CLIPPINGS FROM LATE PAPERS.

Colonist, Volume XVI, Issue 1633, 16 May 1873, Page 3

CLIPPINGS FROM LATE PAPERS.

The Melbourne correspondent of a Southern contemporary writes:—" The case of Felix Rabat, stockbroker, and brother of an inspector of police in Melbourne, has been heard, aud the accused has been committed for trial on several charges of forgery, by altering acceptances so as to increase the amount for which they were made out. The evidence showed the existence of a peculiarly unsuspecting confidence on the part of the prosecutors, whioh, under the circumstances, was as unaccountable as it was pitiable. The case will no doubt be the occasion ot a great deal of litigation in the civil courts. The altered bills were discounted by Kabat and renewed from time to time. Their holders will doubtless take proceedings against the acceptors, and in the case of one man who had accepted a large number of bills for Kabat, they have rather a curious kind of claim. This was Mr. Willan, a respectable solicitor whom Kabat had induced to dabble in mining stock. He signed bills for Kabat from time to time, Kabat merely putting in the figures before the signature was appended, and filling in the words afterwards. Mr. Willan is very short-sighted, and was very unsuspecting, and never thought of foul ploy. Kabat afterwards would alter the figures so as to correspond with the higher sum which he had filled in in words, and would then discount the paper. The discounters will contend that as Willan gave his signature to an incomplete bill, he became liible for the sum for which it was afterwards filled in. The question must be decided by the law." -The same writer states that Spiritualism has received a hard blow at Castlemaine :—" Believers would at times take a sceptical friend to the house of a Mr. P., a Government official, where the miracles were most abundant, and would confound their unbelief by what was done there. They would sit in the dark singing ' Auld Lang Syne,' or some other air well fitted, to route the spiritual influence, and presently, by the ministrations of a familiar spirit named ' Williamson,' gome article of domestic use would be flung down in the middle of .them on the table in a way that was clearly supernatural. At length the' fame of Mrs. P. ai a wonder worker became «o great (hat a bund of

