AUSTRALIAN NEWS

New Zealand Mail, 22 January 1902, Page 42

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

MELBOURNE, January 17. A fire in Messrs Bleasby and Company’s, ironmongers, largo five-storv building gutted the third and fourth stories. The stocks were very heavy, and included large quantities of fireworks and cartridges, which added to the danger. A splendid pyrotechnic displav was made by the continuous discharge of cartridges, but luckily no ono was injured. The firemen succeeded in preventing the flames spreading to a store containing gunpowder and explosive oil. The amount of damage is not stated hut besides the gutted floors the stock m others suffered severely from water and smoke. The building is valued at £15,000, and the stock at £22.000. The insurances amount to £28,000. The value of the butter exported from V lctoria last season decreased by half a million as compared with the previous year.

MELBOI RNE, January 18. A conference of representatives' of the Surveyors’ Boards of Australasia has been opened here. The Hon G. F Richardson, president of the Institute of Surveyors, represents New Zealand. Ihe conference will consider matters relating to reciprocal recognition of certificates and uniformity of examinations and regulations.

The ship Port Patrick, which was abandoned by her crew off Wilson’s Promontory, has been officially arrested on salvage claims for £12,000 on behalf of the owners of the tug Champion. The damage to the Port Patrick is estimated at under <£ooo, including the loss of sails and anchors.

Captain Galloway lias entered into the customary bonds in connection with the claim for salvage. The crew will arrive from Sydney today. J

The insurances on Messrs Bleasby’s stock and premises, which were seriously damaged by fire yesterday, totalled - 000. They include £4OOO in the New Zealand Company, and £IOOO each in the Standard of New Zealand, National of Eew Zealand, and North British The Federal House has fixed the duty oil engines, boilers, machines and machinery, and plated and mixed metal wares at 20 instead of 25 per cent. The duty on axles and springs was lowered from 25 to 15 per cent., after a great fight to admit‘them free.

Between twenty and thirty members of the Federal Houses will visit London for the King’s coronation. The Victorian and Queensland State Premiers do not intend to accept tide invitations to attend the coronation hut will probably be represented bv a member of tho Ministry. Tho South Australian Premier (Hon J. G. Jenkins) considers that the State Premiers should be treated as Royal guests, otherwise the invitation is net of great value.

. PERTH, January 10. The. new Ministers have taken their scats in the Legislative Assembly. As far as can at present be ascertained Ministerialists are in a majority of not more than one or two.

Lord Hopetoun, Governor-General of the Commonwealth, has sailed on nis return to Melbourne. He expressed delight with his visit. PERTH, January 18. A Parliamentary return shows that the State’s expenditure over the Royal visit amounted to over £30,000. SYDNEY, January 17. Sir Frederick Darley, the ActingGovernor, is progressing favourably since undergoing an operation. While bathing at Manly in the surf, a Miss Thorpe got out of her depth. Frederick Smallpage went to her assistance, but was caught in the undercurrent, and both were drowned. The affair took place in view of SmallI page’s wife and two hundred spectators, i A would-be rescuer had a narrow esj cape. I The health authorities to-night report | that a man named Vandy was removed j to the Coast Hospital on the 14th inst. j suffering from plague. The case is a severe onp. hut the patient is improving, j It is explained that the matter was j kept quiet until the disease had been j fully diagnosed. The man resided in the j vicinity of the Haymarket, where the | last two patients are supposed to have caught infection. ! The ‘‘'Daily Telegraph” says:—‘‘Although the Commonwealth troubles in | connection with the Pacific Islands are i just beginning, they are already threat- | oning to formidably increase. The New J Zealand scheme for annexation of Fiji I can be regarded as postponed sine die, j thanks to the opposition of the Austral- ! ian Government. Since then, however, I much more unpleasant possibilities have been suggested. That the experiment of acquiring a possessory title which the French have tried, in the New Hebrides, so far successfully, will be repeated by the Germans is only to he expected. Residential rights in the islands have become territorial rights. Private interests and national interests are so often one that we almost suspect that a foreign trader is acting in concert with his Government, so insistently does the flag follow tlip. trade. The British Government must take such precautions as will prevent foreign companies from obtaining rights in British Islands which are more than likely to result in those I islands being alienated.” j ( SYDNEY. January 18. An important decree will be read in ; the Roman Catholic churches through- j out the Commonwealth to-morrow re- j garding marriage. It enjoins strict en- ! forcemeat of the laws against mixed ! marriages, and states:— “In order to deter Catholics from i these sacrilegious unions, we declare \ that all who in future contract mixed ! marriages before a heterodox minister j will incur excommunication, and those i who presume to contract marriage before a State official are guilty of grievous sin. In cases where priests consider a dispensation may he granted, marriages are to be celebrated outside the church without ceremony, unless for grave reasons otherwise permitted.’’ SIDNEY. Januarv 19. Burns. Philp and Co., in a letter to the press, reply to the critics of their previous letter in reference to the proposed Oceanic mail service. They admit the company to he a foreign one, but say there are “foreigners and foreigners. They claim that the term is applied bj Australians to Americans in a very different spirit to the meaning generally attached to it. “We do not ourselves,” they say, “anticipate that if any distinct gain is to be obtained by Australia it will be rejected because an associated branch of the Anglo-Saxon race whose home is in America.” With regard to the criticism that the firm in- j tended to leave New Zealand out in the ! cold, it again urged that New Zealand would be much hotter served by the proposed connecting line than by the present tliree-weekly service, though the 1 steamers do call at Auckland.

Seholefield, charged with stealing stock from Messrs Hordern’s Retford Park estate, has been found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for three years with hard labour. The prosecution of the other accused failed. Mr Charles Giedstanes, a well-known Vila coffee planter, has been killed in tho New Hebrides, the horse he was driving backing the vehicle over a cliff. The Giedstanes originallv came from New Zealand.

The Cabinet has selected two prominent business men, whose names have not yet been made known, to act as Government Commercial Agents, one in London and tho other in Japan, which last also includes China and the East. An agent will also he appointed in South Africa.