THE SUEZ MAIL AT THE BLUFF

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 894, 7 May 1877, Page 3

THE SUEZ MAIL AT THE BLUFF

[Peb Phess Agency.]

15 luff, May 6. Captain Thomson of tho Challenger has been appointed commander of the Eoyal yacht Victoria and Albert. Sir el. Paget succeeds Sir W. Fergusson as surgeon-major to the Queen. Several naval disasters are chronicled. The Lirius and Thetis were both disabled, and the Synx, with crew of over a hundred men, has not been heard of since last November. The report of the Admiralty committee shows that, although lime juice was recommended to the sledging parties, Sir Giro. Nares decided to omit it, as the men had been previously saturated with lime juice. Five new ironclads arc [to be added to the service this year, the Dreadnought, Nelson, Northampton, Shannon, and Temeraic. A new description of vessel as a torpedo ram, carrying no guns, is to be constructed. Sir Harding Gifford, the Solicitor-General, lias found a seat for Launceston, and Sydney Herbert, brother of the Earl of Pembroke, has been returned for Wilton. Obituary —Field-Marshal Fitzgerald, Admiral Sir E. Belcher. Eleven steamers arc advertised to sail for Melbourne via the Cape. There is an immense demand for American meat. Shops for its sale have been opened in the suburbs of London. Captain Havelock, late Colonial Secretary, Fiji, has been appointed President of Island of Nevis in the West Indies. Great distress prevails amongst tho working men of Germany, and a large immigration has taken place into Belgium. The famine in Southern India continues very severe, and it is feared that the July and August crops will be a comparative failure. Harrowing accounts are given of the famine in Northern China, where ’nojaid is available for the unfortunate people. The Times notices that the late Lord Mayor Cotton has received from the Mayor of Dunedin the sum of £IBO, contributed in Ot ago towards the relief of the sufferers in Bulgaria, and remarks that it was the only public subscription for the purpose in the Australian colonies. Tho Bishop of Nelson has replied to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s invitation to attend the approaching Pan-Anglican Synod, that he is prevented by pressing work in his diocese, but he strongly disapproves of resolutions carried at any such meetings being elevated to the rank of authoritative decisions. He thinks that thc’independence of ecclesiastical provinces will be endangered by such a conference, and that it will lead to centralisation.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS,

FIVE LIVES LOST IN BANKS STRAITS. [Pei* Rhigarooma at Bluff.] Melbourne, April 30. The Premier announced the Government policy at Warnambool. It includes a reduction of 20 per cent, on duties for the purposes of freeing trade ; a land tax and stamp tax, which will be sufficient to meet the reduction from the Customs ; Legislative Council reform, by increasing the number of members and provinces, lowering the qualifications of electors and members. The time for holding land before a title is granted is to bo increased from three to ten years, and a Mining on Private Property Bill and Civil Service Reform Bill are amongst the principal measures promised. The policy generally lias been favorably received. Berry and Casey have been very bitter against it, and there is a promise of a want of confidence motion so soon as the new House meets. The elections arc occupying all the public attention, and some excitement exists. The Colonial Secretary and Sir W. Jcrvois commence their duties here on the work of defence about June. They begin first in Sydney. ‘ Five men belonging to the Admiralty surveying vessel were lost last week in Banks Straits through the bout capsizing during a squall, Richard Ford, town clerk of Ballarat, lias been appointed Secretary to the now Harbor Trust Commission at a salary of £750 a year. There were sixty applicants. The railway to Dunkcld has been opened forty-seven miles from Ararat. Business is improving, tiro markets hardening on receipt of the war news. The Theatres are not doing much. Four arc now open, besides other places of amusement. Mrs Jury, flic real, sister of Arthur Orton, lias come out, expecting to see her brother in Paramatta Asylum.