COLONIAL NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 26, 5 July 1851, Page 3

COLONIAL NEWS.

SYDNEY.

The Sydney correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser has paid a visit to Parramatta, and of course at the same time to Di\ Lang in prison. He describes him as in a comfortable carpeted apartment, receiving almost daily the visits of friends; employing his time in studious industry, and expressing his pleasure that before he was incarcerated he had been able to record his protest against the Electoral Bill, which has been carried by the Government.

The Goi-d Mines.—The strongest excitement still prevailed on the all-pervading topic of the day. The public prints teem with accounts of successful gold-seekers. It is said that an old shepherd, McGregor, has been in the habit of visiting Sydney periodically for some years past, with gold in small quantities, which he represented he had found in the Wellington district, but refused to reveal the locale. The truth' of his representation has now been placed beyond all doubt; Mr. Hargraves pronounces that New South Wales abounds with gold, and produces pieces of the precious metal found in various places during his explorations. The desertion of service for the gold-field has been immense; the population of Sydney is being decreased by hundreds every week. On the same evening that the report reached that place, no less than ninety persons of all classes left Sydney for the region. Out of every hundred who flock to the diggings, three or four it is calculated, may perhaps remain and do well, the others most probably will be disheartened, and return. The search for gold is described as exceedingly precarious at present. The effects in the commercial world may be readily imagined. Flour and other necessaries were being transported to the diggings in loads—3o/. per ton was demanded by the carriers for the conveyance of goods to Bathurst. The fares by the mail-coaches from Sydney to Bathurst had been doubled. All articles of consumption were rapidly rising in price. It was indeed stated that at Sydney, in consequence of contradictory and adverse reports received from the mines, about the 25th or 26th of May, flour, which had suddenly risen to £30. as suddenly fell to ,£lB. per ton. How this might be we cannot determine, but later news from Sydney state the market price at £30. per ton.

Bobberies had commenced on the road to Bathurst, property having been stolen to the amount of £300. The want of water for washing the earth of gold was noticed as a drawback to the enterprise. Proclamations were issued on the 28th of May restricting the digging to licensed persons. The charge for licenses was fixed at £I. los. per month. A glance at the advertisingjColumns of the papers gives the best idea of the mania. '"Gold! Gold! Gold!" is the standing head of every shopkeeper's advertisement. "Spades and frying-pans" are everywhere in demand. " Household property may be pledged for six months or more" at this place, " biscuits packed in tin," and " Soyer's cooking stoves" be obtained at that. It is said that the Government will establish an Assay Office at the mines, purchasing the ore of adventurers, and sending it under strong

escorts to Sydney. In the search for gold it is said that rock salt has been discovered; indications of a lead mine in the vicinity of Geelong have also appeared. The gold brought to Sydney has been readily purchased at from 32. ss. to 31. 10s. per ounce. The purest specimens are bought at the diggings for about 3/. to 31. 6s. per oz. Mr. Smart, the great wheat holder, has ad-> vertised that, in order "to assist in alleviating the distress to poor families occasioned by the present high price of bread,' he will supply them with flour at half price ; aud if really necessitous, he will give it away in small quantities." You would have been perfectly astonished if you had seen the crowd this morning at his mills. There were hundreds of persons there, nearly all women, and such a rush, I can compare to nothing else than the scramble for food in the midst of famine. Mr. Smart is said to hold 900,000 bushels of wheat, and strange stories are current as to his having received anonymous

letters from persons, threatening to turn his mills. Bread is now eighteenpence the 21b. loaf, and wheat cannot be quoted at less than 10s. per bushel. MELBOURNE. We are in receipt (by the "Sir Harry Smith" and "Eudora") of Melbourne news to the 4th of June. Notice has been received by the Local Government that an ample fund is now in hand for the support of immigration. The first ship may be expected shortly. — Argus, May 25. Church Conference. —Meetings were held on the 21st hist, in the various parishes of Melbourne, of the members of the Church of England, convened for the purpose of appointing delegates to represent them in a convention which is summoned for the 24th June. The objects of the conference are, to define and permanently settle many matters connected with church patronage, endowments, and many other questions connected with, the temporalities of the Church. . .. ''The " lietreat" and "Kefnge" stations on the Glenelsr, with about 11,000 sheep, were disposed of in May last for £7,273. 10s. Two bush-rangers, named Wilson and Coyle, had been apprehended, and a charge of highway robbery being substantiated against them, they were committed for trial. There are now above two thousand shares taken up iv the Gas and Coke Company, and so soon as live hundred more shares shall have been taken up, orders will he sent home for the necessary piping.— Argus, May 26. Borings had been commenced in the neighbourhood of the Moonee Ponds in search of coal, which were likely to prove successful. It is also surmised on good grounds that a bed of coal will be found under the Melbourne racecourse. Bullocks in good condition were realising by public auction at Melbourne from £2. 12s 6'd. to .£3. 155., and cows and heifers froiu £2. 7s. fid. to £2. 175. 6d. per head. Useful hacks ranged at from £7. to £17. A large quantity of (lour was being shipyed from Port Philip for Sydney, induced, doubtless, by the high prices there. This appears to have caused an increase Of home prices, the article vising at Melbourne at the same time £2 per ton. The latest quotation (June 4) states it at £27. per ton.