AUSTRALIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 652, 25 June 1870, Page 2

AUSTRALIA.

♦ (From the Argus, June 7 to June 14, in* elusive.') Some fine country is reported to hare been discovered to the north-west of Mount Margaret, South Australia. The land is of excellent quality, and was found by Mr Bobs. There are two rivers abounding with fish, and a large extent of first-class pastoral land, which is well watered. One condition contained in the telegram received from England by the South Australian Government from the British and Australian Telegraph Company, consenting to make Port Darwin the terminus of the overland line from Fort Augusta, is that the line must be open for traffic on the Ist December, 1871. Motions were placed on the notice paper of the Legislative Assembly, South Australia, affirming the desirableness of granting a Government bonus of £2000 for the first 1000 tons of pig iron smelted in the .colony. Also a bonus of £1000 to the person who shall first travel a flock of 2000 sheep across the continent to within 100 miles of the seat of government of the Northern Territory. The extremely low prices hay has been bringing this season, have been a heavy discouragement to a great number of farmers in the neighbourhood of GeeloDg. In many cases they have held back from the market expecting prices to improve, but of that there is no likelihood now ; and holders are unwillingly compelled to accept the current prices of £2 10s to £3 per ton, : The forthcoming Inter-colonial Exhibition, to be held in Sydney in August next, will illustrate the progress of the flue arts In these colonies, as well as that of manufacturing and agricultural industry. The commission have, therefore, invited exhibits from painters, sculptors, and designers in this and the sister colonies, and have agreed to allot several prizes to the fine arts department. MrTodd, the superintendent of the Telegraph Department in South Australia, is making every effort to hurry on the work of constructing the overland telegraph line. Three parties are to start forthwith to Mount I Margaret to commence operations in forming the line 75 miles north of Central Mount Stuarr, where they are to be met jby a party working southward from Port Darwin. Thia latter party will be taken at once to Port Darwin, and Messrs Elders and Co.'s camels are to be employed to ! assist the explorers in finding a suitable track. The following report of the paymaster of H.M.S. Challenger on the preserved meat supplied by the Victoria Meat preserving Company, has been handed to us for publication:—"On the 10th December last I re-

