Intercolonial Items.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 387, 12 July 1879, Page 23

Intercolonial Items.

AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY. (PER ALBION AT THE BLUFF.) Melbourne, July 1. It has been rmggested that the Australian colonies, Fiji, New Zealand, and New Caledonia should have representatives of the aboriginal races of each colony at the Victorian Exhibition. Great changes will be made in the police fore.?, and some portions of the force will be reduced.

Deputations of the unemployed have waited on Mr. Berry. There are several thousands out of work. Mr. Berry said the Government were doing all they could to provide work for the unemployed, and if possible would do more to ameliorate their condition. Hundreds of working men are making their way to New South Wales.

It is said that several of the Kelly gang have been seen at Jerilderie, and that they have been attempting to make arrangements for leaving the colony by a sailing vessel ; but the police having been put on the alert, negotiations at once ceased.

H.M.S. Beagle picked up a boat's crew of the brig Alexandra at sea, after having been carried away off the coast of Solomon Island by a strong current. They suffered great hardships through want of provisions, and lived mainly on cocoanuts, which they got on the islands at night by stealth, being afraid of the natives. The boat was away for over three weeks when picked up. They were afterwards put on board their brig, which the Beagle came across in her cruise.

The only political matter of interest during the last few days has been the Fitzroy election, in which Mr. Blackett, the Conservative candidate; obtained a majority of eighty-two over Mr. Grey, the Reform League and Ministerial nominee.

On the previous evening a public meeting resulted in interference with two of the Ministerialists by refusing to hear them, and after the election, when the result became known, three cheers were given. Mr. Berry is not finding much favor with the unemployed. Large deputations have waited upon him soliciting work, and as Mr. Berry has raceived them somewhat carelessly, they have resented it by groaning for the Premier in return. The unemployed question is no doubt somewhat embarrassing at this juncture, and the Government has appointed a Board, with Mr. Lavater, of the Railway Department, as chairman, to ascertain where relief can be found. Work has been proferred in some quarters, but the men are still discontented, and many of them are disinclined to quit the Metropolis. Placards have been posted about town showing what could have been done with the £SOOO expended on the Embassy, 1 he Government cannot altogether hold themselves responsible for the dull times,

and have expressed their willingness to do all in their power to alleviate the distress now existing. The Governor distributed the medals of the Victorian Humane Society on Friday night, and also gave the medal of the Home Humane Society to Tom Pearce.

The Government have decided now on spending so much money upon the International Exhibition that they cannot at present enter into the arrangement for a contribution to the Colonial Museum in London. South Australia also declines unless the project emanates from the Imperial Government. A testimonial of 1000 guineas has been presented to Dean McCartney, of Melbourne, who has attained his 80th year. The Bishop of Melbourne made the presentation. All denominations were represented, and 2000 were present in the Town Hall. The Dean said his circumstances would not permit of his giving the money to any institution ; he intended to keep it, and hand it down to his family with the address, to show that the people of Victoria recognised those who worked for them. Professor Pepper, of Ghost fame, will arrive here per Lusitania. It has been announced that the Government do not intend to reimpose the red gum duty, which expires in August. There were seventy-three applications for the position of manager of the coffee tavern recently established in Melbourne, but it has not yet been opened. A good deal of rain is still wanted, as in some parts of the country water is very s'.-arce for farming purposes, and in some places cattle have been driven to considerable distances.

" H.M.S. Pinafore " is still holding it 3 own at the Academy of Music, while Garner and Lyster's new comedy company have made a success at the Opera House. Business continues very dull.

The Sandhurst Industrial Exhibition was closed last night. The total attendance has been 89,632, and the receipts £5332. When all the charges have been paid, there will be a credit balance of £IOOO in hand.

The weights for the Melbourne Cup have been declared. Chester heads the list at 9st. 101 b.; Richmond next, with 9st. 31b.; Savanaka, also 9st. 31b.; Tetnpleton, Bst. 8lb.; Wellington, Bst. 101 b.; Bosworth, Bst. 51b.; Warlock, 7st. 91b.; Petrea, 7st.; the lowest being sst. 71b. The handicap has been favorably received, generally speaking. (PER HERO AT AUCKLAND.) Sydney, July 1.

