AUSTRALIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3148, 9 March 1872, Page 3

AUSTRALIA.

We extract the following items from the Melbourne papers to hand per Gothenburg :—

Mr Vogel was to have another interview with the Chief Secretary of Victoria on the morning of the 29th regarding the San Francisco mail service, but, the Argus is of opinion that unless he modified his. propositions very much his mission; would be a useless one. The Argus goes on to say :—" He asks this Colony to pay a subsidy of £25,000 per annum, whilst New Zealand herself, to whom the service is of the most value by far, w^uld then only pay £35,000. She would also be the terminus of the line, the Victorian service being only a branch, and carried on by intercolonial steamers, or in other words, Victoria, is asked to pay £25,000 for a mere branch service. What 'Mr Vogel asks £25,000 for, Mr Hall's Company offered to perform for £10,000,, and for £20,000 that Company offered to make Melbourne the terminus. We believe we are correct in stating that the Government will entertaiu no proposition that does not provide for the American steamers coming right through to Melbourne." :■.

Some splendid stone was obtained from the United Kingdom claim, Majorca, on the 26th inst. One piece of 71bs weight contained one pound weight of gold. The Cagli Opera Company had a very successful opening at Adelaide on the night of the26thult. •. '■ \'\ /.; ; ,

The largest fire that has occurred atlnglewood, Victoria, since the great conflagration in 1862, took place on the 24th \ilt., when the Empire State and Shamrock Hotels, and Messrs Reddick, Burnett, and Savage's stores, were destroyed.

The Ballarat Star mentions that "the most vivid flash of lightning that has been seen at Sinythesdale.perhaps for, years past was witnessed about 7 o'clock on Saturday evening, when the sky seemed to be sud^ graph master, who was entering his office at the time, describes the electric fluid as having flashed off the. instrument with a report like the sound of the discharge of fire-arms."

A man has been treated at Maryborough for snake-bite who was suffering from" too much brandy." The injection of, ammonia effected a perfect cure. There was a rush of thirfcy-two applicants for a situation of rate-collector at Geelong, worth not more than 10s per week, and-the list included men in the most varied stations of life.

The almost unprecedented feat of bowling ten wickets out of .eleven was performed by "Tommy Wills," on the Corio ground, while playing for his club against, the Si. Kilda. The total number of runs made from the above was 18, and the highest scorer made but 4. ,■■■■.,.,. ~'■.■■" .;.. ~ :, ; , :,• ..- ■

A perfume, quite the reverse of sweet, proceeding from a house in Mair street, Ballarat, induced the police to make a thorough investigation of the premises. It must be understood that a fire had occurred thtere, the work, it is believed, of an incendiary. Sub-Inspector Ryall, Sergeant . M'Gullaghy and Detective Eason were engaged in solving the mystery, and dug up the whole floor of the house, expecting to find some ! human relics. Late on in the afternoon they were rewarded for their exertions by discovering the malodorous remains of a cats

A solicitor in Melbourne has been committed to gaol for two days for interfering with a witness in a case in which lie was not engaged. . The Mayor recently summoned two of-the Woods Point Municipal Councillor for using threatening words in the Council Chamber,, and on the same day "His "Worship" was charged with using ofcscene language in'a public place. The Sydney papers give animated descriptions of the "hustings scenes" which are occurring hi the colony, One at Central Cumberland is mentioned as, "a perfect realisation of Tittlebat Titmouse's address, to the electors of Yatton, with Oily Gammon in the rear." After some uncomplimentary referencesso Mr Zion's; oratory, uttered "amidst roars .of laughter," one says, " Whilst all this exciting scene was going on, Mr Raphael, M.L.A., was att&e candidate's elbow, with his hand .to Ms month, prompting him what to cay, somewhat in this style:—'Tell them you'll give them cheap railways,' 'cheap clothing,' 'good roads,' &c. The concluding advice Wft» tendered, amidst shouts of 'no prompting,' ■■ shut up. or you'll spoil it alL 3" .. . James Gloster, a memnerof the firm of Dobinson and Gloster, of Seymour, reports that he was stuck up at Avenel on the moming of tlie 24th nit. at 4 o'clock. A man entered the waggon in which he was sleeping, and. presented a pistol at him. A struggle ensued, in the course of which Gloster succeeded in gaining possession of the pistol j but the scoundrel got off, leaving his hat behind hun. The pistol wai discovered to be unloaded. The same evening, whilst returning home, and when about six miles out of Seymour, Gloster was again stuck up, but msii by the same man. The fellow presented a, loaded gssa at his head, and ordered him to " bail up." He discharged the weapon, and the shot entered near the right collar-bone, but no serious damage was occasioned. This man also escaped. .';■... The sentence, -of a month's imprisonment passed upon Captain Collard for the loss of the Sussex, created a great sensation both in the court and the city. In the court the finish of th i judgment took the crowd of eager listeners, completely, by surprise. Members of the Steam Navigation and^the Pilot Boards gave evidence that they considered Captain Collard still, a. careful navigator, but the victim of a pardonable mistake, and Judge Barry dwelt at some length upon the fact that Captain Collard had been "severely smitten"- already. - The; Judge alluded also to his" option of inflicting a fine, and said that'imprisonment would ;fall with far greater' heaviness upon; Captain: CollarA fliau most men;- His Honour added that he was convinced a " criminal intention" could not be imputed to the defendant, and that any negligence on his part was not of an extreme character. After these remarks a nominal sentence was expected, and when

the words "imprisonment in Her Majesty's gaol for one calendar month" fell, there was a deep silence, only broken by the sobs of some agitated listener. Professor Halford has been kind enough to let us (Argus) have the following account of the two-headed snake to which reference was made as being on its way from LUydale to the professor :—" Each head was perfect in its own anatomy—muscles, bones, poison glands, and fangs. Each neck was perfect for about ten vertebrae, when they blended with the one body and tail of the snake. There were two gullets, two wind-; pipes, and two hearts, of which the right was the larger, as was the light head. The distribution of the blood vessels I have not yet traced. There were two intelligences belonging to one progressive apparatus, and the result -was very interesting to witness. The right head wishing to go one way and the left the other—as the neck vertebraet of each departed from the other at a very acute angle—the result was a simple onward movement of the common body. When a common danger threatened, then the left head twisted itself round under the, right one, so as to be in the same line, and then progression was tolerably quick." An adventurous night is thus related by the.Gipps Land Times:—"A boy named Cox, a few nights since, who was staying at his father's camp near Trarajong, where he was engaged fencing, left the camp to hmit opossums. After securing several, he returned to the camp, but hearing soon after his do<* uttering cries of distress, went to see what was the matter, and discovered four native dogs attacking the tame quadruped. Upon the boy's appearance, the wild dogs made a rush athim, and chased him back tothecamp-—one of them being so determined that it followed the lad up to. the camp fire, when it was knocked down with afire-brand by one of the men who was there at the time. The rest of the dogs were scared off. This did not end the boy's adventures, for on awaking in the tent next morning he found that a snake had quietly coiled itself in three folds around one of his legs. By his father's directions the boy kept quiet, and shaking his leg gently the reptile gradually uncoiled itself and was speedily rendered incapable of any further vagaries."