AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3128, 26 February 1879, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Sydney, February 18. Mr Cootnbes' seat for Orange has been declared vacant, by resolution of the Assembly, through accepting an office of profit—the Commissioner of Paris Exhibition.

Under the new regulation, Banters and Freethinkers, accustomed to orate in Hyde Park are warned off. This has occasioned some excitement, but the practice has ceased.

Mr Fitspatrick has been elected leader of the Qpposition at a caucus. Mr Farnell, ex-Premier, intimated that health and remote residence precluded .his,- own acceptance. ;

Mr Garrett moved the Elections Com* mittee to inquire if Mr Fitzpatrick -wa3 a qualified member, being a Crown pensioner. He was formerly Under-Secretary of Lands, and and retired on full pay. He became land agent, and entered Parliament. : .

The brutality of Sydney larrikins was shamefully exemplified by an assault they made on the night, of the 7th instant. It appears that Charles Klyard, mason, a respectable man, that evening went in company with Alfred WhiMon'to Kedfern to see a friend home. They were returning about bait-past 11 -, o'clock, coming from George street, Kedfern, to Prince Alfred Park. After having proceeded a few yards witliinrtfflfc*. park enclosure, they were attacked by te^e fellows, each of them apparently 18 or 20 years of age. The; first blow was from a stone hurled at Elyard, whose cheek it struck with such force that it broke two of his teeth. Then they closed wiith'Elyard and Whitton. Whitton, after,a brief struggle, managed to getfaway; arictcalled .loudly for ihe police. Elyard, however, seized one of the ruffians, brought him to earth, and was holding him, with the hope of a constable .coming up, but-the four comrades made a combined onset upon him; he was violently kicked on the head, eyes, neck, and upper part of the body, so that when be rose hey was a pitiable spectacle. His bleeding face was also swollen so as to almost 'make his features undistinguishable ; ' the • iron nails of a boot had left their marks under a blackening, almost closed up ' eye ; the lower .part of his, right jaw was terribly damaged, and he had received, on the right temple a severe blow, which:, if it bad been given a little lower,, would probably have; left him lifeless. .The victims of this brutality had never seen their assailants before, had not exchanged with them a word or look, and received no notice that they were likely to be attacked. No policeman made his appearance, during the affray, and when a crowd of persons, alarmed by the shouts of Whitton, came to the spot, the culprits had disappeared. A curious domestic scandal has been exposed. A brother of the wife of Mr Walter Cooper, a well-known ex-jour-nalist, ex-member of the Assembly, and barrister, has been arrested, charged with attempting murder. He went to Cooper's residence, wrangled, and finally fired a double-barrelled pistol at Mr Cooper, missed him, and wounded a young woman, an ex-barmaid, living with Cooper. It transpired that Cooper left his wife and seven chUdern poorly provided for, and keeps this woman. He now- seeks to quash the charge, and hush up the affair. The Evening News publishes a sensa-tionally-written . story, .with apparent animus. It is stated that the pistol had no bullet, only maize., A few days after the police case, Cooper being exasperated, violently assaulted Mr Heaton, partproprietor of the Evening News, used his stick freely, and kicked him. A policeman saw the assault, and, after some delay, arrested Cooper. The police magistrates disagreed, and the oase was dismissed. Further proceedings are certain.- : • '■.' • '■••■■-V.V140 ; Considerable amusement was caused by the trial of " The Vagabond" r. Joe Thompson, the well known bookmaker, for slander. The defendant; had said: "You are loafing, not working; you never pay your way anywhere; you go about the country cheating people; you are living on the public, and never pay your bills; you owe Gannon money, and he turned you out; you owe money whenever you go; we subscribed money to pay your board in Melbourne—it wasn't a testimonial, it was to get you out of the country; you have dishonored bills everywhere; Sam Lazar will say what a rogue you are, you have borrowed money,off him, and never paid him; I have seen dishonored bills of yours which he has itt his bands—you owe him £50; I'll bet you £100, if you can put up the money, that Lazar has dishonored a bill of yours." £2000 was claimed. Under cross examination " The Vagabond " stated he did not know whether he was born in Virginia or England. He explained his impecuniosity when he first arrived in Australia, that a San Francisco firm owed him 75.0C3 dollars, which he never got any of. After a long consultation, and having asked the Judge whether the, costs were divided, and being told that it was not their business, the jury gave a verdict for plaintiff of Is. The Judge granted.costs. . \ At a large public meeting at Albury it was stated that a number of persons have died lately for want of water, and the whole district is closed. ; Men and cattle cannot travel, wood cannot' come to market; the carriers have stopped and the stations are without supplies; yet the money was voted for the^guks two years since. ;V " ,

William Cassidy, the mailman on the line between Paramatta and House Hill, was stuck up on the 11th, ab^ut4 in the morning, three miles from Eou-e Hill. A man named Henry Maxwell has been arrested and identified as the offender, and is remanded to the. 20th instant. Nothing was taken from the mailman.

Cunningham, McCarthy, and Masterton, the three men who were committed for an aggravated assault on a Chinaman, were convicted at Kichmond. Cunning* ham was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and the others to eighteen months'imprisonment each. , At Newcastle a theatrical agent named William Winn, alias De Glorjan, has given himself into custody under peculiar circumstances. He states that about twelvemonths ago, while staying at the Royal Hotel, Glen Innes, he robbed the manager of the hotel, whom he had previously put to bed druuk, of £82, and that the affair bad ever since continuously preyed on his mind. He says that when under the influence of liquor, he feels tempted to commit suicide. He stands remanded for fur her evidence..

The project of the Government for the extension of the railway into Sydney will place the terminal station on the western side of Castlereagh street between King and Hunter streets. The Castlereagh street frontage will be available for resale or sub-letting at shops.