The Herald condemns the system in the colonies of the unemployed relying for work on expenditure of borrowed money. The Sydney City Corporation is in pecuniary difficulties, owing to the pressure of the Union Bank for payment of the overdraft of nearly £75,000. The Corporation will obtain Parliamentary sanction to issue debentures with Government guarantee. The Premier promises a Bill next session removing licensing duty from magistrates. Gately, the hangman, attempted suicide while drunk.

Heavy floods have occurred up the country. Goomini country, along the river banks, to a width of forty miles, is submerged. While Captain Scott, of the barque Hose, was unloading timber at the Clarence, a nargoo rolled on him and killed him. He leaves a wife and children.

In the Divorce Court, Sydney, application was made by John H. Street, mariner, for a divorce from his wife, Sarah There-ia Street, formerly Crowden, for alleged adultery with Thomas Perry, painter. Respondent was a native of Wanganui. The marriage was celebrated at Wellington. It was alleged that the respondent had left her home, and had been guilty of various acts of adultery and drunkenness. Leave was given to move in the matter. Melbourne, July 1. In reply to a communication from London repecting the Colonial Museum, London, the Government said the colony had to spend large sums on the local exhibitions, and the Government were precluded at present from taking any action in the matter. The gun duty, which expires in August, is not-to be re-imposed. The sum of one thousand guines, together with an address, has been presented to the Dean of Melbourne. Seversl articles of jewellery were missing from the person of the actor Bates when he was found dead. The tender for the defences at the South Channel Fort has been let £9OOO. HOBARTON, July 1. Owing to the apprehension of disturbances through Pastor Chiniquy's lectures, the Municipal Council swore in special constables. The Roman Catholic Bishop addressed his people, urging them to abstain from violence. Brisbane, July 1.

Father Hennebery has opened a temperance mission. At the close, 2000 people, including the Bishop, rose and took the pledge.

A circular hurricane at Brisbane did a considerable amount of damage in the city. The Victorian Baths, together with trees, verandahs, and outbuildings, were blown down. The cyclone occurred' on the 26th June. Many houses were unroofed, but no loss of life occurred.

Another attempt is to be made to recover the goods in the ship Loch Ard, which was wrecked near Port Campbell last year. It is to be made on a different basis to that adopted some months since. The owners of the wreck propose to form a company and raise the necessary funds for carrying out the work by issuing 500 shares at £2 each ; and already half the shares have beenapplied for. It is estimated that the hull of the Loch Ard contains goods valued at £35,000, which could not be injured by their lengthy immersion. The proposition is to raise the goods by means of pulleys projecting over the end of the island against which the Loch Ard struck the goods to be landed on the island, taken to the other end, and lowered into vessels

anchored into smooth water. The divers who have inspected the wreck report favorably of the scheme, and the promoters of the company feel sanguine as to their efforts being crowned with success.

Sir George Stephen, whose death at St. ETilda, near Melbourne, we recently chronicled in our telegraphic columns, was born at St. Kitts, one of the West Indian Islands, where his father, who was a distinguished writer and a prominent mover in the anti-slave agitation, held an appointment under the Government. In 1822 Sir George married a daughter of the Rev. Henry Ravenscroft, the chaplain of the Bishop of Down, and the issue of the marriage was seven children, the present Mr. Justice Stephen being the first-born. In 1838 Sir George received the order of knighthood, in recognition of his services in the cause of negro emancipation. He practised in London as a solicitor during a number of years, and in June. 1849, he wa3 called to the English bar. In 1855 he and his family came to Melbourne, and he followed the practice of his profession. Some years ago he was appointed Queen's Counsel. He never entered public life, but he wrote a number of works on various subjects, including one on " The Life of Christ." The deceased gentleman was interred in the St. Kilda cemetery. The following particulars respecting Captain Joyce, who at one time traded between Sydney and Wellington, will be of interest to a number of our readers, to whom Captain Joyce was well known—the extract is from " Parables in the South Pacific," by Mr. W. P. Churchouse, in the Sydney Mail : —" At Na Vuo, in Biroa harbor, we made some little stay, to overhaul the schooner and her sails. Here we were entertained by Captain Joyce, who, with his two sons, live on this spot, and they have a very fine cocoanut plantation. Many old New Zealand travellers will remember this gentleman as the captain of the Cheetah, a regular trader between Australia and New Zealand for many years, and also as captain of the Keera (s.), running on the New Zealand coast. After a long and creditable career at sea for nearly fifty years, he has now laid down hisjmoorings for life, and is enjoying his well-earned ease under his own fig-tree, or, perhaps, I should more properly say, cocoanut trees. The old gentleman has not forgotten the cunning of his youth, nor the dash of the salt spray, for, lying snugly at anchor in front of his dwelling, rides a smart little cutter yacht, every spar and rope of which bears the impress of a watchful seaman's care. From these gentlemen we obtained great assistance in beaching and overhauling the schooner, and we were soon enabled to go on our way rejoicing. How pleasant it is to the wanderer when far distant from hia home to meet with freely afforded hospitality and assistance. The patriarchs of old were ever noted for their goodness in this respect, and it still holds good to the present day. The wayfarer in isolated lands and spots far removed from the countries of civilisation, seldom fails to receive a kindly shelter and hospitality that is unknown amongst the populations of towns and cities."

