Southern Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1838 - 1844), Tuesday 25 July 1843, page 2


LOCAL NEWS.

OUR readers may remember that in April last, several libellous articles appeared in the Register, affecting the character of Mr Archi-bald Macdougall, then publisher of this journal. The libels were of so gross a na-ture that Mr Macdougall was advised at once to place the matter in the hands of the Ad-vocate General, which he accordingly did, and the case was to have been tried at the last Sessions. Just as it was to have come on, however, Mr Allen came forward in Court

and gave Mr Macdougall the subjoined ex planation and apology;

"IN reference to a paragraph,which appeared in this journal on tho 5th April last, and which

was calculated to be highly injurious to tbe re-putation of Mr Archibald Macdougall, we cheerfully state, at Mr Macdougall's request, that that paragraph was neither written by our-selves, nor the objectionable parts of it inserted with our concurrence, but contrary to express written instructions at our dictation, we ourselves being confined to bed at the time, and, conse. quently, unable personally to superintend the affairs of tbe printing-office. In addition to the above, we have no objection to state, that the obnoxious portions of this paragraph, and one whole and entire paragraph, which appeared in this journal on the 15th of April, have ever been repudiated by us as grossly unjust to Mr Mac-dougall, and that the insertion of them never occasioned any one greater pain than ourselves."

Of course by this Mr Allen shifted the onus of the affair from his own shoulders to those of Mr John Stephens, at that time joint Editor of the Register. Upon this apology being published in the Register, however, on Saturday last, Mr John Stephens called at our office, and produced a letter from Mr Allen to him, justifying him in writing the paragraphs alluded to, and even requesting him to change some of the expressions to make them more plain and decided against Mr Macdougall. Mr Allen also called to state that Mr Stephens was incorrect in this interpretation of his letter, and has placed in Mr Macdougall's hands the original manu-script articles, to shew that none of the objectionable parts were written by him. Mr Stephens was applied to, to furnish a copy of that letter, and promised to give one to Mr Macdougall In the mean time Mr Macdougall, to whom we have spoken, is inclined to allow the matter as it stands to go before the public, leaving it to Messrs Allen and Stephens to explain this extraor-dinary business as they best can. At present

we avoid comment.

CARGO OF TOE HOOGHLY FOB MATTRITTUS. --This is the largest, and perhaps the most important cargo of agricultural produce that has left these shores; consisting of about

240 . tons of flour, and several thousand j bushels of wheat. We trust that the result] of the shipment will .be as fortunate as the spirited and enterprising conduct of the shippers so well deserve, and that this will be the forerunner of many future shipments of a like description. We beg to point our readers attention to the particulars of the cargo given in another column.

WE have the pleasure to report that another whale was caught by Mr Haynes* party last week. Considering that this party have only a couple of boats,' they have been' compara-tively vèry successful, having now secured no

less than fire fish.

THE Sale of the cargo of the King Henry by Mr Neates, at the Stores of Messrs Bunce & Thomson, takes place to-morrow,-it was postponed from Monday last, in consequence

of the impossibility of getting up all the good)

n time.

THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.-Las* evening, a meeting of the Church, pf Scotland Society, and of the congregation in Adelaide, was held in the Church in Hiudley-street, late the Baptist Chapel, to consider the means of raising a stipend for the Rev. ¡Ur. Haming, in consequence of his allow -anea from home having to a great extent ceased. The meeting was numerously and respectably attended. The report of the Secretary on the sta'e of the funds, was satisfactory. The only debt due is about £10. The rent of the Church is paid up to May next. The funds in hand, to-gether with what may be calculated on in the course of the ensuing year, was found such as to justify the meeting voting the Rev. Mr. Raining a moderate stipend, which was accordingly done. A discussion ensued upon the propriety of apply-ing to the Legislature for an allowance from Government, in aid of the Church funds, as in the other Crown Colonies. It was resolved_ That a memorial should be sent to the Legislative Council on the subject, and a Committee was appointed to prepare one accordingly, and to get it signed and forwarded to the Governor for pre-

sentation.

