AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Colonist, Volume XV, Issue 1496, 26 January 1872, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[IXTBAOTS PBOM IATI IXOSAKOM.]

Babe Ditidends fbojc Qo£D*xiNna Ciatms.— The Bendigo Independent has it on excellent authority that" the dividends from various claims in the Sandhunt district paid to one gentleman alone, amounted last year to the sum of £50,000, and had one been paid just inside instead of outside the old year, hit income from this source alone would have arerngedL £1000 per week Thb Littlb Hibo Chabui Smith.—Referring to the pluoky conduot ol the boy Charlie Smith, who so brarely plunged in to the rescue of his little brother, who was fast finding a watery grave in the Tarra, near Abbetsford, the Argna says : Hit Excellency the Governor forwarded by the last mail to England a recommendation that the medal of the Royal Humane Society be awarded the little hero; and we think that it will hare been leldom mort worthily bestowed. . JTh.e officers of the Treasury, with which departmtljt Mr. Smith is connected, also marked their appreciation of hit boy's conduct by yesterdry asking for the little fellow's presence al the office at 4 o'clock. They then presented him with an extremely pretty silver cup, bearing the following inscription :—" Presented to Charles Alfred Smith, atat 9, as a token of the admiration of his father's brother officers in the Treasury, Melbourne, for the courage and presence of mind shown by him in rescuing his baby brother from drowning in the Biver Yarra on the 13th December, 1871."

DIOBAMA 07 THB XiATI FbAYOO'GiBMAH WAB.— A diorama illustrative of the late Franco-German war is now being exhibited in Melbourne. The Argus says many of the scenes are admirably painted, and convey an excellent idea of some of the leading event! of the colossal struggle between the two great nations. This diorama being apparently a success it is highly probable that the proprietors will visit New Zealand, and we may have an opportunity of viewing a tomewhat faithful representation of the memorable event! connected with the war.

Dbtbbmikkd Antagonism to Vaccination:— "A rather singular defiance of the law, by an other* wise well-behaved subject, hat beea repeated at Meredith. A respectable tradesman of that town," state* the Oeelong Advertiser, " hia been already nine times before the Police Court for neglecting to vaccinate his child, and haa been fined in different •urn* amounting to £2 10s. His refusal to comply with the Public Health Act is based on the following grounds:—That vaccination is a violation of God's Commandments; that it is dangerous to the child's health; and lastly, that it isno preventative."

Rowdyism, or as it is termed larrikinism, seems to be much too preralent among certain portions of the rising generation of Melbourne, than if by any means pleasant to the peaceably disposed persons of that city. The Argus in a recent article comments warmly upon the annoyance these juvenile rowdies giro to the public, and strongly recommends the passing of a measure by which the authorities would be empowered to treat all who came within their reach to a sound flogging. "An instance," (says the Argus), "of the audacious impudence of the larrikins when they muster in force was afforded at the Richmond Court on the 4th January, when seven member* of this unruly class were brought up for intuiting behaviour. A number of respectable witnesses were examined, and from their statements it appeared that on Christ* mas morning, between 10 and 11 o'clock, a mob of young ruffians, between 30 and 40 in number, though some persons made it much higher, rushed down Simpson't-road shouting and yelling in the most frantic manner, and annoying every on* they had the courage to molest. Emboldened apparently by ths little resistance they encountered, they quickly went to greater lengths. Entering an hotel on the road they assaulted the barman, who attempted to resist them, and subsequently they rushed into a barber's shop and committed some mischief, one young miscreant coolly trying his skill at drop-kicking upon a box of day pipes. Of the seven of the moo who were captured, two ware indentified as ringleaders in the disturbance, and were sentenced to pay a fine of £10 each, or go to gaol for three months. Three of the others were each fined £5, or six weeks' imprisonment. A few days afterwards three girls were arrested tor the same oflfeoce ani each fined £3 or a month's imprisonment, and one of the constables stated that these and other young women were the principal cause of the boldness with which the young roughs carried on their operations, as they encouraged them in their bad behaviour. Two youths were fined £3, or a fortnights imprisonment each, for disorderly conduct. They had come from Richmond to Melbourne, in order to have a wider field in which to mUbebave. Inspector Kabat stated that it was a frequent occurrence foryouthsof this class to carry " shanghais," with which they pelted the police and any one who offended them. If any person in the neighborhood they might choose as a rendezvous remonstrated with them, they would immediately send a stone through the windows with one of these dangerous instruments. On 9 constable had been struck twice this way within the last week or so.

Gambling at thb Muaounni Raoi Meeting.— At the City Court, Melbourne, January 3rd, two men were tent to gaol for fourteen days each, for playing " under and over," with dice. Four others were alio arrested, bat set at liberty as their offence was not believed to come within the meaning of the act. They had had a slanting table, upon which were fixed miniature gates and pegs, sad a doien small wooden balls, whicb, being released at the upper end, went helter-skelter down the the board, overcoming the little obstaolea, steeplechase fashion. The ball which first reached the bottom was the winner; and th« speculator who held a ticket the number of which corresponded with the number on the ball, received the prize, consisting generally of 9s. The tablekeeper will not start until he has sold a dozen shilling tickets, so that in anj case he makes 3s. every game. It was stated that the investors oould be cheated in this game by the table-keeper baring a ball heavier than the rest, which he would get to the bottom first. He would give the ticket corresponding to this ball to a confederate, and, of course, none of the outside public could win, but there waa no evidence that this plan was followed in the present ease. The magistrate said that the game did not come within the meaning of the act, as the proprietor of the table was not beneficially interested in the result, but was paid and made his profit from a stated sum for the investor's chance of drawing a blank or a prise. The men were, therefore, discharged.