ceived 17001 bof preserved beef and mutton. On opening the casks, the meat turned out in excellent condition, being sweet, firm, and nice tasting. It has given great satisfaction to the ship's company, and I consider it far superior to the ordinary salt beef and tin meat supplied to the Navy.— l have. &c, (signed") Matle-s G. Anbtey, paymaster. 1 ' The Gtpps Land Mercury mentions that " Mr Thomas Learmotith, a gentleman from India, has caused a little stir among the horse-breeders in this neighbourhood during the past week. He has succeeded in purchasing over 100 horses, which will, we believe, immediately leave here for Melbourne, en route for Madras. The prices realised by the local owners range from £3 to £50, showing conclusively the value of the truism so i often repeated as to the advisability of breed ing. a better class of horses than the weedy things so commonly seen not only in Gipps Land, but all over the colonies." Mr Faeche, C.E. and architect, of Melbourne, has shown us a design of a cottage,] in the construction of which he has introduced a new principle which, he thinks, will be capable of extensive application. The buildings are to be constructed to a large extent of wood, but the woodwork will be blended with brick, and entirely concealed from view. In this way an excellent architectural effect will be produced, at a cost not greater than if wood alone had been employed, while the building will be far more durable. Mr Rasche intends to take out a patent for his invention. .We learn from the Courier that a meeting of the committee appointed at the recent meeting at Craig's Hotel, on the subject of establishing a Ballarat Me-U-preserving Company, was held at the same hotel, on Thursday, at noon. Mr Kddington, of the Windtrmere Meat-pre-erving Company, was present, and stated his terms for the sale of the company's plant, and his terms were accepted by the committee. It was dcci fed that a prospectus of the Ballarat Meat preserving Company be issued forthwith, and a general meeting be convened at Craig's Hotel, at noon, on Monday next. The capital proposed is £20,000, in 4000 shares of £5 each, lus on application, 10s on allotment, and the calls not to exceed 10s monthly, shareholders paying up to be considered preferential shareholders. >Rom Mr Eddington's statement it was gathered that 30 per cent, can be made on the capital invested. Ihe new company calculates its producing power at 100,000 lb of preserved meat per week, and that some 250 men will be employed in the company's operations. A late English invention of much merit in its way has just been introduced to Victoria byMrß. Hodgson, of 123 Lonsdale street west, to whom, with Mr M. Andrew, the inventor, the invention beloDg. It is a new kind of door-handle, and is known as " Andrew's Self-fastening Door-knob." It is intended to supply a cheap, effective, and lasting way of fixing door-knobs. The common ones now in use are, as every housekeeper knows, fastened to the spindle by means of a little screw through the shoulder of the knob, and after a little wear this little screw often has a pestilent knack of coming undone. The new. invention has at the uncovered end of the spindle ratchet teeth, which, fitting into ithe loose handle are detained by a flat spring. When occasion serves the spring is easily detached, and the ratchet-teeth loosened, so that the door-knob is eminently secure, while fixing or unfixing is the work of a moment. A number of the leading architects in Melbourne have testified in writing to their belief in the superiority and inexpensiveness of the new article. The Langlands Co-operative Foundry Company have just completed the largeat and most powerful marine boiler yet made in the colony. The boiler has been manufactured! for the You Yangs steamship, engaged in the Newcastle coaling trade, and is intended for her engine*, which are of 100 herse-power. It has four large furnaces and 200 tubes four and a quarter inches each in diameter, a 9 well as an improved super-heater. The estimated weight of the boiler is 40 tons, and in eize it is equal to any manufactured at home, where, if larger power than such a boiler possesses is required, two separate ones are made. The boiler just completed has been tried, and proved to be capable of bearing a pressure of 60lb to the square inch, and it is pronounced by competent judges to be superior in the quality of its workmanship to those which are generally made, more time and care having been devoted to all its various parts than the competition in the trade in Great Britain allows. The company, which to a large extent is composed of the working-men actually employed at the works, are also at present making two boilers for the steamship Hero, engaged in the Sydney and New Zealand trade, the power of which will together amount to one-half more than the steam-boiler just completed. ...The fourth meeting of the Protection and Anti-State-aid Immigration League was held last evening, at the Belvidere Hotel ; Mr Longmore, M.L.A., the president of the association, being in the chair. Several hundred people were present, the majority of whom, Apparently, endorsed the opinions of the various speakers. After a few characteristic remarks from the chairman, Mr E. W. Yeomans moved the first resolution, which was to the effect that the meeting resolved to .neglect no exertion to cause a thorough protective tariff to be established in this colony, embracing everything that colonial artisans could produce, and to resist the vicious system of immigration now adopted, which was devised to assist the rich by reducing the wages ■ of labour, and to tax the many for the benefit of the few. Mr W. Forsyth seconded the motion, which was supported by Mr D. W. - Crowley; a cabinet-maker* and carried. Mr Hickson moved the adoption of a petition to tie signed by the chairman, and presented to the Assembly, praying Parliament not to sanction the expenditure of any money on .immigration until the country had been appealed to on that and other portions of the Government policy; Mr I'ickson, in the

