THE NEWS OF THE DAY. - The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) - 30 Dec 1858 (original) (raw)

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Thu 30 Dec 1858 - The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)
Page 5 - THE NEWS OF THE DAY.

We regret to have to record the demise of

the French Consul for this colony, Le Comte

Lionel de Moreton de Chabrillon, which took

place yesterday morning at half-past 9 o'clock,

at his residence in Spring street. The deceased

gentleman had but a short time ago returned

from a visit to his native country, and was one

of the passengers by the Mail steamer Austra-

lasian. In the passage through the Red Sea he

was seized with a violent attaok of dysentery,

and during the period of the vessel's detention

at Trincomalee, remained on board in a very

precarious state of health. Upon the arrival of the

Australasian at Melbourne, M. Chabrillon was

taken to the Criterion Hotel, where he stayed for

a fortnight, his strength being utterly prostrated.

Since that time he had been gradually becom-

ing convalescent, under the care of Dr Brown-

less, assisted by Dr Tracy, and hopes were en-

tertained that his health would be entirely

restored, when unfortunately a relapse took

place about eight days ago, which eventually

carried him off. We are informed that the

funeral will take place on Friday next (to-

morrow) in the New Cemetery. It will, no

doubt, be attended by a large number of the

friends and acquaintances of the deceased,

who was generally and deservedly respected.

Among the arrivals of the past week, we

notice that of M. Boulanger, from Sydney,

who purposes giving a series of concerts during

his stay in Melbourne. M Boulanger has

already earned for himself a high reputation in the

sister colony, where he has done much to pro-

mote the success of the Philharmonic Society.

Wo have littlo doubt thitt his talents, as a

pianist, will be fully appreciated by our citi

zens, and that his efforts to entertain will be

successful, as they have always been else

A short while back wo admitted a letter

from Mr Stephen Egau, J.P., giving an unqual

ified contradiction to a statement made by a

Pentridge correspondent a few days before.

The allegation was that Mr Egan had ' pre

pared a list of some 80 or 90 claims in Bruns

wick and Pcntridge, and succeeded in placing

tliem on the electoral roll.' To this Mr Egan

replied by stating that he ' had not put on a

single name, either qualified or otherwise, nor

have I sent in a single notice of claim during

tho last registration for tho South. Province.'

Now we do not mean to insinuate anything

discourteous against Mr Bgan's contradic

tion, but it certainly looks somewhat

disingenuous and ambiguous when col

lated with the following evidonce given

before the Select Committee of tho Legislative

Council. Mr J. W. Thomson was the witness

under examination. By Mr Power : Who were

those other parties that gave you the informa

tion? — I obtained tho information from Mr

Egan, for one. Who is he 1 — Mr Stephen

Egan. Is ho tho gentleman who has lately

been gazetted amongst the list of magistrates ?

— I think so. Was it in consequence of tho

information he gave you for Pentridge, that

you sent in those claims 1 — I think so. Did

Mr Stephen Egan furnish you with the roll of

tho names you did so sen! in 1— I had not tho

roll. Did he furnish you with a list of names

that you could send in ?— One division ? yes.

Tho Bendijo Mercury in reference to tho ar

rangOllLtJUi'a wiiujuj 10 xasitiu, .uu

for improving the system of electoral registra

tion, says — ' We have been favored by Mr 11.

O'Corior with the perusal of a letter addressed

to him by order of the Chief Secretary. ; Mr

O'Conor is informed in this letter .that it is the

intention of the Attorney-General to introduce

a Bill upon tho subject of the registration, im

mediately after the recess. We presume that

this bill will be founded upon the recommend

ations of the committee which lately reported.'

The country papers have been for several

days singularly devoid of matters of general in

terest. Except paragraphs about Christmas

festivities and amusements, and some dismal

narratives of damage done by the late storm,

there appears to have been nothing to write

about. Not that the town can glory over tho

country in this respect ; our contemporaries

find almost as great a dearth of matter for quo

tation in the columns of tho city journals as

we do in theirs. In fact, it has beon a season

of holiday, and having had little or nothing to

chronicle, we would fain, liko other people,

havo abandoned ourselves to recreation alto

From an announcement in another place it

will be seen that the Collingwood Foresters of

Courts Perseverance and Industry, have re

cently presented the medical officer, Dr Crooke,

with a valuable gold watch and chain as a

mirk of their esteem, Tho wives of the For

esters, also presented Mrs Crooke with a hand

An elderly man, named Thomas Earley, was

yesterday brought up at the Polk's Court

charged with picking pockets during prayers in

the Catholic Chapel, Elizabeth street, on Christ

mas day last. It appeared from the statement

of a young lady that tho prisoner must have

paid a great deal more attention to her drops

tlian to bis prayers, as he adroitly managed to

abstract her purse, containing six shillings,

from her pooket without attracting her not'c -,

until she was warned by a female friend that

the prisoner, who was then kneeling beside her,

was suspected to be a thief. She shortly after

waras iiiissuu iiur yuisu, uuu ib w«ts buuo-v—

quently found under another seat, where the

prisoner was seen to place it after he observed the

conversation between the young lady and her

friend. As tho female who saw tho prisoner

place the purse where it was found was not in

court the case was remanded for her appear

The grand pantomime at the Thectro Royal,

after three presentations, goes with all desira

ble smoothness, and by judicious management,

is brought to a conclusion before midnight, —

a matter of no small importance whon tho

comfort of large numbers of littlo folks is

concerned. The overture and incidental

music, by Mr F. Coppin, reflects high

credit on him for the clever manner

in which he has welded strains

from "Il Trovatore," and other popular

operas, with the commonplace airs and phrases

of which such compositions are ordinarily

made up. We must pay a special compliment

to Miss Morgan for her singing throughout the

opening portion of the pantomime, and to the

author for his ingenuity in burlesqueing the

Miserere scene in "Il Trovatore.' The concluding

scene now works beautifully, and its

splendors never fail to elicit the most enthusiastic

We are requested to correct a chronologi

cal miscalculation which appeared in our

columns on Tuesday. In . noticing tlie feat

now being performed by Allan M'Kean, we

stated that it would be completed on Weflncf- 1

day, 3rd proximo. It should havo been Mon

day 3rd proximo., at about 20 minutes past

ten o'clock. With reference to M'Kean hav

ing taken a trip to Cromorno in one of Lis |

intervals of rest, wo can only say that our

reporter was furnished with the information

by one of the men attached to the Olympic

Theatre. Our notice of tlio undertaking being

simply to encourage the pedestrian, we can

have no objection to correct tho mistake thus