OCR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7223, 11 April 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

OCR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

(from odu own oohbespondknt,)

Meldouene, March 30,

The Iberia, one of the two steamers which Qarry the New South Waft* doiitingent, baa safely arrived at Aden, and lioa been ordered, to Huntda, where the troops are likely to' arrive ia time to'j in the British forces in following up Oainna Digma and pressing on to Barber, The Nnw'South Wales troops had an enjoyable 'voyage, and devoted a great deal of time to perfecting themselves in drill. Two men have had the misfortune to be invalided —Sergeant F. DraasGeid by breaking hia anklo, nnd Private Faring by an injury to bis spiue, The horses are reported to be in excellent condition. A correspondent on the Iberia writes: "During the voyage Surgeon major Williams and Surgeons tflanVille and Proudfoot bavo bewn busily engaged in instructing the Ambulance Corps in its duties, and a hfimoer of very instructive lectures have been delivered on medical and surgical matters. The officers in command of tha Signalling Corps have also been busily engaged instructing the men ia their duties, andclasseß have been formed for that piirpof^. Revolver and Bword drill has formed part of the daily rouDd of duty, and the ihfantry has been drilled on deck 'eaoli day the weather permitted, though, of course, such drill in a limited space is necessarily incomplete. Valises and kits have been the cause of much trouble, but taken as u whole the reßiilt of the drills has bsen fairly satisfactory, .though there is yet much room for improvement. Mr U. A. Sala hfts delivered two lectures in Melbourne) and has had a first-rate reception. He pomftSß'ss no great elocutionary power, but fifa matter is interesting, and he has a petuonality which is attractive in itself. In the city he has been greatly feted, privately. Tbe proprietors of the Argus gave him a dinner at the Grand Hotel, to which the members of their literary staff were invited; and the guest made a humorous and entertaining _ speech. Mr Sala accepted an invitation to dine with the members,of the Yorick Club last Saturday evening. This Club is the lefedrbfe literary association oJ the city", find numbers several hundred members', its ranks being largely recruited from all the professional classes. An excellent dinner was provided, and 70 gentlemen sat down to it. The Chairman (the editor of the Argus) had, unfortunately, to inaugurate the proceedings by reading a letter of apology for his absence from Mr hala, who ploaded indisposition. The entertainment was, therefore, in the nature of " Hamlet" without the Prince. A most enjoyable evening was nevertheless npent with songs, recitations, &c. No one, of course, knew the exact circuuistftßcea which kept Mr Sala away. On these occasions the real reason is genorally not the ona assigned. It is whispered about that Mr George Kignold (Mr Sala's agent), who has a personal grievance against the Yorick Club, induced tbe distinguished journalist to break his appointment. But this, of course, is mere gossip. , The corner-atone of a grand new Freemasons Hall has just been laid in Collins Btreot. The ceremony was performed with all I the hononra of the craft by Sir W. J. Clarke, District Grand Master of Vic toria under the three British Constitutions. There was a most imposing procession of the brethren in full regalia. There wore Beveral visitors of dibtinotion from Queensland, New South Wales, and Tasmania, In the afternoon Sir William Clarke entertained a large party at luncheon at the Masonic Club. In th« evening ho held a levee in the Town Hall, after which there was a banquet. The new hall, which baa » large room for concerts aud balls, will be opened in about a year'x time. A publican named Michael Walsh has been found guilty of manslaughter by a coroner's jury, and committed for trial. He was riding in a cab one evening with a woman named Maggie Smith and a Greek named Novaro— all three being strangers to each other. A dispute occurred between the cabman (Cox) and the woman about paym»nt of the fare. The passengers got out, and Novaro appeared to take the side of the woman. Walsh then attacked him, striking him violently and dashing him against a fence. Novaro then fell, and died shortly after being picked up by the police. It was shown at the inquest that the cause of death was heart disease, accelerated by the rough treatment the man received at the hands of Walsh. Tbe latter has been liberated on bail in two sureties of £50 and one of £100.

A great many people in Melbourne do not approve of the methods of the Salvation Army, but it is doing one upecial work which entitles it to the consideration of the general public. In addition to setting on foot a prison gate brigade for the reform of prisoners on their ditcharge from gaol, the organisation has Bet about tho difficult taßk of reclaiming the fallen sisterhood, The officers of the Army have been very successful in gathering unfortunate girls to their homes, where by humane and sympathetic treatment thyjj.

