Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), Wednesday 4 May 1859, page 4


NEWS AND NOTES.

BY A SYDNEY MAN.

XXXV.

NO February mail yet. The Oneida, which should bring it, is overdue, but nobody had much faith in her, and she has not deceived them. The Benares, with the May mail, is due at Adelaide next Sunday, so that it is not improbable that she may over-run the February post.

In the absence of European intelligence there is not much news to make Notes upon. Easter festivities occupied the Sydneyites throughout Monday, the whole population turning out en masse at an early hour in the morning, and hastening off to Fort Mac-quarie, Mrs. Macquarie's Point, Manly Beach, Watson's Bay, Kissing Point, Par-ramatta, and all sorts of places, laden with baskets of provisions and babies, and evidently bent upon enjoyment after their own fashion. The Yacht Club had a re-gatta in the harbour, the most note-worthy event of which was the thrashing of the Surprise by the Mischief; and the regatta was held at Kissing Point, and besides these aquatic sports there was the usual amount of greasy-pole climbing and pig-chasing in the suburbs. Even your packet-boat the Clarence went on the spree to Watson's Bay, and made several trips between that foreign port and Sydney during the day. It was disgraceful to see the way in which the Manly Beach steamers were crowded, and, as if to make matters worse, the owners de-

manded sixpence more than the advertised fare, in consequence of which a row ensued, and one or two got floored in the melee. On coming away from Manly there was a rush

to the first steamer, and a man and a child got pushed off from the jetty into the water,

but the former scrambled ashore, and the latter was fished out by a Police Inspector. The Temperance Alliance, and the Wesleyan Sunday School party flared up and formed a union. They appropriated Middle Harbour for the day, and, though not pre-sent, I have no doubt that the afternoon was enlivened by means of good wine, and some excellent comic songs. Brother Bluffins is said to have much delighted the company by the playful, yet artistic manner in which

he balanced a donkey and ladder on his chin.

The sentence of death passed upon Mary Ann Perry, for the Burwood murder, has been commuted to fifteen years' penal servi-tude. This commutation has apparently had its origin in doubts as to the proba-

bility of the fatal blow having been actually struck by her ; yet she has made no revela-. tion, and, although the Rev. Mr. Agnew, the gaol chaplain, states her conduct to have been very subdued and becoming, she has

never attempted to throw any further light on the mystery that envelopes the murder. She will probably finish her days in Parra-matta gaol.

Johnson, the wretched man who mur-dered his faithless paramour at Back Creek, Victoria, has died of the wound which he inflicted on his own throat. It was several

times sewn up, but his breathing burst it again, and has thus enabled him to escape the fatal cord. The whole story is a hideous painting, in the worst colors, of love, jealousy, and revenge.

The ship Evening Star, which appears to have left the port of Moreton Bay with 2,000 sheep for New Zealand, lost fourteen hundred on the passage, taking 600 only into Auckland. The Constance, some time since, also from your port, was quite as un-fortunate. These most ruinous losses are much deplored by the farmers of the province.

You of the north have a new organ, with a double-barrel, called the Tamworth Ex-aminer. The proprietor has judiciously fixed the price at one shilling a number, for shillings are probably not much more thought of than sixpences in that locality, where I remember giving half-a-crown for a quart of maize for a horse, and being glad enough to get it. One of the earliest num-bers of the new paper reports a murder at Walcha. Mr. John Hamilton, an inn-keeper and miller there, had a dispute with a man in his employment named Wil-liam Ross, the result of which was that Ross ran for a pistol, when Hamilton en-deavored to escape his fury by going into the mill, and closing the door ; but Ross forced it partly open, shot his victim in the hip,

and afterwards beat him so about the head

with the butt end of the pistol that he died. The murderer has been committed to Mait-

land for trial.

From Victoria we learn that a young man named Boyle has been shot by another named Brayshaw, in a quarrel, at Splitter's Creek, near Sandhurst. A rascal named McGee, has distinguished himself in the annals of villainy. It appears that he had been known of old as partial to the amuse-ment of setting fire to hay-ricks, barns, &c, for the purpose of swearing the crimes against others ; but, taking a higher flight

lately, he shot himself with a pistol, and then went to the police with a report that he had been bailed up, and shot by foot-pads on the Brighton railway pier at Melbourne. His story was at first believed, and he was taken into hospital ; but although he had intended only to give himself a slight wound, the bullet hit him too hard, and he has since gone bong. Now this is what I call a disinterested scoundrel ; a fellow who prac-tised villainy from pure love of the thing.

