Portland Guardian and Normanby General Advertiser (Vic. : 1842 - 1843; 1854 - 1876), Thursday 23 April 1863, page 2


c".aWc oaifk. itc'. s..rrr. hct -naeriy lit mt p-m. i'-: v. .e i a lof the assae from3 Md LF Wi'he to rr- ot titit Mc'. I)r;' ._~ -uý fgva S'sesru Se= the ' -'{rd. inr U-a Ai-2-va d i-i 0r=.-A- : L;i4.i4.Cno boat. we are z p:&ie'3 to pa-u. that derinz the winter t -o.hs the Lcat t~yCnU i"" t c u lusith a far a f, the fre ct ~td " Wi sd 1uor· Tua Vouicenxs--On )Iooa3r Lit in the I Wc:.1Iss Rii- .d-street Capn LwrI r~: h detirere-l the badpas irsset by the (.-_ , crament to thei membersa the coonplf ml- t s~t t prs t ee in the Pam Yes! pJentC l f 1^..,t'tc~is sco iay . Fi the ditribution s-he j e!-eu znuachzbd to the North Ihaiu for t' the pure of penicc.ýý, for the first tim. the 1::rir hilt tow ea tpicted there- The &P utre ttkcn troum the anrktrs hbut a.'d pian-. in p4..ui(, and Captain LearmoOth kacidfl of ras.le a bull' ert at the first shoL The volunteer of the tboupan fo lowed with iarriti success, and afite two ruundi were firrd the ut~sattans retired from the grouind ihfore the cumpaan r wa diinisst-J for the eer nun Metsrs.. Iii, Curtis andi Utlier r n ieas eazadiitts fast th. rank of setgrant to vu Far the pl'e of Mr. 1auehcr rtsignad. iteelection will take place at next melcing. Tir Wciyat x. -_Wjtb rcjercn'c to the fine weather )ow prrwaiting, the JIWAL A4kii'r Mai' remulk The second sprint ad sumnmer thtei hb whih we are now pasing ha, had a singuoalar crect on vegrtatiof. II the arden 'of Ii-. Merars o Cotewtmo, aprletutse mi straw berriy pats ar bteossoming the somood time this teas. Another rop oI tilt is aleI fast ads mncing to etatultr, endJ S ruglt,-rrr tre. w tiec kagl same. ptted ri is Itrc-'see, ag-a rin one- with grfitl 5, and timesy tips frIuit The warmth of the t-a'on is admitted to tasie hten "wiasassplf within It.. let i en )vars. is rs nmarkabIy w" lalatred 1.-r the Cring o1 raisins, of Which the aust giiitkna is IS Frptiag a quantitY. iur lhal hoetickltwnisss eightd antsgsousl turn tusir attentioo to the druiwg of ito gr-apa asi fads tot the market."

