Melbourne, March 19th. A young woman named Hind marsh was burned to death at Geelong, through her olothes taking fire. Fairclough, the tragedian, is insolvent. An accountant named Williams was ar rested on a charge of forgery. • Chevalier Branto, an Italian gentleman, has applied to the Minister for Lands for 2000 acres of land for sericultural purposes, A telegram from Colombo reports the de parture of two coffee laden vessels for Mel> bourn*. A man was found with his throat cut in the Treasury Gardens. He stated he was 20 years superintendent of police in Queens* land, and that he had recently come to the> colony. Red spiders have done much damage to> the hop plants in Tasmania. The operation of the law relating to the prohibition of the importation of stock is ex tended to June next year. « The imports last year were nearly £ I7,ooo,ooo,andthe exports over £ 15,000,000, this being £140,000 over those of previous years, AH the families of those lost in the Gothen burg who are residents in and around Mel bourne are, with two exceptions, left unpro vided for. * Professor Halford has received £500 from the Victorian Government for the purpose of making experiments with snake bite re medies. The Hon. Mr Hastings, the Good Temp lar, haa arrived in Melbourne from New- Zealand. Private London telegrams report ft rise of Id to Hd in the price of wool. The Cross of Chevalier (Italian order) has been conferred on Mr Ernest Gilies, the ex plorer. It is understood that at the meeting of Bank managers in Sydney, held for the con sideration of the action taken by the Bank of New Zealand with regard to the money market, nothing definite resulted. At a sale of racehorses in Melbourne, New bold fetched 400 guineas, Jacob 200 guineas, Atalanta and Bill Sykes 180 guineas each. March 20th. The steamship Durham arrived here yes terday, 48 days from Plymouth, and the Great Britain a few hours later, 63 days out. On board the latter are the Rev. Alfred Penny, new Bishop of Melanesia, and the Rabbi Leichtenstein, for Dunedin. The Gippsland election resulted in the re turn of M'Kean by a large majority. O'Ferral's trial, which was set down for yesterday, is postponed to next Bitting. 