There are now 19 inmates at the Gore street Home, and 16 at. thelGeelong Home. All the caeen of special disease, 14 in number at present, have been moved to a third home in Fitzroy, which in in point of fact a small Lock Hospital, Premises for a new home, calculated to accommodate 70 or 80 girls, have been purchased in Richmond, at a total cost of £3000, including furnishing and fitting up. One thousand poundb must be found witbin a few weeks or the transfer cannot be effected. A special effort will therefore have to be made to raise the necessary funds. The soldiers and friends of the Army have contributed £450, and it is proposed to shortly hold a meeting in the Town Hall with the view of making an appeal to the general public. The organisation claims that'it has taken in hand an important philanthropic work, which could not be managed with the same measure of success by Government, and it is thought that in consideration of the benefits these homes confer upon the community at large, the general public should respond liberally to the appeal. The internal management of the Salvation Army seems to peculiarly fit it for this work. Girls readily go to tba officers, tell them their story, and auk for aid ; whoreas they would naturally shun a Government institution, or anything with which the police were suspected of being connected. According to the officers, some pitiful cases come before them at times, and they have in several instances been able to save desperate women from suicide. Owing «to squabbles among the local cricketers, the English Eleven have had the best of it in their matches. In their last match with the United Colonies, played on the ground of the Melbourne Club, the Englishmen won in one innings with 98 runs to spare. It will be seen from the following list of the Australian players that half-a-dozen of the foremost men were absent: Bannerman, Garrett, Giffen, Jones, Horan, Trumble, Walters, Jarvis, Spofforth, Bruce, and M'Shane. The Englishmen have won easily in three out of five of the international matches. They have also been very successful in their matches with the different Colonies, the latter having in no instance been represented by their best elevens. Mr Dalley, as was expected, has gained for his Government a strong vote in the Assembly, affirming the propriety of his conduct in despatching troops to the Saudan. The motion in favour of the adoption of the address was carried on a division by 64 votes to 23. Many members on both sides of the House admitted that the Government had acted in an unconstitutional manner, but they were not prepared to accept the amendment of Mr Clarke to strike out the words in the motion approving of the action of the Government, and to substitute others censuring them. The Legislative Council adopted the address after a brief discussion. The honour of the Colony was of course pledged in the matter. It was impossible to recall the troops from Aden, and it would have been ridiculous to have censured the Government for the course it pursued after the enthusiastic way in which public opinion had endorsed that course. At the same time there is a Btrong latent feeling in regard to the Government having taken part in a war out of which it could have kept bad it chosen. Mr Dalley's strong point in defending himself was that his action was sngacious in its audacity, and that it bad given New South Wales a place in the world's opinion which years of wise legislation and unheard-of prosperity could never have secured for her. The debate would have been more formidable against the Government had Sir Henry Parkoa been in Parliament. But that astute politician is only just now in the stage of an electoral contest. When he publicly renounced his final retirement from political life some months ago no one believed that be would keep to hia word. His object was simply to lie by till certain obstacles were cleared away. He is now endeavouring to imitate in a small way Mr Gladstone's Midlothian campaign. It is interesting to know that the Treasurer estimates the cost of the New South Wales contingent for 12 months at £264,000. The amount is more likely to be over than under that sum, and there is no guarantee that the troops will be back in a year. The abortion cases which occurred some time ago at Glebe and Petersham, New South Wales, have resulted in the conviction of the prisoners and the iofliotion of heavy sentences. Thomas Meredith Sheridan, chemist, was sentenced to 10 years' penal servitude for the Glebe case and 10 years for the Petersham case, five years of the latter sentence to be concurrent, thus making the term of imprisonment 15 years in all. Wm. Bell received a sentence of eight years' penal servitude, and Edward Dominic Bac was sentenced to five years' penal servitude.

Mr Justice Pring has died in Brisbane unexpectedly. He wao born in 1825, arrived in Sydney in 1853, and practised his profession in New South Wales for some years, He was appointed Crown prosecutor for the Northern Court at Brisbane in 1857, and became Attorney-general in the first Queensland Ministry. He bas held the position of Attorney general seven times altogether in various Ministries, and had a Beat in the Legislative Assembly for many years. Last year he was appointed second puisne judge of the Supreme Court, which position he occupied till the time of his death. It is announced that Mr Garriek, tbo Queensland Agentgeneral, will be Mr Pring'a successor.

The railway from Dimboola (Victoria) to the South Australian border, the construction of which is shortly to be entered upon, will take a direction almost due west from Dimboola, extending a distance of nearly iiS^ milßß. There will be 76 bridges on the line. The larepat is thai which will cro?s the Wiramera Rvar. It will have 150 openings of loft each.

The prospect of immediate war between Eugland and Russia has oaused a considerable flutter, muoek ths defeat fefroea in Malbourna. ■YtifeSay is Was nia'ctssd tijat tuetowera

two anspioiona-looking oraft off Capa Otway, and precautions are being taken to prevent any surprise by a foreign cruiaer. An extraordina>y Gasatle has bden iwmed by tbe Goyernmet.B ...u.iiuuift » iii'ociamation by the Governor forbid, liug aijy or foreign ahip from entering tbo Heads after Bunuet, and direct ng any intuicolonial vesaul bo. enteriug to anchor .iff Queenacliff for the night. Torpedoes are being placad in the channel to-diy, and all vossels are to be in bharge of pilots, who ajone are to be in tho secret of the whereabou'.a ol theae enginea of destruction. It is believed that tho Government are in possession of -peoial information as to tho movements of Rudsinn cruisers.