INTERCOLONIAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3014, 20 December 1911, Page 26

INTERCOLONIAL.

MELBOURNE, December 15. The deferred press rate of lfd a word via Vancouver applies a&. from yesterday.

The census returns show that the population between the .ages of 5 and 15 years has decreased in 10 years by 8231, but that all other ages have increased. December 16. In the Assembly Mr Watt introduced a bill to amend the Savings Bank Aot. It provides for an extension of the powers of the Commissioners, so as to enable them to cope with the threatened Commonwealth competition. SYDNEY, December 12. Grill's stores at Tumut were totally destroyed by fire. The damage is estimated at * £13,500. The insurances total £II,BOO. The Admiral has been advised that the Drake will sail from Portsmouth on Monday to replace the Powerful. December 14. The beer-drinkers' strike at Broken Hill has ended, the publicans having reduced the price of pints from 6d to 4d. The present year's building operations in Sydney and suburbs will considerably ecHjye last year's record. By the end of ll.e year 6503 buildings will have been completed, of a value of over £3,500,000. Over 200,000,000 bricks will have been used. A "special report of the / ustralasian Motor Cab Company shows that the com - pany has lost £23,000. The chief reason assigned is the insufficiency of cabs running. It has been decided to transfer the°control of the company from London to Australia. A miner found a 24o:; nugget at Hargreaves. December 15. What is supposed to have been an attempt to wreck a train is reported from Muswellbrook (New South Wales). Five sleepers had been placed on the rails, •which the engine struck and dislodged. The train was not damaged. The Juteopolis has arrived in good condition. Her captain says it is not true, as reported by the Corinthic on her arrival in New Zealand, that the barque had lost a portion of her spars. December 17. The Zealandia has been quarantined owing to an outbreak of diphtheria. After coaling, the vessel will depart for New Zealand. December 18. From to day the interstate shipping fares and freights have been increased by 5 per cent, to cover the increased expenditure as a result ~of the recent improved wages and conditions which the Arbitration Court awarded to the seamen. At Beralba two_ little girls named Duncan were run down at a level crossing, and killed. Seventy of the Zealandia's immigrants have been quarantined. None of them is seriously ill. A record English Christmas mail has been received, comprising 315,000 letters. •ADELAIDE, December 13. In- the Legislative Assembly Mr Duncan, Deader of the Opposition, moved a vote of censure on the Government for not taking action to deal the breaches of ihe electoral law revealed in the report of the Electoral Committee. KALGOORLIE, December 14. A fire destroyed the New Zealand Wool- • len Company's works and three other premises, while it damaged several others. The damage,. which is about £IO,OOO, is covered by insurance. FRE MANTLE, December 12. The captain of the steamer Clan MacNaughton reports sighting the derelict which a trawler was unable to locate. December 18. Mr Havelock Wilson, general secretary of the British Federated Seamen's Union, is a passenger by the Orama. He is proceeding to Rotorua for his health. He will afterwards address meetings in Australia" PERTH, December 18. A heavily-laden passenger train collided with the tail of a goods, train, which overlapped the points. The overlapping portion and the passenger engine were smashed. Some of the passengers were badly shaken by the impact, but no one was seriously injured. BRISBANE, December 13. The chief officer of the Japanese mail steamer Shimyo Maru was shot dead as the result of an accidental ■ explosion of a gun which one of the crew was cleaning. The victim was a Japanese. HOBART, December 13. Thfl Mount Lyell works (Tasmania)

have resumed, but the supply of labour is very limited. December 15. A court case has commenced against two men, who are charged with stealing postal notes that were alleged to have been posted to an agent of Tattersall's. Consuelo, Duchess "of Manchester, being domiciled in England, the Crown is claiming estate duty on £400,000.