AUSTRALIAN.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 8425, 23 January 1896, Page 1

AUSTRALIAN.

Per Electric Telegraph—Copyright. Per Press Association. SILVER SMELTING. Sydney. January 22. ' There seems some probability of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company establishing smelting works at the old Port Waratah site on the Hunter river. KILLED BY LIGHTNING. The two Mitchell boys are not dead, though they are seriously injured. WRECK OF A COLLIER. The Aldingaran ashore in a dense fog. It is thought that she must have mistook the hearings. THE MARAORA. Arrived—Mararoa from Wellington. THE TASMANIA. Sailed —Tasmania, for Auckland, SWIMMING. At the championship swimming carnival on the Parramatta the only New Zealand competitor who gained a place was Allan, who was third in the diving championship of Australasia, won by Wylie of Sydney with 84 yards. THE WEATHER. 1 At Bourke to-day the thermometer was 120 in the shade. Two more deaths are recorded from heat. Some dynamite in a shed near Rich’s store exploded. The shed was wrecked, and the roof blown 100 feet in the air. A number of persons working in the vicinity were knocked off their feet, but none were seriously injured. The shock was immediately followed by a downpour of rain and fierce wind, which only lasted five minutes. A number of trees and buildings were damaged. The explosion is supposed to have been caused by the heat. At Brewarrina the thermometer registered 117 to-day, and it was 109 at midnight Several deaths have aken place.

LEAP FROM A TRAIN. Hobart. January 22. A sensational leap from the mail train running between Hobart and Launceston was made by a young girl named Brown, who was travelling in a compartment with one Davidson, a member of a firm of engineers. The girl fell asleep. Davidson alleges that he took a sip of a cough mixture containing peppermint and aniseed. The girl awoke and believed the smell to be that of chloroform, and tried to attract the attention of the passengers in the next compartment. Failing to do so she dropped from the window. The girl was found uninjured except for a few bruises. Davidson was taken into custoday, but it is generally believed that the girl is labouring under a hallucination. THE RABBIT PEST. Melbourne, January 22. In consequence of the alarming spread of rabbits complaints have been made of the ineffectual administration of the Destruction Act. The Government, therefore, appointed twenty inspectors who were dispensed with under the retrenchment scheme and sixty police officers, who are at present acting as inspectors, also pay a bonus as an inducement to give special attention to the destruction of the pest. The Minister of Lands is asking Parliament to vote £50,000 to be lent to the Shire,Councils at 3 per cent, for the purchase of wire netting to prevent the spread of rabbits. . THE ROTOMAHANA. Sailed—Rotomahana, for the Bluff.