INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4243, 26 October 1874, Page 4

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

VICTOEIA. The tanners of Melbourne are now on strike for the introduction of the eight-hour system in their trade. Mr. A. Warren, Kanger of Bendigo State Forests, reports to the Bendiyo Independent that a peculiar species of caterpillar has mode its appearance in the district of Egerton, crossing near the head of Hound Creek and travelling westward. They literally cover the gum trees, and in an incredibly short space of time all traces of green leaves disappear before their voracious attacks. They then suspend themselves in clusters by long threads resembling silk, but our informant has not yet had an opportunity to watch their ulterior movements. For a space of about four miles by a quarter of a mile broad the trees have been completely denuded of their verdure. A shareholder in one of the co-operative companies in Scarsdale, who has only been married about two months, having (says the Courier) obtained a wife by means of a matrimonial advertisement, found on returning home from the night shift on Monday morning last that his wife had departed, without giving him any warning of her intention of doing so, and had taken with her his last fortnight’s dividend. The unfortunate Benedict states that his wife had not been satisfied with her position, and complained that the disparity of years between them was too great to allow the marriage to be a happy one. The husband appears to be quite resigned to his fate, and is so well satisfied with his brief experience of married life that he is content to remain single to the end of his days. His fellow workmen have shown their sympathy for him by hoisting the flags on the poppet-heads half mast high. The Ballarat correspondent of the Pleasant Creels News relates the following story : —“ By the last mail from England, a young woman, at present engaged as a domestic servant in the house of a well-known family, resident in the south ward of the city of Ballarat, received a somewhat official-looking letter, which for some moments she almost dreaded to open, so different did the missive appear to anything in the shape of letters Miss Bessie had ever received before. However, the letter did not turn out to be so dreadful after all, as it contained the very welcome, though startling, news that an old aunt of Bessie’s had just bidden farewell to this wicked world, and left behind her a good-sized bundle of 1 pomps and vanities,’ representing £25,000 of good and lawful money of the realm. To ‘ Bessie’ was bequeathed £20,000, and to that young lady’s ‘pa’and ‘ma’ the odd £SOOO. So much for facts. Now Miss Bessie is, I believe, a very estimable young person of nineteen years of age, and has been fortunate enough to engage herself to a lady who has taken great pains to improve her, and render her as happy as possible. The fortunate young woman has not, I learn, ‘ lost her head’ over the business, but intends doing just what she should do—to educate herself for a year or so with the best assistance possible, and then, when of age, to proceed home to enjoy the slice of luckbestowed upon her. The matter has created quite a flutter of excitement in the south ward, where the fortunate girl is well and favorably known to hosts of people." An application was made to His Honor Mr. Justice Barry, in chambers, on October 13, by Messrs. Lorimer, Marwood, and Home, for a writ of foreign attachment against Mr. James Guthrie, owner of the steamship Jeddah. The plaintiffs were, it appeared, endorsees of a bill of lading of thirty cases of merchandise which were shipped from Hongkong in the Jeddah. On the voyage the vessel took fire, and had to be scuttled, the cargo being thereby almost entirely destroyed, and the plaintiffs finding their goods perfectly useless, commenced proceedings by writ of foreign attachment on the Xlth September last to recover £450 16s. 6d., being their proportion of the estimated general average, an application for which had been previously unsuccessfully made to the agents of the vessel. After hearing arguments, His

