INTERCOLONIAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 23

INTERCOLONIAL.

MELBOURNE, July 7. The Melbourne University authorities have appointed Professor Marshall Mali to the Ormond Professorship of Music, rendered vacant by the death of Professor Peterson. July 8. - A party of rabbiters found a 20oz gold nugget in some old alluvial workings at Buninyong (near Ballarat), and subsequently an outcrop of payable quartz was discovered.

• The steamer Star of India has sent a wireless message stating that she sighted four large icebergs on Friday in latitude 47iideg south, and longitude 105 deg east, and that their position is dangerous to navigation.

A bag containing £IOOO in cash and nonnegotiable drafts and money orders has disappeared from a safe at the General Post Office. The bag was securely locked in the strong room on Monday evening, and was missed on Tuesday morning. The safe was not injured, which leads to the belief that the thieves used the proper keys. The authorities admit that the bag contained £550 A bolting train crashed into a sleeping van stationed at the dead end of Sydenham Station, seriously injuring three employees. The Bendigo passenger train was late, otherwise it would have met the runaway, and a terrible smash might have resulted. July 9. The latest dividend paid by the Amalgamated Zinc Company brings the total disbursed to half a million sterling, which is equal to the paid-up share capital in the company. , -July 10.

A commission representative of all the States (excepting Tasmania, which is not participating) has been appointed to re present Australia at the Panama Exhibition. Mr Alfred Deakin (an ex-Prime Minister) is president of the commission. There is an epidemic of daring daylight robberies in the city and suburbs. Scarcely a day passes without at least three depredations being reported. As all show a similarity in the methods adopted it points

to the fact that an organised gang is at work. Mr Caldwell, an engineer, has invented a new machine gun regulated to fire 1000 shots a minute. It can be handled by one man and taken apart in 15 seconds. It only has 84 pieces, as compared with the Maxim gun’s 1100. July ' 11. Ihe strike in the State shipbuilding yard continues. The unions have submitted modified demands, but the fact of a number of strikers having been replaced stands in the way of settlement. A fire at Service’s racing stables occurred under suspicious circumstances. The damage is estimated at £IOO3. A number of well-known horses were rescued with difficulty, but without damage. The Minister for External Affairs (Mr Glynn) states that an analysis of oil from Papua shows the oil deposits there to be equal in their more important features to those of Java and Sumatra, which are regarded as the best in the world. Experts believe that at 1000 ft deep the supplies will be sufficiently large to make the Papuan fields commerciallv successful. SYDNEY, July 7. A man named Robbins, who has surrendered himself to the police, states that he strangled seven persons at Port xu elbourne seven years ago. The Melbourne police have no record of the crime, and doubt the story. July 8. The coal exported from Newcastle in the last half-year was 2,307,998 tons, an increase of 326,328 tons. New Zealand took 325,045 tons, an increase of 28,000 tons over the previous half-year. The foreign export increased by 296,000 tons. Mr J. F. Archibald, founder of the Bulletin, has sold his interest in the journal to the other shareholders. July 9. The Liberal Conference decided that women should be eligible to sit in Parliament. July 10. Hitherto the White Star liners have terminated their voyages at Sydney. In future they will continue to Brisbane. It is estimated that the annual loss of sheep in New South Wales through the bad conditions of railway transit for stock totals 258,439 —equal to a value of £129,213. Mr Meek, collector in Papua for the Hon. Lionel Walter Rothschild’s museum, is visiting Sydney. Amongst prizes captured by him is the largest butterfly in the world, the Triodes Alexandre, which is llgin across its wings.' It is such a high flier that it has to be shot with a gun. He has also secured a crown pigeon, the size of a hen turkey, which lives on the ground. July 11. The Premier (Mr Holman) has definitely ■promised that the building of the North Shore bridge will be commenced next year, and that a special Act of Parliament will be passed to raise the necessary funds. Yesterday an order for maintenance was obtained by his wife against a man named Gale. He visited his mother-in-law’s house last night and shot his wife and his mother-in-law, wounding Mrs Gale critically. He then attempted to shoot his father-in-law. Gale has been arrested. July 12. Sir. R. C. Munro-Ferguson, Governorgeneral, and Lady Macro-Ferguson, are paying their first visit to Sydney. They we r e warmly welcomed, great crowds assembling at the station and in the streets. There were unusually large and enthusiastic attendances at the Twelfth of July celebrations. The speeches werfe chiefly condemnatory of the Roman Catholic education claims. The Home Piule issue was not prominent.' July 13. A witness before the Interstate Commission gave evidence that some time ago, when employed by a firm of piano renovators, the names of makers were removed and others substituted in several instances. The postal authorities have issued new regulations prohibiting ships from using their wireless installations while moored at any wharf in the territory of the Commonwealth.

Mr Holman (State Premier) has ordered that investigations he made with a view to utilising mountain rivers and streams for generating electrical supply for Sydney. It is alleged that unlimited power is running to waste. NEWCASTLE, July 10. The Department of Navigation has detained the tug Bulli. The Joan Craig will sail to-morrow, and the Karori will convoy her, BRISBANE, July 8. Sir Rupert Clarke, at the head of a Papuan expedition, reported on May 28 that ho had penetrated 500 miles up the Fly River. The natives were friendly, but shy, and game was plentiful. The prospectors so far had not discovered any traces of gold. R. Lindsay, who was convicted of the manslaughter of his wife, was to-day sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. PERTH, July 16. The Western Australian State revenue for the year ended June 30 was £5,205,343 —an increase of £608,704. The expenditure was £5,348,303 —an increase of £561,240, leaving a deficit of £142,960. The Commonwealth revenue derived from this State totalled £640,963 —an increase of £5352. HOBART, July 13. The Treasurer has decided, instead of imposing an extra penny on Tattersall’s tickets, to increase the percentage on the prize money, thereby securing £15,000 new revenue.