AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

West Coast Times, Issue 574, 27 July 1867, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

(FROM THE MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY PAPERS.)

Glass's mob of cattle, travelling on the Darling, says the " Weekly Age,'' is reported as suffering from plcuro-pneu-monia. Dozens were lying dead along the route. The Bourke correspondent of the " Dubbo Dispatch" understands that Mr Horsfall, the cattle and sheep inspector, had started from Bourkc with the intention of summoning the person in charge for not destroying the carcasses on the road, as required by the act. The " Age " says, that " information is requested by the police respecting Captain Henry Tate, who came out to this colony in command of the Carolino, I which ship he left in Molbourne. He is supposed to be plying between New South Wales and America. Information is also requested concerning Richard Knight, formerly of Stratford-on-Avon, brewer and malster, who arrived hi Melbourne about the middle of 1857. The Adelaide police are anxious to hear of Mr Louis Levine, who left Adelaide in the month of February last, in company with a Mr Sheridan (said to be from Cowra, New South Wales), and was last heard of at Mount Murchison, where he was suffering from bad eyes. He is about twenty-eight years of age, five feet ten inches high, rather dark complexion; dark hair, iisps slightly ; a Jew. The " Age" tells of a lucky find made on Thursday, 4th inst., at the rear of the Victoria Barracks, by a little boy named John M'Mahon, residing at Emeraldhill. He was induced, with some other boys to sift ' the ashes deposited at tho swamp in search of money, as he had some months previously fallen across L 3 10s in gold, in the same spot, On this occasion gold and silver coins to the amount of L3O or L4O were discovered, which would seem to have lain there for some years. A telegram" from Bathurst, of the 4th insfc., published in the " Sydney Herald," reports the occurrence of a shocking accident on the Macquarie River :—": — " A shocking accident, caused by the misbehavior of a drunken scoundrel, occurred on the river,last night. It was six o'clock and -dark, when the boat built by Cobb and Co. was engaged in conveying the mails and parcels Drought by the coach across the river. There wore a number of people waiting to be ierried over from the Kelso side, and, against the wish of

the person in charge of the boat, seven or eight of these jumped in, and amongst them a drunken ruffian, who, seeing a female in the boat, stood on the gunwale, and commenced rocking it from side to side, despite all entreaties. The Tjoat was very deep in the water, the sides not being more than a few inches above its level. When the centre of the stream was reached, an extra lurch given by the fellow turned the boat completely over, and the -^ passengers were precipitated into the river: • All were saved but two — Mr Cdples and Mrs Croft — who were drowned, and though the river has been dragged all day, their bodies have not been recovered. There has been another accident just now with another boat, and one or two more lives nearly lost, but luckily those immersed were picked, up in time, one being quite insensible." The " Herald," with natural indignation, observes that the circumstances attending the death of these two persons, if correctly given, call for some rigorous measure by which life may not be jeopardised through the conduct of the numerous drunken scoundrels who are often ferried over the crossing places on the rivers of this colony. It is really a matter of surprise that seven or eight men will permit one ruffian like the man who has been the cause of the deaths of Mr Caples and Mrs Croft, to pursue such a cowardly course as that of frightening a woman in the manner adopted by this brute. Had such an act been perpetrated in America, it is more than probable the delinquent would have been hung on the first tree available for the purpose ; and if ever Lynch law could be justified, it would have been hi this instance."

An " old settle? of twenty-five" years e£- _ - perience," writing to the " Pastoral Times," predicts that the floods, so disastrous to others, will be a soui'ce of immense profit to the squatters of Riverina, should the "princes" take ordinary pains to turn the water to account.

The " Argus" of the 12th instant informs us that the claim of Mr Hargraves for the remainder of the sum awarded him for the discovery of gold in Victoria was disposed of last evening, Mr M'Culloch consenting to its being considered prior to the resumption of the debate on the Public House Laws Amendment Bill. Referring to the fact of some members of the Government having left the House on_ the preceding evening, and so obtained a" count out, he said the Ministry had no wish to shelve the question, but he considered it highly improper that a subject affecting the grant of a considerable siint of money should be decided in a House consisting of only some twenty-two or twenty-three members. The motion for going into committee was supported by soveral hon. members, and opposed only by Mr Gr. C. Levey, who appeared but little acquainted with the facts of the case. There was, indeed, no .attempt to dispute the equity of the claim made by Mr Hargraves, yet on a division the motion was defeated by a majority of twen* one to niueteeni

