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[From our own Correspondent.]
Melbourne, February 12, 1859.
The Chief Secretary's exposition of the plan of the
Ministerial Land Bill is very languidly defended by
his friends, and has been exposed to some damaging
criticism by his opponents ; while, in ths judgment of
the dispassionate, it is considered to be the vague out
line of a crude and valueless scheme. In fact Mr.
O'Shanassy, on the evening when submitting his
plan to' the Legislative Assembly, appeared to be
somewhat ashamed of it, and read the document so
hurriedly and indistinctly, that half the persons
present foiled to catch more than 'a portion ot its
nurnort : and when an hon. member moved that the
paper be again read by the Clerk of the House, the
Chief Secretary jumped up, and said the document
had passed out of his possession. I subjoin the text
of Mr. G'Shanassy's statement, together with a few
comments on it :—?
' GENEEAX PIiAN OF THE LAND BII.Ii TO BE SUBMITTED
BY GOVERNMENT TO THE NEXT PABLIAMZST.
'It ie intended that the measure shall embrace thefol
f ' 1. ikt large areas of agricultural land shall be proclaimed
near the chief centres of population, within which areas ordi
nary farm lots, in no case exceeding 320 acres, will be open
to selection by bona fide settlers, withont auction, at a fixed
price of It per acre.
'2. That within th2Sc areas the unsold land shall consti
tute a free commonage for the settleVi, subject tq regulations
to be made in an agricultural municipality.
'3. That an enlarged municipal system be constructed,
embracing agricultural districts as well as towns, under
which system the inhabitants will possess a direct control
over the local expenditure for public purposes at present de
frayed 'out of the general revenue, such municipalties to ob
tain a certain proportion of endowment out of th; public
estate, and the power of levying an equitable taxation on
fixed property, In lieu of the grants in aid now provided for
out ofthe estimates.
' 4, Th-t common pasturage be secured by law to the
inhabitants of all towns and gold-fields where Crown lands
exist.
' S. That water frontages throughout the interior be re
served in perpetuity for public use.
' 6. That all auriferous land be reserved from sale.
' 7. That all town and suburban lands, and such other
lands as may be rendered peculiarly valuable by their posi
tion sliall continue to be sold by public auction, and that
provision be made for bona fide settlers who may_ require
larger allotments than are provided' for in the agricultural
areas.
' 8. That at a period to be fixed by law all preferable
occupancy of the public domain by the pastoral tenants now
in possession shall absolutely cease and determine.
'9. That in the meantime the pastoral tenants shall con
tinue to receive an annual licence, revocable on such
notice, and held at such rent, as the Legislature may de
termine.
' The hon. member continued. There were two points on
which two members of the Government desired him to ex
press their special views, which were as follows : —
' SPECIAi STATEMENTS.
' 1. One member of the Cabinet would wish to make the
experiment of deferred payments in one area.
' 2. In reference to the principle of selection within speci
fied areas, another member of the Cabinet would prefer the
application ofthe principle to the whole country.
'?But both.rather than risk the success of a Bill based on
the principles already stated, would support the proposed
measure.
You will perceive that the 1st and 7th clauses
neutralize each other, for while the first proposes to
throw open to selection large areas of agricultural
land near the chief centres of population, the 7th de
clares that ' such lands as may be rendered pecu
liarly valuable by their position' (which all agricul
tural land, lying contiguous to populous towns, is)
sliall continue to be sold by public auction as at
prjseut.
The 2nd and 4th clauses make provision for free
commonage and common pasturage, wherever Crown
lauds exist, in the neighborhood of towns and gold
fields, but this is irreconcileable with the continuance
of the squatting system, under which almost every
acre of land in the colony, available for pastoral pur
poses, and especially in the vicinage of towns and
gold-fields, has been taken up.
The 3rd clause, which appears to be the only one
possessing any real value, has no legitimate relation
to the laud question, arid ought to form the basis of
an independent measui*e for the assimilation of our
municipal system to that of Upper Canada, which has
been found to work admirably.
The 5th and 6tli clause3 affirm no new principles.
No water frontages are now sold, and any land be
lieved to be auriferous is invariably withdrawn from
sale.
The eighth clause is suspiciously vagua and inde
finite, and contains nothing incompatible with the
most extravagant claims of the Bquatters, while it
indicates on the part of the Government a desire to
evade grappling with the great preliminary difficulty
.of the question, and to fasten on the Assembly the
responsibility of determining when the preferential
ocsupancy of ths country by the shepherd kings shall
' absolutely cease and determine.'
Ths ninth clause merely proposes to continue the
present system of annual licenses to the pastoral
tenants of tha Crown, and voila toitt.
TI13 Council of the Convention met on the same
evening and unanimously adopted a series of resolu
tions stigmatizing the ministerial scheme as vague,
ambiguous and delusive, and as in nowise preferable
to the Haine3 Bill, as it finally passed the Lsgislative
Assembly hi a previous session. '
In the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday even
iig Mr. Saodgrass gave notice that he would on the
following evening move a vote of censure on the
Government, with reference to the land question and
its general policy ; but he withdrew it next night.
Mr. Saodgrass is a squatter, and was formerly
ths Fidus Achates of the Chief Secretary, his shadow
and his shield bsarar. Mr. O'Shanassy, however,
who combines with strong natural abilities and a rude
vigor of intellect, coarse and boorish manners, and an
insoleut spirit of self-assertion, wounded the feelings
of his old ally, who has gone into opposition, and
become a vehement opponent of the present adminis
tration. It was a similar act of ill-judged offensive
ness which alienated from the Chief Secretary the
support of Mr. E. Svme, M.L.A., editor and proprie
tor of the Age, to whom Mr. O'Shanassy was under
peculiar obligations for having coached him in many
departments of political science, with which Mr.