From the same quarter we hear that a man named James Kempson has been apprehended for the Newstead murder, the particulars of

which are as follows :-

The victim was a woman named Deborah Phinter-stock. It appears that on the night of the murder deceased, accompanied by her husband arrived at Newstead at about half-past three p.m.,

on their way to the Back Creek rush. On reach-ing tho spot which was so soon and so unexpect-edly to prove fatal to one of them, they seem to have resolved on camping there for the night. The murderer, who was quite unknown to the parties, was stopping at the Travellers' Home, Newstead, where he had been staying since the 5th instant, and was heard, on observing the woman, to say that he would be bound to kill her. Those who heard his threats did not entertain any apprehensions of their proving serious, but to their horror and amazement the murderer went up to the deceased, as she was seated by the camp

fire, and struck her a fatal blow with an axe on the left side of the head. This took place about half-past six o'clock in the evening. The unfortunate woman lingered about half an hour after re-

ceiving the mortal wound. After the murderer had committed the horrible deed he headed in the direction of Yandoit, or Jim Crow, but on account of its getting dark immediately, all traces of him

were lost.

At Dunolly a miner was found dead

with a few inches of earth upon him,

in a drive, but those who found the body say that if this had occurred while he was alive he could easily have liberated himself. There was a mark on his head, as from the blow of a pick, and marks on the side of the drive, as if the earth had been dug down upon him. The name of the deceased was George James Tickner.

It seems plain enough that the world is growing no better. Even from your com-paratively respectable quarter comes the in-telligence of the horrible murder of the poor German girl at Gayndah. - It is to be hoped that the police may be gifted with the scent of blood-hounds to track out the criminal. The blows on the head and face are such as

would have been given by blacks ; but would the half-civilised blacks of Gayndah have left her bundle by her side and silver in her pocket ?

John Thomas, the man so long in custody for brutally assaulting two soldiers with a poker, at a public-house on South Head Road on last St. Patrick's day, has at last been committed to take his trial, the wounded man having at length been able to come out of hospital.

A short time ago a statistical article, to which I have before made reference, appeared in the Sydney daily press, giving what pur-ported to be a statement of the exports of alpaca wool from various ports into the United Kingdom, from which it appeared, that, although Peru was set down for by far the largest proportion, there were other South American States that had credit for some. Mr. Ledger now writes to say that these latter exports must only have been re-exports, and he particularly denies that Chili ships any alpaca wool, as her own produce. He declares that, "with the exception of New South Wales, Peru; and Bolivia, there is no country that possesses fifty alpacas. This statement sufficiently shows the great im-portance of the purchase effected by the local

Government.

The Election Writs still hang fire, and so do the candidates. Mr. Thomas Cooper is in the field for Braidwood, and he is at pre-sent the only one who has published an address. The great men of the old regime are making a show of withdrawing from public life in disgust, though, in point of fact, no doubt many are wisely illustrating the fable of the fox and the grapes. This, however, does not apply to Mr. Plunkett, who might no doubt go in for Sydney, but it is said that he is going to England-or Ireland, but it does not matter which. Mr. Marray, somewhat scornfully " declines re-election," and it is reported that Mr. Doniehy also finds the grapes sour. Notwithstanding all this, however, there are not wanting wary old shavers who look upon all this as a "dodge," to put. the other party off their guard. At the Clarence a lusus natura-a liberal squatter-has come forth, in the per-son of Mr. Charles Charwell, who declares himself a supporter of the present Ministry, and therefore deserves success ; but he is

strongly opposed by Mr. Clark Irving, who, like Mr. Holt at Newtown, is suddenly seized with a violent desire to subscribe to all local

charities and institutions, and is paying, if not paving, his way to an extensive but not exactly disinterested popularity. When Mr. Holt is elected he intends to bring in a bill to award a suit of plush to the Brisbane notability who lost his " confidence " paper at McAdam's, when partly by love o'ercome, or else by beer.

The Sydney Court of Quarter Sessions commenced on Monday, with twenty-two cases for trial, but none of these are of gene-

ral interest.

Mr. Poole, of the Prince of Wales Theatre, has made another lucky hit in the production of his Easter burlesque, " The King of the Pea-cocks." The Misses Nelson, whose singing is not only most pleasing, but in some in-stances highly artistic, appear lo great ad-vantage. On Monday night, boxes, pit, and gallery were crowded. A dog with a green skin is in the piece, and creates great mirth, by proving that, he is not so green as he looks, as he maintains his half-drowned mistress in a strange country by " boning" the joints and dishes from the kitchen of the georgeous king of the Peacocks, until at last the indignant French cook apprehends him, and carries him off by the tail in triumph.

