South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), Saturday 15 January 1853, page 2


VICTORIA.

By the steamer Phoenix, advertised as a regular trader between Melbourne and Adelaide, we have papers to the 8th instant inclusive. The Argus of that date publishes a comparative

statement of the revenue of the colony for the quar-ters ended 31st December, 1851, and 31st Decem-ber, 1852, respectively; from which we gather the following statistical facts : — The general revenue for the quarter just ended was £134,111 lls. 5d. ; being an increase of no less than £92,069 19s. 2d. as compared with the December quarter of 1851. The returns of Crown revenue are still more re-markable. The aggregate of Crown revenues for the last qnarter was £463,213 7s. 2d.; being an increase of £360,905 lls. 9d. as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1851. The total increase for the quarter was therefore £452,975 10s. lid. ; and this large amount was ex-clusive of unsold Gold received for Gold licences, and worth considerably over £40,000 The Legislative Council has voted a gratuity of £40 to Buckley, the original discoverer of Port Phillip. He had been in receipt of an annuity of £12, and it was proposed to raise the amount to £1 per week. It has also requested the LieutenantGovernor to place the sum of £20,000 upon the Estimates for the purpose of erecting a University at Melbourne, and £10,000 for a new Legislative Chamber. It has further voted the sum of £10,000 for a Hospital for typhoid and choleraic diseases, and £30,000 for establishing direct communication .

between Melbourne and Hobson's Bay. It has voted an aggregate amount of £409,000 for roads, bridges, -and works, .£5,000 for an Orphan Asylum, £6,250 for the National Schools, and £6,250 for the Denominational Schools, £37,500 (being nine months' proportion of £50,000) for the erection of schools, &c. A severe attack having been made on Mr. Har-graves in the Legislative Council of New South Wales, by one or two of its members, that gentle-man has addressed a long letter on the subject to the Sydney Morning Herald, which appears in the Mel- bourne Argus of 7th instant. In the course of it he refers to the invitation which he had received from the Government of South Australia to visit this colony, which (Mr. H. says) he declined unless ordered to go by the Governor-in-Chief. The fol-lowing is a copy of Sir Henry Young's letter : — Adelaide, August 20th, 1852- 'My dear Sir— It is reported here that Mr. Hargraves, the first discoverer of Gold in New South Wales, is about to repair to Melbourne en route to England. In this event, I should feel much obliged by your making known to him my request that, prior to his final departure, he would visit this colony. Pray assure him that I shall es- teem it an important service rendered to the Government and the public of Australia, if he will give himself the opportunity of completing his extensive researches in Australia, by personally enquiring into the existence or non-existence of a profitable Gold-field in this part of the continent. I feel confident of the readiness of the Legis-lature to provide remuneration for the cost and trouble of Mr. Hargraves's travels in this colony ; nor can I doubt that Her Majesty's Government would regard with great interest any account of this province emanating from one whose success in New South Wales has been productive of such an immense increase to the exports of the colony. 'I have, &c, 'H. E. F. YOUNG; His Excellency the Lieut-Governor La Trobe.' It appears from one portion of Mr. Hargraves's letter that he contemplates publishing a work on New South Wales, to be entitled ' Hargraves's Twenty Years in Australia,' in which his travels in New Zealand and California will also be em-bodied. In answer to a Memorial from Mount Alexander, signed by 1,300 residents there, and presented to His Excellency on the 5th instant, praying for the immediate disposal of the Crown Lands in the neighbourhood of the Gold districts in small sec-tions for agricultural purposes, the following answer has been returned by His Excellency : — ' Colonial Secretary's Office, Melbourne, Jan. 6, 1853. "Sir— In reply to the memorial of the residents at Mount Alexander, entrusted to you for presentation to His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, I have the honour to request that you will inform them their wishes have been anticipated by instructions given by His Excellency to the Surveyor-General in the month of last November, to prepare for early sale both town sections and agricultural allotments within the Gold districts ; and that no time will be lost in producing such for sale so soon as the requisite surveys can be fully and properly effected. I am, &c., W LONSDALE. ' To Mr. Bryce Ross, Melbourne.' The following extract from a despatch from the Lieutenant- Governor of Victoria to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the subject of transporta- tion, will be read with interest : —

' The social advantages to be derived from the introduc- tion of convict labour, or the expectation of the reclamation of the convict, which may be held to have. been the secon-dary objects in view, have of late years become very ques-tionable; and latterly the main and strongest arguments assigned for the continuance of the system seem to have been avowedly based upon the stern necessities of the parent community. Of the difficulties which are involved in a consideration of this subject, and the attempt to adjust the irreconcileable interests now at stake, I am fully aware ; but I think the time has now come when the necessities above adverted to must be met by yet stronger obligations, and that both for her own sake, as well as for that of her colonies in this quarter of the globe, it must be conceded that it is absolutely necessary that transportation of convicts to the Australian colonies should altogether cease.' A preliminary meeting was held on the 3rd inst., in the Eastern Hill School-room, Mr. Just in the chair, to consider as. to the steps which should be taken to provide public baths for the city. Dr. Embling read a memoral to the Legislative Council pointing out the imperative necessity of public baths as sanitary requisites; and also an easy way in which the want might be supplied, namely, by granting a portion of the swamp at the western end of the city. The memorial was already numerously and respectably signed; and.it was presented to the Council through Mr. O'Shanassy, on the 6th instant.

