AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Western Star, Issue 5, 13 December 1873, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The defalcations of O’Perral, the absconded , Crown Lands clerk, so far as at present aseer- • tained, amount to about £20,000, and his em- j bezzlements hare been found to extend over a . period of seven years. It is anticipated that more frauds will be discovered, The investigation I shows great laxity in the Audit department, and carelessness on the part of the superior officers. O’Ferrsl’s salary was £IBO a-year, and he managed to spend something like £4,000 per annum. A former Fijian missionary, but now a Melbourne resident, has stated that four slave slups < burned a native town in one of the South Sea Islands, and ruthlessly slaughtered the inhabitants, other atrocities. The facts, it have been long know to a select Circle, and some of the perpetrators of the outrage were in Melbourne during the Carl inquiry ; but on noticing the turn things took, they levanted to safer quarters. The names of these men, it is presumed, have been concealed purposely, because they belong to some of the most respectable families in Melbourne. The Melbourne Work-peoples’ Co-operative Club and Industrial Company intend to include baking in their operations. Baking is to be started with a capital of £2,000, in 2,000 shares of £1 each, payable in monthly instalments. A factory for the establishment of Cornish’s patent life preserving mattresses, which are stated to be superior to any contrivance yet used for saving life at sea, is to be established at Melbourne. A woollen factory is about being started at Caatlemaine. Kerosene shale has been discovered in Gipps Land. Jarvis has been sentenced to death for the murder of Moggeridge, the teamster. He has confessed his crime. Two nuggets, weighing respectively 134£0z. * and 70oz„ have been found at the Welcome lead, New South Wales. A Brisbane telegram, dated 24th November, says the blacks attacked the Chinese camp near " Hubert on Thursday. They killed two and wounded three. The mailman has not arrived, and it is feared that he has been murdered. The mechanics at the Wallsend coalmine, Newcastle, N.S.W., are on strike for the eight hours’ pyatem. The Torres Straits mail line is now fairly open. ~ The Eastern and Australian Mail Company’s oteamer Sunfoo with the Queensland mails has Btarted from Batavia for Brisbane direct. In the Assembly of New South Wales Mr. Parkfifl has given notice of motknrrtoabolish the office of Solicitor-General, and to incorporate the Law and Education departments under one responsible Minister. Mr. Bramston, t>f the Queensland bar, has been appointed Attorney-General at Hong Kong. , Nearly'dfty salmon trout, weighing 51b. each, were caught at Belfast, Victoria, recently, by flyfishing, in about two hours. In the Insolvent Court, Melbourne, an insolvent was examined on photographs of his own account books. This curious course was adopted owing to the fact that the books on a former occasion could not be impounded, and in order that a fac simile might be taken on which the trustees could rely, certain pages were photographed, aswjy-discovored Palmer River diggings are said to be the most extensive and richest yet found in Queensland, 600 miners arc on the> ground, and provisions are exceedingly scarce. The blacks along the road to the diggings are numerous and hostile. The. average earnings of the miners are about £1 per day. The drays from Georgetown and Townsville were com-., polled to stop on account of the country being burnt up and almost a desert through the drought. { There are 2,0000 z. of gold in the hand of the storekeepers. The gold is found in the bed of a river, and ah work must cease when the rain commences. 50 diggers and 150 packVmj.ooo conveying provisions were to start from Townsville. That would be the last trip possible to make this season. ! In two years the Victorian Racing Club paid away in stakes £24,000. A master-coachmakers’ association has been formed in Melbourne. Greathead’s diphtheria sulphuric acid cure continues a subject of controversy, Numerous cures are reported, and but few failures. A bill legalising marriage with a deceased wife’s sister has been read a second time in the New South Wales Assembly, The boy Dossctt, who confessed to have made several attempts to set fire to the ship Penthesilea at Wilhamstown, has been committed for trial. The spiritualists of Melbourne are in a state of consternation and prostration, They have been of late receiving marvellous communications from the spirit of one John Pagan, formerly a fellow-colonist, and supposed to bo dead, but •who turns cut to be alive and well at home in England. The following statistics gives a view of the increase or decrease of the numbers engaged in the various occupations carried on in the colony of Victoria. Since 1861 the changes have been ps follows; —Commerce, trade and manufacture had engaged in 1861, 84,941 persons ; in 1871, - 114,263. Gold mining employed in 1861, 61,955; in 1871, only 39,754. Agriculture, farming and pastoral pursuits had in 1861, 54,268 in their ranks; in 1871, 65,036. Labourers in 1861 numbered 8,098 ; in 1871, lu,lßl. Jiomestic servants, 1861, 23,573 ; 1871, 24,851, Those engaged in the learned profession and fine arts have increased from 7,285 in 1861 to 11,918 in 1861. The public revenue sustained in 1861 8,143 ; in 1871, 14,232 derived their income from the State. Those of independent means in 1861 ' numbered 1,362; in 1871 they are reckoned at 1,859. The residue of population not classified 1861 was 263,294 ; in 1871 ? 424,767. Several offers hqve been received by the South

Australian Government for the construction of the Trans-continental railway. A New Zealand firm has offered to construct the lino, which will be 2,500 miles in length, in 12i years, for 100,000,000 acres of land; and also undertakes to introduce 100,000 immigrants.