n- philosophers of an enquiring turn of mind left Mcl us bourns last Saturday to investigate the mattei id They went with all solemnity to apply what the; to called ' test conditions.' They took with them i detective. So the circle was constituted—th . I apertures of the room thoroughly closed—thi * J medium weighed and examined, the lights put out and the seance begun. But nothing came of it. Tin er table was indeed pushed about vigorously, and Mr n« P. made piteous appeals to the spirit' not to sham the family;' but nothing came for a long while. A length the medium succeeded in unscrewing the lej ie of the table nearest to her, and flung it dowi 8 amongst the party as a spiritual manifestation. I 90 could hardly be accepted on that footing, and thi 3|j feelings of the Spiritualist members of the circle »d began to droop. It is not necessary to give th< in details of the exposure. It is enough to say that thi 1- miserable imposition practised for a long time by th< woman P. was clearly made manifest, and the parti '* of philosophers returned to Melbourne sadder am wiser men than they went away." Some crack' 16 brained person (saya a writer in the Australasian) at Stawell, with, money (not unusual there) and with' > c out wit (quite customary), despatched a message pei *> overland and submarine wire to Lord Kimberley, 1 > The telegram was quite incomprehensible. The '» combined intelligences of the Colonial Office couldn't . d make head or tail of it. Knowing how sensitive l" colonial cousins are, and how ready to resent the J > affront of apparent neglect, his lordship telegraphed '» to the^Victorian Government, "Can't understand '•' message from Stawell. Repeat." Here was anothei conundrum. What on earth could Kimberley mean, d At last it was surmised that his Honor the Chiei Justice, Sir William Stawell, might have been in telegraphic communication with the Colonial Office (possibly to ask an explanation of the rumor about a c certain appointment to the contemplated Appellate lt Court.) Whatever the topio, it was deemed to be P courteous and desirable to repeat Sir William's latest message. When that reached Lord Kimberley things were more mixed than ever. The second message from " Stawell" bore no kind of resemblance to the first. The entanglement was only cleared up after the exchange of from £60 to £70 worth of messages per cable. Unfortunately the original idiot can't be made legally responsible for the expenditure on all this purposeless telegraphy. The discovery of more Berlin nuggets is announced by the Inglewood Advertiser: —"A fine nugget was obtained on April 23, by a well-known Berlin miner named Archibald Gray. It was found only three feet below the surface, and weighed 93ozs lldwts 6gra. After being cleaned, it was found to have lost slightly over ldwt, profing the purity of the lump, which was sold forover £380. Mr. Gray is particularly fortunate, having on the Ist of April of last year, about the same spot, obtained a nugget weighing ISOozs, and worth over £700." A slight shock of earthquake was felt in several localities not far distant from Melbourne on Tuesday, April 22. According to accounts that have been received at the Melbourne Observatory, the shock appears to have been most severely felt about twenty-eight miles south-east of Melbourne. Kate Berford. formerly a New Zealand actress, has been committed for trial at Sydney on » charge of robbing a digger of £50 in a house of ill-fame. Ann M'Aveeney pjeaded guilty at Sydney to murdering her husband, and was sentenced to death; also Murray, aged eighteen, convicted of murdering Aston White.-—A woman, six feet high, was found amongst the Keppel Bay (New South Wales) natives, and cannot speak English. She is supposed to be a survivor of a ship wrecked in 1857. The bedding around a corpse lying in a house in Little Georgestreet, Sydney, caught fire on April 26. The coffin was burnt and the body charred. -Whitton's (wholesale grocer) liabilities are £22,000, He has assigned his estate. The remains of the late Mr. W. C. Wentworth were landed privately at Sydney on April 28. The Government appointed a commission to arrange the funeral, which was to take place on the 6th May, a public holiday being proclaimed. Two members of a suburban Catholic church in New South Wales were publicly excommunicated on April 27th, for marrying during Lent. The New South Wales Assurance Company declare no dividend.—— The Waratah Coal Company, New South Wales, declare a dividend of ten per cent., and return £1 per share of the "capital. The Illawarra Steam Company have declared a dividend of 5s per share. The United Insurance Company's (New South Wales) report shows £4400 net profits for the halfyear. The New South Wales Government have resolved to accept the offer.of the Home Government to contiuue the present Suez service for three years longer at a reduced rate.——The Hon. Saul Samuel has been appointed the New South Wales Government representative to Washington to arrange a Californian mail service. He leaves by the next mail steamer. The marine insurance companies of New South Wales have unanimously resolved to support a movement to raise the London rates.—— At the field trial of agricultural implements at the, Sydney Exhibition, Richie's ploughs were considered the best. Chisholm, of Sydney, has sequestrated his estate ; liabilities, £56,000. The Bank of New South Wales report is satisfactory. A dividend at the rate of fifteen per cent, has been declared. The schooner Orwell, from Melbourne, parted her moorings on the morning of April 28, &t M'Donnell Bay, South Australia, and now lies on the beach with her starboard side bilged and half-filled with water. She bad 1800 bags of wheat on board. The crew were taken ashore by means of the rocket apparatus. The schooner Seabird, from Wallaroo, is also ashore at Sandy Bay, but it is expected that she will be got off after dissharging cargo. Gold, calculatad to run 2ozs. to the ton, has been discovered in a reef near Hahndorf, South Australia. -Gold has been discovered in quartz on the Wankaringa run, 100 miles north-east of Burra, South Australia. The mine will be worked privately.——On Saturday night, the 19th April, the moulding mill and timber yards at the corner of Dowling and Duke-streets, Sydney, caught fire and burned to the ground. Several adjacent houses were also consumed before the flames could be arrested. The estimated loas is about £5000. An old woman, near Geelong, receiving relief from the Benevolent Society, has died, and £110 have been found stitched in her clothes. The finger of a human hand has been found in the stomach of a flathead fish, bought from a Chinaman, at Melbourne. The finger was apparently severed from the hand ofahving person.—-Hunting wild bee* is a profitable occupation in the Alexandra district, Victoria. A man the other day sold 25cwt. of the honey.——A peal of bellb is being hung at St. Paul's Church. Sandhurst. They will cost £4000. ;The vintage in the Geelong district is very poor, owing to the oidium. The exports of wheat from Adelaide this year exceed £50,000.- Mr. Musgrave, the new Governor of South Australia, ia expected on June 3.—-A man named James Bishop was found the other day stupidly drunk in Melbourne, with £8 in an\A and hunk drafts for £1270 in hia nnsspssion.