AUSTRALIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5769, 13 January 1897, Page 3

AUSTRALIA.

[Peb , Press Association.! THE PURSUIT OF BUTLER. SYDNEY, Jan. 12. Respecting 1 the excited sailor with a ginger moustache seen by the captain of the Union Company's Taupo on board the Swanhilda, tlie officer in charge of the Sailors' Home at Newcastle states that Butler had a very dark moustache, but a Swedish sailor answering the description given by the Taupo's crew joined the ship at Newcastle. ■ py, .A SWINDLE. ADELAIDE, Jan. 12. A clever attempt at swindling has come to light in connection with the arrest of a telegraph operator named York. Several j city sharebrokers recently received wires ' purporting tobe from a well-known moneyed man living in the country, instructing them to purchase large parcels of shares in a certain West Australian mine, followed by instructions to sell on a rising market, and asking that letters should be sent to a city post office address. The postal authorities, however, were well acquainted with the gentleman's address, and by forwarding the letters to his brother's residence the swindle was thus discovered and the police put on the track. EXPLORATION IN NEW GUINEA. BRISBANE, Jan. 12. The Governor has received a despatch from Sir William Macgregor containing an interesting account of the exploration of the IHanibare River and a visit to the interior of New Guinea, including an ascent of Mount Scratchley. The altitude of the highest peak of Mount Scratchley is 12,860 feet. Observations from this peak showed that the highest peak in the adjoining range was 13,100 feet high. A VESSEL BEACHED. MELBOURNE, Jan. 12. During a heavy gale the barque County Antrim, bound from Maryport, England, to Brisbane, laden with railway iron, sprang a leak, and was beached at the entrance of the Gippsland Lake. The crew were saved. THE MELBOURNE** MURDER CASE. MELBOURNE, Jan. 13. Quinn has been found guilty of the wilful murder of his wife. He stated that, after he married the woman whom he shot on the beach, he discovered that sho had previously been married, and they decided to die together. The Coroner held that the only case in which the man could possibly be justified in shooting his wife, even if she asked him, was in case of adultery, and there was no suggestion of this in the present case. A DISABLED VESSEL. The schooner Lady St Aubyn, bound from Kaipara to Fremantle, put in here disabled. She sprang a leak when three days out, and had tempestuous weather throughout. She had a terrible time, with five feet of water in the hold, and was only kept afloat by her cargo of timber.