AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5497, 24 February 1896, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

r SUMMARY^ FOB THE WEEK. [Sebcux rro Pbkss Association/] BYPNEY, Fbb. 22. «HB HOT WAYS. The -week haa been' barren of incident. iSyen the -weather, as a topic of conversation, has transferred itself to the southern cdcßnes, where a hot wave, fortunately oi snort duration, -wt& experienced. After a few days of intensely hot weather rain set in over the greater part of Victoria, but the temperature #11 rules high in South Australia. In view of past drought experiences it is interesting to note the progress made from time to time in artesian boring. News comes from just over the Queensland border that -a fine supply ol "water has been struck at Yarmouth Station •whioh is now watering 149,000 acres, hitherto practically useless for want of it In /what is known as the artesian beltol Hhia colony there are millions of acres at present waterless. A JDAIO> INQUEST. The Mercadool land inquiry, which opened so sensationally, has dropped into a somewhat dull and uninteresting inquiry. 'The first case has almost closed. Counsel sought to show that respondents had ample warning that a clerk who had , keen in their employment intended to ifrake 1 an exposure of alleged dummying, and that they deliberately took no steps to , p jjrevejat, the 1 exposure or niake use of any j^'^ci, the opportunities of escaping. ; This : ■ ■"attitttiie, he ; argued, showed that their; iCv/actabjas were above hoard: and the act of. I " vinion yrho -^rhat they were doing* i.; ; ''v . ■■■■':" ••■; ipViv'.'; '■-.• ■'•'.-','■.; ' BtrHKSK; ; TBLBABUBB. ; .-. , . ;/' , .'. K^' :; Bis^ ■ 10,000: BbVete^n8 v have :kin at the bottom y c<(f ifche sea securely by reason of the great , 'depth of water. . In order to. recover the' 'itreesttrejthe underwriters recently ordered a deep-sea diving apparatus, and a trial ." -was made outside the harbour. The diver reached twenty-five and a half fathoms ■■without the least distress. Operations at the wrckSk will ahortly be undertaken. NORFOLK ISLAND. A cable from Noumea reports the arrival of HJM.S. Royalist from Norfolk Island, after landing the Commission sent to arrange for New South Wales to , take over control. The recent election of Chief Magistrate; was declared void owing to certain irregularities in the election. .. A new ballot has been arranged! The BoysUet returns on Feb. 24, when the Commission ia expected to have completed its duties: ' ■ \ ; ■ , ,■:■'■ Th» WAVEBLEY EtBOTION. The Waverley election resulted 'rr a signal tor the Government and. a iumiljatnig defeat for Sir H.Parkes. It is wifo&runate that he. should nave been so tU-actoiaed *8 to contest the seat, and he - nught truthfully have met his interviewers with £be word " lohabocL" . ' ; . ■..'• ■'. *' ' r \ „"■. - tJiGLTso. ■ ■•• * The -March carnival of the League of Unskmaea.- promises to be the biggest thing in cycling ever seen in the colonies. Irre'speotiye of the Tandem Eace the entries total 616, a record for Australasia. Tor the Federal v Stakes the competitors number iiinety-nve, for the Australian Cop: 'eighty-four, for the Sydney Cup >eigh%Tone^ for. the Open iiree Miles •:eigTityA)ne, for the Mile , and Five Miles -Scratch thirty each, for the First-class ...; .•TTanfKiMiptjtiirty-^rie.- •. T3io entrants iaolude Plther, Body and M'Beath. (New Zea- , vliMidejß)^ - H^riis • : (England), 'Martin' . {America), Porta (Italy) . and;the leading ' ! ; Cracks 61 all the other colonies. The new' features of the programme are the Tandem and Second and Third-class Scratch Eaces. ' 7 ..•■-.'.•. MEIiBOUENE^ Feb. 22. POIOTIOAL. . The weel?s_ Parliament appeared ' to con«ißt chiefly in each House of disagreeing Tsath the made by the other in various measures. The Assembly could mot see its way to forego the clause in the Federation Bill .permitting voting by poat, which would give a poor man an equal chance ,of voting witii a, rich, and by twenty-seven to nine votes declined to i&csept the Council's amendment; In order toy get over the constitutional difficulty raised by the Council inserting a deposit clause the House abandoned the Bill and introducedan entirely new measureembody.ingr.tlie Cquncil's proviso. The measure at pnee passed all its stages. The Counoil, in giving reasons for amending the Bailway . Bill, stated that the amendments were in accordance with the report of the Bailway. . Board, and calculated to secure the management of the railways on a sound commercial basis, while the Assembly Bill would not enables competent manager to be Obtained, and re-established political influence. A the Assembly urged the Government not <to hold a conference, while the others contended that one of the 4Coundrß *amendments involved financial questions and trampled on the sacred xighta of the House. Finally, however, the (Conference agreed to the proceedings, vhich, on the whole, were amicable. The Council abandoned the trustees, and accepted the establishment of an Advisory (Board, consisting of five heads of departidents, the whole to be consulted once a month. The Council desired a Board under statute, and a general manager having seven years* tenure and the Board five, removable only by Parliament, and that the area of selection of the general manager should be unlimited. The Assembly conceded most of these points, but it dawned upon it that the Council was merely introducing a tr'nst under- another name. The . tymissioß of- Clause 13, conferring additional jp&irera oni^Gnißteri, was/agreed to. The *-Conferdnce reported to both Houses, which immediately adjourned,. The Attachment ?** ; SFagea. Bffl,,i«(ienddd to protect the. of clerks, s'Sfvant^, labourers: and i workmen rjgceiifjjjg less ig3 veekly, Unev^a^ hostile d^feonstration, though the Attorney-QeneraC.wHo 1 fathered the Bill, was* 'confident it would succeed. /The unfortunate Bill was nick-named over and over again/ such as ** a Bill to encourage fraud," or "a Bill to debar a working man. from obtaining credit," After a long discussion, it was thrown out by one vote. What the result would have been had not a member intending to vote for the Bill been a few seconds too late in gaining admission to the chamber it is hard to say, but had the Speaker's