" Atticus" in the Melbourne Leader writes : —" The application of one of the ten commandment?, has been the subject of a religious difficulty in one ol the peaceful cantonments in India. The choir of the local church consists of lady and gentlemen amateurs possessing vocal ability, and the organist, for the sake of effect, decided to introduce a novel coloring into the choral service. On a certain Sunday the responses to the commandments were so distributed that the ladies sang the first response, the gentlemen the second, the whole choir the third, the ladies commencing denovo. Everything went off well until the seventh commandment was reached, when, according to the sequence, the ladies alone were made vocally to implore that ' their hearts might be made to keep this law." Everybody was surprised, and the fair vocalists so disagreeably so that after the service they repaired to the clergyman, and protested against a repitition of the responses in the same order. The clergyman spoke to the organist, and suggested that the order of singing should be so altered that the response to the seventh commandment should be rendered by the gentlemen. To this the lords of creation, who realised the full significance of the change, strenuously objected, and were backed up in their refusal by the organist. So hot grew the dispute that the whole of the choir, as well as the organist, resigned their posts, and it is not yet settled to which of the sexes the unfortunate commandment especially applies." The longest trial (says the Melbourne Argus) that has taken place in this colony was brought to a termination a few days ago in the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs were Messrs. Young and McGuigan, and the defendant* the Ballarat Water Commissioners. In 1874 the Commission let to the plaintiffs a contract for the construction of a reservoir at Gong Gong, to supply Ballarat with water. The contract was brought to a termination in 1876, but the engineer, Mr. Ohlfsen Bagge, refused to give a certificate that the works had been completed to his satisfaction. The plaintiffs were therefore obliged to bring an action, but they were met at the outset by the technical difficulty that the Commissioners were not liable to be called on to pay until the engineer's certificate was given. The action was then framed charging that the commissioners and engineer had acted in collusion in the withholding of the certificate. Plaintiffs claimed altogether about £36,000 for work done, for extras, and for loss caused by the suspension of the works on two separate occasions. The jury gave a verdict for the plaintiffs for £9032 10s. Id. for suspension ; £18,675 4s. 9Jd. for balance unpaid for work done. Total, £27,707 14s. 10£d. They gave interest on this, which brought the amount to £32,190 6s. B£3. They found that the engineer ought to have certified for that amount, that he refused to give the certificate, though ordered to do so by the Commissioners, and that the refusal to certify was in consequence of collusion with the Commissioners. This verdict is subject to law points, to be argued before the Court in banco. It is the first time that an action has ever been brought

alleging collusion between an engineer and his employers as against the contractor, and ic is likely that the case will ultimately go to the Privy Council. The trial lasted over forty days, and the jury were a week considering their verdict. Each of the jurors received £B7 10s. for fees.

So far as the Tichborne estates are concerned, it would appear that there is another colonial claimant. At the Melbourne Police Court an aged, and decidedly disreputablelooking party, giving the name of Bernard Rogers, alias Sir Roger Tichborne, was brought tip by Senior-constable McCormick, of the South Yarra Police-station, charged with being a vagrant. The arresting officer deposed that the prisoner was a confirmed vagrant, his sole occupation apparently being the solicication of alms. His idiosyncrasy for some years past has consisted of his asserting that he is the only genuine claimant to the Tichborne titles and estates. He stated that he was a thorough hard-working man, his chief means of subsistence being the picking of oakum and the cracking of road metal for the benefit of the committee of the Immigrants' Aid Society. The Bench decided to give th|j old fellow an opportunity of testing his peculiar talents in the Melbourne gaol for three months.