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33 corrections, most recently by tony.jones.1949 - Show corrections

Domestic Intelligence.

Herrings.—A Sydney journal the other day was lost in wonderment at the

notion of the Port Phillip followers of   Isaac Walton patronizing the herring fishing, and another has since followed

with a lamentation over the enormous sums sent annually from the Australian Colonies for the importation of this arti- cle of luxury from Britain, while there are plenty to be had in the river Yarra Yarra, and benevolently furnishes in- structions for their taking and curing. Both authorities are sadly astray—the herring of the Yarra Yarra is not the herring of commerce, but it yields amuse- ment for both bait and fly-fishing which even old Isaac would not have despised.

South Australia. — Considerable

changes were about to take place in the official departments of the government of South Australia. Mr. Mundy the Colo- nial Secretary, being required at home in consequence of the severe sickness of a brother ; the Colonial Treasurer, Mr. Finnis, will succeed to the Secretaryship, and Mr. Maturin, lately appointed Private Secretary, will fulfil the Treasurer's du- ties, while the late Private Secretary will again resume his situation.— The South Australian is very wroth with the settlers in the South Eastern District of the sister Province for getting their sup- plies from Portland, instead of Adelaide. We thought free trade principles had made greater head-way in Adelaide, but since that it is not the case, surely our Adelaide contemporary will not object to the Port Phillip settlers who have crossed the border, getting their supplies in Port Phillip.—An abstract of a Road Bill is published in the Gazette, which places the management of the four great and

main roads in a Central Board of Com-

missioners, composed of officials, non- officials, and elective members of Council, with other private persons to be named by the Governor.

The Police.—Constable Brian Carr, for many years an active member of the City Police, has been dismissed the force, the Acting Chief Constable having  

lodged a complaint against him for con- duct unbecoming the character of a con- stable. A respectable young man named Hindel Thompson, recently ar- rived from London, has been appointed to fill the vacancy thus created.

An Otter.—A species of the Chiro- nectus, or Australian otter was lately caught at the Glenelg. It was taken in the salt-water creek which there joins the gulf by Mr. Macdonald, of the St. Leonard's Hotel, who presented it to Mr. Wilson. It ¡s described as being of a reddish-grey color, about one foot long, and with a tail about half that length, having the long snout and short fore- feet remarkable in that genus, with the hind feet webbed, and evidently am- phibious.—South Australian.

Police Office. — Mr. Archibald   M'Lachlan presided on Tuesday morn- ing. Mary Walker and Jane Bradly, two notorious termagants, appeared for the tenth time, on a charge of disturb- ing the peace, and using dreadfully ob- scene language in the public streets when addressing each other. As the defendants had not been brought up as vagrants, the Bench found a difficulty in dealing with the case, and they were discharged, with a caution to leave the town.—William Gibson, and " Pul- lup," (an aboriginal native) pleaded guilty to a charge of drunkenness, and were sentenced, the former to pay a fine of five shillings, and the latter, one hour in the stocks.—Richard Lovell, who had been remanded for several days on two charges of felony, was called up and dis- charged ; the prosecutor in the last case (stealing cheese) could not identify either the property or the prisoner, who accordingly received the benefit. Coun- cillor Condell and William Hull, Esq., presided on Wednesday morning. The watchhouse sheet presented a blank ; a very unusual thing in the Police Court, and seemed to be much relished by the Bench, who are often detained for a long time in disposing of many trumpery cases. The only case on the cause list was that of the Queen v. Thompson, for felony ; the accused had been remanded from the previous day for stealing two half-crowns from a Mrs. Ackerby, as stated in last Argus, for production of witnesses, to invalidate the testimony given by the prosecutrix ; several per- sons were accordingly examined with that object, but they completely failed, and the prisoner was committed for trial. The Bench refused to admit Thompson to bail. Major Firebrace, Captain Dana, and Messrs. Payne and Powlett, presided yesterday. A singular case of rescue came on for hearing before their wor- ships, in which W. H. Bacchus, Esq., was complainant, and Mr. Elijah Crook, licensed victualler, residing at Bacchus Marsh, defendant. It appeared, from the evidence of Mr. Lachlan Macpherson, overseer for Mr. Bacchus, that on the 7th May, several head of cattle tres- passed on the complainant's garden ; Mr. Macpherson, by order of his employer, was in the act of driving the cattle to the pound, when the animals rushed into a yard adjoining the pound, belonging to defendant ; the defendant was about to drive them out, when Mr. Crook said they were his bullocks, and on his pro-   perty, therefore he would not allow them to be taken away. Mr. Francis Ste- phen argued in defence, that the com- plainant lost possession of the cattle when they went into a yard, the property of the defendant ; and said, that if com- plainant had driven the cattle out of the yard contrary to the instruction of Mr. Crook, he would have been liable to an action for trespass. The Bench dis- missed the case, but refused to allow costs. Mr. F. Stephen said, he would apply in another Court for costs, as his client had been put to considerable ex- pense in coming to town.—Louisa Har- rison and Mary Fitzpatrick, were each fined 5s. for drunkenness. — Thomas Redmond, a sailor on board the ship Pemberton, now lying in Hobson's Bay, was charged with absenting himself from that vessel ; a long discussion took place between Mr. John Stephen (for the captain) and Mr. Belcher, as to whether the man was properly before the Court, as he had not been arrested by

warrant. The Bench decided that he was not properly in Court, and he was accordingly discharged. Mr. Stephen said he would take counsel's opinion, to show that Mr. Belcher was wrong, and that the man was properly before the Court, having been arrested by the Cap-

tain's order.

