AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 558, 14 October 1882, Page 20

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

From our files per s.s. Hero, we make the following extracts :~ ; '■ i At the coroner's inquiry respecting the Garden palace fire, evidence was taken as to the supply of methylated spirits to the Fisheries Commissioner's Department, for use in preserving fi»h specimens. It was shown that there.was very little in stock. The Manager for Prosser and Co., wholesale chemists, deposed that the firm had sent to the Palace some Wickersheimer fluid, two quarter-casks containing a small portion of methylated spirits * but this fluid would not burn, even if a match were thrown into it. Edward Pratt, second captain of the fore•astle of H.M.S. Espeigle, who appears to have been one amoDg the first who saw the fire, deposed that he saw flames rising about three feet, between the north tower and the dome. He at once reported the matter, and by the time he had got a boat's crew together, and the fire-engineß in the boat, the whole building was on fire. About seven minntea elapssd between the time he first saw

the fire and when the dome was in flames... The fire has }fg^J^JS^^SSi.^S-^ l^^-^ 0 It is the intention ef the Government to build on the site of the late Garden Palace a permanent palace, which shall be a National Gallery of Art and Science, for the entertainment and instruction of the people. The actual design of the new building has not yet been decided upon, but the idea is that the structure shall be a handsome one. • The Government haß amended one ot tne regulations for the management of immigration. According to the regulations issued last December, the selection of immigrants, so far as passage money was concerned, " was limited to such adult persons as could pay £5 towards the cost of their passage to the colony. An exception is now made in respect to single women, who will each have to pay only £2. The "Sydney Morning Herald "says New Zealand has again achieved] a notable success in the shipment of frozen meat, per Mataura, but remarks : " Mu3t we then look to a superiority of quality as a reason for the good prices, and confess that the New Zealand mountains have reared a better class of stock than our broader and" more genial pasture lands ? All evidence hitherto obtaiued points to a contrary conclusion, and it is very generally understood that the best of the Australian mutton, or even the average of the ordinary An3tralian herds, is better suited to the requirements of the. London purchasers than the finer and smaller sheep of New Zealand. The " Catholic Advocate»' states that, while £95,000 was raised in New South Wales in seventeen years for, church purposes, £200,000 was raised in "Victoria, unassisted from without, in seven years, for the maintenance of schools. Proceedings have been taken against a number of Victorian storekeepers for selling poison in contravention of the Act. The poison in each casewas apreparation forthe destruction of vermin] In the first ease ajnominal fine of Is and 10s costs was imposed. The following are fuller detail* of a paragraph already published in New. Zealand '.—A misunderstanding .whioh has arisen between the Jesuits and Christian Brothers in regard to the conduct of Catholic schools, has excited great interest among the Catholic section of the community. The Jesuits have two establishments—St. FrancisXavier's- College, 1 at ELew, and St- Patrick's College, Melbourne, where the higher branches of education are taught. The Christian Brothers' schools are established in various parts of the colony for the education of the children of Catholic poor, who paid merely nominal fees. Their Richmond school proved a great success, but the Jesuits recently complained against ; their interfering with paying colleges, by introducing high class education into schools. The result is that the Christiau Brothers this week retire from the management of the Richmond schools, which will hereafter be conducted by lay teachers. The Adelaide |Boarding-out Society report that the number of children under their care for the year waß 415, against 320 last year. The appointment of an inspector has proved extremely satisfactory. The Committee urge upon legislators the importance of protecting young girls by law, and that it should be made penal for keepers of bad houses to harbor any female under 21. The Sydney United Co-operative Painters Society, as well as non-society men, have held a meeting, and have decided to demand an increase of ljd per hour wages, and to support those of the trade who are compelled to Btrike. In the Adelaide Supreme Court a rather unusual case was exposed. A practitioner who had obtained a vercict for over £2O for a client, wanted him to accept a post-dated cheque for, the amount The client refused, and entered an action./ Meanwhile, the lawver exeouted a deed of assignment, on the strength of which, a verdict was given in his favor. The Law Society brought the matter under the notice of the Full Court, and the practitioner was ordered to pay the amount, with ten guineaß costs, within fourteen days. Tne "Register" publishes an let cresting letter from John Dunn, guide and interpreter to the British forces in Zululand, to Mr D. C. F. Moodie, of Adelaide. The writer hopes the Home Government will not Bend Cetewayo back unless the Zulu country ia annexed and placed under British rule. If they do there will be a "pretty kettle of fish to fry" before long. Dunn adds that if the goldfield at, the Transvaal turns out good it will revolutionise the country. The favorable account from the Kimberley Country in Western Australia is confirmed. The official report is that feed is green for ten months of the year, the climate very healthy for Europeans, and horses and sheep doing splendidly. The Natives are fine stalwart fellows, but not apparently very numerous.

