THE NEW COMES IN AUSTRALIA. (From the Sydney Herald, Dec, 10.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XV, Issue 1201, 31 December 1858, Page 4

THE NEW COMES IN AUSTRALIA. (From the Sydney Herald, Dec, 10.

A curious literary critic is desirous to know how the family of Newcomes' get on in Australia ; how they take , to the country, and its customs ; and in what" light they appear to the old fashioned colonists. Like all families, the Newcomes show striking varieties of temper and taste; and to discriminate each character, it would be necessary '• to give it in detail. The Newcomes generally sight the shore in high feather. The dangers of the voyage being past, the prospect of the ' harbour and the distant city— glittering in the sun-light, or illuminated at night — gives a fillip to the spirits. According to that degree of vanity which is in them — a j quality in every human heart— are their preparations for , ■a distinguished appearance in the new country. j The first few days dissipate many illusions. There is no sensation , no welcome ; no great attention to heraldry j and ancestry ; no great value attached to introductions. The colonista have seen many great men in their day, scions of noble houses and ofEihoot* of eminent families— and they receive with as much doubt as admiration the assurance that Mr. Newcome is of pure lineage, anil that in quitting England or Ireland he is rather indulging a taste for adventure, or because anxious to elevate the colonies by his example and intelligence, than to yield to an impulse behind him. There are, however, individuals «f the Newcorae family who for the first few weeks or months experience the deepest depression and regret. With little means to face the enormous charges, as they appear to them, of rent and subsistance, the colony to them •aeems a busy, selfish, heartless thing. Their first contact is with people who have little time and often little tenderne *s not seldom with the course and brutal, who assert their importance by their insolence. There is in the interior of colonial life just as much kindness and sympathy just as much liberality and good will at at home, but it ' has to be approached in a peculiar way, and it is not apparent to strangers. Thus Mr. Newcome finds nothing in ■that dreary blank of indifferent faces to break the solitude •of a great city— of all the most appalling. His efforts to settle into employment, in congenial society, «c repeatedly j frustrated. If proud, lie scorns the people about him who •do not understand merits for which they do not care ; or if more melancholy, he sits down to mope and groan. The Newcomes generally threaten for the first twelve months to go home, and the next year they graciously postpone the vengeance. The mercantilt Newcome is disgusted with the system of trade, the sharpness of dealers, and the recklessness of speculators, who sometimes sell the goods for the price of the packages. In time, ■ however, he becomes sharp, and speculates, and is silent. Trie clerical Newcome is disgusted with the sectarianism which cuts up the population— with a parish of scores of 'miles, and parishioners of gum trees, and sighs for his rural curacy, where he was great and lived ou a hundred a year. In a little time, however, he finds it is possible for men, to differ without homicide, and that practically a county for a parish is as much a figure of speech as a kingdom for a horse. Comforts are collected around him, openings are made for his household, and he still post,ponea his return , The Newcomes of the working classes are generally . •Wtterjj disappointed. /It is. difficult to say in what ; ' •but such it the common sensation. The get good wages, food) and bushels of liberty,— but still they are miserable, most miserable. The illusion ia over,— there is no- gold pickupable,— no enthusiastic welcomes,— no great matches,— nothing but at the price of labour, of ••kill, or of luck;— but time goes on, and the country becomes more pleasant,— the longing for home abates, —and industry opens s vista of advancement beyond the dreamt of their youth;- a mechanic becomes an employee, andtihe, labourer a farmer, and the heart is The' peculiar, Uiosyncracies of the r Newcomes often i e\»al themselves ia a. most unaroiable form. They •re tumetimef exacting and offensive, Thejr giv» their

company to understand that they nerer expected to be on speaking terms with such people, and hint that no entertainment can be too costly, m a reward for their condescension. The Newcomes pass an oracular opinion on all the parts and peculiarities of colonial life. They expect, as hating all had great experience in English politics, to take an instant lead in colonial. They are for altering every law and changing every contract ; or, if of another turn, they are resolute to establish on the colonial foundation all the feudal, ecclesiastical, and national peculiarities of countries overgrown with the venerable moss oi ages. „' , •iJ The Neweomes are generally 'starchßdagl stiff religionists. They are horrified, to see PrJSpstantjfcand Catholics laughing and ulkinftfcogether *s j*tWg* were no such thincs as faggots in mp world. JSp^ wou]d hare every bargain and salutation made ,st|vh. a saving clause declaring nothing abated oQfte otjfeinal quarrri, 'and that they are quite as ready Jpt" a fight- as in the most Christian days. As contsßf-'steats -away one by one the old antipathies, they often have^ 'fits of alarm and remorse. How changed ! The wife of one of the South Seas missionaries, when the found she had lost her taste for beef, sat down and wept bitterly— so de« graded may we become. The Newcome family, but for constant accession from home, would of course soon become extinct. It is pleasant to see how they mellow by age, and become acclimatised to the meridian of this new world. In time they take their place, and find their level. The jostle of competition and contradiction makes them at once more hardy and tolerant. Obliged to live side by side with various conditions of men (to mingle in business with " aliens in blood, language and religion "). they cease to complain. A sense of natural justice compels them at last to confess that there is no charter of monopoly by right divine— that to Jive and let live is the easiest way of getting through pilgrimage. Thus the Neweomes settle down into^hearty, liberal, hopeful colonists , and while often looking back on home with a complacency enhanced by distance, and often desiring to see once more thp scenes of memory — not like the mere soldier or traveller, who desires to be buried in the grove of his fathers — they wish to rest where they have assisted to collect the elements of new and magnificent national life,

