INTERCOLONIAL. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.

Otago Witness, Issue 2104, 21 June 1894, Page 36

INTERCOLONIAL. Press Association— By Telegraph— Copyright.

Melbourne, June 13.

The Government have received a cable message stating that the trade delegates who are travelling in the East have arrived at Hongkorg. They report that there is a good opening (or floor there, as freights have been reduced to 12s 6d per ton.

June 15.

The report of the Tariff Board has been presented to the Governor. The evidence taken by the board indicates a general feeling in favour of intercolonial freetrade, and the board suggest that an invitation be sent to the Government of each colony to join Victoria in establishing a customs union.

June 16

Sir J. B. Patterson says that Sir G. Dibb3'a unification proposal is a most important one, and deserves very careful consideration by the Cabinet tt the earliest opportunity.

The Victorian- Rifle Association have approved of a proposal to send a team of 11 men to the Bialfty meeting next year. A nugget weighing 570z was found in the unwosked part of a claim near Foster, while a load of stuff from the same place gave 9£oz. June 18. The Premier, Sir J. B. Patterson has communicated with the other colonies stating that if they concurred he would cab'e to Mr Henniker Heaton announcing that there was now no objection in the colonies to the estat lishment of an Imperial penny postage system between England and Australasia. He stated his belief that it would increase the amount of both private and commercial correspondence, and would not affect the revenue, as no reduction had been made here. The New Zealand and Taamanian Governments have concurred in the proposal, but the South Australian Government objected, and expressed their intention of adhering to the decision arrived at by the Wellington Postal Conference.

Jane 19.

The Treasurer, Mr Carter, has proposed a scheme for tbe conversion of the Victorian debt, amounting to £48.000,000, isto 3 per cent, intermediate {? interminable) consols. He rougMy estimates that &ix millions have already been given to the debentureholders to induce them to accept tbe 3 per cents. The net saving on tbe debt to be converted will be £286,000 per annum. Nothing can be done until the 3£ per^cents. reach par, which the Treasurer expects they will soon do.

Sydney, June 13.

The report of the benevolent authorities shows that the increase Cf poverty in the city daring last year was unprecedented. Tbe action taken by the Sydney Presbytery against the Rev. Mr M'lnnes, moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, for his views on the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, as expressed in bis address to the General Assembly, has fizzled out. The motion calling for a conference between the presbytery and the moderator waa withdrawn by the mover, who stated that, the misapprehension under which he labaured had been dispelled by the mo ierator.

The proprietors of the paper called Justice have been found guilty of criminal libel on

Mr Slattery (Minister for Justice). Dodds, Douglas, and Mason were sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, Dwyer to bix months, and M'Niven to one month.

June 14. The Hauroto, which left for Wellington yesterday, took L 50.000 in gold. The negotiations between the Dairy Expoct Association and the shipping companies have resulted in a deadlock. The latter are not agreeable to the limitation of the peri&d of contract to a year or to combine to refuse to carry the butter of any shipper who does not sign the contract before July 15.

M'Nevin, one of the proprietors of Justice, who was sentenced to a month for libel on Mr Slattery, has been released at the instance of the Minister himself as an act of mercy.

The equity suit M'Namara v. the Crown, claiming Ll3 000 damages to property through Government works, one of tbe longest suits since the Equity Act was pa3sed in 1880, lasted 27 days, and resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff for LIO.OOO and costs.

June 15.

The stud sheep sales, which open on July 2, will be tho largest ever held in Sydney, the entries being three tirnas greater than the average of the past, four years*.

The Sydney Morning Herald says that Sir G. R. Dibbs's unification fcbeme will never be anything moro than a dream. The whole scheme is a visionary one, and it would be a waste of time to criticise the details.

Tbe Daily Telegraph looks upon the scheme as the practical annexation of Victoria. Its two distinctive features are originality and audacity. It is original b-:cause no fedoratiooist other than Sir G. Dibbs would dream of confusing unification with federation; and audacious because of its proposal to sweep two colonies out of existence and create a new one.

Messrs Atkinson and Morris, promoters of the Mutual Freehold Distribution Society, were sentenced to twelve and nine months respectively f. r carrying on a fraudulent lottery.

A man calling himself Palmer (supposed to be an absconder named Bailey, from New Zealand) has been' arrested in Dubbo. He had recently lodged £980 in New Zealand Bai>k notes in the bank at Orange, and afterwards withdrew it in notes and gold and then went to Dubbo.

A deputation of women waited on the Premier to-day, and urged him to confer tbe franchise on their sex. The Premier said he was favourably inclined to this step, and promised it should be considt rad in Cabinet.

Jane 16.

Two men (Creed and Lemon) have been sentenced to two years' imprisonment for forging 4800 tram tickets.

June 17

Owing to the difficulty of obtaining leave of absence none of the University team will be included in tbe tour of the New South Wales football team through New Zealand.

Jane 18

A tragic sequel to a love affair happened in one of the streets of the city yesterday, when a woman named Esther Levi drew a knife on a man named Carley, and inflicted a deep gash in his throat. Curley had promised to marry the woman, bat afterwards discarded her. The wound is a severe one, and he is in a precarious condition. The steamer Settlai foundered in a cyclone near Rangoon. The chief officer and 22 of the crew are missing. The barque Freetrader, bound from the Thames to Warrnambool, pat in here last night short of provisions, consequent on her protracted passage. Bbisbane, June 13. Colonel Drury has been appointed commandant of the Queensland forces, in succestion to Major-general Owen. June 16. A convention has been entered into with Canada for the direot exchange of money orders, to come into force on July 1. June 18. • The Hon. Horace Tozer, Colonial Seoretary, addressing bis constituents, said he was certain that the public accounts for the year would almost balance. It was the intention of the Government to cut down the defence expenditure, and to appoint colonials to positions hitherto filled by Imperial officers. The Government expected ultimately to abolish black labour by multiplying small farms in the eugar-growing country. They intended to make loans from the savings banks to farmers at low rates of interest. He said that nothing had come of the land grant railways, and he believed that nothiDg would come, as the terms offered were not good enough to attract capitalists. The Government had determined not to place any more loans on the London market.

June 19.

The trial of. Lees and Camming for the murder of Mr M'Kay, bank manager at Barrab^, has began. Both men pleaded not guilty.

Adelaide, June 18.

Owing to a mutiny breaking out among the crew of the ship Ohittagong, bound from Bangkok to Callae, the roaster of the vessel was compelled to go off his course and pat into this port for police assistance. The crew are composed of British seamen. June 19.

The mutineers on board tho Bhip Chittagong seized the firearms, deposed the captain, and compelled the chief officer to navigate the ship to Australia. The captain is awaiting instructions from the owners. Perth, Jane 16.

The Premier has been returned unopposed, while three city electorates have returned new men opposed to the Government.

Hobabt, June 13. The Government propose to put a halfmillion loan on the market early next year. June 16

The young man Bryant, who shot h"s mother dead, has been committed to si lunatic asylum.

Jane 18. The Tasmanian Exhibition ope* a on November 15.

The house of a farmer at Waitaki South was broken into the other day in the absence of the proprietor, and a gold watch and a sum of money stolen. The police, from a description, arreßted a man at Hanopden on Thursday. The watch bad been told in Qamaru,