VICTORIA.

Colonist, Issue 95, 17 September 1858, Page 3

VICTORIA.

The Volcanoes ok Australia.—According to Mr. Bonwick, the calamities which occurred upon the shores of the Gulf of Naples, destroying Pompeii and Herculaneura, may be repeated in these colonies. Lecturing at Ballaarat, Mr. Bonwick said:—"The Volcanic tract of Victoria was the south and west; Mounts Elephant, Franklin, / Warrenheip, Buninyong, Warrions, Shad well, Nooart,v Rouse, Napier, Eeles, Eckersly, Porndon, and Tower Hill being the principal volcanic cones of the colony. These at present were all inactive; but as our; knowledge' of them went only 20 years back, and other .volcanoes, as Vesuvius, which was apparently extinct for 30 years—had been asleep for years—-and had: then burst" forth again, it was premature to assert that the volcanoes of Victoria were extinct. Lakes and Swamps also were craters of passive or extinct volcanoes, as Lakes Kellambate (salt), Terrary (fresh), and others, whose waters were sometimes 300 to 350 feet in depth, and whose margin was simply a bed of volcanic ash, wondrously fertile as a soil. Some of our volcanoes—as Mount Warrions—had been submarine, and thus the ashes by the action of the water became a soft rock, known to settlers as the wombat stone, because.the animals burrowed beneath it. Our granite mountains were volcanic, and comprised the Alps, Dandenong, Ovens, Ahakies, Broad-meadows, M'lvor, Tarrengower, Mount Alexander, Beck worth, Mount Emu, Mount Cole, and the Grampians.

In the Supreme Court, Melbourne, Marianne Slattery, the widow of Daniel Slattery, sued Mr. S. Henty for damages, for the loss of the life of her husband on account of the unskilfulness of defendant's! servants and mariners;, in the management of the steamship Lady Bird ; and on account of this carelessness she came in collision with the Champion steamer, and in consequence the plaintiff's husband came to his death by drowning, within twelve calendar months before the commencement of this action. The jury brought in a verdict for the plaintiff, with.damages JE.BOO. They apportioned the damages—.£293 6s. Bd. to the widow, and .£146 13s. 4d. to each of the children.

The imports during the first half of the current year into the port of Melbourne were of the value of £6,493,906, against £7,289,684 for the corresponding period of the previous year, while the exports being nearly equal in value, give the balance-of trade greatly in favor of the latter period. : ;

The River Murray Navigation Company lias been dissolved, and the vessels, barges, and appliances for carrying on the traffic have been divided amongst the proprietary. Messrs. Cadell, Turnbull, and Co., who lied the largest share in the undertaking, will continue to run on their own account the steamers Melbourne, Albury, and, we believe, the Lady Augusta, with the accompanying barges ; whilst Messrs. Younghusband and Co. have become sole owners of the Gundagai and appurtenances. The Melbourne is now actively engaged in the lower river, and this vessel is now passing in and out of the sea mouth four times a week, thus demonstrating the practicability of navigating the channel, which, owing to the ill-fate of the Corio, was acquiring a bad name amongst the captains of river craft,

The return of Mr. William Nicholson, "the father of the .ballot," to Victoria, had been celebrated by an address to that gentleman, congratulating him on his ss»fe arrival. Mr. Nicholson, in reply, took occasion to allude to the great

interest manifested by several members of Parliament ia England upon the subject of the ballot. He said he had been honored by an interview with Lord John Russell, who, though frankly declaring himself adverse to the principle, admitted with equal frankness that he regarded its adoption as inevitable, and that at no very distant period. He had likewise had the pleasure of meeting with Baron Macaulay and Mr. Grote, both of whom manifested a lively interest in the working of the political institutions, as well as in the social, moral, and intellectual progress of Victoria. Mr. Nicholson announced his willingness again to enter upon public life if his fellow-colonists demanded his services. .

We copy the following paragraph concerning an atrocious murder and burning of the body, from the Bendigo Advertiser ; —Late yesterday (Thursday) afternoon information was forwarded to the police authorities in Sandhurst that some human remains had been found on the 30th ultimo by a shepherd in the employ of Miy Cooper. It seemed that the shepherd, while he was following his flock, came upon the remains, around which a large fire had evidently been lighted, clearly for the purpose of destroying all traces of the feaiful crime. The greater part of the body had been consumed, as of course were also the clothes. The skull, however; and certain other portions of the skeleton still remained, with sufficient of the clothes to allow of identification...'.: In-the skull appeared two distinct marks of fearful violence, the-ap-pearance presented being as if the deceased had beet struck on tlia forehead by an axe or some other sharp instrument. The wounds must have penetrated the brain,, and are fully sufficient to account for death. That a most brutal murder has been committed seems evident, as does also "an attempt to destroy all traces ofthe crima by the destruction of the body. The, clothes that hare escaped the action of the fire, it is believed, can be recognised, and it is almost certain are those of the unfortunate man, Martin Loemann, about whose sudden disappearance a considerable excitement was occasioned some two months since.: It may be recollected that he and a mate of his, one Yon See, left Pegleg Gully to look fora strayed horse, which was supposed to have gone somewhere in the direction ii which the body was found, Since this Leomann has never been seen, and a grave charge now hangs over his mate Yon See, which must, if the surmise prove correct as to the identicy of the body" with that of Leomann, be soorr proved, or otherwise. It only now. remains for the authorities to institute such a searching investigation as shall, if possible, lead to this inhuman crime being brought home to its perpetrators. We are informed "that an inquest will be held on the remains as soon as they can be removed to Sandhurst.

The Geelong correspondent of the Argus relates the following extraordinary, tale:—"One of the most extraordinary occurrences ever recorded has occurred in the Western District lately, and will provide abundant room for discussion by the medical profession. The statement aeems so .far incredible that it will likely be doubted by 99 out of every 100 who hear it. I cannot vouch for its being a fact, but from the reliable source whence I derived the information, I must say all doubts as to its being so are removed from my mind. Four months ago, a married woman, residing on the station of Mr James Bell, near Colac, was confined of a son, the child being at maturity, and both of them ■were doing well. Within the last fortnight the same mother was confined of a healthy "female child,'also-apparently at maturity.; and she, the mother, and the elder ; brother, were all doing well at the date of the letter. So strange and almost miraculous an occurrence has induced some gentlemen to seek further information, and Dr. Carstairs has been applied to to gather all-particulars." . .

A spleudid specimen of the Iguana, or miniature, crocodile, was'lately shot by a gentleinau on the Loddon. The creature in question measured no less than, five feet nine inches in length, and on being opened the stomach was found to contain a full-sized opossum.

The health of the Rev. Thomas Binney had been greatly improved by his visit to Sydney aud Moreton Bay.

The Rabbi J'echiel Bechor Cohen, who was a passenger by the Alice Maude, from Calcutta, has arrived in Melbourne on a charitable mission. He has been deputed to make an appeal to the members of the Hebrew faith in Australia on behalf of the poor and destitute Jews of Jerusalem, who are represented as suffering extreme privation from the scarcity and consequent dearnesa of provisions, and from the prevalence of sickness. The Rabbi's mission is recognised, we understand, by the leading members of the Jewish faith in Melbourne.— Argus.

. The 'Argus says:—We are gratified to learn that Mr. Archer, the Assistant Registrar-Gene-ral of Victoria, has been elected a corresponding member of the Statistical Society of London, and received a special invitation to co-operate with a Congress of European Statists, which is to assemble in London, under the auspices of the President of the Board of Trade, in the course of. the ensuing year.