AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 795, 29 October 1878, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

.':tt: .:■.-■'•■■ S, AT THE BLUFF.) I Melbourne, October 23. It is thought that there is a strong probability that the Marquis of Normanby will be the new Governor of Victoria. It is considered more than likely that Sir Hercules Robinson will go to the Cape, and Sir Bartle Frere will be moved on to Madras. It is understood that Lord Normanby would have much preferred Sydney, and that he was not particularly anxious for the appointment to Victoria. Both Houses have appointed Committees of three to confer on the Reform Bill, but no one is very sanguine of any result being gained. The members appointed are : For the Council, Sir Charles Sladen, Dr. Hearn, and Mr. R. Sanderson ; and for the Assembly, Mr. Berry, Sir Brian O'Loughlen, and Professor Pearson, all holding extreme views on one side and the other. All parties are seemingly agreed that some arrangements should be arrived at by which the question can be settled amongst ourselves, instead of referring it Home. The Education question is causing some little stir, owing principally to the exertions of the Roman Catholics to obtain separate grants for their schools. The Minister for Education in passing the Estimates in the House last week, said that the Catholic clergy were responsible for the whole of the agitation, and that the Catholic laity were quite satisfied with the working of the present Act, if they were let alone, and not continuously stirred up to action by the clergy. The debate so far has been well sustained. The Government expect to close the session shortly, and there are already signs of the approaching end. It seems~as if the Government intend a policy of isolation in this Colony, so far as the mail service is concerned, and that tenders will be accepted for a direct service between Melbourne and England. Three of the defendants in the Embracey case of attempting to influence Prior have been sent for trial. The fourth defendant, Mann, was discharged, there being no evidence against him. A company is in course of construction, with a capital of L 20,000, for the establishment of coffee taverns in the metropolis and suburbs. John S. Denny, Secretary of the North Victoria Building Society, has been absent ten days. His whereabouts are not yet discovered. His defalcations so far amount to LI7OO, and lie has apparently added the crime of forgery to that of embezzlement- .. Alexander Stevenson, of tlip "\: ul 0 J Stevenson and Elliott, coar-h '. ja il c l e rs, was much 'Tiii.iui'eu: hi a * hre which destroyed his residence, and died from the effects of the injuries received. A dispute between the contractors for the Eastern Market and the bricklayers, over the Saturday half-holiday remains unsettled, and the men remain on strike. Business is better. Very little is doing on the races. For the Cup, betting is dull.