The Melbourne Mint is to be opened this month. Homceopathy is gainiag ground in Melbourne. At Adelaide, a Gorman was shot dead by a policeman. A Victorian sportsman recently shot 204 quail in one day. A bountiful Harvest is confidently anticipated in Tasmania. A mutual fire insurance company bat been projected in Sydney. The Queensland Parliament lately sat for 21 hours, at a stretch. The Foresters in Sydney are going to «net a large public hall. The cost of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens Is £3300 per annum • Pleuro-pneumonia is spreading unchecked among the herds in Victoria. At Talbot, Victoria, the thermometer lately registered 150 degrees in the sun. A new and spacious theatre is to ke erected in the central part of Sandhurst, Victoria. t ■ The States Opera Company are ferformiag with great success in Sydney. A Victorian bushman has cured a snake<bite by washing it with soda-water. Earl fielmore estimates the white population of the Fiji Islands at about SOW. The quantity of gold annually exported from Victoria it about 1,700,000 ounces. The Alfred memorial bells at BaUarat were rang on Christmas Day for the first time. The weather in South Australia has been very favorable for harvesting operations. .... Mr. Anthony Trollops hat been exploring the mines and the Chinese camp at B Jlarat. Great bush tires, one of which burned for a week, hare ocourred near Moama, New South Wales. The transcontinental telegraph in Australia is being erected at the rate of 10 miles a day. The cabinet and chair makers in Melbourne threaten a strike for an increase of wages. The grasshoppers near fleasant Creek lately passed in such numbers as to darken the air.

The pigs in New South Wales are reported to hare been attacked by a new species of entoaoSn. Angora goats hare been successfully bred near Albury. Their fleeces are worth about 10s. each. At Eohuoa, Victoria, on Christmas Day, a boy while playing with a gun accidentally shot another boy dead. borne districts in New elouth. Wales are reported to be "actually bursting with rich pasture." Of six petitions for divoroa beardin Melbourne in one day lately, five were by the husbands. , I flfc HIM WMIOTt} IWWH ■■(^■■■^ W^

Day in a tub drawn by four geese,—making a fifth. » i'ho " Argus" urges the construction, at a cost of £200,000, of auotli or reservoir for Melbourne. Tins caterpillars and mowing machines are trying which will first level the crops near Buuinyong. • A young harvest laborer in Victoria has died from drinking coiii milk and water while heated. , 42/!:)fl parsons travelled by the Melbourne and Hobson s B;iy lJrt.il way on Christmas an 1 Boxing: Days. According to Mr. Dully, the Victorian Legislative Council costs ths Colony nearly £400 per sitting. An a. rolite, resembling a huge ball of fire, followed by a twin of smoke, burst near Queanberan lately. The Colony of Victoria pays .between £7000 and JESOOO atnma ly to "keep the squatters' sheep free from scab. Happy squatters! >•= ... In the case of a boy killed by lightning m New South "Wales, the hair was burned off the back of his head. Diphtheria, fever, and sunstroke have boon making havoc among the juvenile population at Bendigo, Victoria. The proprietor of a Victorian boiling-down establishment is also ]H3p.inng a concentrated essence of meat. The "unemployed" have now almost disappeared from Hooart Town, finding stone-breaking too hard work. _ Harvest hands are badly wanted in several districts of Victoria. As much as US a-w-'ek and board has been paid. A oJge of " Good Templars," a teetotal society formed on a M s uic basis, is about to be established at Brisbane._

Dur n; 1871, JMf'OO was placed by hushmen in the savings bank coiinected with the Bushman's Home in Adelaide.

An experiment i-i about to be lnujfe to ascertain if cotton can b3 profitably grown on the baiߧ of the Hunter River, Ni w South Wales. A neu- Masonic Hall has been opened at Geelong. It was formerly the composing room of the Geelong " Advertiser." A Ministerial measure has been introduced into the Queensland Legislature for the abolition of the gold duty in two yenrs. Dining the week ended January 6th, the receipts of gold for coinage purposes at the Sydney Mint amounted to 32,-50 ounces. The plant, machinery, &c, of the Victorian Meat Preserving Company was, after a brisk competition, sold on tho 1 OtU January, for tUe lump sum cf £70j0. # A correspondent of a Melbourne paper hints that fire insurance business in that city is done at injuriously low rates.

Tlio settlers in Northern Queensland propose to separate from Queensland;and forma new Colony; to be named Capri-corni-.i.

Thi Hue of telegraph has been completed from Brisbane to t'.ie lruuth of the Norman River, a distance of 1455 miles. It, w.is opened Officially on the 4th January. The line worked splendidly. At SyJiey, Ju:lge Hargravo has decided that a will ■wriiitjn in pencil is valid, if in other respects genuine and ■prop arly attested. During tli: last municipal year in Melbourne, 56,863 loads of sweepings, &c, and 21,896 dead animals were removed from the streets.