NEW SOUTH WALES.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 193, 26 August 1859, Page 3

NEW SOUTH WALES.

We have Sydney papers to the llth instant. The following items are from the Empire of the 6th. , Local politics have been rather dull. The, Soli-citor-General hag been entertained by his constituents at a banquet at Illawan a, when 110 gentlemen sat down to dinner. The guest of the evening took occasion to state moat emphatically that every possible precaution had been taken by the Government for the defence of the colony in the event of war. Mr. Charles Kemp, who was fifth on the list of eritdidates on the election of four members of East Sydney, has presented a petition, in which he claims to be returned, on the ground that Mr. Henry Parkes, the third candidate on the list, was, and still is, an uncertified insolvent. Mr. J. Morrice, the unsuccessful candidate in the late election for Camden, has been entertained at a public dinner by the constituency of Berrima. ■ Other public dinners are talked of, but the chief interest centres in that which is to be given to the Premier, the Hon. Charles Cowper, in the Prince of Wales Theatre, on the 17th of the present month. An impudent attempt has been made to rob i-he Joint Stock Bank at Wagga Wagga. The manager awoke in the night and found that one Henry O'Hara, a stockman and tailor, had effected *an entrance into the bank. He was seized before he, had time to rob, and has been committed for strial. •■'•'■ . - The'ketch Uncle Tom is lying stranded further to the northward, and there are no tidings of her •crew. The American vessel Mechanic, arrived at Newcastle 'from . reports the wreck of the American, whaler Caroline, on an unmarked •*e-ioal,Oand the loss Pf .the barque Virginia on Phcebe Mand. 'No loss of life in these case* is reported, excepting that of the chief officer of the Caroline, who was*drowned by the swamping of the boat when he left the wreck. A portion of;the crew of the Virginia were left on ■Phoebe Island. The seamen of both the wrecked •vessels suffered great hardships. •Mr. Lavenu, a musician of high repute in. the 'colonies, died very suddenly *on Monday last. He had come from Melbourne to Sydney to superintend the Musical at the University, and wai subsequently occupied as conductor of the operatic corps at the Prince of Wales Theatre. His zeal for •tiis professional advocations caused him to neglect a dangerous illness, and he died from inflammation of the bowels, in the 40th year of his age, leaving ra widow and six children to lament him. His funeral took place on Tuesday. The body was followed by forty or fifty carriages, and preceded by the Band ofthe Royal Artillery. At each ot the theatres a musical performance is to take place for the benefit *of the late Mr. Lavenu's family. v The body of Mr. John Shanahan, farmer, of Black Creek, has been found floating "in the Hunter River, near Maitland. He had been missing'since the 20th July, and the horse he usually rode was found about that time tied to a tree. In the case of the skeleton of a girl, found in a garden in the Hunter district, the coroners jury ■have not been able to arrive at any conclusion as to the identity of the remains, or the cause of death. Mrs. S. B. Shaw, wife of a settler at Tarlo, near Goulburn, has been drowned in a water-hole, from which she was attempting to carry some water, in consequence of the refusal of her servant to perform the task. The deceased was only 25 years of age. A Mrs. Norvemile, of Tirania, poisoned herself with strychnine, whilst laboring under mental •aberration, brought about by the combined influence of ill-health and the use of intoxicting drinks. She was found by her daughter lying on . the ground, screaming and writhing in the agonies ■of death. She was a married woman, S8 years -old^ and leaves three children. At Siioalhaven, a child thee yrars old, Hefonging to John Forsythe, has been accidentally burnt to death. Two daughters of a person named Bruce, residing near Carcoar, have been burnt to death in (he absence of .{heir parents, who found them lying, one on the floor, an 1 tin* other under a tree, on their re-urn. One child was 10, and the other 12 yeais old. Another child, three years and a half old, has Been burnt to death in the same locality. Mrs. Smith, the unfortunate young woman whose dress caught fire while sifting on her husband's knee, in their house in Sydney, is since dead. The husband appears^to have been ut'erly incompetent to render her any assistance, and the jury severely censured him. William Henry Major, a boy of 13, in the service of a baker in Drnitt-street, Sydney, was found lying in the yard when the servant went to call him from his bed. He died soon afterwards, and a surgical examination shewed that he was suffering from disease of the liver. In the Clarence District the dead body of a man named James Devlin, was found lying in the road, without any marks of violence. Some time back a shepherd named " Joe," formerly a soldier, was missing from the station where he was employed, on the Darling Downs. His remains have now been found in the bush— the head in one place, and the bones scattered about in others, the native dogs having devoured the body. From the Richmond River there is a lamentable catalogue. Endrich Vanderline, a Hanoverian, was found drowned in Cooper's Creek. Two boys of the respective ages of 12 and 16, sons of a widow named Walpole, were drowned in attempting to cross some bullocks at the North Creek. Mr. Grieves, a squatter on the South Richmond, is believed to have ben drowned in attempting to cross the falls at Casino. His horse was found grazing near, and his hat in the river. An old sawyer named Daniel Druitt has been found dead from the effects of drunkenness. At Goulburn Police Court, a fellow named Alexander Mackenzie has been sent to trial for the abduction of his wife's daughter by a former husband. This girl, only fourteen years old, he had previously seduced. The usual quarterly returns of all the Sydney banks have now been published. Tlieir gross liabilities are £6,419,400, and the gross assets, .