ADELAIDE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 42, 25 October 1851, Page 3

ADELAIDE.

Gbeat Flood op the Tohkens.—Great excitement was occasioned in town on Tuesday morning, by a report that the Torrens had inundated its banks, and had swept away the whole of the bridges. Much of this was soon found to be correct, and on hastening to the river, the inhabitants of the southern division of the city found that the Company's bridge and the ford were demolished, the latter almost totally so. The foot-bridge was standing, but the northern bank had been undermined by the violence of the torrent and soon gave way, leaving a gap of from fifteen to twenty feet between it and the northern terminus of the bridge. The bridge at Hindmarsh was similarly shaken, but workmen were employed duriDg the morning to make a sort of break-water, and although there was still a severe strain upon the piles during the day, the bridge was comparatively uninjured. The river, swollen with the rain which fell during the previous twentyfour hours, had risen to a great height during the night, and at ten o'Clock, yesterday morning, the current was running at the rate fully of fifteen miles an hour. The roar of the torrent was like that of the ocean, and some idea may be formed of its prodigious strength, when we state that trees of an enormous size were hurled along like mere sticks. The banks on either side were undermined, in some instances to a considerable extent, and tons of earth were continually falling in throughout the day. The ford and its bridge are no where, the only vestiges of their whereabouts remaining, being in a short line of rubbish jutting out from the northern bank. The Company's bridge, to the extent of two-thirds of its whole length, has been washed away, and the communication between the North and South divisions of the city was confined throughout yesterday to the Hindmarsh bridge. Some distressing reports of the disappearance of various citizens were circulated during the day, but up to the hour of which we write, there has been no verification of them. Among others, we believe, Mr. Giles had a very narrow escape, while inspecting the ravages of the torrent at the ford, his horse backing suddenly, threw him off, and he fell into the water, from which, however, he instantly succeeded in extricating himself. The river was swollen in some parts to double its former breadth, the current carrying with it large quantities of timber ; these were fished out by the blacks and others,some of the ' wreckers ' making a first-rate harvest thereby. The quantity of rain which fell throughout the previous day; is computed to be fully two inches.— Adelaide Times, August 23.

The Austral Examiner, in remarking upon the above untoward occurrence, says :— " The floods of Tuesday sennight very nearly repealed the union between North and South Adelaide. As this was done, however, without the consent of the inhabitants of these localities, it may be assumed that they will endeavour to re-open an intercourse as speedily as possible ; and, learning wisdom from the past, will take measures to establish their relations on a firmer basis than heretofore. Seriously, it is high time that the Torrens were spanned by somethingmore sightly and substantial than mere wooden planking. The destruction of the old bridges is opportune. It occurs just when the colony is beginning to exercise its right of Self-go-vernment through its Representative Assembly, and the city is about to claim the same right through its Corporation." Opening of Council.—The following extract from an Adelaide paper may serve to shew the state of political feeling in that part of Australia :—" Tuesday was a day which will he memorable in the aunals of South Australia. It was the second step in our progress towards the possession of Free Institutions. The New Council met for the first time, and two-thirds of its members consist of representatives of the people, duly returned by popular election. At first, the colony was ruled over by a Council of Government, composed exclusively of salaried officials, who framed their legislative enactments, and transacted most of their other important business with closed doors; and this was continued from December 183(>, to August 1844, a period of nearly eight years. This was followed, in the course" of 1844, with the appointment of four non-official members, to act with the four official members, of which the Council of Government had been previously i composed, and tliese met from time to time, as a Legislative Council, with open doors, and

have had all their proceedings duly reported in the public newspapers, up to the close of their sittings, which occurred in the month of February last. The present Council is greatly in advance of its predecessors, both in point of numbers, and in its popular constitution. The first Council consisted of four members only. This was doubled in the second, the number of members in that Council being eight, with a casting vote to the Governor. But this again is trebled in the present Couucil, the number of members being now raised to twenty-four, and the place of the Governor as president being supplied by a Speaker of their own selection. Airain, the* first Council was merely a Council of advice, and could not go against the will of the Governor under any circumstances. The second Council, on the contrary, might deliberate and vote against the Government, whenever auy of its members thought fit, but they were always liable to be swamped by the Governor's casting: vote. But two-thirds of the present Couucil being the representatives of the people, they are amenable to their constituents for their votes, and are less liable to be swayed by Government influences. Still, there is the drawback of the Governor's eight nominees, and the chance of the popular will being negatived by a defection of auy four or five only of the people's representatives from the popular side.