LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

West Coast Times, Issue 1329, 25 December 1869, Page 4 (Supplement)

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

(By Electric Telegraph.) (from our own correspondent.) Bluff, December 17, 1869. Tho Tnrarua, from Melbourne, arrived this clay, after one of her usually rapid passages, bringing news to December 11. Melbourne, December 11. Commercial. — Flour has a downward tendency, and is now quoted at from £12 to £13 ; wheat is from 5s 3d to 5s 6d ; maize 3s 9d, but advancing j oats, 3s 9d to 3s lid. Sugar, at auction, fetched the following prices :—: — Rations, 31s 3d to 31s 9d ; fine brown, 32s 3d ; low to fine yellow, 33s to 35s 9d j middling white, 38s. Three thousand cases of kerosene have been offered at auction, but the biddings were dull. The bulk of it was withdrawn but some parcels were sold and 2s Id and 2s 2d realised. Hennery's bulk pale brandy has been quitted at 7s 6d. Blood's stout is quoted at 9s 6d. Twenty bottle JDKZ is at 16s 6d. The wool sales have been satisfactory. Greasy, from ofd to 9fd ; scoured, 12£ dto 17£ d j fleece, I2d to I7|d. Tens are easier. Auction sales, ex Marquis of Argyle, the cargo fetched, for Pekoes and Gunpowder, Is 3d to I Is 7-|<l. For Caper, from Is to Is2^d. i The fall in the price of teas is attributable to the arrival of the Joshua Bates from Hong Kong 1 . Eighty-one Australian diamonds fetched, at auction, from two to ten guineas. The Glenmark sailed for Lyttelton on the Bth inst. Dr Featherston and the Hon. Dillon Bell sailed for England, in the Avoca, ou the 7th inst. Specimens of quartz found near Lyttelton, N.Z., were tested at Sandhurst, and yielded an ounce to the ton. Tlie Flying Squadron sailed for Sydney on the ?th inst. Over one hundred deserters were left behind. The Assembly negatived the motion concerning the censuring of Miller, but appointed a Royal Commission to investigate the administration of the Lands Department under Grant. Government intend appointing experts to prevent the perpetration of Custom House frauds by false invoices. Moore, formerly official assignee, has been appointed Comptroller of Savings Banks. Taggart, a telegraph operator at Castlemiine, was killed by an excursion train. Whiteiuan has been appointed Government whip. R. M. Isaacs, formerly SolicitorGeneral of New South Wales, has been admitted to the Victorian bar.