£ Q,G89,226. Ofthe liabilities, £5,138,422 are deposits. ,£1,616,934 of the assets consists of coin and bullion, and £5,881,917 of notes and bills discounted, and other debts due to the banks. Mr. Charles Ormsby, late Superintendent of Cockatoo Island, has abandoned his.-long-pending action for libel against Mr. Henry Parkes, that gentleman having published an apology, and given up his authorities, who are to be proceeded against in his stead. It is reported on the Darling Downs that a stake of ,£SOO is to be made up for a race between the Downs horse Eclipse and a New England Btced called West Australian. The Rev. Dr. Lang has published a letter, in. which he strongly advocates the extension of Mr. Gisborne's proposed telegraphic line overland from the north coast to Fort Bourke, as a central position. -.-..■•. Captain White, of the Lady Grey, has been fined £100 by the Newcastle Bench, for attempting to evade the payment of duty upon a hundred weight of tobacco. A little transaction of a similar character was detected by Mr. Collyer, of the Customs, in Sydney Harbor. The ship Golden State had scarcely arrived from Hongkong, bringing 235 Chinese emigrants, when a Chinaman was found going over the side with two small boxes of opin 3 concealed on his person, and was instantly stopped by the officer. The incidentshews that.the vigilance of the Customs is not uncalled for. The Maitland papers give favorable reports of the prospect of the crops on the-Hunter River. A School of Arts has been opened in the distant township of Wagga Wagga, on the Miirrumbidgee, and a clever address, from the pen of the secretary, was delivered on the occasion. The Rev. A. M'Ewari^ Presbyterian clergyman at Mudgee, has been presented by. his congregation with a purse containing a hundred guineas. Mr. W. H. Benson has obtained the contract for constructing a second telegraph line from,

Sydney to Albury, on the New South Wales and Victoria borders. , The Sydney Municipal Council had, last Monday, under consideration a case in which a Corporation surveyor—a Mr. Poole—waa accused of speaking disparagingly of the Mayor, and was accordingly suspended by his Worship. It appeared that the offensive words were spoken in private society in the evening, and were reported by a contractor, who was supposed to have no great admiration for Mr. Poole's sharp supervision of his contract. The Council, without questioning tho act of the Mayor, restored Mr. Poole to office. A new paper, called the Hunter River News, has been started at East Maitland. Mr. Fallon has been elected Mayor of the Municipality of Albury. In the case of the Glebe Municipality, the boundaries have now been defined, and the first meeting ofthe electors is to take place on the 22nd of the present month.

The adjourned half-yearly meeting ofthe North Shore Steam Ferry Company was hel 1 yesterday at Mr. Brown's, Herd of Waterloo Inn, Windmillstreet, at three o'clock jn the afternoon. Mr. R. W- Moore occupied the chair, and explained that the first business was tiie election of directors and auditors. Mr. M'Cruiness, Mr. R. W. Moore, and Mr. G. A. Bell wfre re-elected directors, and Messrs. S. Watsonrand T. Ryan auditors. The accounts for the last half-year were then passed After some desultory conversation, in the course of which it was stated that the steamer was now laid up, and that it would cost ,£SO to repair her, and that the company , was in anything but a flourishing condition; it was agreed that the meeting should be adjourned for fourteen days, in order thata'ftill meeting of the shareholders might' express.their-opinion as to whether the concern should at once be wound up,.the results of the speculations not having realised the anticipation cf the companj*, owing to the boat not having met with a fair share of public patronage. A vote of thanks to the chairman, the directors, and the auditors concluded the proceedings, and the meeting separated.— Empire, August 9. A lecture, in connection with the Trinity Parochial Auxiliary to the Church Society, was delivered last night, in the parochial school-room, by Captain Scott. The room was well filled by a very select audience. The subject chosen by the lecturer for this occasion was Egypt. The address was of a descriptive character, highly instructive, and was rendered exceedingly amusing by the many anecdotes introduced into it. Captain Scott having concluded, a vote of thanks was moved by Mr. Stewart, seconded by Mr. Webb, and carried by acclamation, and the meeting separated.