Honor discharged the rule on the ground that it was not proved that any money was available for the discharging of such claims. The Melbourne wool sales for thd season of 1874-5 were opened on October 14 by Messrs. E. Goldsbrouglx and Co., at the warehouses, Bourke Street, when 3209 bales of tho new clip were offered for public competition. There was a large attendance of those interested in this important branch of Victorian trade, and judging from the spirit evidenced by buyers, the result will probably give hidicatiox.s as satisfactory to wool-growers as those obtained at the September sales held recently in London. A positive statement was made lately of the intended resignation of Mr. Cohen of his seat in the Cabinet, and in the Assembly. The report has no other foundation than the circumstance that Mr. Cohen contemplates retiring from public life at the earliest opportunity. It is Mr. Cohen’s intention to resume business as an auctioneer in connection with his son. The px-esumption is that there will be no change whatever in the Government until the recess. A bargeman named Irvine, in the eraplcy of Mr. James Mclntosh, Echuoa Saw-mills has accidentally lost his life. He had been engaged with three others at the capstan on board a barge which was snagged in tho Murray River. In endeavoring to extricate her, the strain on the x-ope became too heavy, and all hands let go, when one of the levers in the capstan revolving at gx'eat speed struck Irvine on the head, causing instant death. NEW SOUTH WALES. A respectable hotelkeeper in New South Wales, recently, at the ear-nest solicitations of his bettor half, sold his business and arrived by steamer in Sydney one day lately, and proceeded with his wife immediately on landing to a respectable lodging-house not far from the Domain. On reaching the house, the wife entex-ed, having in her hand a black leather bag containing a few hundred pounds, her husband waiting outside to pay his cab fare. This done, he too entered the house, and on inquiry for his “beloved one” found she had left quietly through the back gate, taking xvith her the bag of money. He waited patiently for her return, and she not putting in an appearance he caused inquiry to be made, but without success. Then, after some time, being convinced that she had left him, he gave information to the police, but, xxp to the present time, no clue has been obtained -as to hexwlxereaboxxts. It appeax-s the coxxple were marx-ied in England some two years ago, and shox-tly afterwax-ds came out to this colony. The missing lady is young and ■ rather prepossessing in appeax-ance. The past quartex-’s revenue amounted to £788,000, showing an increase of £14,700. The La Hogue has sailed for London with the first of the new wool. The survey of the railway to Albury is completed, and the Government intend to ask the Parliament next session to authorise the construction. The weather is very hot, and a death fx-om sunstroke is repox-ted. QUEENSLAND. Intelligence has been received that tho Rockhampton, with immigrants, was dismasted south of the Cape, and proceeded to Mauritius to refit. The immigrants were lodged at the soldiers’ barracks. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Captain Bowen’s certificate has been suspended for three months for stranding “die City of Adelaide, the disaster having been caused by an error of judgment on his part. McMeckan, Blackwood, and Co.’s tender for the Port Darwin monthly mail service lias been accepted. The first steamer will leave early in November. The Assembly sat until half-past one in the morning, and carried the Government scheme for the Murray Railway, but amending it by striking out the branch lines to Stratballyn and Mount Pleasant. Parliament has agreed to accept the steam sloop Rosario from the Admix-altyas a training ship. TASMANIA. A fire which occurred at Mr. T. K. Archer’s premises, at Deloraine, destroyed nearly everything, in consequence of the strong wind blowing at the time. At the Launceston. Police Court, on the fith inst., A. E. Bird, the pedestrian, was committed for trial on a charge of perjury. Bail was accepted in two sureties of £3O each. The Cornwall Chronicle states that Mr.Moton Moss has sworn another information charging W. W. White with larceny as a bailee in making away with a consignment of pepper and preserved salmon, and appi-opriatiug the proceeds to his own use. He has not gone to the expense of sending a detective officer to New Zealand; but he offers a x-eward of £SO for the apprehension of W. W. White. The warrant, accompanied by depositions and the offer of the £SO reward, will be forwarded to Lyttelton. But it is not at all clear that the missing W. W. White ever went on board <he Natal Queen. He has been traced to Bxis-bane-street, Hobarton; but there the trail has been lost, and the oldest Hobarton detective has failed to pick it up. CURIOSITIES FROM HOHOLUL CJ. (From the Sydney Maiming Herald.) Some very curious specimens of lava have been shown in Sydney from the celebrated volcano, Manna Loa, on the island of Hilo, near Honolulu. This volcano, it may not be generally known, is by far the largest in the world, rising to a height of about 14,006 ft. above the level of the sea, although the crater is situated at a considerably less altitude. This volcano has lately become quite an attraction to tourists, who are enabled to reach the island of Hilo by means of a steamer which plies regularly from Honolulu. A rough but exciting ride on horseback is the means by which tho mountain itself is arrived at, but tho wonders of nature then revealed amply repay the traveller for any trouble and pains he may have undergone. The crater and its constant eruptions have been . frequently described before in general terms, but it is stated that geologic and volcanic cux-iosities abound there in sufficient variety to occupy the lifetime of a savan. The specimens shown are masses of lava, which are forced up by some unseen agency through cracks and fissures in the ground, and instantly congeal or harden on exposure to the atmosphere, into the most fantastic shapes. Some of these jets take the form of a straight rod, often as much as five or six feet in length, which can be broken off ar d preserved in one piece. In other places where the underground pressure was weaker the lava has cooled into shapes resembling clusters of grapes ; in some cases, the drops have evidently assumed at first an oval or globular form, bxit the contraction caused by tho process of cooling has wrinkled the crust that had formed in tho first instance on the exterior, and thus caused the drops to present the exact appearance of a bunch of shrivelled fnxxt. Other specimens are apparently limestone crystals, resembling the stalactites of the Wombeyan caves in this colony. Perhaps the most curious of all tho specimens is a collection of what is known by the natives of the islands as “Pele’s hair,” Pel6 being in their mythology the goddess of fire. This substance consists of threads or filaments of glass, said to be blown by the winds from the surface of the sea of melted lava, and much resembling the fine spun glass produced by the glass-blower's wheel.