Rex, and its destinies were ruled by Thurston, Woods, and Co., there was a rebellious German resident of Levuka who refused to pay the Customs dues imposed by the Government. The Government insisted on payment, and he persisted in his refusal. A resort to arms was threatened, and a revolution seemed imminent, when a peacemaker interfered in the shape of a captain of one of her Majesty’s ships of war. He requested the rebellious Teuton to accept the hospitality of his ship for a short time. The invitation was accepted with all cordiality, and after a few pleasant days passed beneath the British flag, the guest quitted the ship well pleased with his entertainers, and the quiet solution of the threatened difficulty. But while in Fiji the little disturbance had become a matter of history and almost forgotten, the two great powers, it appears, have been in serious correspondence about it. The captain of the man-of-war charged the sum of 12s. 6d. for the entertainment of his guest ; and that sum duly appeared upon his accounts when they were presented to the Lords of the Admiralty, Shocked that the “department” should be expected to pay so enormous an amount, one for which no provision had been made in the Estimates, the Admiralty forwarded the “little bill” to the Foreign Office, which at once placed itself in communication with the Imperial Government of Germany ; and, after several reams of correspondence and much diplomatic reference to blue books and precedents, not wholly unaccompanied with vague allusions as to probable consequences, the Chancellor, Prince Bismarck, directed that the sum should be paid to the

British authorities, who thereupon withdrew all expressions calculated to endanger the entente corcliale, and gave a receipt for the twelve shillings and sixpence, in full of all demands. Armed with this important document, the Kaiser has commanded his trusty and well-beloved Frederick W. Hennings, consulgeneral in these seas, to ask, demand, sue for, and recover the said sum of 12s. 6d. from the person or persons on whose account it thus became a liability of the Imperial Germanic Government ; and that person, Mr. Frederick Schulle, is now called upon to pay the same. But Mr. Schulle is no longer in Fiji, and again must official authority go to work with despatches, seals, foreign messengers, &c., and Tonga and Samoa probably be menaced with the frowns of German armaments if the said 12s. 6d. be not paid. NEW CALEDONIA. An English resident of New Caledonia has forwarded the Sydney Morning Herald the following account of the hurricane at New Caledonia :—At eight o’clock on the 23rd the harbormaster announced to the different ships in harbor that the barometer was falling fast, and that it had every indication of a hurricane. All the small coasters (less four) were towed into the bay of the Moselle for safety; also the Government pilot cutters and punts. About two o’clock it began to blow a regular gale, but so far nothing to fear, from the northwest; but from four o’clock to ten o’clock at night we had the full force of the hurricane, jumping suddenly from N.W. to S.W. This was the cause of all the disasters. The James Paterson, with both anchors down and a large quantity of chain out, began to drag ; but luckily she had steam up, which at first was quite useless, she not being able to move an inch, and coming on shore all the time. The Viti, a small coaster of about 120 tons, was anchored just under her stern, and the blades of her screw would have got caught in the Viti chain. For about an hour we all expected the steamer to come on shore, but at the last moment the master of the cutter cut away his chains and the Paterson took him in tow. We thought all was safe then; the steamer was not twenty yards from the shore, which is covered with large boulders. Not at all. Another cutter, the Dugong, came drifting under her stem, but luckily she kept dragging in, and in the course of half-an-hour she was quite clear and steaming ahead. We all from the shore could not help but admire the sangfroid of Captain Nightingale in this critical circumstance, and he went and anchored further out, and the following morning was anchored close under Isle Nou safe out of all danger. The Havilah, Bossuet, and Depeche all got together, and rode it out admirably. Had it lasted twelve hours more I am afraid that they would have been on shore. The Buffon, a French barque, was anchored along way out; also the Leonide and Mickey Free ; but the Buffon began to drag her chains, and drifted right on the two last coasters (of about 40 tons each), broke the mast and the jibboom of the Leonide, nearly cutting her in two, and taking the jib and boom out of the Mickey Free, and doing equally as much damage. The captains of the two coasters affirm that it was they that saved the Buffon. The Cilacs dragged very little. The Southern Cross, a New Zealand steamer, came so close in shore that she could no longer use the screw, being afraid of getting the fans broken by the piles on which she was drifting rapidly. This was at 10 o’clock at night; after this the wind began to fall gradually. The French barque Pactole got the worst ; if the wind had stood at N.W. she was right, but when it blew from the S.W. she came right on shore, knocking down all the piles of the new wharf, and came right across the wharf, where the mail steamer lies. The Anette, a cutter of 30 tons, came inside of her, between the wharf and the Pactole ; she is now a complete wreck, fcmashed to pieces. The owner of the Anette also lost two punts. (He never believed in a hurricane.) The Pactole is fearfully knocked about ; she was leaking so fast that they had to take all the coals out of her where she lay ; the amount of damage is not yet known. There is also a Levuka schooner ; the captain scuttled her ; she is all right and afloat, not having any damages. In the Bay de la Moselle next morning was a fearful sight—punts, cutters, all mixed together ; some in pieces, others without masts, all on shore. They belong principally to the Government. The Heine Hortense is a complete wreck on the reefs ; the Agenoria, a 20-ton schooner, is dismasted, and on shore in the Bay St. Vincent; the Nil Desperandum, brig, from Melbourne, is on shore in Kennella Bay (not known as yet if a total wreck) ; also three other coasting vessels. This is for the marine department ; now for the land. Noumea, on the whole, has not suffered much. Mr. Higginson’s store, the Thiesbie, was partly unroofed ; the verandah of Mr. Higginson’s office (Transport Maritime) was carried away ; a few houses unroofed here and there. The Valle des Colens, the suburbs of Noumea, suffered more. Weatherboard cottages taken completely off the piles ; some had to be propped to keep them from capsizing. From the country we have as yet no news ; the telegraphic wires were all broken and communications with the interior are not yet established. The Presquille Ducos Penitentiary (Deportation) has suffered the most ; nearly all the Government establishments blown down. The officer in command told me himself that they were all sleeping d la Idle Etoile —damages estimated at £6OOO for the Presquille Ducos. Not alone the hurricane, but we have also the sauterells (grasshoppers), who have devastated both Paite and Valle of the Demlia. I was out at the latter place Sunday, the 20th, and it was a pitiful sight ; all the sugar plantations completely ravaged; eighteen months’ labor completey lost. I have heard that at Boulipari they have not suffered so much.

The Argos, lately from Adelaide, which went to the Diahot to take in a cargo of copper ore, went on the roofs, but was towed off ; she was anchored in Pam Bay. A survey was

held, and she was condemned, and sold in Noumea for £lOl2 (sterling) to Messrs. McLeod and Baker ; rather a large find for a condemned brig of 450 tons. We are all, in Noumea, anxiou-ly expecting the arrival of the Lord Ashley. Has she caught the hurricane ? is a question asked by many of us. It is to be hoped not. This is about all the news. The captain of the James Paterson, I am sure, will give you all the information that I may have omitted concerning the hurricane.