INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4201, 7 September 1874, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

VICTORIA. Mr. T. Adamson, jnn., United States Consid, is to receive the important appointment of Agent-General for Australasia, His nomination has been confirmed by the Senate, although Mr. Adamson will not receive his credentials until after he has notified to the United States Government his acceptance of the position. The appointment dates from the Ist July. The libel action between the lessees of the Theatre Royal and the publisher of the evening Herald newspaper has been concluded. The chief interest in the last day’s proceedings centred in the charge of tho Judge. His Honor’s charge, if not “ dead against” the defendant, was very near it. He instrncted'rthe jury that it was competent for them to put the 'worst construction upon tho motives which induced the defendants to write that the opera was going to be “ mutilated,” and pointed out that from tho evidence given tho plaintiffs dared not produce it in its French entirety on tho ground of morality. The jury took an hour and a-half to consider their verdict, and awarded Messrs. Harwood and Co. the sum of one halfpenny, being a farthing damages on each of the two counts. His Honor took time to consider whether he will certify for costs. Captain Edgar, of the Oakvvorth, has been tried for deserting the smack Olive after he had run that vessel down. To the surprise of most people, the result was a verdict of acquittal, the jury adopting the view that there would have been danger in sending a boat off, in consequence of a supposed difficulty of reaching the vessel again. The agricultural implement makers are on strike for an increase of 12A per cent, in their wages. Fallow deer have now so increased in numbers on the Werribee Park estate that they are sometimes seen in herds of from 200 to 300. It is .estimated there must be fully 700 of them on the station. The red deer, which are not nearly so numerous, are kept in a wellfenced paddock'by themselves. It is stated that there is a probability of a valuable addition being made to tho mineral resources of . .Victoria -by the discovery of quicksilver; Indications of its existence wore discovered about two months since, and they have been followed up since by tho party who made the discovery, who entertain sanguine hopes that they will soon come upon a lode of the metal.

LOST AND FOUND. Considerable excitement was manifested in Sale when it became known that. 4500z5. of gold had been lost from the escort which had arrived from Stockyard Creek. On reaching Sale constable Byrne informed sergeant Scanlon that one of the bags of gold containing 400ozs. was lost, and on goinu- to the bank the sergeant ascertained froxiTMr. Wallen that 50ozs. from another bag was missing also. Mx-. Wallen also stated that the gold was placed in double linen bags, and packed in two cornsacks, and the loss was caused by those not being sufficiently strong to sustain such a weight. As sooxx as the men bad partaken of refx-eslimeuts, Mr. Wallen, Higgins, and constables Byrne and. Hartley, started back on fresh ixox-ses, and searched unsuccessfully the old Port Albex-t Road far as Merriman’s Cx-eelc, and at daylight divided into two parties, Mi-. Wallen and constable Byrne coming on towards Sale, while constable Hartley and Higgins went towards Four-rnile Creek. In the meantime, howevex-, seniorconstable Irwin and constable had also stalled from Sale at daylight to assist in the search, but were met on the way down by constable Byrne and Mr. Wallen, the fox-mer of whom conveyed tho pleasing intelligence that he had picked up the bag containing the 400ozs. about eight miles fx-om Sale and about twenty yards off the beaten track. Out of the 500z5., most of which is fine gold, at least 47ozs. are still missing. ,

