INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 712, 21 July 1865, Page 3

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

((FBOJifRs DAI I/? TIMES CORRESPONDENT.), Melbourne, Bth July.

The precise date upon which it is intended to prorogue Parliament has not •"been indicated by the Victorian Govern-

:ment; but the other night the Chief Seciretary took occasion to state in the House 'that the Session would be brought to a ■close in about ten days, so that in all probability the prorogation will take place towards the end of next week. With the • ever-recurring tariff question still unsettled, however, it is impossible to say

•whether contingencies may not arise to -render the closing of the doors of the T Eouses of Parliament almost impossible at

so early a date. The tactics pursued by the Upper House for some weeks past — and especially during the last few days — have indicated that they intend to delay

as long as they can with any show of decency the passing of every measure of • importance submitted to them, in order to force the Ministry to send up their Tariff Bill. The Ministry, on the other band, are evidently bent upon keeping back

that measure till the latest possible mo-

ment previously to the prorogation. Under iihese circumstances the sta'e of the relations between the two Houses miy be easily conceived. Tn fact, the Upp-r House has been quite b-jside itself with ill-humor for the last week or two, and the ebullitions of temper which it has (ii played have been most undignified, and even cbildkh.

Hon. members of that body in their present mood would not agree to address the 'Queen upon the defence question —

would not pass the Mining Bill, or the

Public Loan Bill. One thing they are doing, however, and pretty efficiently too, and that i", seriously obstructing the work of legislation. It requires, I think, no extraordinary amount of political foresight to be able to predict with the utmost confidence that the machineiy of the Government of this colony c:\nnot go on

very much longer with two sets of wheels,

working for the most part in opposite directions ; the one e:uplo\ ed in law-making ami the other in n<run reducing the manufactured at tide o iU constituent elements. It appca'p, indeed, that some such ctiviction as thi- h i* at length fore d it-elf upon the minds of the law officer? of the present Ministry, for only last nhht Mr Higinbo'him, the Attorney General, went somewhat out ofhis way, while replying to a question upon another subject, to hint that it was inte'ideti to address the Imperial Government upon the sxi'oject of a change in the Constitutional Law of the colony, seeing that it would be mere wa-te of time and labor to deliberate upon a measure "brought for vat d for that purpose in the Assembly, which would certainly be unceremoniously rejects. d in another place. News has at length been received here respecting the missing mail steamer Bombay, which left this port with the English rod's in April, and had not been heard of at Gale when the Salselte left. It was suirnised that the missing ve^el had broken down, and been obliged to make for Mauritius, and the supposition turns out to have been correct. By telegram from Adelaide, received on Thursday night, we learn that the ship Doon had arrived from Mauritius with the intelligence that the Bombay- put in there on the 21st of May, having lost her screw four days after leaving King George's Sound on the homeward vojage. After being fitted with a new screw, she left Mauritius foe Aden on the 29 th May. An extensive robber}' of Victorian Government debentures, under verj' extraordinary circumstances, has been discovered to have taken place at the head offices of the Union Bank of Australia in this city. The stolen property consists of LIO,OOO worth of debentures, which about a year ago were deposited at the Bank in question by a gentleman residing at Hobart Town, the valuable documents being enclosed in a tin box, of which the owner retained the key. A few days ago this gentleman paid a visit to the Bank, and having occasion to open his tin box, the reader may judge what must have been his consternation at finding that the whole of the railway bonds had been abstracted. Inquiries were of course immediately instituted by the Bank, with a view to •obtaining some clue to the author of this "mysterious disappearance," and suspicion has fallen upon a former employe of the Bank, who, shortly after the date of the deposit of the box containing the now missing property, obtained leave of absence, and instead of returning to his post when his allotted holiday had expired, sent in his resignation. It is said that the bonds were actually disposed of in this city, and that the clever thief, who had managed to abstract them from their place of deposit, got safe off to America months and months ago. The wretthed criminal, Peter Dolselaere, convicted not long since, of having murdered a young woman named Catherine Sarah Jacobs, \n Lonsdale street, was executed within \he Melbourne gaol, on Thursday moraine; last. A petition in his behalf had been ligned by a few philan-

thropic individuals and forwarded to the Executive, but it was thought fit to allow the law to take its course. The culprit appeared to be quite resigned to his shocking fate, and he died almost without a struggle. The very same Melbourne morning papers which reported the particulars of the execution of the above mentioned criminal, supplied their readers with the details of the discovery of another horrible case of murder, the particulars of which are at present unknown. In this case the dead body of a native of Switzerland, named Henry Junod, has been found on Monday last, lying in a field at Sunbury, with the skull fractured and the brains protruding When found, the murdered man appeared to have been dead about two hours.

The entries for the next Champion Race, which is appointed to take place upon the Melbourne Course on next New Year's Day, were closed on Wednesday afternoon, the 6th inst. Twenty-eight hordes were entered, of which number, four are from New South Wales, and six from Tasmania. South Australia sends only one competitor Cor the championship, viz., a Fisherman colt called Smuggler. New Zealand will not be represi-nted in this great sporting event. The terms of the race are as follow : — A bonus of 1500 soys , added to a sweepstakes of 50 soys., each half forfeit. Distance three miles ; weight for age. The following is the list of entries: — Vtv W Town I*1 '* bL T irra^on, age-l Mr P J Keighnui's eh j> Ctfrvu», ;.g il 51 1 J 0 James's b h hb^r, a^ed Mr J Twit's o\i s ''"fiHeyran i, Pf;ed Mr J T.iit'i iir It V ,lv iteer note 1 Mr *Yin Bl br h P.* ie, n^\ Mr Ja-ues WiKon'd br in Musi.lora (J yrs Mr A. Thoiursoa's br tn 6 yr« Mr H Ins oi's eh in floss of Denim k, 0 yrs

i r 0 C Skanv.tt's br t* 0 X 5j rs

Mi- I -abc F-a<'» b h P et 5 -.rs Mr ]>i.vi l IC'snneJj'a c!i h niflnum^ 5 yrs Mr Won Field's brg Cdhn-l. 4 y;s Mr T Pt-a-s eh s tfon^ster. 4 >P3 Air P Dv v i-ipS cb. v: f.aucer, 4 jr~. MrP Dasvlin.;'* bi 1 f I laminutioo, 4 ) rs Mr Vl.'V I .' •) Yuil'e'- br f Vi<!tori;>, 4 j.-s 0 Mr John Cs'u's gr i Mira da 3\is .Vr Wtl<!o"k ti= no'n o'- nr c Djuid, 3 „r3 •■'v Joh "ie'd'- b f (Jora, 3ys M- ■' >-''Nh-r's br " 'in.lei* 3 yr? Vi- • F. .tn.-,-'- I) f Liny tl >r .t> 3 yis Al<" X n-li i* b f lit.'ost'ne, 3 yrs m. v/ Wild ji.s n* br c C msmodore, 3 y:s '-lr ' r hn T i .!,.-.-. hr f C ovc, 3 yrs Mr 0 '"' F.-ii"!-'- b- c Mna^ler, 3 ys jxT- v Dow!in»'> br c Fio'ie, 3 jrs ?-I. W C Yui'i .'s br c Oinrles \ibe" b, 3 ;ra