The Canooha Diggings.—We have been favoured with the following extract of a letter from Rockhampty>n,. dated 30th ultimo :—" According to promise I hasten to write you a few lines. Little of importance, so far as regards Rockhampton, has lately taken place. A few have gone to Archer's station within the last three days, and according to the report I have received they are making good rations; the gold being of a fine^ description it brings more than tl c gold from Canoona. I have just returned from the Cf»noona diggings, after spending three days. I found about six hundred people on the various diggings, and, although they did not look cheerful, yet I imagine they were all paying their way. lam sorry to inform you that an accident happened by which the party lost his life. Poor M'Koy started up the river with his mates last Friday, and, after atriving at the crossing- place, when walking to Canoona through the long grass, a gun in the hand of one of his comrades behind him accidentally went off and shot him in the calf of the leg. He was carried to Ramsay's station. The doctor visited him in the morning, but did nothing till he was brought into Canoona. On Saturday Captain Hunter and myself met him being brought in, and spoke to him; he talked lightly of it, saying in a few days he would follow his mates in the search for gold. On Sunday morning were calledup by one of his mates, at daylight, saying mortification had set in; and, on examining the wound, it was found that trie onjy chance was to amputate the leg, which operation was performed by Dr. Robinson, myself and Captain Hunter being there within a minute of the amputation. lam sorry to say the poor man died the aarae erening. He was evidently a man of superior attainments, and it wa» afterwards discovered that he foi merly commanded his own vessel, and also acted in the capacity of British consul in one of the states of South America. During his stay in these colonies he had devoted his attention to mining, * and was much esteemed for his superior intelligence and practical views by all who knew him. He came to the Fitzroy by the City of Sydney on her first trip, and was starting to the Mackenzie River prospecting when he lost his life. The last place he cainefrom was the Turon." —S.M.Hoald, Dec. 10. I 1 ' I ! ' j , j I

Good Times Coming.—The day of prosperity has at length dawned upon the municipalities of Melbourne and Geelong,—the legislature having acknowledged their claims to be placed on the same footing aa what have been designated " Outside municipalities," to be assisted by the Government. On Thursday night Mr. Harker proposed that the sum of £135,000 be voted under certain conditions, for the purpose of aiding municipalities, including Melbourne and Geelong. The House did not, however, approve of the mode of distri. bution proposed, considering it too indefinite; and the more satisfactory plan was. after considerable discus. Bion, agreed to, that £100.000 be voted in aid of " outside municipalities," £25,000 for Melbourne (the amount voted last year, on the motion of Mr. Smich), subject to a deduction of twice ihe amount of rates raised in Sandridge; and £10,000 to Geelong. Assi«tance was also provided for t?n new municipalities at 'the rate of £1000 each, that might be erected during 1859. Under this arrangemeut the question may arise if Sandridge, should it be erected into a separate municipality, will, besides its claim on the £25,000 voted to Melbourne, also be entitled to a slice off the £10,000 for probable new municipalities ?—Melbourne Herald.

Thb Crops in Tasmania.—The rain which has flalen at intervals throughout the country has had a very improving effect upon the crops in various localities. At Pittwater, Sorell, and the adjoining districts the crop* are looking well, and with more ram the harvest is expected to be more favourable than was anticipated some week* ago, as the grain was then languishing for want of wet. The potatoes and turnips, also, indicate an average yield, and it is reasonably to be hoped that the same favorable change has extended to other localites in the island.—H. T, Mercury.

Night Photography.—Amongst the numerous improvements which, of late years, have been introduced into the photographic art, none is more note worthy than that of Mr. John Moule, of Hackney-road, London, known as the " Photogen, or Light Generator," by means of which photographs are taken at night; and for which that genleman has secured her Majesty's Royal letters patent The long desired and long doubted process of taking night photographs being now an accomplished fact, some particulars as to the process and its advantages, may not be uninteresting. Previous to the introduction of the photogen, we'understand that attempts had been repeatedly made and much money expended by some of the most eminent photographers in England, France, and America, to obtain photographs by artificial light, but without success ; the elee'ric, lime, and other lights, proving, through want of power, irrespective of their costliness, totally inadequate. The use of pyrotechnic compositions, the only effective and cheap means of obtaining actinic light suitable for photographic purpeses, wat rendered unavailable by the suffocating and deleterious fumes arising from their combusti on. After great attention to the subject, and a long series of experiments, the inventor conceived the idea of the photogen, by which all deleterious fumes are got rid of, and a light produced possessing the highest actinic power, regulated and so diffused that first-class pictures are now produced at night with certainty, strength, and tone, only attainable in the most favoured climates of the world. This light can be produced either by day or by night, at the will of the photographer, irrespective of climate or the effects of atmospheric influences, and by it thousandi who have been unable from professional pursuits to spare time for a- sitting in daylight, can now obtain superior portraits at their own time and convenience. The photographic artist also thereby acquires an unlimited time for professional practice, whilst the same ir. dependence of the solar light will offer new and immense facilities for the experiment* of the amateur.—Sydney Morning Herald,

Coppm'a Australasian Balloon.—This splendid balloon is to make its first ascent in this colony on Monday next, in the Outer Domain. We cannot, of course, of our'own knowledge, speak of it But the •uccess which has attended the aeronauts, Messn. Brown and Dean, in their two ascents in Melbourne, leads us to expect a great success in Sydney'also. The balloon will be inflated with gas laid on from oi^of the main* of the Australian Gas Light Company. The di-rectors.-we are:glad to learn, have met the matter in a fair and liberal spirit.— Sydney M. Herald, Dec 9f