LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 560, 28 September 1869, Page 2

LATEST AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

By the arrival of the s.s. Omeo and Alhambra from Melbourne, we have files to the 18th inst., from which we make the following extracts : The M'Culloch Ministry has re, signed. The following is the list of the new Ministry : —Chief Secretary, Mr Macpherson; Treasurer, Mr Robert Byrne; Attorney - General, Mr M'Donnell; Solicitor - General, Mr Kerferd; Minister of Land, Mr M'Kean; Minister of Mines, J. T. Smith ; Minister of Railways, T. Longmore ; Minister of Public Works, Mr Reeves; Minister of Customs, Mr E. Cohen. A Roman Catholic clergymen at Elsternwick, named Patrick Niall, has been found guilty of a criminal assault upon a man, and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. A determined suicide was committed on Wednesday night, 15th instant, by a gentleman named Douay, residing in Brighton Street, Richmond. Sydney, Sept. 3. The backers of William Hickey at Newcastle have resolved to challenge the English champion, Renford, to row on the Hunter River, and not, as was proposed by the latter, on the Tyne. The stakes are to be £SOO, and £IOO will be allowed to Renford for the expenses incurred in coming out. Advices by the mail annouuee that during the voyage of the ship Canaan from Sydney to London a fire broke out amongst the bales of wool packed in the hold, but by the prompt action of the captain, seconded by the efforts of the crew, the flames were suppressed without material damage to the vessel. Sept. 7 Rutherford, the notorious bushranger, has again commenced his depredations by robbing an inn at Cannonbar, a township in the Bogan district. He visited the inn on Sunday, and meeting with some opposition from the landlord, a scuffle ensued, during which Rutherford fired at his antagonist and wounded himself mortally. He previously visited a station on the Macquarie, which he also robbed. Captain Shaw, of the Snowbird, which was burnt at sea off the Queensland coast, has arrived in Sydney, and was immediately arrested in connection with the Mackiulay conspiracy. A hundred and fifty diggers returned yesterday from the Gilbert diggings (Queensland), and give an unfavorable report of the prospects obtained. A man named Bourke, who arrived from New Zealand by the steamer Auckland on Thursday, was arrested to-day at Burwood, charged with being implicated in the Mackiulay conspiracy. Brought before the Central Police Court, he was remanded. Sept. 11. A man named Michael Cavanagh, employed as a traveller for P. P. Cavanagh, of Melbourne, has been committed for trial on a charge of passing valueless cheques. Bail was accepted. It is expected that Kcnealy and his friends will come to Sydney from King George's Sound by the branch mail steamer Rangatira. The schooner Rebecca, laden with coal, foundered inside the Heads yesterday, near Middle Harbor. The steam-tug Breadalbane at once went to the assistance of the crew, and succeeded in rescuing them. Sept. 14. . Two small schooners have been wrecked at Port Stephens. The crews escaped to the shore. Several other vessels have been repoi'ted as missing. Sept. 15. Bank notes to the amount of £I3OO have disappeared most unaccountably from the Maitland branch of the Bank of New South Wales, and no clue has yet been obtained to the mystery. The numbers are unknown.

Breadstuffs are advancing, in consequence of the Adelaide telegrams. Sales of wheat have been made at 7s. Sept. 17. Mr Krefft, tho curator of the Museum, and Professor Thompson, in exploring the "Wellington caves, have discovered the remains of extinct animals hitherto unknown to science. Messrs H. Fisher and Sons, merchants, have met their creditors. Their liabilities amount to £17,000. No clue has yet been obtained to the notes stolen from the Bank of New South Wales, Maitland, and the numbers are unknown. The project for organising a great International Exhibition, to be held in Sydney in 1870, in celebration of tho centenary of the discovery of Australia by Captain Cook in 1770, has been revived.