AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 231, 8 February 1869, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

(From the Argus, Jan.; 22 to Jan. ,27.) < Writing of the wool -from the Cobran station, the Pastoral Times -says :— " Blood will tell— the Cobran sheep are of the : beßt breed in Riverina. The- females came from Mr John Aitken's celebrated sheep ; the males ate from imported Saxon merino ram 3, the progeny of- the famous Battersea rami which took the prize of ' The World.' As a result of this fine breeding, £10,000 worth of tlie : Cobran wool has jtisc' been Bold for America. The wooF Bold in the grease at lid per Uv We believe that this is the premier price of Riveriiia." Nearly every day during the past week fish known as the colonial salmon, weighing between four and five pounds, have been disposed of in Geelong at 2s. They form a portion of an immense haul recently made by Mr Tobias, at Queenscliff, who hns disposed of some 400 dozen in this manner, and hus still, he estimates, nearly 1000 dozen between two stake nets opposite the quarantine ground, near Quevnscliff. • This plan of leaving them between the two itets has been adopted to keep them alive, and fresh, and he only draws- out what he thinks he can sell during the day. It would appear from a number of outward signs' that the new Land Bill will be almost the first piece of business the Ministry will ask Parliament to consider. It is still the subject of close discussion at. Cabinet meetings, and hard work for the leading officials in the Lands department. Yesterday, even the decision on the disputed and other appli cations respecting settlement on Philip Island — including che cases of Messrs Duffy and Blair — was postponed, Mr Grant having only time to attend- a board meeting for the purpose of signing papers before lie attended the Cabinet meeting at the Treasury. The Customs revenue collected, at Melbourne has for some time shown a marked improvement. The daily- returns since the year opened have, as compared with the corresponding dates in 1868,- exhibited' a steady iue'"Hß<2. The total amount of Customs revenue collected here from the Ist of the month up till Saturday last was jE79,951 4s Idi, while for the corresponding period of the previous year the total receipts amounted to .£73,913 9s 2d. This state of tilings may look well in Jhe Treasurer's financial statement, and may help to keep dowii the threatened deficiency, but it speaks little for the effect of the protective tariff as a means of fostering local manufacture. The fact that the level of the water in the Van Yean reservoir is much lower than it should be, which is partially attributed to increased settlement on the drainjure-fjround, has attracted attention in the proper quarter. < officers of the Land Department have been lately inquiring into the possibility of running: a tunnel through the mn«es norrh of '•Vliittlesca, for the purpose of making the inexhaustible waters of King Parrot <"!re*k, •mi! i>t lu-r feeders of the; Gri.mlbuni. avni : aMe t'nr ihe metropolitan >upply. 'i'h« fir.->t <•< nclusion which appears 10 l:ave boen arrived

