AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3253, 10 July 1872, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Incendiarism has been rife at Ballarat of late.

There'are now three operatioc6mpanie| in Australia: , ' " "

Echuca, with less than2ooo inhabitants, has 28 public-houses. Melbourne has now a Needlewomen's Co-operative Association. The Carandinis arc performing in Adelaide, with moderate success. A Japanese troupe is performing to crowded houses in Melbourne. ; A large hall is about to be added to the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute. Melbourne has lately offered the anoma^, lo'uHspectacle of a 'fish-market without fish'; A man, nnmed Cnuvley,- has just died in the Liverpool (2ST.S. \V.) Asylum, aged 10(1. ' The New South Wales Government have received six 18-ton guns from England. What is termed the "black leg disease" |is killing numbers of cattle in South Ausj tralia. 'Copper-mining is attracting great attention in South Australia and Now S,otith Wales. ' . , ' ,;,;■.,'" ..",. The Maryborough election., was characterised by more tliari usual rioting and robbery.

The Melbourne woollen mill, novr^m course of erection; will be firmheil in about five weeks. . , , Forty-four merino, rams wore, sold in Adelaide the other day at an, average of £27 10a each.

The roads in-the coxmtry districts of Victoria are described as in " a most atrocious state." Magnificent samples of quartz from the new reefs at Curragong have been exhibited in Sydney, -j *. , ■■ . • A rich silver mine is reported to have been discovered in the northern district of New South-Wales. .. ... •

Scarlatina, diphtheria,, and fever of a typhoid character,." are very/prevalent around Sandhurst just-now; • « ••• ' An ' Engineers" Association "has been formed at Sandhurst,'and more than 130 members have been enrolled. /"' f ' Adelaide has becri ajifiering^from a.opal famine. Hart's flour" null was obliged'&> atop operations for want ofrcoaL. " The Victorian Government are .about to receive two- calculating .machines from England for use in. the Treasury, . ~: , ,:

The yictoria. farmers are thia. season '* going in " largely for live fences. The Melbourne Corporation have imported a large steam-roller from Britain. The Age says that veterinary surgery is less adequately in Victoria than almost any other profession. The now Mining Exchange at Sandhurst, which will accommodate 2000 persons, lias been opened for business. A brutal fight took place at Stawell the other day, in which one of the principals had an eye knocked out of his head. The Rev. A. Robertson, of Melbourne, has commenced a series of Sunday evening lectures on il questions of the day." During ajate storm at Ilutherglen,,in the Murray district, houses were blown down "as if they were made of paper."

A prisoner confined in Parramatta gaol stabbed another .prisoner. The knife broke in the arm which received the blow

The idea of establishing a Ladies' Club in Melbourne is revived by the Telegraph, which strongly advocates the project. Heavy rains have fallen in tho Upper Murray district, just in time to save the sheep and cattle from dying for want of feed.

The Hoods in Tasmania have caused great damage. One account says that " desolation and rain abound in all directions."

The first naval, military, and volunteer ball given in Melbourne came off on June 28th, in the Town Hall. Fully 1300 persons were r resent.

A new life assurance office is abont; to be established in Melbourne, under the title of the Legal and General Life Assurance Society of Australasia. The South Atistraiian Legislature have passed a rcsoliitionjdirectdng the Government to supplement private subscriptions for building a blind asylum. 'I

I' A man named Barnes, who asserted [that he was the Messiah, has been sent by the Geelong magistrates to Yarra Bend, as a dangerous lunatic.

The weather in New South Wales has boon unseasonably wann,thethermometer standing at 70deg. in the shado. A large bush fire occurred near Richmond. The -Filibuster station, New England" .country, has been sold by auction with 17,000 sheep, at 14s per head, winch is the highest price given in New South '. Wales for years.

At a late meeting of the Melbourne Winegrowers' Association, some of the speakers stated that Victorian wines arc now finding a ready market, both in England and India. Some of tho youth of Stawell must bo lanythiug but orderly. On a late Sunday evening they managed to tie the handle of the door of the Primitive Methodist Church to a fence, and so keep in durance vile those .'.within the building. . The school inspectors who travel about the country (remarks the Daily Telegraph) are far more emphatic in favour of compulsory education than is tho report of the Board of Education itsulf. Their remarks have been gently toned down in the official document.

A. resident at Pleasant Creek has (says the Chronicle) latcerly become convinced of the truth of spiritism, and on Saturday night threatened the life of his wife because she failed to sec the philosophy in a similar light, and refused to give in her adherence to its doctrines. The fund for the foundation of a Perry scholarship at the Melbourne University is progressing very favourably. It is anticipated that a stun of £2000 can be raised for this purpose'an a testimonial of the esteem in which Bishop Perry is hold by all classes of the community. " Can no use be found for tho arsenic evolved fr m. pyrites in tho various furnaces of our 'quartz-crushing establishments. V asks the Ballarat Courier. "Many tons of solid arsenions acid are yearly taken out of the flues of the New North Chines Company's works, and privately buried." : The migration from South Australia northward has commenced. On June 22nd, a vessel left Adelaide with 57 passengers for Port Darwin, and it is understood tliat others are preparing to follow. A large run taken tip at Alice Springs, in the far North, is being stocked, and a -mining party is out prospecting. The Hotham people appear to be blessed in the possession of some, magistrates who halve queer ideas of their dv ties. A good etory was told at the Supreme Court at 'Melbourne recently of one who went to a man, .carrying the Justices of the Peace Act and a Bible with him. He swore the man, heard what he had to say, and I came away with the idea that he had !taken a " sworn information."