course of his remarks, advocated the right of colonial artisans to direct the Government of the day to impose sufficient duties to securely protect them from the competition of foreign manufacturers, no matter whether it was 20 •40, or 50 per cent. Mr Hart seconded the adoption of the petition, which was carried. Several other speakers addressed the meeting in the came strain. A meeting of professedly unemployed working-men was held at the Polytechnic Hall, yesterday afternoon, and was well atten 'ed, the hall being well filled, and the number of persons present being probably between 700 and 800. The most striking feature of the demonstration consisted in the absence of the popularly-recognised leaders of movements of the kind, a circumstance commented upon by one of the speakers, who openly intimated his belief that these personages only attended to promote their own political objects. The speaking was for the most part of the ordinary sort on such occasions, though there were one or two cautiously ambiguous references to the B»l----larat riots of 1854. and hints as to the possibility of what the "diggers" on that goldtield might do if they found themselves without food or employment. In other respects the proceedings were of rather a tame character, and nothing like excitement or warmth of feeling was manifested at any time. Resolutions were unanimously adopted condemnatory of the expenditure of public money for immigr ition purposes, and in favour of the appropriation of the funds available for that purpose to the construction of public works, and of the establishment by the Government of employment institution offices for the purpose of obtaining accurate information as to the condition of the labour market. A petition to the Legislative Assembly embodying these views, and recommending that a portion of the immigration vote be applied to enabling the petitioners and others out of employment to leave the colony for countries where employment is more extensive, and where greater inducements are held out to immigrants, was also real and signed by the chairman for presentation on behalf of the meeting. . ' IThe removal of Her Majesty's troops from Vi toria, which we announced yesterday, is, we understand, the result of the action announced as to be taken by Mr Monsell, M.P., in the House of Commons not long since. In fact, Australia will be left nearly, if not auite, without such protection as is afforded by the presence of troops in garrison. When the Victorian Government was asked, in effect, some time since, what troops it would pay for, and how many, the answer contained a condition the reasonableness of which was admitted at the War-office, although it was repugnant to the practice there. It was, that fn paying for the presence of regular troops, the colony should be assured that that presence might be relied upon when the trying time came ; in short, that the fact of our having a garrison or no garrison should not be a doubtful matter. The other Australian colonies being similarly applied to, the answers received were that New South Wales would take her usual quantum, South Australia only a company, and Tasmania none. Thus, as the War Office refused to divide a regiment, and Australia altogether will not pay for one, the alternative of r. moving all the men will be taken. A general order has therefore been issued, to the effect that the troops are to hold themselves in readiness during the next two or three months to sail for England, whither the head-quarters staff will of course go too. Besides Sir Trevor Chute, who has united himself to a pleasant extent with our community, the colony will most feel the loss of Colonel Pitt, C.8., who has altogether spent 15 years here and in New Zealand. It is agreeable to remember on bis account that during the last nine years he has gained three steps of promotion, and from full captain has become full colonel. His next promotion must be to the rank of general. Ms jor T. D. Baker, D. A. A. General, will also be missed from the sporting world. Two trials of a new composition for sheepwashing took place yesterday afternoon at the stores of Messrs K. Goldsbrough and Co , Bourke street west. The patent, or rather the secret of the composition, is the property of Messrs G. North and Co., and the advantageous qualities claimed for it are that by it sheep can be effectually washed at about one-fourth of the present ordinary cost. In the trials yesterday, a small quantity of greasy wool was first washed in a slipper bath holding water warmed to about 90deg., which contained a quantity of the new composition, and after it had been in the water about two minuter, it was pronounced by some judges to be tolerably clean, but others were of a different opinion, and held that the dirt was not taken out of the wool. A sheep was afterwards washed in the bath in fresh water and composition, but the trial of this was by no means so satisfactory as that of the greasy wool ; indeed, it might almost be termed a failure. The appliances used to test the value of the composition were altogether inadequate for the purpose, the slipper-bath being too small, more especially for washing the sheep, and there was not a sufficient supply of water at hand to rinse either the wool or the sheep. The components used were, of course, kept secret, but the aroma that was prevalent told very plainly that ammonia formed a very large portion of them. The owners of the composition state that there is neither soda, potash, nor any cauterising material in it. It will, of course, require a trial on an extensive scale before it can be told whether the claims of the proprietors, as regards the valuable nature of the compound, are well founded, and whether wool can be washed at the rate of $d per lb., as is contended it can be, by it. In the meantime, the trials of yesterday cannot be proclaimed as undoubtedly successful. The great danger attending' the incautious use of gasoline— a fluid beginning to corns into use to some extent for illuminating purposes in place of kerosen. J n account of its

lesser cost— was shown by the evidence given yesterday at an inquest into the circumstances attending the fire which occurred on Wednesday, the Bth inst., at Mr Long's store, 64 Elizabeth street. It was proved that the fire, which damaged property to the value of about £2000, was caused by the flame of a lamp being held within about a foot of a stream of gasoline running from a tap in a tin into a gallon measure, when the vapour generated from the gasoline caught fire, and the flames communicating wiih the gasoline in the measure blazed up, so that the measure was dropped, and the devastating element, spreading over the floor, amongst various kinds of oils, caused a general conflagration. We have: seen a copy of an analysis by Mr Cosmo Newbery, analyst to the Mining Department, of a tample of this fluid, labelled, "To be used only in gasoline lamps, Long and Co., 64, Elizabeth street," from which it appears that when the temperature of the air was 55deg. Fahrenheit, that of the liquid was about the same, and that in this condition a small quantity of it gave out a gas or vapour which ignited when a light was placed at a distance of about six inches from the fluid, and the flame immediately communicated to the liquid, which burnt rapidly with a bright yellow smoky flame. The higher the temperature the greater the evaporation, and at a warmth of 75<leg. Fahrenheit the gasoline was set on fire from a distance of two feet, through the communicating medium of its own gas. The gasoline boils at a temperature of from 98deg. to 158deg. Fahrenheit, and at the latter heat boils violently and is rapidly converted into a very inflammable gas, occupying about 18 times the volume of the original fluid. During the past summer the temperature has reached HOdeg. in the shade and 158 in the sun in Melbourne, and as the gasoline boils at even a less heat than the lower of these it will burst the can unless the latter be very strong and secure. Gasoline is a compound of several hydro-carbon liquids allied to naphtha with which commercially it must be classed, as it is quite as hazardous as that liquid, and for domestic purposes it i 9 very dangerous. At the inquest the jury found that the Ire was caused by the accidental ignition of the vapour of gasoline.