A letter addressed by Mr. A. C. Gregory to the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, as long ago as December last, and now re-published in the Melbourne. Age, is not with-out interest. Mr. Gregory seems inclined to discourage any groat exertions for the imme-diate prosecution of explorations, in the in-terior of the continent-not because he thinks the country, altogether imprac-ticable, but because he maintains there is abundance of pasturage to the north of Moreton Bay, in the direction of the Burde-kin, to meet all present demands. The fact is, however, that not pasturage alone is sought by the proposed exploration, but the solution of scientific questions, and, perhaps, some tidings of poor Leichhardt, whose fate the various searching expeditions have thrown no light upon.

The American whaler Minerva, whose ar rival after a three years' cruise I lately re ported, had a most remarkable escape from going down at sea, with all hands on-board. She had touched on a rock, but so lightly, that nothing was thought of it, till she began to leak, the water continued to come in in great volume, and before he got to Sydney the captain had to keep both chain-pumps goinig day and night, besides getting the

men up to their middles in water, to choke up the leaks with sails, blankets, &c, with heavy chains on the top. The ship has now been on the slip, and it has been found that two strips of copper were scraped off, and that industrious insect the toreda navalis had actually eaten the planks for eight feet in extent, so that only about a quarter of an inch in thickness remained between the ves-

sels hold and the " deep deep sea !" The wonder is that this thin piece was not forced out by the seamen, when they were thrusting the sails, &c. into the leak.

The Very Rev. Dean Walsh, of thoeRoman Catholic Church at Goulburn, has been suf-fering so severely from an attack of illness, that he has been relieved from his duties for the present.

A noisy meeting has been held at Bathurst for the purpose of hearing Mr. Rotton's expla-nation of his parliamentary conduct. Al-though he had a racketty opposition to face, a vote of confidence and approbation was car-ried by a large majority in his favor.

A number of convicts who had attempted to make their escape from the penal settle-ment at Swan River, have been recaptured by the police, after several days' chace. Dur-ing the time when they were in the bush they committed several robberies with fire arms, for which they will now be tried for their lives. One of their number, Campbell, formerly mate of an American ship, appears to have behaved with great moderation, hav-ing restrained his comrades from unnecessary violence, and actually saved a Mrs. Downs, from the vilest outrage. It is to be hoped that the poor fellow's life will be saved, since he was only running for his liberty.

The Redfernites have had another Corpor-ation meeting. This Municipalities' Act is setting all the Little Pedlingtonians by the ears, and Brisbane is by no means singular. Posterity shall yet tell of the dauntless deeds of Duncan, when the caitiff crest of Cribb quailed before the thunder of his thirty years' experience of public meetings, which, on personal considerations, must surely be called another thirty years' war. The Red-ferners have again resolved to be incorpo-rated, but I suppose we shall have another meeting on the other side again presently.

A woman named Quinlan, widow of an old 99th soldier, finished a career of drunk-enness, a few days ago, by falling off her couch and being suffocated on the floor, when full of rum as she could well hold.

A discovery, highly interesting to geolo-gists, has just been made in America. They have not exactly found the skeleton of the great sea-serpent, but at New Jersey they have dug out some fossil bones which the scientific authorities pronounce to have been formerly the property of an interesting animal who hung out some thousands of years before the flood, and who was a sort of half kangaroo, half alligator, standing twenty five feet high without his stockings, and jumping about on his hind legs, supported by an enormous tail. Rather a pretty crea-ture this to meet in a narrow lane on a moonlight night! They have named the charming beauty Hydrosaurus Foulki, from Mr. Foulkes, the discoverer.

The Herald, by the bye, approves of the action of the Government, in refusing aid from the public revenue for public works in towns that refuse to be incorporated, and really I think that the Herald herein is right. It appears at first like a departure from the voluntary system, but certainly towns re-fusing to impose local taxes, and yet obtain-ing public aid, would make those rather jealous who were suffering under the local screw; although it is supposed that local dignities, with a Municipal J.P. at the head of affairs, would compensate for any amount of squeezing.

The teetotallers have been hitting out heavily against publicans and their custom-ers, and have not escaped without some smart raps on the knuckles in return. On Tuesday weak, as I mentioned in my last, the New Temperance Hall in Pitt-street was opened, and, " when full of tay and toast," some of the speakers launched out the thun-ders of their wrath against all innkeepers who sold what the vulgar call lush. Brother Tadger was in his element, Stiggins glorious, and His Honor Sir Alfred Stephen, in the chair, condemned every sort of dhrink that's to be had, only Colonial wine, which being his own peculiar vanity he could not turn his face against.

