AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 313, 1 August 1868, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

The M'Culloch Ministry have resumed the reins of Victorian Goyernrnent, the following being the new appointments:— Mr M'Culloch, Chief Secretary and Treasurer. Mr A'ale, Commissioner of Customs. Mr G. P. Smith, Attorney-General. Mr Casey, Minister of Justice. Mr Grant, Secr'ewtrf of Lands. Mr Jones, Minister for Railways. Mr Sullivan, Minister of Mines. Mr G. O. Smith, Postmaster-Gen-eral. Mr Frazer, Secretary for Works (in the Upper House). Mr Higinbothom and Mr Francis to hold portfolios, unsalaried. In the Legislative Council, the Chief Secretary laid on the table a memorandum from his Excellency the Governor, accompanied by despatches received by the last mail from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, intimating that Sir Charles Darling had withdrawn his resignation as a member of the public service, and would not, under any circumstances, either personally or through Lady Darling, accept the proposed grant of £20,000. His Grace states that Sir Charles had again been rendered eligible to enter the Government service. The exodus of Queensland miners continued unabated, although many experienced handspredictthatit will be a repetition of the Port Curtis rush. The steamer Hero sailed direct for Maryborough and took three hundred passengers, being for the most part diggers. The Alexandra, steamer, has taken one hundred and thirty diggers via Sydney. Mr J. M. Grant, who was Minister of Lands in the M'Culloch Government, has been making arrangements to resume the practice of his profession as a solicitor.

Colonel Anderson, of the Volunteer service, has had one of his fingers bitten off by a horse. Major-G-eneral Sir Trevor Chute, commander of the Forces in Australia was married lately to Miss Ellen Browning, of Auckland, New Zealand. Mr Langton, the Treasurer of Victoria, made a statement of the financial condition of the Colony on the 29fch June, which is thus commented on by the Argus: —" In glancing at some of the more important among the facts disclosed, that which first commands attention is the startling one' that on the transactions of the current year there will be a deficiency of no "less than L 703,493 ! In addition to this there will be about Lso'ooo ; to pay as interest on public payments overdue, and supplementary estimates, which can scarcely amount to less than another L 50,000 ; in all, about LSOO,OOO D And this deficiency cannot now be averted even by the very strictest economy, inasmuch as one moiety of the money, as already been spent, and the expenditure on public works brought within the narrowest possible limits. This state of affairs fully realises the worst fears that the public entertained, and fulfils their gloomiest forebodings, while it fully explains the determination Avith. which the party of the late Ministry so long strove to keep Mr Langton's mouth shut. But there is yet a further dfffieulty. The Coliban Waterworks are

falling into decay through their pro. gress having been arrested, and the only way to save them from ruin is to complete them. This avi'll require a further sum of L 100,000. The Geelong andßallarat Waterworks are not in so critical a condition, b Ut they also should be completed lest they suffer injury, and in order that the money they have already cost may degin to yield some return. The Wiiliamstown graving-dock, too, remains in a half-finished state, and consequently useless, and unproductive* To complete these important works (including the Coliban Waterwarks) L 370,000 is required, and this Mr Langton proposes to provide by the issue, in the Colony, of Treasury bills having one years ciiert'ncy>' and bearing intorest at the rate of five per cent., which, he thinks, would be readily taken up at a good premium. Afterword*, iWouud necessary, a loan to a larger Amount could be obtained in England.'*

Mr W. C. Bryant.—Mr W. (Tfefc,,. ant the American poet, who has recently passed his seventy-first birthday) in replying to a letter requesting him to write some verses for a meeting oi his old college friends declines, alleging that he was ever ill at occasi* onal verses. He adds : "Besides, it is the December of life with me. I try to keep a few flowers in pots—mere remembrances of a more genial season, which is now with the things of the past. If I can have a carnation or two for Christmas, I think myself fortunate. You write as if I had nothing to do in fulfilling your request but go out and gather, under the hedges and by the brooks, abonquet of flowers that spring spontaneously) and throw them upon your table. If I were to try, what would you say if it proved to be only a little bundle of dead stalks and withered leaves which my dim sight had mistaken for fresh green sprays and blossoms ?'* Six American Citizens Imprisoned and also Flogged at Monterey.—The outrages on American citizens in Mexico cannot long be permitted by the great Republic, unless its sensitiveness is wounded only when its citizens suffer at the hands of monarchical governments. The following is from a late Panama paper:—"A special ex* press from Monterey, April 24th, brings an official complaint from Consul Abrich to Secretary Seward of another outrage Upon six American merchants of Monterey named Lachard, Potter, Kathreus, Montgomery, Scoptha, and Rice, who were sent to the calaboose by order of the Secretary, and detained among filth and vermin and the vilest felons till morning, when they were commanded to perform the most disgusting offices and sweep the prison. Oil refusing, they were flogged by a felon at the order of the gaoler, and arraigned before the alcalde, fined, and compelled to pay for the return of their watches and money. No apology or redress has been offered." Great Pedestrian Match.—ln New York city, at noon, on the 2oth of April, "Young Mills" and John Goulding commenced the feat of walking 1,000 miles in 1,000 consecutive hours, for a purse of $2,000. Should both the contestants accomplish the prescribed task, then each is to continue his mile per hour until one succumbs.

A Substitute job Coat,.—So long ago as 1835, Babbage, in his " Economy of manufactures," foreseeing the coal difficulty which now occupies so many minds, had begun to conjecture what subject science next might find* The passage will perhaps interest our readers : —" Supposing heat still to remain necessary when the exhausted state of our coal-fields renders it ex* pensive, long before that period arrives other methods will probably have been invented for producing it. . . . In many parts of the Island of Ischa' by deepening the sources of the hot springs but a few feet, the water boils 5 and there can be little doubt tbat> by boring a short distance, steam of high pressure would issue from the orifice. In Iceland the sources of heat are still more plentiful, and their proximity to large masses of ice seems almost to point out the future destiny of that island. The ice of its glaciers may enable its inhabitants to liquify the gases with the least expenditure of mechanical force, and the heat of its volcanoes may supply the power neeessary for their compensation. Thus, in a future age power may become the staple commodity of the Icelanders and of the inhabitants of other volcanic districts ; and possibly the very process by which they will procure this article of exchange lor the luxuries of happier climates may in some measure tame the tremendous element which oc. casionally devastates t'auir uroviircbai'