Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), Saturday 31 May 1884, page 3


SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1884.

To-morrow Western Australia enters upon the fifty-sixth year of her foundation as a Colony. May success favor her future. We learn that the Adelaide Steamship Company purpose despatching steamers, regularly between Adelaide and Eucla and vice versa shortly. - ? ?

.a. special service tor children will be held by the Eev. J. MacNeil in the Town Hail at three o'clock this afternoon, To-morrow evening the evangelist will ? preach in the Presbyterian Church. ,. . , ' A telegram from Albury, N. S. W. to a Melbourne exchange about a fortnight ago states : — ' What is supposed to be a comet was seen at midnight on Thursday, ^Ode'. above the northern horizon. ° The ranks of our old colonists continue, to be thinned almost daily.- On Wednesday evening last Mrs. Joseph Chester passed off, somewhat suddenly, to the great majority, at the advanced age of sixty-eight years. We have been requested to state that the whole of the music arranged for to-morrow evening's service in St. George's Cathedral will be from original compositions which have been composed from time to time in this Colony. The accounts of expenditure in oennec tion with the quarantining of ' the mail steamer Borne in Melbourne alone amount ed to close upon .£1,500. Under the agree ment with the P. and O. Company one half of this sum will be recouped to the Victorian Government. ? ; The South Australian Advertiser states :— '3MCr_ 'FTlTnfc- TuT^/l TPaa vAnAvki-lv. kM ? ? ? J 1 ?

a number of Adelaide capitalists to inspect he Three Wonders claim at Woongong, W. A., has examined the reef at the spot in question, and asserts that it is a most valuable property.' A sharp piece of work has juBt been done ty-iF1', JD?vid Gray- That well-known builder lately took the contract for sinking a well at the Barracks. Having selected the spot for his operations, Mr. Gray began to sink a shaft, and within three days struck a copious supply of excellent water at the depth of about seventy feet. What is called the preparatory step towards moving the head-quarters of the Papacy from Eome— though that issue is believed to be really unlikely— appears in the appointment of twenty-one localities in which Peter's Pence are to be collected and administered instead of being sent to Borne. For Australasia the receiver is the Arch bishop of Sydney. Baltimore is still poken of as the scene of the probable new domicile of His Holiness. ,

A shoemaker, named Gay, on Tuesday last dfed of heart disease. The unfortunate man, who had for Eome time been eonfined in the Co-Sbcial Hospital, left that institution for his hoyse in Wellington-street where he dropped dead from his seat while at work, We cannot enlighten our . Perth contem porary as to -who- i» the City Council's road making adviser. But only yesterday a lad named Wilson, who was riding, came to grief, and it was a- miracle that the boy's head did not come in contact with the tele graph post at the comer o£ the Government Offices. Shortly after seven c'doclctliis morning a large flat-lighter was seen1 to' be- slowly drift ing down the river, and whemifc bad proceed ed some distance down Perth Water the crew began to discharge the stone- ballast into the river. Such conduct was a giosa^violation of the law, and it is to be hoped that the offenders will be compelled to- pay for their illegal actions. ' A correspondent writes : — Our Civic Fathers would do well to attend to- the re moval of a very dangerous obstruction along the footpath at. the south side of Bowick street, namely, clearing away a quantity of the prickley-pears that are growing- through the fence of one of the allotments, many of which are lying on the footpath. Should some poor shoeless child tread upon one of these, the inqury inflicted might prove of very serious consequences. The inaugural meeting of the newly formed Victorian branch of the Geographical Society of Australasia was held in Mel bourne on the 20th ult, at which Mr. J. A. Panton, P.M., read an instructive and in teresting paper on ' The Kimberly District,' in which he advocated the claims of this portion of West Australian territory to the attention of capitalists and settlers inter ested in pastoral pursuits. Some dis cursive remarks were offered on the same subject by Mr. W. J. O'Donnell, an explorer who had been in those parts. Last Wednesday a police constable applied to the Police Magistrate to! allow a summons to be issued against Mr. Gibbs, of the Canning. 'What has he been doing ? asked Mr. Leake. ' He drives a dray without having his name painted on it' promptly replied the constable. ; ' Then' retorted the Magistrate, ' Let himt alone, and let the municipal authorities^ take action in the matter, for it is no business of yours.' The policeman's face was at once suffused with a scarlet blush of mingled mortified zeal and impiared dignity.

