AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAMS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8664, 28 December 1889, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAMS.

Sydney, December 27. At the conference of shipowners and engineers it was resolved that captains must be recognised in supreme command, and no divided authority should • exist ; that Howard, Smith, and Co., having withdrawn instructions regarding checking the revolutions of the engines by captains, that general insfcnictions be issued to captains to snow due consideration to the engineers, and to avoid any friction if possible. Intelligence rece'ved from Noumea relates a grave political scandal. The Colonial Secretary is charged with forging documents in connection with the recent elections, and the Governor is also accused of mixing himself up in the elections, and using his influence in favour of the clerical party. Excitement still continues there with regard to leprosy, and it is asserted that five thousand natives are infected with the disease, also Tour whites. Brisrank, December 27. A Frenchman was found at Geraldtown suffering from, bullet wounds. He alleges that he was wrecked in a French trading vessel at the Islands, and that himself and three others were in an open boat for 22 days. After landing, he say 3, a quarrel ensued, in which one shot the other. The statement is not believed. It is thought he is a convict from Noumea. Hobaiit, December 27. A Tasmanian Gazette, dated October, ISBO, proclaimed Macquarie Island, which the s.s. Hinemoa has gone to annex to New Zealand, as a dependency of Tasmania. The New Zealand mail steamer Aorangi has arrived. She has one case of scarlet fever on board.