COLONIAL NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 79, 10 July 1852, Page 6

COLONIAL NEWS.

VICTORIA,

We have Port Philip papers to the 25th of May.

Ihe Mount Alexander Escort arrived at Melbourne on the 25th, with the prodigious amount of 30,000 ounces. The Escort started from the Mount with 37,000 ounces, hut was Compelled to leave 7000 ounces, on the road as the vehicle was unable to convey the whole amount.

Heavy floods had taken place, attended with much destruction of property and loss of life. At Geelong the quantity of rain which had fallen was tremendous. The river Barwon was flooded to a prodigious extent; the bridge at bouth Geelong, a very strong structure, was swept away. Several families were rescued by boats from off the roofs of their houses who would otherwise have perished. The flood is spoken of as the severest which has been experienced at Geelong.

It is our melancholy duty to record the loss of three lives at the Werriby, besides leavine tne relatives of the deceased and their friends in a fearful state of excitement respecting the lives of two others, both ladies. The facfs are these :--On Saturday night the heavy rain so suddenly and seriously swelled the Werribv that the house of Mr. Wedge, sen., was swept away from the banks of that stream, almost without.warning, and before any succour could be obtained, and with it Mr. and Mr. Wed^e sen., and a lady. There were also in the house at the time two other ladies of whom nothing has been heard. To add to this sad tale We have to say that Mr. Pdchard Wedge has either been so seriously injured in an attempt to save his relatives or affected at.the sudden loss, as A°ln« c r'f/ n ra VG7 dan S e ™s condition. Along the whole lme of road to the Dismiss many drays have been deserted by their driveV and the bullocks turned adrift* of? some of these, and of others hopelessly bogged, the loading has been sold at a ruinous sacrifice for what it would fetch, and a considerable quan-

tity of flour changed hands at only £l the bag, and other goods at a proportionately low rate ; 701. and 801. per ton is asked for loading to Forest Creek, and nothing less than 90/. to Bendigo.—Argus, May 25.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA,

The overland escort arrived in Adelaide on the 4tli of May, with 19,235 ounces of Mount Alexander gold—in value (by Adelaide reckoning) nearly £70,000 sterling. The Times says: —" If the Adelaide diggers could only have seen the streets of Adelaide yesterday, it would have cheered them in their toils. From an early hour the streets were crowded with their wives and daughters, and a goodly sprinkling of the other sex, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Escort, of which previous intelligence had been received, but which did not take place until three o'clock. At that time the anxious but joyous crowd did not number less than from 9,000 to 10,000 souls. The mail delivered, and the gold deposited in the Treasury vault, Messrs. Tolmer and Chambers, followed by an immense concourse of people, proceeded down Ring William-street, when they were loudly cheered, until they came opposite the Bank of Australasia, when the accompanying band struck up " Drive the vagabonds out of the Town," and the cheers were suddenly exchanged for groans. They proceeded next to the -Union Bank and the Bank of South Australia, where they gave three hearty cheers for each of those establishments. The whole was wound up by their proceeding to Government House, where they were cordially received. We hardly know how to express ourselves in terms of sufficient commendation, either with regard to the energy and untiring perseverance of our fellow-colonists at ftlount Alexander, or to the immense benefit their protracteg and self-denying labours have conferred on the colony. Here we have £70,000 added to its capital in a single day, and that the result of their hard earnings, and to be disbursed in providing for themselves and their families. When has anything like this ever occurred in the history of the colony before ? And who could have expected such a change as this, when, in the opening of the year, we were all deploring the inevitable ruin of the colony, as consequent upon its desertion by three fourths of the male population ? What the Governor should do now, is to appoint (what we recommended upwards of two months ago) a Resident Commissioner at the Diggings; and instead of having a monthly escort, turn it into a bi-monthly one at once. For this, there is every encouragement in our correspondent's letter."

The following announcement appears in the Times of the same date:—

" Last Evening a party organised for the purpose started on their six week's trip, to examine the various auriferous districts of the province. They are ten in number and evidently of the right sort, being old South Australians and successful diggers at Mount Alexander. They intend communicating weekly with J. B. Neales, Esq., the honorary treasurer, who will, we presume, keep the subscribers fully informed of the progress of this very desirable undertaking. Should the funds be increased it is intended to lengthen the time of search, and increase the strength of the party." _ Gold Assay Office.—The following quantities of gold have been deposited since our previous summary:— Ozs. dwts. grs. April 27 8018 8 2 " 30 9141 15 18 Total 17,160 3 20 which, at £3 11s. per oz. amounts to £60,918 13 8 and adding the total of previous deposits, viz £230,21113 6 gives a present total of £291,130 7 2 Assay Office.—The deposits on the 4th of May amounted to 5751 ozs. 17 dwts. 7 grs.