THE BOTANICAL GARDENS.-T'he truth of the proverb, "It is an ill wind, blows nobody good " is now receiving a practical illustra-ion in respect to the forty-Chinamen recently comnmitted to the Portland Jail for non pay-ment of the capitation tax. The men are now employed daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the Botanical Gardens, and under their hands the gardens exhibit quite a new aspect. Trees are being cut down and removed, new walks formed and old walks recusitated ; new beds have been planted and upon the whole the gardens present an appearance gratifying alike to the student of natural history and the lovers of neatness and order. The Cura-tor of the gardens, Mr. Allit, speaks in the highest terms, of the industry of the Celesti-als, and alleges as a positive fact, that they do more than double the amount of labor, he would get from an equal number of Europ-eans similarly circuamstanced. Though op-posed to the absurd law under which the Chinamen have been imprisoned we are hap-py to find that their time is at present so usefully oocupied, --and that the conuntry receives at least, some equivalent, for their maintenance. Gasr.Nero?r RoTCK.-Tho fcelong Adterti.cr states that "Mir. Daintree, the assistant Govcrnment geologist, who las had. the supcrinItndcnce of the coal-borings in this district, has discovered a valualble greenatone rock, on the llarrabool Hills near llelperroud's vineyard. Mineralogically the rock is' known as diorite. It takes a polish like marble, and is superior to any stone yet discovered for ornamental purposes.CHARACTER CHARACTER OF THE CHINESE.-An ac-cident, forcibly illustrating the abject weak-nest of the Chinese character, occurred at Sinnot's diggings, about a month ago. An unfortunate Chinaman, named Ah Gum, was accidently killed by a fall from his cart, the wheel of which passed over his head, and crushed it quite flat. His horse and cart came back to his mates without him, and yet none of those could muster up courage enough to search for him, until a miner named Preston came and told them that their mate was lying on a heap of pipeclay without betraying a sign of life. They then reluctantly, followed him, but he could not induce them to go within 100 yards of the spot where poor Ah Gum lay. Preston, on going up found the poor fellow dead in the manner already described, and lifted up his hand and let it drop, to show the China-men that Ah Gum's labours with it were at an end. On seeing the dead man's hand drop, they all, without n exceptioan (and one was a cousin to the deceased), scam-pered off, knocked off work, and went to bed, where they continued smoking opium for a week afterwards, leaving Ah Gum's body unburied from Wednesday until Sun-day evening. After all, Preston, aided by a Chinaman named " Tommy Thompson " -whose name betrays an English educa-tion, under maternal patronage-consigned Ah Gum to his last resting-place.-Dunol-ly Express, April 10. [The writer of the above paragraph if better acquainted with Chinese Home Law, might find a better ex-planation of the unwillingness of Ah Gum's mates to go near the dead body-than "weakness of character" in the fact, that the person found nearest a man who has met with an accidental or violent death, when the authorities arrive, is by the Chinese law adjudged guilty of murder and executed accordingly. This is a brutal, and absurd law, but it is Chinese law, and such being the case, it is not wonderful that none would approach within 100 yards of deceased. Terror of Victorian law which the Chinese ignorantly supposed a trans-cript of their own "Flowery Land," would keep all Chinamen at a respectful distance from the unfortunate Ah Gum.] ED, P.G. Matr.riar. - We are informed says the Argus, that by the mail just received the following alterations in the head qluarters staff are ordered to take place :-Major-General Sir T. S. lratt, K.C.HI., proceeds to England per mail on tihe 25'th inst., the Deputy Adjtutant-General Lieutenant Colonel Grey, C.IB., whose office is abolished, proceed to England as soon as Brigadier-General Chutes, . .I., arrives to assume the command as colonel on the staff ; the brigade major at Sydney, Captain W'. Ilaywood, is to he removed front Sydney to Melbournee; Colonel Carey is to leave thic place in June. It is understood that Captaiu 1'. W. Scratlchiley. Il., also leaves this colony in June. The Comnnissariat Department will remain at presentt, but ultimately the head quarters will be New Zealand. JOHN CHINAMEN.-Fifty-one of decidedly very new-chum-looking celestials, says the Hamilton Free Press, were charged at the Police Court on Saturday last, with entering the Colony of Victoria without paying the capitation tax, and were commnitted to Port-land jail for one month's imprlsonment and hard labour, as they had not the wherewithal to pay the amount required. One hundred and twenty-two of them left the flowery land in January last in the ship "Independence," and landed at Guichen Bay, South Australia, about three week's ago, from which place they were en route in two parties for Ballarat, heavily laden with luggage, carried by nmeans of the bambhoo cane, and had escaped the penalty of crossing the border until they arrived eight miles beyond Hamilton, when the unfortunate fifty-one were apprised rather early on Saturday morning by the trooper that their presence was required at Hamilton; they accordingly marched back again, and were eyed with no small degree of wonder-ment by the astonished juveniles of the town, who had never before seen such genuine spe-cimens of John Chinamen. Many of the poor fellows were foot-sore fronm the effects of their tramp of upwards of one hundred and sixty miles from Guichen Bay which they had accomplished in a little over a fortnight, and on arriving at the police paddock squatted on the grass, and sought refuge from their troubles by resorting to the never-failing com-forters, to them, tobacco and opium. Like the sheep of Bo-peep in the nursery rhyme, they carried their tails behind them as they walked into court, being particularly careful to untie them previous to entering, where Mr. Ah Chee, in broken English, informed the Magistrate that the captain of the vessel led them to understand that, "if land in Mel-bourne or Sydney, Chinaman would have to pay £10 each, but if land at Guichen Bay pay noth-ing." On being enlightened regarding residing in Victoria, which would require them to pay £4 each, a consultation was held, which resulted in Ah Chee informing the Bench that they had not sufficient money to procure the re-lease of all, but that if ten were allowed to proceed to Ballarat, they could obtain it from

one of their countrymen, this request was re-fused, and as the only alternative, in the course of the afternoon, £40 was handcd to Mr. Sub-Inspector Sadleir, and the upper ten were permittcd to depart. The remainder were sent to Portland on the following day (a waggon having been provided to carry their luggage, and about a dozen who were foot-sore) where no doubt they will think that a month's imprisonment, with hard labour, after a tramp of over two hundred miles, is not a very brilliatnt debut on the stage of Australia Felix.