a.nose in searcn or enjoyable recreation had better wend their way to the Rechabite Hall, Murray-Btreet, this evening, where an excellent free entertainment under Tem perance auspices will be provided for those who choose to avail themselves of it. A lengthy programme of instrumental and vocal pieces, together with readings an recitations, has been prepared, which no doubt will not fail to draw a large audience. A special feature of this evening's pro gramme will be a trombone duet, ' Still so Gently,' by Messrs. J. Telford and F. Bowra, accompanied on an American organ (kindly lent for the occasion) by Master Guerin. A constant reader wants to know when, where, and by whom the first newspaper was published. We cannot tell him when the first news medium was published. The ancient Romans published a man uscript journal called Acta Diurna, or journal of public events ; this was a record of daily occurrences. Of course it was not a printed newspaper. There were no print ing presses then, for it is 2,575 years since the journal was first published. It was stopped by authority forty years before the Christian' era. ' It had a long run, though— 550 years. In 1536 the Venetians commenced to publish a , journal in manu script, and people paid 4 small coin called Gazeta to hear it read. Here is the origin

or; uuzetste. - Tnere, are in various libra ries at Florence thirty volumes of this Notize Scritte. In the British Museum there is a copy of The Oertaine News of The Present^ Week, dated 23rd May, 1262.. This is considered to have been the first regulary : printed newspaper in England. By whom it was published we do not know. In spite of an influentially-signed public memorial to His Excellency the Governor, praying for directions to be given for the erection of a railway platform station, for the convenience of picnic parties/ &c.', at Bullen's half-way house, near Fremantle, the Commissioner of Rail ways, had yesterday the temporary platform, which had been erected contiguous thereto, removed. Being too well aware of the utter disregard to public accommodation and con venience on the part of the Railway Depart ment, our readers will not be surprised to hear of this additional petty annoyance. We are glad to learn, however, that steps are being taken to memoralise the Legisla ture on the subject at the approaching ses sion, when the members of -which will, no doubt, ruffle the feathers of the astute Com missioner anent the Albion platform quite as much as they succeeded in doing in con nection with the Sunday train question. To forewarn, and, theraby, forearm, the Commissioner we may mention that the Railway and Works Department will have a lively time of it during the forthcoming session. At eleven o'clock yesterday morning a man named Henry Newell was brought before the City Police Magistrate, to answer toj the charge of having been on the pre mises of Mr. Henry Sherwood. It was clearly proved by the evidence of Mr. Sher

wood s neice that the prisoner had made his way into the cellar with the intention of stealing some beer, nor, indeed, did he at tempt to deny the truth of the charge. He was sentenced to two months imprisioninent with hard labour. Upon hearing the result the man became very excited, and made some very furious threats as to what he would do when his sentence had expired. He said he would kill Mr. Leake, shoot Mr. Sherwood, and blow up the latter gentle man's premises with dynamite. Afterwards when the prisoner was being taken ? to the gaol by two constables, he gave his escort the slip and ran away. He was at once hotly pursued, and after an exciting chase was re-captured in Ellen-street. Upon being again taken into custody the man renewed the furious threats he had pre viously made against the lives of Mr. Leake and Mr. Sherwood. It is not unlikely that as soon as Newell has served his present sentence, he will be brought before the City Bench and bound over to keep the peace. ?

A few days ago' wfr Sad the pleastweof inspecting a' jump'-efta*'* carriage, .built tto the order of Mr. B/Mc^ttW at' the factory of Mr. Levi Green of this €iCy. We believe that this is the first of tlte kind built in Perth, and wo muBt say that it reeflcts the utmost amount of credit upon tne^enterpris ing- builder, who, we understand, received by the last mail patterns of no less than 500 different designs of vehicles. The Rev, J. MacNeil has been unable to ' hold all thcee- services during the past weefi; ?which he hadipreviouslypublicly announced! hie intention o£ conducting. On Tuesday evening, in the-TiWn Hall, the- rev. gentle man emphatically declared that he felt eonivraced that there is ' something very wrong: indeed id Perth,' as his services were not appreciated here as they had been in the other Colonies,. He further said that not a single person, had attended the ' Bible Beading' on- Thursday afternoiSdp, and that only two mdividuals had put fn appearance that dagr; consequently h-& would not attempt to Hold another suck meeting in the .City agaain. Me added thaft as there seemed to be such Inkewarnese1 in the town he would bring his evangelistic services- to; a close on the f olleywing (thia)i Saturday, after which he would visifr Fremantle, Geraldton, and some otheir places.