INTERCOLONIAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2714, 21 March 1906, Page 26

INTERCOLONIAL.

MELBOURNE, March 13A nugget of gold weighing 3350z has been found at Tarnagulla. March 15. Ercildoune. the late Sir Samuel Wilson's station, is to be acquired by private purchasers, assisted by the Land Purchase Board, for purposes of closer settlement. A fire at Woonona, on the south coast, destroyed two business places, a timber yard, and a sawmill. The township was at one time threatened with destruction, but a timely fall of rain saved it. The damage is about £3000. Despite all efforts to suppress it the fire in the Broken Hill Proprietary mine is slowly spreading, and the position is becoming serious. A girl has been found to be infected with plague. She resided near the place, where the last case occurred. March 16. A fire at Rutherglen destroyed two cottages. Two children named Wan-en were, burnt to death. A firm of harvester manufacturers of New I York has written Sir William Lyne askI ing what inducements would be held out to it to establish a factory in Victoria to manufacture its patent harvester. The machine in question can be sold in Australia for £50, and if manufactured locally the farmers could obtain it at even less cost. The firm believes that it could out -distance the International Harvester Company, which, it sa3'S, is making exorbitant profit 6. Tile owners of the patent are willing to allow the company to manufacture machines in Australia, on payment of a royalty of £1 per machine. Lieutenant-colonel Ballanger intends to resign the command of the Victorian artillery. He complains that he has held the artillery command for three years practically without guns. The department is in a. ridiculous position in regard to the new 18 pounders ordered from Europe. A number of gurs are on hand, but they are incomplete, and there is no ammunition for them. The continuance of the Vancouver mail service for another year has been decided 1 upon. The Commonwealth had the option of determining it next July, but Mr Deakitt has informed the Union Steam Ship Com* pany that it is not intended to do cc*. He states that the Government confidently relies on the company's efforts to assist ill developing trade relations between Australia and Canada, the main purpose for which the service exists, and upon which its future continuance depends. Questions arose, says Mr Dcakin, in the past re»

specting the carrying of cargo and the space to "which each State was entitled, and there had been _ instances in which cargo space was not available. This matter, however, had been pointed out to the company, -and bad been satisfactorily eettled. The matter of cool storage was also mentioned. This the company provide on two steamers, and will, if necessary, provide on a third. With these considerations satisfactorily agreed upon, the contract goes on for another year, at the end of which time it is hoped that the reliance the Government has placed upon the assistance of the company will bear good results, and that the service will prove to be commercially payable. The question whether a police constable is personally liable for his own acts or whether the Government which employs him is responsible was dealt with by the jHigh Court. The plaintiff obtained a ver-clict in the Lower Court of Tasmania against the Government for wrongful arrest, but the Full Court quashed the verdict. An appeal to the High Court confirmed the Full Court's decision. The High Court held that authority to arrest was not conferred upon the Government nor exercised on its behalf ; it was conferred on the constable as holder of a public office to which well-known duties a*nd responsibilities were attached. The arrest was made in the discharge of his duty as holder of the office of constable, and not by the direction or under the control of the Government. The relation of master and .servant between the constable and the Government could not be implied. March 19. George Lansell, of Bendigo, the Quartz King, is dead ; aged 83 years. SYDNEY, March 13. The Pycamus was about to leave for New Zealand and went out on an engineer's trial when the old trouble with her boiler tubes which delayed tli9 voyage from Home occurred. It is stated that the vessel just managed to carry sufficient steam to reach port. March 14. There is a serious outbreak of typhoid at Cobar. Sixty-seven cases have already occurred. The Board of Health attributes it to the neglect of the local authorities to carry out the sanitary arrangements laid down by the board during the outbreak of 1903.' The following is the result of the ballot j taken after the confirmatory meeting of the I 'A.M.P. Society: — In favour of the extension of the business to London and South , Africa, 114,056 ; against the extension, j 45,048. March 15, I The trial of the youth Quinlan for the j murder of Mrs Gregory, wife of a hotelkeeper in Western Australia, who was staying at the hotel where he was engaged as lift boy, has concluded. Quinlan was found guilty aud sentenced to death, with a recommendation to mercy ! on the ground of his youth. Dr Palmer stated that the wounds were inflicted by one in a frenzied condition rather than by one who desired to kill. j Quinlan gave evidence in an extraordinarily calm manner. He told how he had committed the murder without being in the least distressed. He had to pay for his brother's keep and clothe himself. He also paid a small instalment of his earnings to a money-lender from whom tis mother borrowed money. He stabbed Mrs Gregory as ehe rushed at him. He retreated all the time. When he first went to the room nothing was further from his mind than using the knife, which ■was in his pocket. The Government Pathologist said the boy "was decidedly abnormal. He had had him under observation in gaol. The boy did not appear to have any emotion of regret or fear. March I§, Mrs Dalley has been granted a decree nisi in her divorce action against William Dalley. The suit was the outcome of the recent action wherein the husband failed to ; secure a divorce from his wife. j The information against the Assyrian Malouf of being a prohibited immigrant was dismissed, the magistrate holding that the time in which the educational tests should have been applied had expired, j