Commenting upon the unseasonabieness of the weather in the Murrunibidgee, the "Sydney Empire," of the 18th instant, says : — " The whiter on the Murrumbidgee this season has been an unusually mild one, and with the exception of two or three very sharp frosts at the beginning- of this week," we have never experienced a really cold night. The result of this unseasonable mildness is, that all vegetation is exceedingly forward, and spring appears 'to be bursting upon us before.by the alnianad', we are half over the whiter. The mimosas are now in full bloom, and so also, in several instances, are the cherry and other | fruit trees. At Oura, hi the garden of Mr Band, the cherry trees arc perfect masses of blossoms, the English lilac is in flower", the strawberries are in blossom, and in some cases the fruit is actually forming, all remarkable instances of vegetable activity in the middle of July. The animal, or rather th,e reptile world is also giving evidences of the mildness of the season, as a snake was the other day discovered coiled under a piece of bark hi the paddock of a gentlemanresiding near town. To be sure the" reptile was half torpid, and was easily dispatched ; but the wonder is that it was above ground at all. Tie weatherwise of the district declare that the mildness of the winter is certain to be followed by the coldness and wet of a miserable spring, and that the early blooming trees will be assuredly thrown back by late cutting frosts."

The " Empire" says there is every prospect of a prosperous lambing season this year ; on many stations the returns have been higher than for years past, the grass having given strength to the ewes. On some of the Billabong stations the returns amount to about 105 per cent., but they are rare — 15 and 95 per cent, is common enough. We hear that the returns of lambs for the whole of the Riverine plains are likely to exceed the estimated quantity of two millions.

For tho first time we hear of the successful administration of chloroform in the case of a horse. The operation is described as fellows by the Syndey "Em* pire ": — " A horse belonging to Mr Beattie, butcher, of Balmain, had a very troublesome and painful fistula on the wither which had resisted various modes of treatment — some of them very painful ones— so it was detormined to perform an operation for the' euro of it. Mr Owen Spencer Evans, surgeon, administered chloroform to the animal. A towel was folded into the shape of a triangular bag, and about one ounce of chloroform poured into it; in about five minutes some more was added, and the > horse began to be restless and fidgetty, and to plunge about, although the fore leg was strapped up, rendering it difficult to keep the towel to the nose, and the effect passed off. To obviate this difficulty, Mr Beattie sewed the towel at four points to the halter cheeks and nose piece, and a piece of wadding was put into the apex of the bag. More chloroform was then poured in, and the animal breathed heavily, got excited, and began to neigh, struggle, and kick. The horse gradually began to sway about and stagger, knelt down and got up again, and then lay helpless on his side. He was now puyed by the tail into a convenient position, and turned over by the legs on to the other side. The operation was then performed by Mr Beattie without the slightest pain or even uneasiness being manifested, and the wound dressed with turpentine. The leg was then unstrapped, and the halter and bag taken off. The animal became gradually conscious, and neighed and got up tw,enty minutes afterwards, although inclined to stagger about ; it drank some water, and some was thrown over its head, and it appeared as well as ever, besides having been saved a great deal of pain by a very simple procedure. About six ounces of chloroform were used. Had the bag been sewn by the halter at first it would have kept on when the horse began to get excited, and half the quantity would have sufficed.

A Queensland paper says some remarkably fiuo specimens of quartz were brought into our office yesterday morning

