West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Tuesday 4 September 1883, page 2


OCCASIONAL NOTES.

James Morrison, stock and station agent, reports the sale of 193 fat sheep ex Ferret, on account of Mr. C. Sewell, at 18s. 6d. per head.

Communications from Dr. Rossellotty and Dr. Mayhew, and news letters from York and the

Arthur, are unavoidably held over until our next

issue.

Chief Justice Wrenfordsley left Syd-ney for Fiji in H.M.S. Diamond, on the 18th August. It was reported that Joe Smith, one of the Irish informers, was a passenger by the same

vessel, he having left the Nelson a few days pre-

viously.

The inhabitants of Hongkong have resolved upon the erection of a bronze statute, one half

size larger than life, on a granite pedestal, at an estimated coat of 8000 dols, to perpetuate

the memory of their former Governor, the late

Sir Arthur Kennedy.

Consequent upon the lateness of the sea-son and other unforeseen circumstances the annu-al show of the Agricultural Society of Western Australia has been postponed from October 10th to November 7th. The necessary alterations in the society's advertisement, consequent upon this decision, will be made in our next.

The High School of Perth re opens on Friday, the 21st inst. Mr. Criddle, second master of the Kew High School, has been appointed to an assistant mastership. This gentleman is said to be "a good all-round man, and particularly successful with boys who do not succeed with

the usual school routine."

From the Williams we hear that the season, so far, has been excellent and that everything looks promising. The fall in the price of sandal-wood has been productive of one good effect, in that much of the local enterprise, hitherto direct-ed to the prosecution of wood-cutting, was being turned to better and more permanent account.

From a notice in our advertising columns it will be seen that Mr. W. J. Gillam, so long and favourably known in connection with the firm of J. McKail & Co., of Albany, has retired from the business, and that Mr. Robinson, the popular and respected manager of the local branch of the National Bank, has joined the

partnership.

Among the purchases made at the Levels stud sheep sale, at Adelaide, last month, were the following for this colony : Mr. T. Burges, one 2-yeav old ram, 80 guineas ; Sir F. P. Bar-lee, one,2-year old ram, 60 guineas, and one do. do. 50 guineas ; Mr. J. C. Clarkson, one 2-year old ram, 30 guineas, and another 25 guineas ;

Mr. J. C. Clarkson, 10 ram lambs, at 5 guineas

each.

From the Murchison we hear that an epi-demic, apparently of the nature of influenza, similar to that which has lately caused so much mortality amongst the prisoners at Rottnest, is very prevalent. Both whites and blacks had been down with the disease, and, at Yuin station, several of the latter had died from its effects. When the Yuin sheep-washing started, twenty five blacks were employed at the pool, but at the

time the news to which we are referring was des-patched, not more than five out of this number could be mustered. It is thus apparent that not to the influences of Rottnest alone were due the disease and mortality from which the native prisoners have suffered.

We regret to hear that measles are still alarmingly prevalent at Albany. Several deaths amongst adults have occurred and the disease appears to assnme an unusually severe form. It is to be regretted that steps cannot be taken to guard against the spread of this complaint. We understand that by a late steamer from the Sound, a man came up to Fremantle who had been down with measles and had risen from his sick bed to go on board the vessel. When such oc" entrences take place we must expect to see meas-

les make their appearance before long in other parts of the colony. Should they spread to the North, the havoc they would cause amongst the natives-judging from past experience in

the South-would be fearful.

We need scarcely say that there is not the slightest fonndation in fact for the statement ' which appeared in print yesterday that on the

select committee on the land grant railway schemes "were members who were acting as agents for two of them." The statement is absolutely false. Equally false is that which attributes to ,the public " a general feeling of apprehension" that, in regard to these railway projects, the pre-sent Governor " is not the man for the situation." That Governor Broome should have inspired the Morning Herald with the "reverse of confi-dence in his administrative capacity" is more than probable, seeing that, unlike his predeces-sor, he has not allowed himself to be made use of as a tool to'forward that journal's mischievous designs. But the chagrin of the Herald is not shared in by the public.