Dr. Embling was to give a lecture on the subject at an early day. The recent Gold frauds are thus alluded to. in the Argus of the 4th instant: — ' The Late Gold Frauds.— On Monday, William Carry was a again brought up at the Police Court, to receive the decision of the Bench upon the late investigation, charging him with selling spurious gold. His Worship the Mayor, Colonel Anderson, and William Hull, Esq., J.P., presided on the occasion. Mr. Hull made some few introductory remarks relative to the stigma that would be cast upon the character of the merchants of Melbourne by their corres-pondents in England and elsewhere, through the late frauds, and read some extracts from authorities tending to show the presence of crime even in selling a fraudulent article. He further stated that he had just received a London Mining Journal wherein it was stated that a quantity of this spu-rious metal was being manufactured in England for expor-tation. After Mr. Hull had finished, his Worship said that since the late investigation he had not only given the subject great consideration, but had sought and obtained the advice of the Attorney-General, and the conclusion he had arrived at was, that he had no alternative but to commit the prisoner for trial. Mr. Smith applied on behalf of his client for bail, which was granted, himself in £1,000 and and two sureties in £500 each. Mr. Drewery and Mr. Lyons then entered into the required bonds.'

We notice with extreme regret the loss sustained by the Rev. Mr. Haynes, of Adelaide, as stated in the following paragraph extracted from the Argus of the 8th instant : — A Hard Case. — The Rev. Joseph Haynes, Indepen- dent minister of Adelaide, who has been labouring with untiring energy at the Forest Creek Diggings during the whole of last year, has just returned to Melbourne on his way home. He placed himself, with part of his hard-earned produce, under the care of a carrier to whom he had been introduced by a respectable storekeeper. On his arrival at Dunbar's, near Flemington, the carrier requested Mr. Haynes to proceed on foot to Melbourne, and to leave the luggage under his care, assuring Mr. H. that he would deliver it to him in safety at the Bird-in-Hand, Flinderslane, on Monday last. Mr. Haynes went to receive his luggage, with carpet-bag and portmanteau, containing his little treasure, with his clothes and books, when he was told by the carrier that some thieves had stolen them from a stable in which he had placed them, and which was open and exposed to the access of any one, at the same time all compensation for the loss of the property was refused. The carpet-bag contained about £100 in cash, besides other property of some value.'

The Sarah Sands, expected in Melbourne from Sydney on the 23rd inst., was advertised to sail thence on the 1st February for Liverpool, calling at the Cape to coal. Freight of Gold by her is advertised at 4½d. per ounce, delivered at the BullionOffice of the Bank of England. The Ballengeich, ship, expected here en route for India, is advertised for Penang direct on the 8 th, so that she will not call here as expected. The Great Britain cleared the Port Phillip Heads on the morning of Wednesday, the 5th instant, on her homeward voyage. The Herald, of 29th ult., has the following :— "The Season's Clip. — We are given to understand that very considerable quantity of wool has already arrived in town from the several stations in the interior. The shearing season has been nearly all got through, and without that amount of loss or incovenience to the settlers which was apprehended some mouths ago. The yield and

quality of the new staple are in many instances highly spoken of. The fearful malady of lunacy appears to be on the increase. The following is from the Melbourne Herald:— 'Tbe Victoria Gold Escort Company.— The first half yearly meeting of the shareholders of this Company was held at the Gold-Office, blizabeth-street, on Monday after- noon, and from the statement of affairs submitted it would appear tha the speculation has turned out a highly profitable one, notwithstanding all the difficulties by which it was encompassed on starting into existence. Upon the capital invested, the nett profits realized during the first half year amount to 60 per cent., and a dividend of 25 per cent, was declared. The following may ere long supply a useful hint to South Australia : — 'Wesleyan Immigrants' Home.— This most excellent institution is daily aiding large numbers arriving on our shores and unable to obtain accommodation. From its opening on the 6th of December to the 6th of January, ex-actly 250 persons had sought and found refuge in the Home, out of which 86 still remain inmates of it. The charges made are 4s. 6d. per diem for a grown person, and 2s. 3d. for a child under 14 years of age ; children of three years and under being kept gratuitously. These 250 individuals have paid £192 6s., which sum has quite covered the expenses. The Home is now in a most creditable and comfortable state, everything being beautifully clean and and in order, for which the superintendent and matron, Mr. and Mrs. Courtenay, deserve great praise, as, with only the assistance of three servants, the whole labour has devolved upon them. His Excellency visited this institution last week, and expressed himself much pleased with the order and comfort dwelling around. It would be as well if the Government Immigrants' Depot took a lesson from this place.' The Mayor is showing no mercy and no respect of persons in enforcing the sanitary provisions of the Town's Police Act. The private company's escort arrived in Mel-bourne from Mount Alexander at 4 o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, the 7th instant, with 32,000 ozs. of Gold. The last number of certificates are viz., from Forest Creek, 5,985, Bendigo, 14,047. If there is no exaggeration in the following state-ment of the Herald's, 'a gentleman in black' might soon make a little fortune in Melbourne :— "An awkward Fix. — At this moment we are acquainted with some scores and scores of families who are in momen-tary fear of being burnt alive, or their houses and property destroyed, in consequence of being unable to obtain the ser-vices of a sweep. In vain have we ourselves sought the services of the gentleman in black, and have arrived at the conclusion, favourable to the respectability of our commu-nity, that there is not a single 'sweep' amongst us. If there really be any gentlemen of the bag and brush amongst us, we wish they would announce themselves and their whereabouts through the medium of the public press, in order that the public may know where such desiderata are to be obtained. Parties are constantly fined for allowing their flues to take fire, and their invariable excuse is that, as amateurs, they have done all that they could, with the assistance of a clothes prop, or a fishing-rod, to diminish the chances of. a conflagration ; but the Justices coolly reply— 'Show us you have, within a reasonable period, availed yourself of the services of a professional man, and we will exempt you from a fine.' If, however, the pro-fessional men have all sloped for the Diggings, what is to be done ? The public are clearly in a fix, and it appears to us to be hard that- they should be placed in such a position.' The barque Royal 'Shepherdess and the brig Waterwitch had been laid on for the New Zealand Gold-fields.