by an old digger resident in, and known in Brisbane. They were of two descriptions, one being of a ferruginous quartz combined" with that curious conglomeration of sand and particles of iron-stone which experienced miners know as cement These were thoroughly impregnated with the precious metal, hero and there what might be called very small nuggets showing on the surface j and examination *irough a magnifying glass of tolerable _,_ pwerproved that there was a very general diffusion of gold in minute particles over the whole. Three specimens of quartz were of good size, from that of a hen's egg up to about four times that bulk and they had evidently beeti taken from the surface of a reef or leader, as they were weather-worn on one side, whereas on the other the fracture could be distinctly traced. The precise locality whence these specimens were obtained our informant declined to disclose, but assured us. that they were Queensland stone. The second sott were smaller in size, one coloured with iron, and the I other of the ordinary description of nearly white quartz. There was plenty of gold in both of these, but no cement. They j were described as haviDg been clipped from a reef within four hours' walk of Brisbane. An experienced gold buyer and assayer here examined the specimens, fend estimated their yield at no less than than 100 ounces to the ton, which we believe was not over the mark; The finder made immediate application to the Lands Office, and effected the preliminaries necessary to enable him to secure a prospector's claim on the last mentioned reef, but he declined to apply for any protection as to that from which the first and ncKest Specimens had been, obtained, or to give the slightest information as to the ' locality. We believe that he will at once ! return to his work ; and we hope, in that case, to be soon able to give a reliable report of the results. It will be a very for- j tunate day for Brisbane should the end turn out more in accordance with the first { prospect than these discoveries have usually done, but of this time alone will enable tis to judge. A case of graft profligacy was brought under the notice of the Sandhurst Bench ! on the sth instant. An elderly man, named Thomas Kilby, was brought before the Court, accompanied by his daughter, a girl about sixteen years of age, charged with having no lawful means of support, j The evidence adduced by the witnesses — j principally Chinamen — was, that the father had, in the first instance, sold his daughter to a Chinese " shanty-keeper," living near the Sydenha'nl Gardens, and that, after allowing her to live with the fellow for some months, on condition that j he maintained her father and his other children, he took her away, and became a procurer of the prostitution of his daughter amongst the Chinese residents of the Ironbark Embankment. The details of the circumstances connected with thedepraved and profligate conduct of the father are of too immoral a character for publication. The Police Magistrate, very properly sentenced the father and daughter to twelve months' imprisonment. We often talk about the hideous immorality of the Chinese ; but in this case, at all events, it is outdone by European depravity. The following specimen of colonial eloquence was given on the sth instant, by Mr Dignam, in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, when Mr Windeyer directed the attention of Mr Speaker to " Strangers in the House :'' — Mr Speaker, the hon. member for Central has got so infatuated that he . barks at any bite, and shows his nose at anything like a ghost. It is a most remarkable thing, Mr Speaker, that the ton member is not to be held. You can't fet him at anything. What am Itodo ? am a Government supporter because, forsooth, I ask you, knowing the state in which you have been sweated there, in that chair, and seeing the way they are going on with him ! I respect you. I will not see you murdered. But here he is ; because, forsooth, I ask a question, he turns round and says I'm one of the Government rags ; one of the Government tripe coves — bullock and lights, or anything els«. He wants to make a mass of muck of my name. Ido not care for the Government or him. lam such a sort of infatuated fool that I don't care for myself or anybody else. In this question I was not advised, nor was I requested by the Government to take the question of the vacant House or the want of members, but when I see a man like that is, that wants to have his eye-teeth drawn out, or cut out, or something else, and put into a state of being civilised, or something of this kind, why, any hon. member as feels Ins dignity hurt by the way in which this man is running down, goring and running in — fine, thorough bred fellows — we are obliged to put him out — obliged to do it, and I think I am doing my duty in just stopping his gab. The hon member who moved the motion; there is no member in this House, Mr Speaker so fond, I believe of himself, as he is. He knows it ; and I accuse him although he is the Government outside man. But still what docs he want to do with the Governor? Leave him alone. Leave Sir John alone. Why, bless my soul! He's got a card or somebody else has to a feed. Anybody that'll give a fepd, leave him alone— that's what I say. But these people who used to be, John knows where —(its very well for him to gammon to be asleep) — they never used to give a feed. You know that, Mr Speaker, as well as I do." According to the " Sydney Herald," the reporters and other " strangers" were here ordered to withdraw, and, the Noachian operation having been performed, in regard to the hon. member's style of oratory, his style of speaking was called in question, whereupon it is said that the remonstrant was threatened with the vigorous application of a big stick. The '• Age " of Friday, the 12th inst. states that the May mails from Europe and the East 'have arrived with unprecedented punctuality. The branch mail steamer arrived off Glenelg at eleven a.m. Tuesday, but the R.M.S. Bombay herself was off Cape Otway at three p.m., arrived at the Head 3at nine p.m., and dropped anchor in the bay at about one a.m. on Wednesday. The Bombay, Captain Burne, left Galle on the 19th of June, and arrived at King George's Sound at half-past two p.m. on the 4th inst., three days before her time, and she was on the point of leaving when the Rangatira arrived. Commander Gosse, naval agent: purser, A. Bailey. There is a very notable contrast between all this and the former management of the P. and O. Company. Hitherto the tardy passages of the Bombay were accounted for by the alleged defects of the vessel, and it seemed a matter of course that she should remain at the Sound about twenty-four hours later than the branch mail steamer. Now she contrives, in the face of adverse weather, to make her way three days before contract time, and she actually gets the start of the Eangatira from the Sound. A stronger term than "indecorous should be applied to the parties concerned