Apropos of the Chief Justice, His Honor's fondness for somewhat broad practical jokes, even on the bench, is not quite unknown in Brisbane. Recently, at the Bathurst assizes, he circulated a jeu d'esprit, consisting of a fancied epitaph on Mr. Dalley, who is repre-sented as evaporating in smoke ; the talented little barrister's fondness for the Virginian weed being as remarkable as Sir Alfred's abhorrence of it. But Dalley was pot to be done, and has accordingly come out in the Bathurst press with the following " retort courteous," in which the Judge decidedly gets the worst of it :

In Memory Of

Sir Alfred Stephen, Knt.

Who

Departed this Life on the 19th August, 1904; at

the advanced age of 102 years.

He was a

Great Patriarch, having had nine sons and nine

daughters.

He was also, in some respects a good judge :

And he perhaps might have been a

Great Legislator,

If the Assembly had not out short his efforts, by voting that the more a Man knows of our Laws, the less he ought to have to do with

them.

He was, however, returned as

Member for the Western Districts,

in the

First Elective Upper House;

And although he never could induce his con-stituents to Prefer Colonial Wine to Whisky,

Yet

He did some service, by compelling, them to

Eradicate their Beloved Bathurst Burr.

He was not so fortunate in all his endeavours : For, after forty-three years of writing and talking,

He

Left the Magistracy no better acquainted with Law than he found them, and he never persuaded One Prisoner to be altogether pleased with his

Sentence.

He was celebrated

For always doing things the most dissimilar

At the same time:-such as writing begging

letters for a College, or an Epitaph on a still Living Friend,

While

Summing up a Case of Assault or Cattle

Stealing.

But he was more distinguished for dabbling in

ARCHITECTURE:

And he amused himself, at the expense of the Public, by making and then unmaking so many

Alterations in the Court house,

That Litigants who once entered there could

Rarely find their way out again !

Ho wasted (it is said) more breath on the flute Than he ever did on Counsel or Jurymen ! and

At last he took to

Keeping Pigs and Poultry in this neighbourhood,

Where

He lived eighteen years by the sale of

Eggs and bacon.

Eventually he died by over-exerting himself in a game of leapfrog with his great-grand

children.

Requiescat in Pace !

Last Thursday night, a little after mid-night, an alarm of fire was given in George street, when it was ascertained that the upper part of the shop and store of Mr. Ellis, grocer, near Park-street, was in flames. The engines were promptly on the spot, and eventually the fire was got under, without extending further than the upper part of that one house, though the neighborhood, from the number of wooden buildings in the rear, was a most dangerous one for a fire. Mr. Ellis himself lives at Randwick, he says that his insurance covers his losses, and he is about to resume business. He was insured in two offices for £15,000, which he states to be the value of the property in the store, but all that was on the lower story chiefly sugar-was saved. How the fire originated nobody knows. Mr. Ellis was the last person on the premises. The blaze was a big and a fierce one, and the ashes are even up to the present hour smouldering, so that one engine remains on the spot.

A poor German at Shell Harbour, last week, had his hand drawn into a thrashing machine, and so shockingly mutilated that the arm had to be amputated.

One Hugh Mackenzie has been com-mitted to take his trial on a charge of rob-bing a market gardener named Duffy, of £4, with fire-arms, and leaving him tied to a tree, on the Parramatta Road, in September last. There is no doubt of the robbery having been committed, but the identity of the prisoner is not quite so clear.

Some of your readers may remember the Penrith Bench fining a publican, named Davis, for selling some casks of bottled beer in that district, whereas his license was for Liverpool. The fact was that Davis was merely supplying an order given at his own house on the Liverpool Road, and the conviction has now been quashed by the Su-preme Court. Mr. John Garsed, convicted of fraudulent insolvency in Sydney, has not been quite so successful in an appeal, his conviction having been confirmed by the full Court.

One Thomas Griffiths has been trying to make a horse, or donkey, of himself at Mel-bourne, by walking for six consecutive days, and during twelve consecutive hours on each day, one mile and a half in every hour ; the half hour, on each occasion, to be walked with half a hundred-weight tied to each leg. Rather an intellectual being, this ! I sup-pose he is practising for the heavy-ironed-gang stakes.