of the riftks'of thelAustrailaßian Insurance Company. It is estimated that when tho business is concluded, the shareholders in the life department of tho Australasian will have credited to them about 18s Gd per share, and the fire and marine shareholders about 7s Cd per share. In a leading article on Bishop Goold's Pastoral, the Daily Telegraph says :— " The Roman Catholic laity have never, as a body, objected in this Colony to their children attending schools where thoir religious tenets would not be interfered with. Bishop.{3oold,"-of course, is aware of this. In order to refresh his memory, however, we refer him to paragraph 105 of the report of the Board of Education for 1870, where it will be found/ stated that of 11,892 Roman Catholic children receiving education, only 6592 were attending Roman Catholic schools. The right the parents cherish is" that'of securing for their children the best possible education at any.school, where conscience is respected." The Leader, commenting on the same subject, says :—"Tho action of Bishop Gould* has settled the question of compulsory and secular education. The majority of independent and educated Catholics are now known to be in favour of such a system, and the ill-timed and impotent appeal of their Bishop wilbstrengthen the determination of tho Go-'* vernment and the .Parliament t«j remove this element of discord from the list of debateable questions once and for ever."

With regard to agricultural prospects in Victoria, the Age of 2f)th Juno reports :—"From the country we continue to rcceivo extremely favourable rejwrta on the appearance of crops nnd thy progress of all farm work. In even tho latest districts wheat-sowing is fast being brought to a close, and all early sown crops are reported as looking healthy and luxuriant. In the Wimmcra district farmers are still breaking up new ground. Feed is plentiful, and lambing progresses satisfactorily. In the Geelong district such is the vigorous and luxuriant growth of the early sown wheat crops that some farraeitj on.,the Barrabool llilia havo already turned mobs of sheep on t*> eat them down. This is a practice that has been hitherto too much neglected. If those farmers who adopt it will only be at the trouble to make n few notes relative to time of sowing, height of •crop, when the sheep were turned in to feed it down, and tho state of tho weather before iincl after, when tho harvett comes round they will bo able to furnish valuable information, especially if there be a crop in tho neighbourhood with which, a comparison may be instituted.. From all parts of theconntry accounts of the season and'its influence on growing crops are of the most favourable character, and already farmers are beginning to indulge the hope of a prosperous year."

A, rather good story conies from one of the Victorian goldfields." A German dig* gor, who had the good fortune to be on the reef, wandoreu into a newly opened music emporium with the intention of patronieing the establishment, but evidently uncertain in what way to invest his anperfluous cash. After a whispered consultafckm between the proprietor and his assistant, a large drum was produced, and tho Waclit am Rhein played on powerful harmonium with drum acconipaniment. The effect was grand, and after having the inspiriting performance repeated, the enthusiastic foreigner showed his patriotism by purchasing the drum. . Speaking of the nowly projected Londou and Australian Steam Navigation Company, the Age says':—" Irrespeethe of any allowance" for subsidies or increase of traffic from the snporior'facilities ailbrded, the profit is estimated at 15 per cent. ' The company hfc).Ycpn.ade applicaiion for a subsidy to. the 'Victorian ,6overnmeut, and »'c are informed that this application has been in Mr Dnff^sHands, for the last two months ; but what actfon, if any, has been taken on it we'arc not informed. We understand/however, that the share list had, prior to the>de,partTire of the May mail, closed ins London, arttl that the success of the company, .now depends on the result of tho a|ip]icafion." Mr Derrington, one oE^the members tho Sontli AvsMi^^BsomWy, hfw given notice that lie will move.-forithe insertion of a clause in 'the Licensed Victuallers Bill, which isnow, before the.ssse'inbly, the object" of the clause beingjiwabolislx barmaids as an institution. Whetlitr.Mr Derrington would siibsirve ahy'gnod pur- , pose by getting'his clause; pasaeiL ft (the A«e says) very doubtful. Barmaids md : bar frequenters,would strongly oppose the abplition, and while bars' are anJnsiitiw tion, barmaids*are far preferable on 'every score to barmen. Not half so n^ucKf pn>fiinity and loojso talk how dikes'YplacV Sn the presence of our ba-maids as \voxild be heai'd if a barman were the' dis^cn'ser the liquors retailed. - ■~ /, ■■ The meeting of the shareholders "of the Australasian Fire atfd Mo 'Insurance Company was held■ in Melbonrno on June 21st. but the press was not adihiUed. We (Age) learn, howeveri that a resolutibn was arrived at te tho effect/tb#tr# the directors of the company could legally effect tlie sale'of the-business to .the Alliance Company, they were.now empowered, to do flo. > The terms;, ir&attinformed, -mre definitely ~set^fprth* *£40,000 for the life Tmfiiness;'dnd.£22;ooo for the fire and marine. , Thi» pum will be paid over to the- Alliance Company; t whett*,they afiname^all the 'respoiiljibilily- •:, -~,'V

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