AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 348, 25 June 1869, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

.+. (From the Argus, June 9 to June 12, inclusive.) Intelligence has been received in Ballarat that a party of four miners working at the Berliu rush have succeeded in unearthing three uuggets, weighing in the aggregate 211 b 7oz 13dwt. Tho number of nominees sent for from the United Kingdom by persons residing in Victoria, under the Immigration Regulations of 18G5, from the Ist January last to tbe 30ih April, was 1365, of whom 638 were males and 727 females. The immigration during the month of April last amounted to 3252 persons, and the emigration to 2109, showing a balance in favour of tbe colony of 1143. The Rockhampton Bulletin announces that " another great goldfield in the North has been proclaimed." The testimony of the Government geologist. Mr Daintree, whioh ie given with a freedom from exaggeration marking his other reports, leaves no room to doubt the existence of an extensive goldfield on the Gilbert Ranges. A rush from the other goldfields has already set in, and wo shall probably ourselves soon feel the effects in our own already considerably thinned goldfields. The telegraph line from Cape Schauck to the Flinders is now completed, and tho line connecting Australia with Tasmania direct was yesterday opened to the public for tbe I first time. Messages to and from Launceston and Hobart Town can now be sent with the

same celerity as between Melbourne and Adelaide or Sydney. The rate for mes-ages remains the same as before ; but it ia understood that Mr Blackett, the manager for the Cable Company, has sent such representations home to his directors that a reduction itlikely to be made in the course of the n r -xt three months. It is also probable that the company will agree to transmit shipping arrivals aud departures, so that Tasmanian vessels may be posted in Melbourne in the same way as the shipping of the other Australian colonies is now exhibited for the general benefit of the pii-die. The Nightingale, which left here in February last with a number of diggers desirous of trying the South African goldfields, returned to port yesterday with about ninety passengers. On the 6th May, the following paragraph appeared iv the Natal Herald : — '' We may look for tha Nightingale leaving to-morrow or Saturday for Melbourne, with seventy or eighty souls ou board. We must certainly wish them a safe voyage. Most of the passengers are miners, returning with the blighted hope of realising a large fortune from the published reports of. the .South African goldfields." lt appears that up to that time 'very little was known of the reputed goldfields No payable ground had been opened up, and some of the miners who had arrived by the Nightingale wera endeavouring to get up a prospecting company, and with tbat view had held a public meeting at Durban. The idea was that the expenses of prospecting should be borne by the townspeople, but no definite conclusion was arrived at. The British public may or may not be concerned to know that one of the presents to be paid for out of the £3,500 asked for from the ' House of Commons, on account of the Duke of Edinburgh's souvenv-s distributed in these colonies, has passed into the hand* of a thief, for thus says the Sydnei/ Evening News : — " Mr Joe Thompson, the well-known Melbourne book-maker, who arrived from I Brisbane on Friday last, sustained a very ■ severe loss at Tatlersall'-j Hotel on the same evening. Mr Thompson is singular in. his love of bijouterie, and always carried with him a very valuable jewel case, containing rings and pins, of diamonds and other p ecioua stones, remarkable for their beamy. It appears that he had removed his jewels from his valise, and selecting those herequired for use, left the reni-uuder, to the value of about a hundred guineas, in his room, believing them to bo safe there. To his dismay, ou returning, they were not to be found, and had uo doubt been purloined by some one who knew that Mr Thompson never travelled without his valuibles." In view of the increased domand for Australian preserved meats in England, the Wagga Wagga Advertiser suggests to the | stock and flock owners of Riverina that they should establish packing and preserving establishments in the district. ''We are situated," observes the Advertiser, "on the borders of one of tbe finest fattening countries in the world. What but the sluggishness of a people who will not see when a fortune iB thrust under their very noses, is to prevent the whole of Riverina from becoming one vast fattening paddock for the hungry maikets of Europe, or the Rirerina townships from being the de| ot of a trade which, in the language of tho London agent, shall exceed lhe 'wildest flights of imagination.' The nearer the preserving process is to the source of supply, the surer and the greater the profit. We are about, at considerable expense, to establish a local steamboat company. Why not hill two birds with one stone, and find freight for our steamers, and au unfailing market for the fat stock of the district, by the establishment of a local meatpreserving establishment." The axis deer turned out amongst the Grampian Kanges. by Mr 5-.. Wilson, of Lon-r---erenong, are rapidly increasing," pays the Pleasant Creek News. " Mobs of various sizes have been seen from time to time, and that last observed appeared to have a number of young deer in it. Thirty-six were counted, although it is thought the actual number was greater. Some of the aboriginals report having met with herds of the axis deer on parts of the Grampian Ranges which must be between forty and fifty miles away from the vioiuity of Longerenong. In references to the ostriches, we are in a position to state that the birds give such evidences as lead to the conclusion that they «Te about to mnke nests and lay. Of late they have grown extremely ferocious, rendering it dangerous for any one to enter the paddock where they are. A few days ago Mr Wilson w^s attacked by one of them, the exchanges between them being rough in tha extreme. It was not, indeed, until the bird was actually knocked down that he desisted in the attack. It may be considered how dangerous such an opponent is when a kick from ose of them is powerful enough to break a man's leg." fl___UfM-Hl3at--Sn__B__--ZEIV-___>__l_-__H-_D