i The retui'ii of imports of machinery into the Commonwealth during the last year shows that the importations were valued at £2,067,000. ' Of this amount £331,000 was for harvesters and agricultural implements. Three more cases of plague were reported to-day. The source of infection is similar to that of previous cases. March 17. Applications for the space allotted to New South Wales at the Christchurch Exhibition are coming in well. It is expected that the resources of the State will be well represented. March 18. A cleaner employed in the infected area is found to be suffering from plague. A cable has been received in Sydney reporting that the British steamer Agincourt, from Port Kembla to Hongkong with a cargo of 5700 tons of coal, struck on an uncharted lock, and became a total Wreck. The captain has avri-v ed at Yap, in the Caroline group. No mention is made of the crew or the locality of the disaster. March 19. Major-general Finn, in his annual report, says that much remains to be done before the military forces of the Commonwealth can he deemed efficient in the use of the rifle. He advocates more shooting under service conditions in place of fixed targets. The presumption is that the crew of the steamer Agincourt, which struck on an uncharted rock while between Port Kembla and Hongkong, are safe. The hearing of an action for alleged slander, in which the plaintiffs are W. and A. M'Arthur (Limited) and the defendant i 6 Sir William Lyne, M.L.A., Minister of Customs, was commen :ed today. The damages claimed are 55000. Senator Pulsford gave evidence as to hearing Sir William Lyne use the words comprising the alleged slander in the refreshment room of Parliament House before a number of members. He -wrote informing Sir William M'Millan, who telegraphed- a denial of the charge. Subsequently witness saw Sir William Lyne and informed him of Sir W. M'Millan's denial. Sir William Lyne replied, "Don't make any mistake about it, I can prove it." The report of the Navigation Commission recommends that preference be given to British ship-owners and producers conditionally on ships being manned by a substantial proportion of British citizens or carrying cargoes whereof a substantial proportion is of British manufacture cr origin. It suggests that as the matter affects the whole Empire the question should receive consideration at the next Imperial Shipping Conference, together with the desirability of uniform legislation extending to seamen the advantages of the various Workmen's Compensation Acts. The commission finds that British seamen are fast disappearing, and recommends as a remedy numerous drastic measures of reform, with a view to render- ; ing the conditions more attractive. These include giving 120 cubic feet of air space per man, better ventilation and lighting, hot and cold bathrooms in steamships for all hands, improved food, certificated cooks, seamen entitled to receive twothirds of the wages earned at any port where the vessel calls, the abolition of advance and allotment notes except where made in favour of relatives, and the abolition of imprisonment fox* desertion. Manning scales for vessels according to i tonnage are provided for officers, engineers, ! seamen, and firemen, and compulsory insurance for seamen. Among other recommendations is one that pilots, except pos- j sibly in Torres Strait, become public ; servants, liable to the extent of £100 for accidents due to their fault. The report urgea the Commonwealth to take over quarantining, lighthouses, etc. ; the coastal trade to be reserved for ships on the Aus- 1 tralian register or ships licensed as conforming to Australian conditions (mail steamers between Adelaide and Fremantle are exempted from this provision) ; total prohibition from the coastal trade of foreign subsidised ships j the establishment of an Australian Royal Naval Reserve on similar lines to that adopted by the British Admiralty and Board of Trade, modified to meet local conditions ; provision for nautical scholarships at various j

ports ; that it be made illegal to give rebates on freight when such rebates are conditional on the exclusion of shipping with certain vessels ; a doctor must be carried by vessels carrying 100 passengers or over where the voyage exceeds five days ; and more stringent inspection of surveying vessels. i The minority report deprecates the | stringency of the recommendations concerning the coastal trade, and believes it is outside the province of the commission to touch the question of preferential treatment to British shippers and producers. I At the annual meeting of the Mutual I Life Association of Australasia the satisfactory report presented was adopted. It showed new business amounting to £642,581. The invested funds have increased to £1,959,374. PERTH, March 13. I A case of 2^-ague is reported to have been discovered at Geraldt-on. j BRISBANE. MarcTi 13 Owing to the floods the towns of Longreach and Winton are surrounded with ■water. Supplies are running short. There are great floods at Barcaldine and Blackall. The latter town is 4ft under water in. the main street. Residents were rescued by boats. Twenty-six inches of vain have fallen during the past few weeks. The flood water is still rising. | March 14. The captain of the steamer Papuan was , fined £5 for his refusal to carry mails. March 15. Lord Chelmsford. Governor of Queensland, is suffering from a slight stroke brought on by mental overwork. His , medical advisers insist on three months' rest. News from Thursday Island reports that the steamer Warrego fell in with a small ketch 15 miles off the coast, near Cape Weera. Two starving Malays were aboard. The crew originally consisted of five men, but three died. The ketch was blown away fiom Bund a three monfhs ago. The men were supplied with rations from the steamer. March 16. A case of plague has been detected in the city. An application was made before the Chief Justice by Mrs Willis for probate of a will under which she is appointed trustee for her son in the matter of 20,000 acre 6 of land at Cunnamulla. The Chief Justice said the circumstances of the case were peculiar. Mrs Willis is the wife of W. N. Willis, concerned in the land transactions in New South Wales, and already holds three blocks of 20,000 acres adjoining the one she seeks to control tinder the will. The act limits the holding of grazing lands to 60,000 acres. The witnesses to the will are Hoskings and M'lfair, whose names also are well known. The Chief Justice held that the circumstances were so suspicious that he must udjouin the application for fuller investigation. HOBART, March 16. Robert Thomas Montague has been arrested on a warrant charging him with leaving New Zealand with property of his creditors. The superintendent of police produced a wire from the Sydney police to the effect that the New Zealand department was willing to place the defendant in their hands. The matter was adjourned pending further instructions from New Zealand.