The Commercial Bank, was to open for general business on Monday, the 17th inst. The offices are situated In Queen- street, a little ' below '' the Union Bank. D. R. Furtado, Esq., is the Manager, and Archibald M'Lachlan and Alexander Wilson, Esq., compose the Local Board. As the Melbourne markets may be affected to some extent by arrivals from America, we must not omit to mention that the Concordia, from Boston, .the latest arrival from that quarter, brought the following cargo: — '937 barrels flour, 150 barrels corn meal, 50 tierces hams, 5 hhds. bacon (shoulders); -4 hhds. bacon (sides), 100 half barrels pork, 28 hhds. butter, 36 cases cheese, 250 boxes codfish, 200 barrels mackerel, 100 kits do., 200 half- kits tongues and sounds, 40 cases lard, 6 boxes crackers, 12 cases chocolate; 50 boxes salmon, 12 boxes eggs, 3 barrels -provisions, 1 pianoforte, 34 packages glassware, 55 cases boots and shoes, 75 boxes lemon syrup, 2 cases notions, 1 0 boxes do., 75 nests tubs, 250 dozen pails, 10 dozen cedar do., 200 casks nails, 30 packages buckets, 83 bundles brooms, 30 packages trays, 10 boxes clothes-pins, 1 case whisk bruses, 20 racks boxes, 2 crates dippers, 4 boxes chairs, 25 boxes furniture, 93,000 feet pine boards, 125 bundles laths, 178 bundles shingles, 2 cases hardware, 33,500 bricks. The Concordia was to be followed, from Boston, by a new. packet-ship named the Nestor, appointed to

sail in October. The following Market Report is that of Jan. 7 :— ' Gold remains Tat £3 10s. 34, '.'.'..,-.',, ' £. Gilbert and Co', sold b^ auction yesterday, at their Mart, an invoice of rifles, guns,,pis'tols, watches, meerschaum and ornamental pipes, at' 50 per centL)advance ; onions, 13d. per lb. ; Woolongong butter, Is. 5ft. per lb. ; cotton prints, 5Jd. to 6jd. per yard. . ' Stubbs and Son sold on Wednesday, tallow candles, at 9& per lb. ; bran Is. 9d. to Is. lid. per bushel, flour, £18 10s. to £20 per ton;, cra-ked maize, 8s. 3d. per bushel; oxonians, at 6s. per pair; bluchers, 7s. 6d. ; Wellingtons, 19s. 6d. ? 'Stubbs' and Son sold yesterday Siam sugar at £33 to £35 per ton; pickles (pints), 12s. per dozen; hams',! Is. 2a. per lb.; Cavendish tobacco, out of bond, 2s. 8d. per lb. ; oatmeal, 2d. ; shaft harness, £5 15s. ; syrups, 36s.. uer dnxan.

' Rose and Co. sold yesterday : oats. 10s. to 10s. 3d. per bushel ; cracked maize, 7s. 6d. ; bran, Is. 6-L to 2s. ; lucerne, £8 per ton. I ,. '? Little and Co. sold yesterday : oats, from 10s. to 13s. per bushel; bran, Is. lid. to 2s. ; bacon, Adelaide, Isl'll^d. per lb. : do. V. D. L.. Is. to Is. Id. ; Wollongong butter, Is. 2£d. peir.lb. ; Cumberland hams, Is. 5d. to Is. 7|di . ' Trices of Flour.— At Allison and Knight's mills': Fine, flour, £25 per ton ;- second do. £23 do. ; bran, 2a. per bushel. ' . . . , v .??...'. '.'. At Dight's mills : Fne flour, £25 per ton ; second do. £23 do. ; bran, 2s. 3d. per busheL' ' . ' l '