Our Victoria Plains correspondent writing on August 31, says : Last Monday people were - startled by hearing a series of loud reports re-

sembling that of artillery at a distance, in a north-westerly direction. The first sounds were heard by a few persons at about 11 p.m. on Sunday, continuing at irregular intervals till about 4 p.m. on Monday. Sometimes as many as three reports occurred in a minute, but gen-erally there were a few minutes' interval. As there were thunder-clouds low on the north-western horizon all the time, it is considered probable that the retorts were of electric ori-gin. -Preparations for shearing are going on, and on some stations the work will begin next week. The ploughs are busy fallowing in all directions, and there will be a good deal of land

turned up this season. The following is the Crown Agents' ex-planation of the reasons why our last loan was not taken up so readily as we had reason tu ex-pect : "As it appeared doubtful whether the whole loan of £254,000 would not be required within the next twelve months, we invited ten-ders for that amount of four per cent, deben-tures. In response to the advertisement, we received on the 10th inst. (July) tenders to the amount of £70,500, at rates varying from 99 to 96-10, the minimum. Subsequent applications enabled us to allot a total of £100,000 at an average of £96 15s. 9fd. per cent., realizing £96,791 5s. 6d. On the 8th inst., two days pre-vious to that fixed for the receipt of tenders, we had every reason to expect that there would have been applications for the whole amount, but on the morning of the 9th inst. an adver-tisement appeared in the daily papers inviting tenders on behalf of another Australian colony for a loan of £3,000,000. The announcement of the proposed issue of this loan of the Government of New South Wales, immediately after a nearly similar operation by the colony of Victoria, caused much comment in the money market, and had the unfortunate effect of pre-venting many from tendering for the Western Australian debentures who would have done so but for that announcement. The amount realized will, however, be sufheient to meet the expen-diture on public woiks for some mouths, and we must wait for a more favourable opportunity to dispose of the unsold balance of the deben-tures, which we can hardiy expect this year, but under ordinary circumstances may with some reason hope for in the early part of the next

year."

On Saturday last a Government Gazette ex- traordinary was issued containing telegrams ad-dressed to our Government from Melbourne and Singapore stating that volcanic eruptions had taken place in the Straits of Sunda by means of which the configuration of those straits had been changed. Upheavals have taken place, and islands have disappeared. It is suspected that Anger with its lighthouse has been destroyed, and, probably, that other lighthouses in the same neighbourhood have been damaged. The charts are quite unreliable and mariners are recommend-ed to exercise extreme caution. This informa-tion seems to furnish an explanation of the tidal

wave and other recent phenomena on our own coast. Not only on the coast were strange souuds heard during the early part of last week, described as resembling the firing of cannon; from the Williams, also, we learn that similar phenomena have occurred inland. A correspondent writing from that district, states that on Sun-day afternoon and until 8 o'clock p.m. on Mon-day morning, successive sounds were heard ap-parently underground, such as would be pro-duced by the firing of large guns at a great distance. The sounds were heard more dis-tinctly six or seven miles to the westward of the bridge than at the township itself. A per-son travelling from Marradong to the Bannister

states that he heard the same noises, and that they apparently came from the neighbourhood of the Williams. In Perth, also, a noise, appar-ently of gun-firing, was heard by a few persons, and similar sounds are reported to have startled the inhabitants of Victoria Plains.

The address to His Excellency the Gover-nor passed on Wednesday night last by a major-ity of one, praying that he will be pleased to grant to Messrs. Smith & Co., of Perth, "a re-serve of 5,000 acres of forest land on or in the vicinity of York Green Mount, with the right to cut and remove timber therefrom for a term of 41 years" has given rise to much discussion

The enterprise and energy which this firm have displayed in establishing the large manufactur-ing business they are now carrying on is worthy of all praise, and deserves recognition. It was no doubt under the influence of this feeling that a majority voted in favour of Mr. Burt's resolu-tion, and that majority would probably have as-sumed more respectable dimensions had Mr. Ran-dell's amendment been accepted, that the inter-ests of other persons engaged in cutting timber, or who have erected mills in the locality, should be fully considered and protected. Why the amendment was rejected it is by no means easy to understand, for every member must, we should imagine, have been in accord with the terms of it. That amendment, however, indicated the difficulty which stands in the way of acceding to the prayer of the address. How are the inter-ests of other firms and timber cutters now sup-plying the timber requirements of the capital and port to be protected if 5000 acres of the best forest land - in the best situation for carrying on the local timber business while making use of the railway conveniences provided-is to be re-served for the exclusive use of Messrs. Smith & Co.? This is the question, and, however much we should wish to see Messrs. Smith & Co's. en-terprise suitably recognized and encouraged, we trust that, in dealing with the matter, the Government will be very careful that no just cause for complaint is established.