INTERCOLONIAL.

Southland Times, Issue 3302, 20 January 1879, Page 2

INTERCOLONIAL.

* The arrival of the Union Company's steamer Albion, at the Bluff, last evening, from Melbourne, has placed us in possession of our exchanges, from Avhieh we have made a feAv extracts of the more interesting news. VICTORIA. " Although this season no locusts have as yet found their way to this district," observes the Ararat Advertiser, " insect life is everyAvhere plentiful, and in some parts of the shire vast swarms of small broAvri beetles have made their presence most Unpleasantly felt. The beetles pass rapidly from place to place, visiting certain localities on particular days, and at times scarcely any can be found in' areas where a short time previously myriads were to be seen! Mr Elliot, of Mount Elliot, , who has carefully observed these beetles in seasons Avhen they have visited his neighborhood, informs us that to the ravages of these coleopterous insects, and not as is' generally supposed to disease, may be attributed- the wholesale destruction of the native trees on the plains. On certain days he noticed that the beetle congregated in myriads upon the trees, devouring the leaves and young shoots, and so vast were the swarms that, although: only :about the size of a French bean,' when' passing from one place to another they formed ; a dense cloud, which occupied some' time in flying by." ;..'• ' ;' ■' ; Twenty five returns, from as many farmers in the St. Arriand's district, place the yield of wheat at seven bushels to the acre. ; : The reports from the riist-infected wheat;] districts show the calamity to; be very serious. The scourge is to be seen frbmEchuca along ! the dividing range right up to Albury, and it is estimated that one-fourth of the wheat-pro-ducing area of the colony is destroyed. Many of the sufferers Avill certainly not be able to pay their rent this year. The Minister of Lands has intimated that he will deal with each individual case on its .own merits. The Chinese question corititiiies to agitate: the Victorians, public meetings being held to protest against Chinese immigration. ; A man named Dunigan was found drunk in Melbourne streets by the police. He had £300 in notes in his pockets. . ... : XX Yet another case of infanticide. The body of a neAvlyrborn female child Avas found in Yarra Park. It was assumed that the infant had, been deliberately, exposed. The Ovens and "Murray Advertiser, reportis a shocking case, of poisoning. Two Irc_€l children belonging to Mr J. BroAvn, a selector, while playing about went into an outhouse to play, and • found a paper of arsenic, which their father thought was out of the way of everyone. The children . commenced playing Avith and eating it, and by-and-bye they came in sick and vomiting. The parents could not tell what was the matter with the children, until at last they found that they had got at the poison. They .were at once conveyed irito Corowa for medical aid. " The eldest of them, a little girl about four or five years of age, recovered, but the other, -a fine little boy about two and a half years of age, was, not expected to recover. The marble statues of the Queen, the late Prince Consort, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, executed by the late Mr Summers, sculptor, to the order of the Hon. W. J. Clarke, M.L.C., were presented-'by that gentleman to the trustees of -the National- Gallery, in the presence of a * number of ladies and gentlemen. His Honor Sir Redmond Barry, chairman of the trustees, in accepting the donation expressed a strong opinion in favor of opening the National Gallery on Saturday afternoons; A very interesting sculling match has been arranged between Peter Sullivan, of Sydney and Robert Edwards, son of the well-known' boatbuilder, of Melbourne. The match is for £100 aside, Sullivan receiving £30 to pay his expenses in coming to Melbourne. The course will be over the champion scuUing course on the" Lower Yarra", and the match will be rowed about the time of the V.R.C. Autumn Race Meeting. Calif orniari salmon are thriving in Gipps Land Rivers. One weighing a quarter "of a pound was found in 'a sluice-box on the bank of the Nicholson River, and was at once returned to the river. The report that Kellys gang had. crossed the Murray "into New South Wales is contradicted. No news of the gang had been received in Melbourne for several days prior to the departure of the Albion. J - Destructive, husk flres have occurred at I

Barossa. Mr John- Murray, the sheep farmer, estimates his -ibss/at^OpO.