— lbid. We are sorry to learn that Captain Clymo, of Canoblas Copper Mines, met with a very severe accident on Sunday last. It appears that he was travelling in a dog-cart between Sydney and Parramatta, on his way to the mines, near Orange, of which he has been appointed manager, accompanied by his wife and son, on horseback. When about a mile past Homebush, his horse became restive and unmanageable, ran between a fence and a tree, by which the dog-cart got upset, and Captain Clymo thrown out with considerable violence. He was picked up and conveyed to the inn at Homebush, and medical assistance sent for, when it was discovered that his thigh was broken. The fracture was, however, skilfully reduced, but it will be a considerable time before he will be enabled to arrive at the scene of his future labors, where he was anxiously expected by those interested in the working of the mines.— lbid. Destructive Fire in Pitt-street, Sydney.— Yesterday evening, about a quarter-past 10 o'clock, a fire of an alarming nature broke out in Pittetreet, on the premises known as the property of the late Mrs. Terry, extending from the stores of Messrs. Samuels to Polack's Emporium. The origin of the fire we have been unable exactly to ascertain, but the particulars we have gleaned are as follows:—It appears that Constable Cook was the first to give the alarm, he having observed flames issuing from the back of Mr. Kearey's premises. Immediately afterwards Sergeant-Major Darley arrived on the ground with a body of mounted police; a body of foot police also arrived shortly afterwards. Then came successively the No. 2 Volunteer Fire Brigade engine, Mr. Bown's Insurance Company's two engines, and No. 1 of the Volunteer Fire Brigade. One of the Insurance engines, however, was the first to be brought into play. As usual, the man who had the key of the plug could not be found until after some considerable time. The fire continued to rage most furiously for a time, until the whole of the buildings occupied by the following parties were completely destroyed, viz.:—Mr. Kearey, ironmonger (partly insured); Madame Laroche, bonnet shop; and Mr. Dewrey, cabinet-maker; besides an empty house, and some coach-building premises at the rear. All the buildings were very old, and constructed principally of wood. The'r destruction, therefore, was but the work of a few minutes. Madame Laroche, we are informed, had a very narrow escape; she was in bed at the time the alarm of fire was given, and had to ru3h into the street in her night-dress. Too much praise cannot be given to a large number of the citizens, who assisted most willingly in saving much property, and in working at the engines. Mr. Inspector Black was remarkably active in his exertions. Some men of the Iris man-of-war also were particularly distinguishable in rendering much valuable aid., With the exception of Mr. Kearny's stock, we believe the whole of the property destroyed was uninsured.— Empire, August 8. The total earnings of the Great Southern Railway, for the week ending 6th August, 1859, amounted to £869 7s. 10d.~ and the total number of passengers carried to 5634. — Empire, August 10. The Redfern Mutual Improvement Association. —If the best of cakes, the choicest of biscuits, the most delicately cut bread and butter, excellent tea, and the most agreeable of young ladies to serve it Put, are the necessary elements to make a tea meeting successful, then was the one held at St. Paul's school-room last night, in connection with the above institution, a decided success; —for never on any occasion ofthe kind did we see tables provided or more agreeable ladies at the head of those tables. No social meeting of the sort could have passed off more pleasantly; all seemed to eijoy themselves thoroughly, all apparently went away with a feeling of the fullest satisfaction. The tea tables having been cleared, the Rev. A. Stephen, who occupied the chair, briefly explained the objects ofthe association, which are in fact "Mutual Itn-f i provement." Tlie Lord Bishop of Sydney then j addressed those present in a pleasing speech, arid was followed by the Rev. Joseph Beazley, who gave some excellent advice to young persons on the subject of reading. Two or three other gentlemen briefly addressed the meeting, and between each speech Mi*. Chizlett's class favored the company with some very good vocal music, and the business was concluded by singing the National Anthem. From what passed it appears that the society is in a flourishing condition, and only requires that persons having spare books will present them to the librarian, who is at present surrounded by very few works, that his office is almost a sinecure. The meeting did not break up till after ten o'okek, when the company -.•j.arated, after spending a most agreeable and pleasant evening.—lbid. Juvenile Missionary Society.—The third; annual meeting of the above society took place yesterday'evening, at the Temperance Flail, when there was a very-good a*tendance, comprising a considerable sprinkling of Jadios. One of the principle objects to be initiated at this meeting was the proposed establishment of a bush missionary. Mr. John Black, M.L.A., was voted into tbe chair, and in a few words explained the object for which the meeting had been called, namely,. the adoption of the report. He spoke of the noble exertions which the young lads forming this society had made during the last year to dis-. seminate the broad truths of Christianity without reference to sectarian views or prejudices. Tlie want of such a society had been long felt by the community, and the fact of its being composed almost entirely of juveniles, called for greater consideration and support, inasmuch as the individuals composing it had a longer period of labor before them than those who engaged during the years of manhood. — Empire, Aug. 10.