INTERCOLONIAL. MELBOURNE, December 3£,

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 26

INTERCOLONIAL. MELBOURNE, December 3£,

In connection .with the 4 per cent, loan falling due in London in .April next, the Victorian Government states that it will borrow £1,500,000 from the local Savings Bank Commissioners for conversion putposes, and that t/he revenue and loan redemption funds will be used to pa^c off the remaining £500,000. A train proceeding to Geelong, when passing over a, level crossing, ran down a irap. The driver (William Palmer) and a daughter were killed, while three others of bis children, were more or less injured*.

The jury, by 11 to 1, found for the petitioner in the Wallace divorce case. A rule nisi was> granted, the co-respon-dent (Dr Strong) to^pay the petitioner's costs. ' ' j January 4. ' By the capsizing of a yacht in Port Phillip 'Bay two girls, named respectively Raisbeck and Williams, were , drowned. The other occupant of the boat, a youth named Slater, was rescued after swimming for a mile and a-half. . ■- ' ' j SYDNEY, December 28. | The General Post Office hajS such- a-( gigantic volume, of Christmas business that affairs, were chaotic .The delivery of postcards .number ing naif a 'million and weighing , 40001b was suspended, temporarily^ ■ i - *- 'December 30. 1 (Another surf fatality occurred at Newcastle, making the third in five days. , -- . . December 31 . Heavy snowstorms have occurred on the 'Alps, where two parties — one "from NewSouth Wales, the other from Victoria— were snowed up, but were rescued by relief parties. t / A number of horses have been* frozen to •death. | A case of plague has been discovered, , the victim being a girl employed at Darling Harbour. r < ' January 2. Mr Henry Price, a well-known business man in the suburb of Newtown, shot dead Mr Sullivan, a stooktaker. Price has assigned his estate for the benefit of his creditors, -on whose behalf Sullivan had been engaged to make an inventory of the stock. Price is believed to be insane. January 5. Two hundred-pounds' worth of jewellery which was stolen, from Anthony Hprdern's has been recovered, and four men have been arrested. . NEWCASTLE, December 31. < The steamer- Elsa, from 'Shanghai, has - been quarantined with supposed" caees^of r f - \ January 2. j | Captain Williams, the local manager of the Union Steam Ship Company, speaking the Newcastle regatta luncheon", complained of the coal-loading facilities at . this port not being sufficient, and that the harbour authorities were not keeping pace with the demands of the port's trade. He said that the Union Company would build larger vessels if the Government would help it to get its steamers in and out of the port with reasonable facility, but under the existing condition of things hJs company could not depend on obtaining the prompt coaling of its steamers at Newcastle. BRISBANE, January 4. News from the Solomon Islands states that Captain M'Kenzie, of the ketch Minota, went ashore "on the island of Malaita on November 15 to obtain recruits. The natives seized, pinioned, and tomahawked him before the eyes of ( his crew. The natives then looted the Minota, but did not molest any other members of her crew.