INTERCOLONIAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2507, 9 April 1902, Page 18

INTERCOLONIAL.

MELBOURNE, Apiil 2. Tlie Gabo U not yet floated. The passenger remain aboard. The Military Board are inquiring into some sensational incident's in connection with recent Saturday afternoon manoeuvres. 111-feeling, it is said, existed between sections of the infantry corps and the field artillery. Portion of the battery came into collision with the infantry, and the officer in charge of the inf a ntiy. ordered his men to fix. bayonets and to prevent the artillery from taking their ground. A horse attached to the batteiy was wounded before the charge was stopped. April 3. One of the crew of the Indradevi, which has arrived from New York, was found to he iuffeiina. from smalioos.

There were four cases during the voyage, all of a mild type. The vessel has been isolated. The Salami^ took 150,000 sovereigns to Capetown. The Tariff Committee have reimposed the duty on oysters of 2s per hundredweight, and reduced the duty on dates to Id, and on groats to £«.. per pound. Sausage casings have been made free. Sir W. McMillan's proposal to ] lace bananas on the free list was negatived. Sir G. Turner, however, agreed to recommit the item in order to discuss a proposed duty of (Jd per pound. Sir E. N. Braddon moved the adjournment of the Federal House as a protest against the action of the Government stopping the delivery of letters to Tattersall. He contended that the action was unconstitutional. The Government should have adopted Mr Lewis's proposal to waifc till the High Court was established and decided if he had the right to intercept letters. Apart from the question whether Tattersall's institution was worthy of encouragement, Tasmanians were united in demanding the right of appeal to the High Court to ascertain what the State rights, wore. Mr Barton explained that under the Constitution where the State and Commonwealth laws were in conflict, the latter prevailed. If a poll were taken it would be found that the opinion of the Commonwealth was fchat traffic of this sort should not be favoured by the national' laws. Mr Reid favoured the enforcement of the Postal Act, but the Government had gone the wrong way to work. They should have established the High Court before taking action. The motion was negatived. April 4. The Tariff Committee have fixed tho duty on salt at Lss a ton. The Federal customs revenue for March was £721.000, being 091,000 above the estimate. April 5. Owing to the advance in the cost of breadstuff^ the price of the 41b loaf has been raised to 6d. Bishop Cooper has declined election to the Gippsland See. Mr Barton will return from th.Coronation via Japan. The JapanesJt Government have asked him to mceti them to discuss matteis of mutual interest to Australia and Japan. April 7. The body of a farmer named Forster, with his little daughter's body strapped to him, was found in a lake near Learmouth. SYDNEY, April 1. Various officials estimate tbo attend*

ance at the Royal Agricultural Show as high as 64,000— a record. Morten's Desmond won the Hi^h* Jump Cham- ! pionship, clearing 6ft 3in. J The revenue of the State for the nine months show.s an increase of £241,000 ( over the corresponding; period of last , year, while the increase in the balance of revenue collected by the Commonwealth and returned to the State is £1,404,000. April 3. The Immigration Restriction Act is responsible for the three Indian deserters from the P. and O. steamers receiving sentences of six weeks' imprisonment. In the bowling contents Victoria beat New South Wales two out of three games after an exciting nni=h. At a horse-breeders' conference to discuss the question of army remounts General Hutton presided and read si lengthy paper dealing with the breeding and export of horses. He said if Australia was not very careful she would find herself beateii in the race for fecuring a share of supplying horses to Great Britain. America and Canada were fast monopolising the trade, tie quoted experts to show that Australian horses were fast deteriorating, as the result of exporting the be-t mares and the want of due care in selection. Hi^> personal experience in South Africa was that the Australian horse was second to none when carefully and a fair price paid. The cob type was the most suitable. He favoured a tax on stallions and the establishment of a remount purchasing department for the Imperial and Indian Governments in a central 1 place in Australia, and the holding of horse fairs. April -a. Jumping at the -liow, Fitzgerald Bros.' Xewhaven and Mr Pritehard's Rcttler cleared 6ft oin, which is a record for the ground. An inter-Stato conference of master builders have strongly condemned the Government day-labour system. Tho Inter-Rtate Water Conservation Conference at Corowa have adopted a resolution urging the States to empower the Federal Government to establish stox'age reservoirs on the Upper Murray as an instalment of a comprehensive national scheme for the Riverina, Northern Victoria, and South Australia. The Horse-breeders' Conference have resolved that it is desh'able that immediate steps be taken to improve the breed of horses, and secure the establishment in New South Wales by the War Office and Indian Government of direct purchasing agencies. A representative association has been formed to carry out the resolution. April 5. The ship Ditton is being towed into Newcastle. She collided with the ship-, ■Port Crawford and Pcebleshire, the two former being seriously and the Peeblcehire considerably damaged. Seaman Eobbs, belonging to the Ditton, was .thrown from aloft and drowned. April 7. T.song Yao Lao, Chinese Consulgeneral at Singapore, has arrived here. He is commissioned by the Chinese Government to inauire into the commercial

relations between China and the Commonwealth . The seaman Hobbs was not drowned, but crushed to death by the foremast falling on the forecastle of the Ditton as a result of the collision with the ships Port Crawford and Peebleshire. ADELAIDE, April 1. James M'Donald fell off his bicycle and broke his leg. He lay for three days and nights foodlessand waterless. He i^ now recovering. BRISBANE, April 2. A rumoi'r, lacking confirmation, has been received that Mr Dalke, manager of the Carnarvon station, and Constable Doyle were shot whilst pursuing some men who last week stole a number of hordes from the Merivale station. Armed police have been "-ent to the scene of the supposed murders. A black tracker accompanying Doyle and Dalke saw them attempt to arrest a man. He heard the i-hooting. Cleared, obtained assistance, and returned. The party found Dalke's horse and saddle bloodstained, but no sign of the men. Nothing is definitely known. April 3. The men concerned in the sticking-up at Me7-ivi:le '•tation, <»üb-equent to the supposed shooting, were three brothers named Kenneth. It is <-uppo«ed that when the arrest of one of them wai attempted the others came to hi-» assistance. It is believed that Dalke is wounded, and either made a prisoner, or that Doyle has carried him whero he could obtain ivater. April 4 Tho body of a 14-year-old girl named Amedec wa«- found at Ithaca, a subi.rb of Brisbane, stabbed to death. At the inquest the evidence disclosed that the girl had been outraged before she was murdered. Apnl 5. The insurances in the Longreach fire include £0130 in the Ntw Zealand Company and £300 in the South British. The body of the girl Ainedee, who wab cuti-nged and then stabbed to death, wa-, found on. the ro.id'-idt'. She had ■gone an errand .in hour previously. There are sign*, of a fierce struggle, but no trace of the murderer. PERTH, April 7. There has been a rich find of gold at Pilbarra. A dozen men obtained 40005$ in a fortnight. The sentence of death passed on M"Kay, Cullen, and Campbell for murder has been commuted to imprisonment for life. [The three men were found guilty of the murder of a m?n named (Jray, in Hay stieet, Perth, on January (2 4 . Gray had been prc-viuu-ly threatened by accused, and was literally hammered and kicked to death in front of the Criterion Hotel ] It takes 60.000 gallons cf ta: p- r annum to keep the Christchurch =tiect3 and footpaths in proper order. The receipts of the Wanganui Municipal Opera House for this year ha\e reached £630, and the expenses ha\c amounted to £440. Ethel E. Tekj-ujin-, Barrister ai,d Soli;itor, Albert Building?. Princes street, Duiiedin | (o^pesite C.P.0.), han trust moneys to lend ai i approved security. — Advt