in the following case, which is reported by the " Age " :— " Some extremely indecorous conduct appears to have taken place recently, at the interment of a Mrs Arnold, in the Ararat Cemetery ; and an inquiry was instituted by the police. One of the witnesses, on being examined, said that he and his wife promised the deceased, more than three years ago, that they would see the last of the ' dear creature ' if she died first, she giving a similar promise to see the Last of either of them in case of their demise. And, further, that they or she, as the case might be, would ' drop a tear ' over the grave. On being asked for an explanation, the witness said that ' dropping a tear ' in this case meant drinking a nobbier over the coffin. Witness said that, according to promise, he raised the lid of the coffin a little before the sexton came the next morning, ' to see the last of her,' and then proceeded to 'drop his tear,' namely drink a nobbier from a bottle which he had taken with him for that purpose. After emptying the bottle he threw it into the grave, but denied having forced any into the mouth of the deceased. This circumstance, which was told by him publicly on the same day, probably gave rise to the rumors which were afloat.'

The London correspondent of the " Melbourne Age" supplies the following interesting particulars relating to the great Derby Day : — " The greatest event of the year, and one of its greatest holidays, so far as London with its three millions of people is concerned, has passed off this week under weather that has, without exaggeration, seemed almost bad enough to stop every physical and mental function. But it did not materially interfere with the eclat of the Derby, wlueli was attended by its usual thousands, and has been the topic, if possible, of more than usual fossip. For the time all other subjects aye dwindled by the side of the success of Mr Chaplin, the owner of Hermit. His passion for the turf has always been almost a public question, his rivalry in the turf and in love with the Marquis of Hastings having, some years ago, made his name and his doings very familiar to the general ear. He has had many misfortunes on the turf; and not more, I think, than a fortnight before the race, his horse Hermit broke a bloodvessel, and retreated tremendously in the betting. He secured, however, some time since, a remarkably able and faithful assistant, one Captain Machell, who has won on his own account, they say, some L 60,000 by the success of this horse, which was at ono time at 100 to 1. Captain Machell, who, from having been' an ensign living on his pay, purchased his captaincy with the proceeds of his turf exploits, has long had a great name for probity and success on the Irish turf, and has also distinguished himself by great personal braveiy in that country, on one occasion having saved a man's life by his courage and determination. As no doubt some portion of our readers will be interested in the rather remarkable Derby of 1867, 1 may add another story told of him, and said by some to be the secret of his first successes. He happened to be, some years ago, at the Liverpool Steeplechase, when an Irish jockey was killed. He obtained possession of the body, took it ott to the lad's native place, interred it with some degree of modest splendor, and erected a tombstone or monument over the grave. For a year afterwards he never lost a race. So much for the gratitude of jockeys, and so'much for their influence over sporting events. He still keeps the right side of the fraternity, and Daley, whom he chose to win the Derby, and who also won the Oaks two days afterwards, received L3OOO from him in addition to L2OOO from Mr Chaplin, who himself is said to be L 140.000 the better of Wednesday's triumph. So racing is not all blanks.

The following horrible case is reported by the "Age 1 ' of the 12th instant:— A woman of the name of Ann Roberts was charged at the City Police Court, on Monday, Bth instant, with being drunk and endangering the life of her child. On the previous evening the prisoner, who is a miserable outcast, was in a state of intoxication. Maddened with the poisonous liquors she had been drinking, she lost all control over herself, and taking up a miserable infant she had with her, she threw it upon the ground and trod upon its head. Fortunately some bystanders promptly came to. the assistance of her offspring and rescued it from imminent destruction. The bench, after hearing the horrible tale as disclosed by the evidence, sentenced the prisoner to four month's imprisonment with hard labor.