O'Shanassy, owing to his defective education, was
previously unacquainted.
The vote of censure above referred to was moved,
there can bs no doubt, from feelings of personal
pique, on the part of Mr. Snodgrass, and as the step
did not inset with the concurrence of the opposition
generally, it was abandoned.
On Wednesday evening, Mr. Perry, in the Legisla
tive Assembly, moved a resolution affirming the de
sirability of paying members, which was supported
by the Chief Secretary, but negatived on a division,
by 25 to 17. In the course of the debate, an amusing
passage-at-arms occurred between Mr. Michie and
Mr. Myles, a worthy but illiterate draper, who just
obtained admission into the old Legislative Council
by a mere accident. . I quote from the report .- —
' Mr. Michie observed that, in a previous part of the debate,
the hon. member for South Grant (Mr. ilyles) had been very
severe on his hon. friend the member for Villiers and Hey
tesbury, (Mr. liutledge) ; for what reason did not very clearly
appear. But considering that the hon. member ibr South
Grant was not elected at all, in the first place, it came with
« ve.rv bft-i srace from him_. (Lauehteiv) The hon. member
was not elected at all — (renewed laughter, and ' Hear, hear'.,
—he was 'stuck up.' (Prolonged laughter.) He attended a
public meeting, ail forlorn; Geelong was in extremity for a
member.
' Mr. Myles— No, no.
?'Mr. Michie— Unless all that the newspapers said was
untrue— there was nobody else to be had; and the hon. mem
ber, who, if not in fact, was, perhaps, etjrmologically speak
ing, the best mau— though he (Mr. Michie) was not sure of
that.
'? Mr. Myies— Yes, yes. yes. (Great laughter.)
'Mr. Michie— 'Well, he was the best man, and he was
elected.
' Mr. Myles— Yes. (Eenewed laughter.)
'Mj-I SUchie— He weat to a public meeting; was taken
because there was noby else; was nominated and eleoted;
he went home astonished as a member. (Laughter.)
'Mr. Myles— No, no.
'Mr. Michie^r-Well, he would put the question to the
test. It was brought forward by the hon. member for
U'illiamstown, seconded by the hon. member for Prahran
(Sir. Crews), and supported by the hon. member for South
Grant; very lair specimens or tne intellectuality ana
scientific attainments of the members of that House.
(L?ughter.) He must say that takingall in all he did not
tUink they were worth 600?. a yeav. He did not think the
services of lion, members all round would be worth to the
country saol. a year each. (Hear, hear, and laughter.')
I may add, that all the members of the Govern
ment, Mr. S. W, Home alone exceptsd, voted in the
minority on this occasion.
A strong feeling is growing up in the minds, of the
more thoughtful portion of the public community in
favor of a system of leasing (not selling) the public
lands (as recommended by Mr. J. S. Mill), and of
engrafting thereon Jhe principle of free selection,
Nothing has transpired yet in reference to the Land
Bill of the Opposition, but there can be little doubt
that they will go to the country with a rival scheme
to that of the Government. Mr. O'Shanassy has
intimated that the prorogation will take place next
wesk, and will be followed by a dissolution.
The f jllowing melancholy narrative appears in this
mo?nin ;'s Argus : —
'Suicide a.nd Mobdeu.— Yesterday Pr. CanjUer held
inquests at East Collihgwood upon the bodies of Catherine
Agnes Harding, the wife of William Hardln?, a mason
living at E 1st Colliugvrood, and of Ellen Jane Harding, their
infant daughter, two years old, who came by their deaths
under the following circumstances : Samuel Linsfley, the
jon of a mason, living at Carlton, sworn, stated that between
2 ami 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 10th instant he was
pissing over Johnston-strei-t brldee. He passed the de
caasid woman with the dejeasei child in her ar.ns. He »oon
after .vards returned, an! saw them on one of thecross beams
of the bridge. The child was crying, aud the mother siil
' You must c ime ;' looked at the witness, and tUen slid off
the beam into the water. Witness immediately ran and gave
the alarm to some draymen that were on one ot the ap
proachi's to the brUge. ESbrts were promptly made, and
the bodies were got out in a short time. Mary Caroline
Harding, sworn, stated that she was the daughter
of di'CL-ased Catherine Agnes Harding, and of William
Harding, a mason. She did not live in the house
with her parents. On the morning of the 10th
her mother, Catherine Agnes Hardiug, called upon her, and
said, ' I do not know what to do with your father ; he gets
tipsy, and scolds me.' She was very melancholy, and was
quite sober. She never drank. About a year ago she was
out of her mind, and used to walk about her room, not
knowing what was said to her. Her husband was not drink
ing at that time. Witness was 11 years old, and remembered
her mother being out of her mind, and that she even threat
ened to destroy herself. Witness's father had lately been in
the habit of getting tipsy, and beating his wife. She an-I her
child had enough to eat. Another witness stated that the
child was got out of the.water almost immediately, and be
fore it was auite dead. ' It, however, died in a few minutes.
The mother was quite dead when taken out of the water.
The Jury found that Catherine Agues Har ling, on the
loth February, 1859, in the River Y;arra, committed suicide
by drowning herself, whilst laboring under a fit of tem
porary insanity, induced by great mental distress from the
ill-treatment of her husband.' And that * Ellen Jane
Harding, on the 10 th February, 1859, was drowned by her
mother, Catherine A-?nf s Harding, who threw herself off the
Johnston-street Bridge, with the deceased child in her arms,
while labouring under a fit of temporary insanity. ' '
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