St. Vincent Election.—Mr. Hol- royd, the barrister, Mr. Flood, the Mayor of Sydney, and Mr. Moir, one of the Sydney City Councillors, were all in the field for the vacancy in the representa- tion of the united Counties of Auckland and St. Vincent in the Legislative Coun- cil, occasioned by the resignation of George Hill, Esq., Mr. Holroyd, it was said, would, in all probability, be the suc-

cessful candidate.

Van Diemen's Land.—The Revenue Returns of Van Diemen's Land, for the first Quarter of the current year, have only now made their appearance, and show the following results :—As com- pared with the same quarter of 1848, the revenue shows an apparent increase of £13,705 10s. 11d.— the former amounting to £31,575 2s. 10d., and the latter to £45,280 12s. 11d.; but, from   this appatently flattering picture, is to be deducted, the sum of £15,048 18s., which has been borrowed from the Land Fund, to pay over to the Commercial Bank. Deducting this, the revenue will, for the first quarter, 1849, be £30,231 14s. 11d., which is £1343 less than that of 1848. The expenditure for the quar- ter, deducting the land money, paid to

the Commercial Bank, is £33,482 2s.  

6d., which is less than that of 1848, by'   £1672—the latter having been £35,154 16s. 5d. The expenditure of the quarter exceeds the income by £3250 7s. 7d.— A still greater deficiency is calculated upon, for the second quarter, and it is said that there is every prospect of a de- ficiency of at least £15,000 upon the year, which, with that of the past year, will leave a debt of some £20,000, as a legacy, to the expected Representative

Assembly.—An extensive available country has been found to exist, to the westward, with a mild climate and excel- lent pasture. It runs from the south- western portion of Lincoln County, near Lake St. Clair, to the north-western portion of Franklin County, and round the Frenchman's Cap. Already four

stations had been taken there. It was the intention of the Government to im- mediately direct this immense tract, computed to contain more than 1,000,000 of acres, to be opened up. The existence of this splendid tract of country was re- ported, many years ago, by a runaway convict, called Old Davy Richardson, but his discovery was not followed up.

Portland.—Through the representa- tion of C. Robertson, Esq., Manager of the Portland branch of the Union Bank, on his first arrival in the district, seconded by other authorities of that Bank, both in the colonies and at home, the establishment of a superior Court of Justice in Portland promises shortly to be effected. We hope to give a letter from the Under Secretary of State on the subject, in our next. — Portland

Guardian.

Adjourned Inquest.—On Tuesday last the adjourned inquest was resumed on view of the body of Mrs Catherine Aitcheson, at the Duke of York Inn. The only witness examined was Dr. Thomas, whose evidence went to show that after a post mortem examination, he found inflammation in the mucous mem- brane of the stomach, and the smaller membranes in a state of chronic inflam- mation ; also, that the disease was of long standing. He attributed death to the state of the stomach, which produced irritation of the brain, followed by a fit. He could not say whether intoxica- tion produced the state in which de- ceased was found. The jury returned a

verdict that deceased died from natural causes by the visitation of God, and not otherwise. It appears the deceased had been subject to fits, and that she died in one of them. There was no poison in the beer found near her person, nor did it appear in evidence that she was intoxi- cated, as had been reported.

Fire.—A fire took place on Tuesday night last, at a late hour, in the house of a shoemaker, residing in a lane near the White Hart inn, Little Bourke-street. The most fatal consequences would have resulted, but for the activity of Jeremiah Dalton, of the Fire Brigade, and several constables, who were on the spot at the time. It seems the shoemaker, who was intoxicated, and his three children, were asleep when the flames burst out, and when the door was forced open, the un- fortunate man and his offspring were quite unconscious of their perilous situ- ation ; nearly every article of furniture in the room was on fire, and a few mo- ments farther delay would have rendered their escape impossible. The man's wife had gone out, after putting the family to bed, and it is supposed that the fire originated from her having put a lighted candle near the bed on which the drunken man was lying.

Surgical Operation.—An operation was performed by Dr. Thomas, at the Hospital, on Monday, on the person of a female named Baker. She had been suffering for some time from a large sized tumour exuding from her lower jaw, and was advised to have it cut off. The operation was performed by Dr. Thomas, in a few seconds, with little pain to the patient, and to the satisfac- tion of all those persons present.

Bathurst.—Mr. Dowling, a solicitor at Bathurst, and nephew of the late Chief Justice Sir James Dowling, com- mitted suicide at Bathurst, on the 15th instant.—Chief Constable Davies, (the notorious Jack, formerly of Melbourne,) had been called upon to answer a series of charges of bribery, &c., preferred by

several of the Bathurst residents.

