INTERCOLONIAL MELBOURNE, November 20.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 13

INTER COLONIAL MELBOURNE, November 20.

The Victorian Parliament meets from December 17 till Christmas to deal with pressing business. The House formally met, and adjourned to December 4, to permit of the re-election of Ministers. Mr Mathieson, Commissioner of Railways, has returned from a tour of America and England. He is confident tlie grain elevator system can be advantageously introduced into Victoria. He shortly furnishes the Government with a full report on the subject. It will cost £100,000 to 'build elevators capable of holding two million bushels. The Presbyterian General Assembly debated the New Hebrides question. Mr Balfour, a Legislative Councillor, stated that when recently in England he saw Mr Chamberlain on the subject, who admitted that the dual control,was.unsatisfactory. Mr Balfour agreed that dual control was better" than the possibility ofanother nation possessing the islands. Mr Chamberlain replied that , there was no idea at present of the French obtaining the group. The subject then 'dropped. - - The Government intend to increase the wages of navvies and casuals from 6s to 7s a day. November 22. ' The new Postmaster-general favours penny postage throughout Victoria. Mrs Wright has been acquitted of killing her husband. A rule nisi has been granted in the divorce suit Row v. Row, a husband's petition on the grounds of desertion. The respondent is the well-known actress Nellie Stewart. November 23. "At the Victorian Rifle Association meet- i ing the Queen's Prize was won by Corporal Carter, of Geelong, who made- "304 points. Sergeant-major Whitehead, of Bendigo, was' second with 299 points. After a lengthy sitting in private the Presbyterian Assembly decided to discuss Dr Rentoul's convenorship of the Public Questions Committee. ' __ Dr Rentoul vehemently protested against such & step, and resigned from, all tlie committees, with which he was^ connected. At a later 'stage Dr Marshall placed himself in the hands of the assembly, which practically means the withdrawal of his- resignation. , November 24. Mr Chamberlain lias cabled to the Lieutenant-governor that the Imperial Government have accepted a Pacific cable tender, but he does not mention the amount -or any details. November 25. The opening of the East Melbourne cycling track was marked by a series of accidents. Parsons and Green (the English crack) each broke an arm. Goodson dislocated an arm, and the fingers of a number of others were badly damaged. November 26. An important conference of representatives of steamship-owners and steamer associations, as a sequel to the recent maritime trouble in Sydney, has been opened. The conference is discussing the demands of seamen, firemen, and trimmers for an "increase of wages from £6 10s to £7 per month, with overtime rate of Is 6d per hour ; hours of labour in port, from 7to 5 p.m., with two hours for meals, and certain concessions in the matter of holidays. SYDNEY, November 20. • Arrived : Monowai. Her mails were in time to catch the Christmas English mail. November 21. At the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New South Wales the report submitted showed a net profit of £120,463, which, with the balance from last half, left £125,743 for distribution. A dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, was declared, and £26,743 carried forward. The chairman, in his speech, referred to the heavy fall in the prices of wool, though there was a growing impression that an ugward ten-

-lency was to be expected. The golf! »/&■ put of the colonies was well up to th< standard. November The Legislative Aseenibly had an all" night sitting over the Woman's Suffrage Bill, the second reading of which was carried by 52 to 20. The measure was successfully piloted through the committee stage. ' News from Noumea states that the local Pafli'arfiSnt "has 7-been asked by the French: Government — which is tantamount to a command— foj a vote of £80 a head, in. order to send: for sis months some Marisfc .priests, who have recently arrived, to the New Hebrides. The -Legislative Council has rejected theIndustrial.. 'Arbitration Bill by p majority of 15. -.Quotations '.from New Zealand's experiences figured largely' in the debate. Dr Maclau'rin quoted letters which he had received from Mr F. G. Ewington,- in which he declared that the act worked so muck mischief in New Zealand that it had been repeatedly amended. The law worked, vexatiously, and to the prejudice of trade. It was the symbol of a perpetual industrial war, and had been used as" an instrument, of political patronage to labour and of defiance to capital, whilst defeated parliamentary candidates were consoled with seats on the Conciliation Boards. He also quoted from the Auckland Herald, and the pronouncements of Mr J. MacGregor, of Dunedin, ex-ii.L.C. -~ Sir W. J. Lyne informed the House this morning that the Government would shortly discuss the position. BRISBANE, November. 22.' A conflict took place at the mouth of the Morehead River,' New Guinea, between the police and the notorious Tngeri head-N hunters. The police destroyed five canoes. Thirty Tugeri were drowned or killed. The Tugeri had previously raided a native village, and killed 15. The .punitive party had no casualties. November -26. A boy named Gault, who was attacked by plague, at Spring Hill three weeks since,, is the last case reported. PERTH, November 23. There has been a most severe fire at Seabrook, over 10,000 acres of grass being destroyed, and a large quantity of the crops damaged. It has been discovered that a certain. Major Pelly, who held a position under the Government geologist, is identical with. Gordon, alias Starlight, the bushranger. Gordon appropriated the family papers belonging to Pelly entrusted to his care, and has ' "since 'masqueraded as a military officer. •