Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Wednesday 17 March 1886, page 5


REFFERING to Australia, a recent number

of the Saturday Review said :— It is odd how ww seem instinctively to turn to Aus-

tralia when oppressed by gloomy thoughts of the common weal. "And thus, great daughter of the South, we drink to thee across the Flood "— slightly to alter Lord Tennyson's remarks on that elder, but much less sympathetic child, America. The reason is that the Australians, thank Heaven, are still human beings, that they have the hearts of patriots, that they are not for rampant philanthrophy, impossible peace at unendur-able prices, and general anarchy with attenua-ting circumstances, and tempered by the best of motives. That is why everyone in

Britain who remains a man of the old sort

looks with confidence to the great colony ; that is why every Radical visionary sneers at her and backs Lord Derby in vexing her. In one shape or other, one way or other, Aus-tralia may yet save the Empire, or be the refuge of all in it that is worth saving.

THE vexed question of the break of gauge— vexed so far as Tenterfield is concerned, the Courier says, has cropped up again unex-pectedly. A telegram was received by the

Premier a day or two since from Sir Patrick Jennings, Premier of New South Wales, asking for the consent of the Queensland Government to the "break of gauge " taking place at Tenterfield, instead of at the border

of New South Wales and Queensland. After consideration and inquiry, a reply was sent to Sir Patrick, expressing regret that the question having been settled some time ago, and the border fixed as the place at which the change of gauge shall take place, the request of New South Wales could not be entertained. The grounds for this decision are, in addition to the foregoing, that a large quantity of land has been sold at the border township, which has been named Wallangarra, on the distinct promise that the break of gauge should take place there, and furthermore, that the greater portion of the earthwork for the new double station has been completed by Mr. G. Bash-ford, the contractor for the extension of the Southern Railway from Stanthorpe to the

border.

Some difficulty was experienced at the Regina trials in making the Indian prisoners understand the legal terms in which their offences were set for. For instance no term could bc found to convey to the untutored mind the idea of the Queen's Crown, which he was charged with conspiring against. This was explained to One Arrow as being "the Great Mother's big bonnet with feathers

in it."