AUSTRALIAN.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12668, 2 May 1905, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN.

"United Press Association Per Electric"! Telegraph—Copyright. POPULATION RETURN. ... ; SYDNEY, May. - Statistics show that the population of the Commonwealth, exclusive o. aborigines, is 3,984,376. . _ - . THE MUTUAL LIFE ASSOCIATION. At the annual meeting of the Mutual Life Association a satisfactory report was pre-, sented, showing the new business amounting to £638,798, and that: the po'icies in force had increased during the. last five years' from 5 to 6|' millions. The report, was.adopted. - THE FEDERAL TREASURER: MELBOURNE, May.l. Sir George Turner will not seek re-, election to the next Federal Parliament. FAST SAILING. ■ - ; The German ship Nordsee •'accomplishedan excellent sailing feat. . . She arrived in 78 days from Bremen, and covered the from-the Lizard to the -Equator in frf&rteen days, but lost time between the Equator and the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope; thence the voyage across the. Southern" Ocean to Port- Philip occupied nineteen days. A NEW CABLE.

News has been received' of the opening of cable communication .with the Carolines. The cab"e was laid by a Nether-lands-German syndicate,, which contemplates the extension of the line to New Britain," and .ultimately to Queensland, -if the, Common wealth Government will grant landing rights. Up to the present the Federal Government has declined to entertain the proposal. THE MAIL RATES. In reference to the complaint by Sir J. G. Ward that- New Zealand has wen paying 16s a ponnd for the transmission of mail matter to Londoji, the Secretary to the Postal Department- states that he is not aware what- the charge' was under the old contract with the P and O. Company and the Orient. Company,, but- during the brief period when no contract existed New Zealand was only charged 2s. ' Under the new confract the rate'of poundage will probably be 3s 7d. BOUND FOR NEW-ZEALAND. The barque Alliance bound from Liverpool to Auckland was signalled off Wilson's promonotory this afternoon. FIRE ON THURSDAY ISLAND. THURSDAY ISLAND, May 1. A large fire is raging in severil premises, which have been destroyed. The damage already , amounts to £6OOO. Twenty other business-places are threatened. A strong wind is blowing. The fire was extinguished after destroying twelve premises and doing damage estimated at £15,000.