THE BUDGET SPEECH. The Budget speech was delivered on the 27th ult, to a crowded house. The chamber itself, indeed, presented a curioxxs appeax-ance, as the Ministerial benches were deserted, and bon. members crowded to the Opposition seats in ordex- to face Mr. Service and hear him bettex*. The hon. gentleman spoke for two hours and a half, and exhausted his sixbject, though he did not his hearers, for the attendance was equally full throughout. Mxv,Servica proposes to modify the tariff .in a practical manner by re-classifying a nnxnbex* of articles, remitting the duties on others, and changing cex-taiu ad valorem duties (especially those on boots and - shoes) into fixed duties. He deals with ixn-. poi’ts valued at £1,000,000 per annum in this manner. - The changes involve a loss to the revenue, but the Treasurer partly recoups himself by raising the duty on -wine from 3s. to 4s. pex* gallon, and on sparkling wines from 3s. to 6s. The total expenditux-e for tho year is £4,480,000, and the revenue provides for this without the necessity for axxy direct taxation. Mr. Service was severe on the operation of the Langton scheme of keeping the public accounts, and the attack was evidently enjoyed by Sir James M’Gulloch, who has always been severe on this method. Mr. Langton x-eplied to the hon. gentleman with some warmth, hut there was practically no discussion on the Budget itself, the House rising very soon after Mr. Service had sat down. PUBLIC EXPENDITURE. The Treasux-er has laid before Pax-liament estimates of revenue, and also of the expenditure for school buildings, charitable institutions, and public works for the year ending 30th June, 1875, with statement of accounts for 1573-4, and 1874-5. They were circulated amongst hon. members whilst the Treasurer was making his Einancial Statement. The items of expenditux-e are the following^: — Buildings in connection with public education, £156,750 ; gharitable institutions, £120,000 ; public works, £381,080 ; making a gross total of £658,730. The estimated revenue for the year amounts to £4,259,135, and is made up as follows :—Customs, £1,765,000 ; excise and inland revenue, £101,500 ; territorial,, re venue, £878,000; public works, £1,009,625 ; ports and harbors, £21,000 ; post and telegraph offices, £204,000 ; fees, £105,000 ; fines, £12,500 ; miscellaneous, £162,510. progress op the colony, (From the Daily Telegraph.) The late census returns were unsatisfactory, showing, as we demonstrated, a falling-off in our able-bodied meix of the “ soldier’s age.” The “production” statistics for the present year are, on the contrax-y, satisfactory, showing that if we have fewer men in the land, they work harder. Thus, the progress made of late by agriculture, is illustrated by the fact that in 1864-5, we had 479,000 acres of land under cultivation, while now the area xmder crop is little short of a million acres, Mr. Hay ter returning the exact figures at 964,996 acres. Again, with manufactories. In 1864, w-e had 612 in existence, and now the number is 1451. It may be of interest to notice the employment now given by the gx*eat industries of the Colony:— Men. Women. Total. Agriculture .. 56,581 25,420 82.001 GolOmining .. 48,160 .. 48,169 Manufactures .. 17,690 3,861 21,467 Squatting .. 5,128 1,540 0,074 Agriculture takes an easy load as first in importance of our producing interests, and it maintains this in all directions. It might be thought that the squatters, with fewer hands at work than the farmers, -would have larger flocks and herds on their immense domains, but it is not so. The following table is unfair to the agricultural interest, because there are large tracts of purchased land under cultivation as farms in connection with squatting stations; but, as it stands, it speaks for itself : On Farms. On Stations. Horses .. .. 100,179 20,103 Cattle .. .. 722,653 101,230 Sheep .. .. 6,398,013 5,025,007 I’igS .. .. 155,143 5,193..

Totals .. 0,435,808 0,111,053 The various industries are placed in still stronger contrast by the return of machinery and improvements, the table standing thus : On Farms. On Stations. Manufactories. Machinery .. 1,402,400 98,001 3,217,124 Improvements 9,025,907 2,134,223 1,028,483 Totals .. 11,088,337 2,232,229 4,245,007 These figures and these contrasts speak for themselves. Looked steadily in the face, they show that our land policy may have its errors, and our manufacturing policy its serious mistakes, yet on the whole, the Colony has prospered under them ; that we have not been unsuccessful in our efforts to start the steamengine, and to speed the plough. NEW SOUTH WALES. A private letter from Noumea says that O’Ferrall has returned there from Tanna. All the Communists are to be returned to Bellisse Island. A man named Ireland has been found at Paddington with his throat cut. He is reported to be a wealthy miser. Mddle. Jenny Claus has appeared at the Victoria Theatre and received a perfect ovation. A man who practised medicine, but appears to have been a quack, iu Sydney, has been convicted of giving drugs to a young girl with an unlawful intent, and has betn sentenced to hard labor on the roads *for seven years. When the sentence was passed, a female wjio had been wa,tolling the case uttered a piercing • shriek, and was removed from the court. His Excellency sails on tho 7th lust, (to-day) for Fiji. A sum of £1785 was collected last night at a Catholic meeting in aid of tho Cathedral fund. Tho certificate of Captain Howard, of the brig Elion Morris, has boon suspended for three mouths, for neglect tending to the loss of his vessel. Tho remainder of tho crew of the wrecked French transport L’Hormito have been rescued from Wallis Island. Serious complications arose through the absence of the representative of the American Government here, there being no ono to validate documents going by the Californian mail, but the Governor relieved the difficulty by provisionally recognising Mr. J. H. Williams as commercial agent. It is expected that Mr. Adamson trill recommend a provisional consul to tho Governor. A groat fire has occurred at Newcastle. Gardiner’s draper’s shop and Wood Bros,’ wholesale grocers’ stores were burned to the ground. The loss is £20,000, but only insured for £OSOO in the Victoria office, and £3500 in the Liverpool, London, and Globe office. Tin to tho value of £323,905 has been exported hence since January 1. A Fiji paper says that Mr. G. A. Woods left Kaudavau for England per Mikado. Mdllo. Jeanne Rekol, who, it will be remembered, came to this country with Mdllc. Claus,