at after the preliminary surrey is that the difficulties of the proposed work have been much underrated. All the right, title, and interest of the Ballarat company in the wreck of the steamship City of Launceston, was sold yesterday by the sheriff, and bought- for £380 by Captain Lawrarice, for a company formed, or about to be formed, to attempt to raise the sunken ship. The new proprietors have already communicated with Mr Maquay as to arrange raents for making another attempt. An opinion has been expressed that a considerable loss will result from the damage done to the balloons and the other plant from their long submersion, as they have been allowed to remain under water and attached to the vessel, instead of being removed and placed in store until funds were raised for another trial. • The solution of the question whether or not we are to have steam communication .with England via the 'Cape of Good Hope, still rests mainly with the Victorian public, and too much reliance must not be placed on the over-sanguine accounts from time to time received of the readiness of British capitalists j to initiate the scheme. The letters to hand from those. who are working in England in connexion with the promoters of the British and Australian Steam Navigation Company state that they are ready immediately %■■>. commence operations on the£loo,ooo promised from this side, or a reasonable proportion of that amount, being subscribed. We trust, therefore, that Victorian enterprise will enable the directors to send home by tha next mail such advices as will insure the first ship being at once laid on. By the mail just arrived, letters have been received from the registrar of the Royal College of Physicians of London, conveying the information that the name of Dr G. F. Thomas, of Lonsdale street, in this city, has been struck off the list of licentiates of that body, for unprofessional conduct. At a tncet : ing of the Medical Board, held yesterday, it was ordered that Dr Thomaa's qualification of licentiate of the College of Phyaieiaus be erased from the Medical Register, which will* this day be published in the Government Gazette.^ We. have reason to know that thecensors of the college have afforded the fullest opportunity to Mr Thomas to justify himself, if possible; and that the resolution confirming his expulsion was not adopted until after an interval of nearly two years from the date when the information upon which the censors acted was forwarded.?" 1 "' *; " The chief medical officer paid a second visit to Grcensboi'ough on Monday, ami investigated three additional cases of ehicken^pox. One was' tbmfc /of. the in-., fant of Mrs Whatmougli ; the second was that of a man who was ensily isolated without removal ; and in the third, ,casc;i Dr M'Crea brought the patient himself to' the Royal Park. Of course it would be impracticable to. carry out thjs plan of remova^j if cases' became numerous, 'and provision' hW therefore been made for the isolation of patients near home. Tents r.nd stores have been forwarded, carbolic acid liberally sup' r plied, and every measure taken thtt can i either arrest the progress of the disease, or secure the proper treatment pf thoie whoinay, be unfortunate?' enough to contract it. - No more instances of seizure are reported as occurring in the city, and the persons at the Royal Park buildings are still said to be going on favourably. A correspondent lately wrote informing us that be bud made a discovery capable not only of superseding' steam a« a Ibcomotivc agent, but of revolutionising the whole system of mechanics and engineering as at present obtaining. He seems, however, to be in a' slight dilemma, and doubtless lie has had recourse to our- columns with a view to being extricated from it. He is naturally anxious to secure the patent from his invention, and is therefore reticent as to details ; but, at the same time, he is unable without the assistance of others to put, his discovery to the test. Of its Buccees he is most sanguine, and if a number of gentlemen in Melbourne can be found sufficiently spirited to come forward and place at his disposal say £450, he offers to construct an engine on his new principle which will fully demonstrate the vast capar biliticß of bis' invention, otherwise Victoria must lose the honour and benefit of being the first country to take advantage of the discovery. A letter has been received by a gentleman connected with the coasting trade from a re^ lative who is amongst' the passengers by the Tornado, now detained in quarantine, ori account of some casesof" fever having occurred on board that vessel. The writer states thut the passengers were all in excellent health until within, about sixtieen days of reaching the Heads, when some henvy seas were shipped, which made the 'tween decks very damp, and as tho weather continued wet for some tune, the atmosphere below was dump and wretched in the extreme. This, with the breath of so many passengers, was the. cause, in the writer's opinion, of the breaking out of the fever ; and lift complains that. no, steps were taken to dry the compartments occupied by the passengers, and 'so "nave avoided the mortifying detention in quarantine they are now enduring. The authorities, however, state that two other mild oisc-s or. fever are reported as having occurred yesterday among the passengers of the Tornado, at the quarantine ground. Those in hospital are doing well, but it seems probable that the disease will go quite through the whole company before it disappears. - ■ . ' ', * ■ A piece of sculpture which is deserving of more than passing notice as an evidence of the high degree of merit attained in this branch of art in Melbourne, may be seen on tin; premises of Messrs Huxley, Parker, and Co., monumental masons and sculptors, &t the corner of ' Russell and Little' Collins streets. It is the Scotch co.'it-of-arms carved in marble, and intended to b;; placed, on a monument now being erected in Launocstoi over the grave of tin- Inle Mr A li. T). Stewart, an old Tiibintuiim f olmivt. The work, which is an elaborate und <)eiicate-pieee

of carving, is very beautifully executed, and reflects the highest credit on Mr Jas. Gilbert, the sculptor entrusted with the execution of the design. In close proximity to this coat of arms are some magnificent marble mantelpieces, profusely, ornamented with fruit and flowers carved with remarkable fidelity to nature by Mr Francis Hallet, who could safely challenge comparison • with home sculptors in this department of the art. The cost of some of these mantelpieces reaches £170, but this has not been thought too high a figure by several proprietors of suburban villas who have been desirous of transferring them to tbeir best rooms.

The Sussex, which sails to-day (.Jan. 23) for London, will take away as part of her cargo three tanks of Murray Kiver leeches, consigned by Messrs R. Negus and Co. to their London agents. We learn that the unusual dryness of the season, and the consequent low state of the river Murray, has interfered materially: with' tnis..new^ and very peculiar industry, as it has not been possible to procure the quantity required to fulfil the orders tn hand. We understand that Messrs Negus and Co. applied to the Lands department for a lease of a large swamp of some 320 acres, in the neighbourhood ■ of Landenong, for the purppse of cultivating leeches — if such a term can he properly used— but that only twelve acres have been granted, and these they are unable to take up, as it would be necessary to fence in the ground closely, and they cannot do that, the water in some places being thirty .feet deep. The Messrs Negus proposed to bring down leeches from the Murray add place them in the swamp, their calculation being that in three years they would ,haye so grown and multiplied that the market could be permanently supplied from this." plantation." The experiment would have cost at least £1000, and therefore, the application seems worthy of the reconsideration of the Minister of Lands.