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AUSTRALASIAN ITEMS.
TinE agitation, which is being carried
on in Melbourne for an early opening
of.Parliament has taken a new form.
It hasebeen decided to send a circular'
to every member of Parliament asking
S'hether he is iu fav~or of Parliament
'being at unce called together or'not.
In this way it is thought to get some
light on a siubject which is apparently
causing some uneasiness, viz., the ex
tent to which the country districts are
with the Premier. At a recentbmeet
ing a resolution in favour of depriving
G?overnments of, the power of pro-.
roguing Parliament was c'arried.
Typhoid fever is steadily increasing
iiithe city of M?elbourne, and the me
dical supoerntenddnt of the Melbourne
Hospital is unable to' find room at
present for all the patients whoseek
admission. During the last fortnight
seven cases have had to be turned
away from the doors of the institution
for want of room, and the number
now under treatment is 66. "
An instance of Northern Territory
(South Australia) mine "manage
ment " of earlier days is thus given in
the local papeor :--'he mane ger'started
works of development by surrounding
himself with relatives, and the three
took £1200 a year between them for
wages. One ran a store on the mine;
for the convenience of the men no
doubt. If an employee dealt with
Palmerston storekeepers'he was gently
but very firmly acquainted with the
fact that the boss had a store at the
mine, and if a man didn't buy at that
he could look for work somewhere
else,' The mine in this' case was
British-owned, but the "cow" was
soon milked dry. South Australians
w fho invested so much money in mines
on the other side of' the continent will
be 'interested "in the perusal of
'this charming instance of domestic
-love.
At a meeting of the committee of
the Alfred Hospital, in Melbourne, it
was moved, " That in future kerosene
instead of gas be used in the hospital
for lighting purposes." After dis
cussion it was deoided to first obtain
information 'from the hon. medical
staff relative to their objections to the
use of oil.
The Adelaide Chamber of Commerce
has received a communication from
the Perth Chamber intimating that
the latter . considers it would , be
~ir'j udiuial to the financial interests of.
Western Australia to" enter at present
into a Customs union with a view to
freetrade between' the Australian
colonies.
A man named Cutler had a narrow
escape from a dreadful death, in
Victoria, on Friday. During the
progress of a bush fire near Berwick,'
a tree fell on Cutler, pinniug him to
the ground, and while in this position
the fire gradually surrounded him;
Help arrived just in time.
It is understood that the North
Brisbane municipal valuations for this
year show a decrease of between'4'
and 10 per cent, on last year., . *
The liquidator of the Freehold In
vestment and Banking Company ap
plied to Mr. Justice Hood in Mel
bourne on Friday for a "balance
order" calling upon the contribu
tories to pay their arrears of calls.
It appeared that the whole of the re
maining capital, £1,381,000, had
been called up by three calls made
since the company went into liquida
tion, and the total sum obtained in
respect of these calls up to the present
time was only £20,961. The liquida
tora were not able yet to pay a divi
dend to the.unsecured creditors, whose
claims amounted to £1,345,528.
The attention of the -Trades and
Labour Council at Christchurch (N.Z.)
has been called to the fact that the
wages paid on Huddart, Parker, and
OO.'s steamer, Tasmania, running to
Now Zealand, are lower than those
paid on the Union Company's steamer.
The matter will be discussed at a con
forence to be held shortly. .
In the report of the late retiring
Iailway Commissioners of Victoria
comparison is made with the railways
in the other colonies. With regard to
the New South Wales railways, the
facts produced show a much greater
loss of revenue and so much greater
saving on the Victorian railways that
the railways of the latter colony are
ahead of those of New South Wales
to the extent of £123,000, without
counting compensation for retirements,
On a similar comparison, the Victorian
lines are better off than those of South
Australia by £312,000.
Residents of Port Melbourne have
at least determined (says the Argus)
that neither the chilling prudery of the
local police nor the costliness of
"neck-to-knee" bathing costumes
shall prevent mixed bathing in the
open as far as the juvenile population,
at any rate, of the port are concerned,
The Mayor of the town, Dr. Malcolm-
son, headed a deputation to the
Harbour Trust, and a great
many of the youngsters of the
town being descendants of the Naval
Reserve, a body represented by Cap-
tain Fullarton, the harbourmastor, ex-
plained that they took to the water as
naturally as young gulls, and asked
that a portion of the foreshore beyond
the town pier, which had from a
bather's point of view the advantage
of looking on a dead wall, should be
proclaimed, an aquatic gambolling
ground. The chairman of the trust
said they could not interfere with the
Police Offences Statute, but as a prac-
tical remedy suggested that the resi-
dents of Port Melbournoe, following
the example of other suburbs, should
pack the Bench, and fine offenders 1d
only instead of the customary 5s.
An extraordinary case of poerona
tion has boon brought to light in
Melbourne. It is repbrted that in
18168 a man in a good position in a
bank in Now York married, and
shortly after emboaeled funds, By
tlhe help of frionds lie squared liis
accounts, and thenou left for Australia,
His 'wife and three chgildren: went:to
England. His eldest son entered a
business house, and was Sent to Vic
toria to open up a bi~anch, which he
did successfully. When the young
mnan had been two years in Mel
bourne, he was called on by? an
elderly man, who announced him
self as his father. In answer to cross
questioning, this·Tnhan gave accurate.
details of the family. The young man
supplied his supposed father :with
necessities of life for some' years, and
the father lived comfortably in South
£arra.. A desireo was,.exprossod to
send the old man home to.New.York,
but ho Stoutly iefused to go. Event
ually the young man began to ehtor
tain doubts, and at last the old man
on Ia bed of siekuoss a'dmittdd.that lhe
was no the Ilierson he represented
himself to be.:, Heviirg travelled with
tlhe real person, an'd soon him die, he
socurcd his papers aud yieoerd out his
casoe .
Tho applioatiou by Mr. Deakrin, on
behalf of the" defendint in the action
for libel, Allison.Smith v. Syme, ,for
the remission of the case to the County
Oourt, was heard hy Mr. Justice Hood
in Melbourne on Fliday. Plaintiff
handed in a further affidavit showing
tihat his land was worth .£4000. Mr.
l)oakir said that, if allowed time, the
defendant would prove that' this'was a
ridioulous vatluation. Tho?'inattbr was
further adjourned. "
"The young man,' Ernest Knox,'.who
is to be execut;ed in Melbourne to-day
is' in a serene frzame of mind.- He ox
hibita no. sig of 'fear, 'and his de
meanour is, in faot, almost cheorful in
its composure. The gallows and its
ghastly paraphernaliararely seem to be
harboured in his thoughts. <Id his
daily intervioews with his mother he fre
quently converses on subj~ets apart
from his situation, as ifthe were again
to tak?e part in them a free man. But
it -does not appear that he. has any
hope of gaining a reprieve. He does
not even express a wish to escape the
terrible 'doomin store for him; A
'greatdeal of his time is spent in read
ing, and religious worlcs are not ex
clusively used by him. Indeed, he
shows a marked partiality for light
literature. Mr. Henry Scott, the gaol
chaplain, is very attentive, and Knox
looks forward to his visits with keen
and doubtless unfeigned pleasure, He
takes ,exercise inu the' portion of the
gaol yard reserved for 'condemned
men, sleeps well, and eats heartily.
*He is inoreesing in weight, and now
]coltos much` bettoe than when he was
tried.
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