and appeared at several concerts in a selection of ballads and operatic selections with much success, returns in the Egmont to New Caledonia, where she has a more permanent engagement than any yet accepted by her. Mdlle. Bekel, when on her last professional tour in the island, was wooed and won by a young notary of good family, and equally good position and prospects, -and in every way un lon parti. M. Eckel accompanies his daughter to Noumea, but Mdlle. Claus remains, and will probably go to Victoria shortly. ;• QUEENSLAND. The latest official news from the Palmer states that the goldfield is prosperous, and it is fast extending in the direction of the Mitchell River. The Chinese are arriving in large numbers. Provisions are both scarce and dear. The blacks are very troublesome. They have speared several horses, and are driving in prospectors. Carriers from Cooktown to Palmer demand ,£IOO a ton, which the merchants decline to give, and offer ,£75. At a preliminary meeting of the Northern Steam Company, held at Rockhampton, an influential committee was appointed. Two small • steamers had been offered for charter, and it was proposed to employ them as cargo boats. The operations of the company are to be confined from Rockhampton northwards. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Eight deaths occurred on board the immigrant ship City of Adelaide through scarlet fever. The passengers have been landed. Those not taken by their friends will be quartered by the Government at various places. Measles are prevalent in Adelaide, and no less than 470 children are absent from the Model Schools in consequence. A motion has been earned in the Assembly for the exploration of Lake Eyre and the surrounding country. _ Dr, Schomburgk, the director of the Rotanic Gardens, has suocessfully'grown tussock grass, which is regarded as a most nutritious gross. The schooner Adelaide has been wrecked near Kingstown.' All hands Were saved except the mate. The “blue coats” are doing great damage amongst the crops in the south. A new wheat-cleaning machine, to clean from 500 to 800 bushels per day, was exhibited at the show. TASMANIA. Mr. Philip Thomas Smith offers £IOOO towards the establishment of a training school. A sailor belonging to the Mercury,_ of Melbourne, has been fined £2O for smuggling snuff. The first piece of woollen cloth manufactured here sold for £2 a yard. The total of the sale amounted to £*lS4O. ■ The weather is wet and stormy. The Legislative Council has rejected the Presbyterian Cithrch Bill. The Opposition in the Assembly made a stand against the Public, Works Scheme of the Government, but the' Government obtained a majority, and their position is considered safe. MB. GILES’S EXPLORATIONS IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA. A Baron Von Mueller has just received inforformation from Mr. Ernest Giles, the Victorian explorer, concerning his last important geographical enterprise. The journal and maps are likely to appear in priht very soon ; meanwhile the following data may be of interest. After discovering magnificent ranges far south of Mount Olga, where only desert was expected to exist, he found a lake about 100 miles south of Lake Amadeus; then continuing a western course permanentwater wasdiscovered inseveral places. Prom the last of these permanent waters he pushed west for about 190 miles, encountering then low ranges and creeks lined with eucalypti. Two of these watercourses were of some size. Prom the last (and not permanent) wateringpoint Mr. Giles carried water for storage forty miles, having no camels. At the local depot several shocks of earthquake occurred at the time, and the party was there three times attacked by the Natives. Only two thunder showers fell during the summer, one in November lasting about* half an hour, one in January, which was of about two hours’ duration. The state of our Australian Sahara under such circumstances few can imagine. After burying some tanks with water; Mr. Giles got away to new ranges, with many “ gorges and glens of running water,” a feature otherwise' almost unknown in, Central Australia, and most important, not merely for future pastoral pursuits, but also as early starting-places for explorers in every direction of the widely surrounding as yet utterly unknown country. Permanent sheets of surface water exist here also. A fine pass opens through these new ranges in long, 127 deg. 20mm, and lat. 24deg. 30min. Mr. Giles thinks that Lake Amadeus extends widely in this direction. The range itself stretches sixty miles west of the pass, but the permanent water ceases for the last twenty-five miles of the range in seasons of drought without storage, dams. Hence again deserts westward, which cannot be traversed without dromedaries or very extensive means for water carriage. In a preliminary excursion into the next desert Mr. Gibson lost himself and found a sad death. The party having been also attacked by the Natives in the last range, and water being only under the greatest dangers approachable in these mountain fortresses, Mr. Giles was compelled to retreat to the east, though more than half across to the west coast from the telegraph line, having then only two companions left. The Natives at all watered camps could' approacli under cover of rooks and scrub. Spears were repeatedly thrown by them, but none of the explorers were hurt. Another range was discovered on the backway, remarkable for consisting of high wall-like hills, so deeply broken at intervals as to allow large creeks, rising in lower hills to the south, to pass on their northern course through these higher mountains. These waters flow into Lake Amadeus, which thus is a most expansive receptacle for a num her of central Australian systems of water. Amidst all his tryjng difficulties, sad distresses, and imminent dangers, this brave man, also during his new exploring journey (twelve months away from the settlement), while the country was paralysed with drought, yet found it possible to collect a large number of plants, which, just arrived, prove that also in this respect his modest expedition has brought permanent gain to science.