The rival houses of Poehlman and Cheval continue at war-but the Poehlmanites have decidedly the best of the Chevaliers. The proprietor of the Café continues to file infor mations against Poehlman, for having a back

entrance to his house; but as the Government

have resolved to remit all fines for the so-called offence, the Mayor has refused to hear the cases. So Cheval chafes and fumes, and Poehlman waxeth fat.

Mr. Cory, a well-known legal practitioner at the Police Court, lately had some sharp words with Mr. Forbes, the presiding beak of that judicial temple, in consequence of which Mr. Cory was sentenced to shut up. In other words, Mr. Forbes refused to hear him again until he apologised, but as this went rather against the lawyer's grain, he appealed to the Supreme Court, where Judge Milford, of fishy memory, has ruled that Mr. Forbes was quite OK in what he did, and Cory all wrong.

The Danish ship Caroline, which arrived here a few days ago, reports that the chief officer, Mr. Christian, fell overboard at sea,

and was drowned.

It is now said that the black masts of a large ship have been seen standing out of water at Kent's Group, in Bass' Straits, be-tween Cape Liptrap and Glennie's Island. A steamer was to be sent to examine, and it was thought that the Sappho was thus at

last found.

George Davis, Thomas Hodgin, and Mary Ann Ashworth, were sent to trial a few days ago for " hocussing" a spooney named Thomas Rogers, and robbing him of four

£10 notes.

An oil-painting of the great Australian, William Charles Wentworth, has arrived from England, and is placed in the Chamber of Commerce. It bears a strong resem-blance to the old boy, but is not very meri-

torious as a work of art.

Sporting matters are looking up. A three-mile match for £1,000 a-side has been made in Tasmania, between Quick-step and Mystery ; but that is not to come off till next year. In the meantime, all you who

love to see the nimble-footed steed contest

the honors of the turf, prepare forthwith to visit the next Homebush races, where there will be such running as never before was witnessed on the New South Wales turf. Strop, the renowned Nelson three-miler, who ran that distance in five minutes and forty three seconds, is after all to appear at Home-bush ; so, with Potentate, Veno, Lauristina, Ben Bolt, and other crack steeds, the antici-pation of sport is decidely well-founded.

At Melbourne a " lady" named Douglass, has completed a task of walking 1000 miles in 1,000 hours. She ought now be made to wash a 1,000 shirts in a 1,000 minutes.

One of the lascars wounded by the explo-sion of the boiler at Waterview Dry Dock, has since died from the effects of the .injuries received.

Mr. Hodgson, you will see, has two strings to his bow, and is coquetting with the elec-tors of Port Stephens as well as those of Newcastle, He is reported to be endeavor-ing to get up a requisition to Mr. Handcoclc, from the University of Sydney ; but this I

don't believe.

By the ship Walter Hood, which sailed last week for London, the Rev. Father Rocher,

a French Misssionary Priest, long connected

with the South Sea Mission, took his depar-ture en route for France. A number of friends and clerical brethren escorted him to the heads, in the steamer Washington. , Mr. Randall, who lately with such eminent success navigated the waters of the Darling,

but had the misfortune to lose his steamer

by sinking on his return, has furnished the South Australian press with some interest-ing particulars of his trip, from which I take the following :

The Gemini arrived at the Mount Murchison station (Mr. Jamieson's), the highest point attained by the Albury, on the 16th February. On the following day passed Mr. Suttor's station, the highest up supplied from the Junction. Mr. Spence's station at Fort Bourke was reached on the 20th. This station has hitherto been sup-plied from the Sydney side. The next station passed before reaching the Barwan was Gunna-warra (Mr. T Dangar's), on Wednesday, the 23rd February, On the following day the highest point attained by the Gemini which is on the Bar-wan, was reached. This is called the Falls, or the blacks' fishing grounds, and includes a rapid, with a fall of seven or eight feet in 200 or 300 yards ; but in seasons of high flood this might be passed with the aid of warps, and 100 to 200 miles added to the navigation. This distance would also be found traversable with great facility, and the banks are comparatively thickly occupied. The country from Mount Murchison to Fort Bourke is taken up, but quite unoccupied, although the banks of the river are covered with luxuriant grass, and the land generally is lightly timbered. The Darling country is admirably adapted for wool growing, and fit for pastoral purposes generally. The soil is superior to any seen on the Murray or the Murrumbidgee. The distance traversed by the Gemini was 1860 miles from the Junction, or 620 by land. From Menindee, Mr. Baker's station, to a point 80 miles above Fort Bourke, the river is particularly fine for navigation, so much so that the Gemini pur-sued her course by moonlight as well as by day. The blacks were at first terribly alarmed at the approach of the steamer, and in many instances ran away in affright; and some Mount Murchison blacks on board the steamer landed occasionally, and by their means many were induced to come on board. They were friendly, useful in getting wood for the steamer, and much delighted with the flour, tobacco, &c., distributed by Captain Randell wherever opportunity offered. The white men at Mr. Spence's station were quite as much terrified by the noise of the steamer's approach at night as the blacks, for they mistook it for the war-cry of the natives, and prepared to give a warm reception to their unseen assailants. They extinguished their fires and lights, loaded their fire-arms, and remained so quietly in their de-fensive attitude, that the steamer had almost passed the station without hearing the voice of any human being on shore.