(Per s.a. Manapouri.) (UNITED PBKSS ASSOCIATION.) Melbourne, October 4. At the Hunt Club Races at Flemington, on Saturday, Alhambra won the Hunt Club Steeplechase ; Allusion, the Flying Stakes ; Abdallah, Open Steeplechase ; and Larpent, the Flat Race. In the latter race Hebrew ran a splendid second. Dr. Barker's case has been considered by the Cabinet, and they are of opinion that no official inquiry required to be granted, as called for bv Dr. Barker. The Police Commission is still sitting. A statement was put in yesterday in writing by a member of the criminal class, stating that robberies were frequently caused by detectives employing men to persuade released prisoners o commit fresh crimeß in or<?er that the detectives might get credit for finding them out. The Aurora Australis on Monday was very brilliant all over Australia. The firebells rang here, thinking a large fire was raging. Doubt as to whether the Hamilton case was really smallpox has proved difficult to settle. The patient died, and was buried twelve feet in lime. Dr. Youll is now alone in the opinion that the recent case was chickenpox, seven other doctors being unanimously of opinion that it was true variola. With reference to the arrest of William Hill, Manager of the Reedy Creek Branch of the Colonial Bank, who was charged with stealing £IO4B, which Hill alleged was > stolen dutiDg the night of the 11th August, it now transpires that the prisoner had been for some time past engaged in extensive mining speculations. The bank authorities have a complete , chain of circumstantial evidence against Hill. The Government have reoeived no informa.

tion confirming the statement that, the Home Government is about to despatch six cruisers to the Australian waters. - m _. It is now expected that the Tramway Bill will be passed through Parliament, though under a considerably modified form.. A c° m * promise has been effected between the company and the conference, by which the tramways will be assimilated to the Glasgow eystern—municipalities borrowing money at a low rate of interest, and lending it to the company for thirty years, the company paying interest, which increases in each decade.

(Per Zealandia at Auckland.) MURDER OF A~MI*ER BY A JEALOUS GIRL. THE GVMPIe"qUARTZ MINES. splendid"~specimens.. (UNITED MtESS ASSOCIATION.) ~~ Sydney, Ootobsr 6. Ia the consideration of the Criminal Law Amendment Bill in the Assembly, Mr Melvine moved the abolition of the death penalty for murder, but the motion was negatived by 38 The proposal of the Government to erect a National Gallery of Art on the site of the Garden Palace meets with general favor The last of the Darling Harbor claims has now been settled,.and the Government award accepted. The grand total of the reductions amounts to £522,331. . . . , . J A miner named Mitchell was stabbed last night at Stanifer, about fifteen miles.from Inverell, by a young girl named Nott, and died. Jealousy is said to have caused.the deed. ~ • .V Rain, it is reported at some stations in tne country, is very much-required. _ Melbourne, October 5. A severe N. W. gale has caused some damage here. A lad belonging to the ship Muncaster Castle was blown from the rigging and received dangerous iojuries. At the Intercolonial Conference, members of the Primitive Methodist Church in South Ausiralia and New Zealand were unrepresented. The Rev. P. Kenny, of Paramatta, was appointed president. •■.-., , . . A new station, to cost £SOOO, is about to be built by the Insurance Fire Brigades. The Police Commission continues its investigations, and recriminatory statements have been made. . , •• « «.v. The increase in the electoral rolls for the Legislative Council under the Reform Act is immense—much larger than was anticipated. , Sir B. O'Loghlen explained in the Assembly that, as the Government were satisfied there was no evidence of criminality in Dr. Barker a case, it would be illegal to appoint a Board o Inquiry. ; j '•' Bbisbane, October 5. The British India Steam Navigation Company purchased wharfage property worth £70,000. ... ~„ ..-. The South New Zealand claim at Gympie obtained specimens containing 200 ounces of ■ Adelaide, October 5. Splendid rains have fallen throughout the northern districts, and will revive many of the crops. . . The South Australian loan will be floated in London a month hence. _: "\' Assertions have been freely made in the Assembly, by both opponents and supporters of immigration, that the labor of skilled mechanics is very scarce in the colony. •