vote gone in favour of the Bill its career -would have been nipped in the Council. The Suppression of Betting Bill was another -measure over- which a disagreement had arisen between the two Chambers. The Assembly inserted a provision ; exempting racecourses registered by the Victarap. Boeing Club, but the Council objected. The mover of the original amendment moved that the House should ' insist on its amendment. Sir Langsmore ; agreed with the Council, and said that he ' failed to see why Flemihgton and Caulfield [ should have a license to indulge in vice. He | would make it penal to bet. Look, he said, ' at the number of young men who had blown 1 their brains out through rash bets. Mr " , Hancock, who prides himself on his;ability ' ' to pick doubles,. remarked that they could 1 not have had much brains. His opinion ! was that if they wanted (to put down ' racing they should be thorough. He Bug- • Rested that they should fix a tine of £100 1 for the first offence in publishing betting ; quotations, with £1000 fine for the second ; offence and twelve months for the •editor.' ' without the option for a third repetition/ Probably fearing that the snext suggestion, would be for a torture chamber, the House . decided to insist on its amendment. 1 MOTUAIi ADMIRATION. ! j In the midst of the political turmoil, the members of the Council found time to : ; entertain Colonel M. F. S. Sargood at. dinner, and availed themselves of the opportunity to say nice things about each ; other and extol their legislative virtues. ' The President, Sir W. Zeal, pointed out' that Colonel Sargood had never taken' advantage of Ms position as 4 leader to*, oppose the Government, ..although backed; up by a majority, .A charge -of .dbstane-f tion was formulated against the Council inj certain .quarters without the. slightest' foundation; Sir went pi to point;, '.out/what a different: ovd&rtf%ewga jrexQ: those of the Commons. Members of the: Assembly, said he, had a direct interest in. placating their , constituents, money votes j being the breath of their lives ; but mem-' bers of the Council were independent, and their only object to serve the best interest of the colony as a whole. A. HUMAN BKULL. : Melbourne lias a gruesome notoriety for • the finding of stray portions of human: anatomy. The latest discovery is a skull, supposed to belong to a woman, which was delivered at a bone-yard amongst a miscellaneous collection of bones. The skull shows a terrible;. -fracture, caused by a hammer or tomahawk prior to death. The police endeavoured to patch up a human >eing?rom the skull and limbs found at Hawthorn, South Tarra, believing them to belong to the same person. The process of reconstruction received a check when a lady came forward and cleared up the mystery of the skull, at any rate. It seems that the lady's eon is a dentist, and picked np a skull some ten years ago, believing it to be that of a female aboriginal. The lady a week or so ago threw it into a dustbox, from whence it found iia way to the ! bone-yard, ADELAIDE, Feb. 22. A GOVERNMENT POLICY. The Premier will shortly disclose his policy in view of . the general election. Replying to a deputation from the Socia\ Purity Society, Mr Kingston said that the Government was strongly inclined to raise the age of consent for the protection of girls to eighteen years, and was likely to make that part of the Government policy. He thought, also, that the protection of youths, should be raised from: sixteen to eighteen. -„ He/wioxil^ make it unnecessary th^t in maternity .cases rthe evidence should be materially corroborated.;; - He agreed, that any institution, .where women and children were received should have a fair number of women on; the Board of Management. , Negotiations are proceeding to fill Mr Gordon's portfolio. 1 . Doctor Maguery's name is mentioned, " but he is understood to be averse to accepting a portfolio. BKISBANE, Feb. 22. TALKING BY THB YARD. " Talking by the yard " has often been an epithet applied to a wordy, orator, but a Queensland journal applied the tapemeasure to the last session of Parliament, with the result that Mr Tozer was found to have Bpoken sixty-two yards in Hansard in minion type, Mr Powers just under forty yards, Mr Glasse thirty-seven yards, and so on down to a man with twelve inches of eloquence, and now the iron*-jawed candidates for parliamentary honours will be tamed loose on the community. Mr NelBon, the Premier, will be an absentee from the next Parliament. The Government has already allowed a forecast of its policy to find its way to the Press. Among other things earnest attention will be paid to aiding new products. Strenuous efforts will be made to secure fresh markets and to extend the cold storage system in the colony. Fhe construction of railway lines presenting a reasonable prospect of returning interest will be undertaken. ' Economy in the administration of public finauces will be exercised, and a revision of the tariff frill probably also be undertaken in order to remove incongruities. This can be done, however, without raising a general fiscal issue. ' ,