A bull in a China shop was nothing at all to a tiger that broke loose from his cage in Melbourne the other day. He sneaked into the back-yard of a Chinaman's lodging, and laid hold of one of the poor Chows by the arm, but being scared away by a valiant Brave, who hit him on the nose with a boot, he made off into the next yard, where he took a bite at the hind legs of a horse, and then relapsed into a corner, where his owner, Mr. Billing, would have shot him if he had not wisely jumped into his cage, which was brought into the yard on a dray.

Papers from America inform us that the proposal to place thirty millions of dollars in the hands of the President, for the purchase of Cuba, (whether the owners will sell it or not) was exciting considerable attention. The New York Herald hints that England and America understand each other on the point, and that France is baffled.

Mary McMahon, the young woman who was violated and half murdered by the abo-riginal Scabby Harry (who now lies under sentence of death) lately selected, with re-markably good taste, this auspicious season to get married to a gentleman of the name of Murphy. The gossips of her neighbourhood of course have ample food.

Arrow and Ryan, lying under sentence of death at Bathurst, are to be hanged on the 11th of May.

As Mr. Hingston, Professor Anderson's agent, was returning from a night perform-ance at Bathurst, two gentlemen of the road, who doubtless believed that he "carried the bag," attacked him and his companion, the Clerk of the Bench, and have since been committed for assault with intent to rob.

Mr. George T. Thornton, of this city, is bringing out, at a most appropriate time, in the shape of a pamphlet, a series of letters originally contributed by Mr. Parkes to the Maitland Mercury, and intituled, " The Electoral Act, and How to work it." The collection will be well worthy of perusal,

The protectionists mean to make as strong

a stand as they can at the next election, and, right or wrong, some of their views are gaining ground, many now maintaining the propriety of assimilating our tariff to that of England; so thus, as Carlyle says, we ".gyrate," and shall, by-and-bye, perhaps, go back to fig leaves.

At the late meeting of the Synod of New South Wales, the Rev. Mr. Chaucer of the Clarence, was elected Moderator. What dis-orderly chaps these must be to want a Mode-rator of their proceedings every year. Our worthy friend the Doctor, you know, is going into the Assembly next election, and I expect that a Moderator there would not be at all out of place.

The members of the Brisbane School of Arts rejected a good judge for a President, though in one respect it may perhaps be said that they elected as good a one ; but it is very doubtful whether they showed them-selves good judges by the act.

Those fearfully dissipated characters, the ball-giving people of Drayton and Too-woomba, are at it again I see. They are going to supplement their music with no less than four bagpipes, which I presume will utter their dulcet sounds to the graceful movements of the cachouca, and accompany the ladies who indulge in " wocal harmony." I hope that some genius with a good ear will not forget to add two big drums, a few marrowbones and cleavers, a grindstone, and a patent mangle. The orchestra will then

be perfect.

Considerable interest was manifested at Dean's auction room to day, in the sale of the plant, copyright, book debts, &c, of the Empire newspaper ; but, after all, no sale was effected. The biddings were opened slowly at £3,000, and gradually mounted up to £5,100, at which price the property was withdrawn, and the sale postponed for a week. It is satisfactory to think that the property so long in Chancery will be sold, for a second daily is much wanted.

Honeyman, West, and Co., of Melbourne, have failed for £16,000. Here we have no remarkable changes excepting in bank shares, which have been in demand, as money-so some people say to my very great astonish-ment-is " easily procurable." The market rates required no special notice, being much

the same as last week.

When I began I fancied myself somewhat like the Friar who undertook to make soup out of a flint, but somehow the materials added from various quarters have a little improved the meagre liquid, and I hope that the broth will be palatable.

Wednesday night, 27th April.