Steam. — A correspondent sends the following from a private letter to himself, just received from London :—" The India and Australia Royal Mail Steam Com- pany have at length had their contracts accepted by the Government. The con- tracts are, first, one for a monthly mail between Singapore and Ceylon ; second, one for a mail, also monthly, between England and Alexandria. The city mer- chants, however, are clamoring for a bi- monthly mail on the 3rd of each month,* and we expect a contract for this also  

shortly. We have thus, you see, secured the two ends of the line, and leave the route between Suez and the continent of

Asia for future arrangements, but there

is no doubt that in a short time this latter

portion of the route will be as fully occu- pied by our ships as it is now by those of the Oriental and Peninsular Company. Our contracts are for fourteen years ; the Government reserving the right to modify the terms at the end of seven years. We are, however, quite easy on this head, and consider them safe for the entire period. We get £26,000 per annum for the service between Singapore and Sydney, and £18,450 for that between Alexandria and England. We calculate on French and Dutch contracts to the amount of £15,500 per annum, which at once, and exclusive of other sources of income, secures us an interest of six per cent, on £1,000,000; so that our affairs at present bear a most encouraging aspect. The Company have appointed as auditors, Sir Edward Parry, Sir Francis Simkinson, and Sir George Larpent."—Launceston Examiner.

* The city merchants are getting sadly confused in their ideas of things, since we knew any of the fra- ternity, if they really are "clamoring" for any such absurdity, as a bi-monthly mail on the 3rd of each

month.—Ed. A.

Portland. — Several whales have made their appearance in Portland Bay during the last week, but there was no- body to catch them.—The Portland Guardian has made the discovery that " The bible and the prayer book are so

much in unison that both must stand or fall together." The discovery is pecu- liarly his own.

Separation.—All hope of keeping this province any longer in thraldom is now abandoned by our Sydney neigh- bours. A parting grunt on the subject appears in the Sydney Morning Herald of the 21st instant, which wound up as follows : "ThePort Phillipians,however, will grumble (reason or none) until they get Separation. We are glad to find from the Governor's Speech, that this long and bitterly agitated question is likely ere long to be settled. We hope the leading politicians of the South will then exhibit an improvement in thought and language. If not, we pity the man who shall have to contend, as Governor, with so unrea- sonable a people and so licentious a press. To do so successfully will require an un- usual tact, moderation, and address." Our contemporary may spare his fears ; years of shameless robbery such as Port Phillip has been forced to submit to, were not likely to produce much mildness either in thought or language among "the   politicians of the South," and a better order of things will render easy, what an

alien and a conscienceless Government

and Legislature have found so difficult.

Louttit Bay Coal.—Mr. Foote, the Surveyor, who was despatched by his Honor the Superintendent to examine the reported coal discovery at Louttit Bay, has returned to Melbourne, and brings but a discouraging account of the object of his mission. No actual coal has been discovered, but there is a quan- tity of lignite giving indication of the existence of coal, of which Mr. F. has brought a specimen, which may be seen at the Survey Office. The position in which the coal is supposed to exist is not, however, such as was described, being distant from the Bay, which is the only accessible means of water carriage, about six miles, and the intervening country an almost impenetrable scrub.

Legal.—The Van Diemen's Land Judges have granted a rule nisi for a new trial in the case of Lyall v. Bayn- ton, on the ground, 1st—of misdirection on the part of the Judge, and 2nd, on the ground of excessive damages.

Daring Act of Burglary.—On Wed- nesday night the stores of Messrs. Watson and Wight, in the Market Square, were entered by some daring characters, who expected, no doubt, to gain a considerable booty. The front door was forced open, and the counting house ransacked, bills, bonds, papers, &c., being thrown about the floor in a confused mass ; but the burglars did not succeed in getting any money, as it had been removed by Mr. Wight before leaving the office that even- ing. The fellows must have been ex-

ceedingly cool in their burglarious oper- ations, for, previous to leaving they uncorked and drank several bottles of wine, and helped themselves plentifully to cigars, some of which they left behind half consumed. No papers or documents were removed from the premises, and it is therefore presumed that money was the object of the burglars.

Deserting an Apprentice.—On Tues- day a lad named Bardell, applied to the rragistrates at the police office for advice under the following circumstances :—He arrived here in the Garland Grove from London, on board of which vessel he was an apprentice, having paid a premium of £70 ; shortly after arriving he was seized with rheumatism, and being unable to work was sent by the Captain to Mel- bourne, for the purpose of being lodged in the Hospital, he was refused admit- tance, and he has been since wandering about the town without money, and would have starved but for the kindness of some humane persons. Mr. A. M'Lachlan con- sidered the agents were bound to see the lad to Adelaide, where he stated his uncle was Governor of the South Australian Company, as the vessel in which he arrived had sailed. Mr. John Stephen kindly volunteered to see the agents on the subject (Messrs. Jamieson, and Co.), who, no doubt, would do what they could in the matter. The poor lad presented a most deplorable condition, his feet being much swollen in consequence of having no shoes. A strong feeling of indigna- tion was evinced, at a case of such heart- less desertion.    

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