Donald MeDonald, war correspondent of the Argus," acting on the advice of his medical attendant, returned recently from the Cape. He had the misfortune, from correspondent's point of view, of being i Ladysmith when that town was invested, and thus missed seeing the operations which led to its relief, His brilliant letters, however, describing the incidents of the siege, and the trials and sufferings of the garrison, have been eagerly read by thousands here, who, with the assistance of his able pen, have been partly able to realise the hard times a d short commons, sickness, ete., which the gallant defender and his' men cheerfully endured sooner than surrender the keystone of Northern Natal to the merey of the invading Boers, His numerous friends and acquaintances here are arranging to give bim a public welcome in the form of a smoke-night," which beyond all doubt will be well atten mit nunOSTC PLAGUE still continues its ravages in Sydney, the number of eases averaging from three to eight daily, the total number of deaths to dure numbering 48. New Zealand, which at present immune, has declared the whole of Australia infected, and imposes 12 days' quarantine on all arrivals. So far we have had only one case in this port, and that was on board " ship arriving' from Sydney. The same amount of quarantine was imposed on the ship, but the patient is still recovering at our Quarantine establishment at the Heads, distant nearly 40 miles from the city. Two or three pligue-infected rats have been caught in the vicinity of the river wharves, showing that the dreaded visitor is not far away.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.