BOILING DOWN SHEEP AND CATTLE.-Having recently conversed with several of ourstockI holders we find that a very strong feeling pre-

vails among them in reference to the above subject and we hear that a number of the large holders in the north intend, after shearing time to boil down a flock or two of their old and inferior ewes and other stock that they can easily spare. As in this colony the greater part of the rans are not filled up the boiling down of sheep and cattle will not be carried to any great extent at present, bnt we understand that the holders intend in place of seeking for newruns henceforth to boil down their surplus stock. Finding so much interest is felt, we make no apology for inserting the following additional letter on the subject, which may be of use.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE STONEY MORNING

HERALD.

GENTLEMEN.-On perusing jour paper of the 22nd ultimo, I was much gratified to see the letter of your correspondent F. E., with his remarks and calculations respecting the boiling down of sheep for their tallow, and I agree perfectly with him-that if there are any errors in his calculations, they are on the right side.

Indeed, I think he has put the weight of tallow to be derived from each sheep at much too low a figure, and I think I can convince him that such is the case, from an experiment of mine on a single sheep, which I had rendered down a week ago. Let me first remark that I did not boil down the legs, thinking it much better to salt them and convert them into hams, as it would be more profitable to do so, consi-dering the small q uantity of fat they would produce. I had the fat taken from the ribs shoulders, and loins of the sheep, which, with the kidney, caul, and offal fat, I rendered down, and after straining and allowing to gee perfectly cold, weighed 24§ lbs. I feel convinced that had I rendered down the brisket fat with a great deal that still remained on the fore quarters, it would have produced 28 lbs. I however intend next week to render down another wether, minos the legs only, and shall be glad to let yon and my fellow colouists know the result. Allow me to remark, that I did not choose the fattest or largest wether out of the flock, consisting of 610 sheep ; indeed, I verily believe the whole flock are equally good, either with regard to size or fatness, and further, that I have for months past been contemplating the slaughtering of them for their tallow, rather than sacrifice them by selling to the Sydney butchers : indeed I mentioned the thing six months ago tn several of my friends, but have delayed beginning on account of being ignorant of the London price of tallow ; therefore am thankful to F. E. for

correct statements.

The wool, after being taken off, (by patting quick lime on the fleshy side of the skin, not

coming in contact with the wool), weighed 5 |Jbs, t and if it had been sheared off, I believe it would have at least weighed four pounds ; and to prove the correctness of my belief, I shall have the next sheep sheared.

The legs weighed seventeen pounds, but in my calculations you will perceive I have only put down fifteen pounds, allowing two pounds for waste in salting and smoking. You. will also perceive that my calculations are made on the presumption that the sheep are fat, indeed, fit for the Sydney market-such as mine are at preseut. The only thing I have omitted is, the seven wool bales to pack the wool ; and I think

the skins of the sheep would more than cover '

that charge.

I am, Gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

W. BT. B.

Burrowa, Jone 3.

CALCULATIONS.

£ s. d.

600 wethers, 26 lbs. tallow each,

140 cwt., at 60s. 420 0 0 600 fleeces, 4 lbs. eacb,at'6d .... 60 O 0 1200 mutton hams, 7 J lbs. each, at

2d. per lb. 75 O O

555 0 O

Charges at same rate as F. E.

j £ s.

600 sheep slaughtering and

boiling down, at 6d. "... 15 0 Extra labour, gening wood,

Jcc. 20 0 18 hogsheads for packing

tallow. 12 0 Carriage from this to Syd-

ney, 7 tons tallow ..... 35 0 Ditto, ditto, 4 tons hams .. 20 0 Freight to London on tal-

low, at 70s.. 24 10 Ditto, ditto, on 2400 lbs.

wool, at l|d. 15 0 'Insurance, say on tallow

-and wool. 25 0 Commission on £480, at 3

percent.....14 8 5 cwt. salt for hams, say

15s. per cwt., including

carriage from Sydney 3 15

'_184 13 0.

£370 7 0

Making the flock average 12s. per head. '