COLONIAL NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 91, 2 October 1852, Page 9

COLONIAL NEWS.

VICTORIA. Advices have been received to the 2nd Sept. Large quantities of Specie having been received by the recent arrivals, Gold had advanced to 675. 6d. per ounce. A new Customs' Duties Bill has been passed by the Victoria Legislature, similar in principle to that lately passed by the Legislature at Sydney, and duties have been imposed only on a few articles of general consumption. The following is the new Tariff, as published by the Argus : — s. d. Coffee, per cwt 10 0 Spirits (proof), per gal 7 0 Cordials, Liqueurs, &c, the strength of which cannot be ascertained, per gal 7 0 Spirits, perfumed, per gal 7 0 Tea, per 1b 0 3 Tobacco, Cigars,'& Snuff, per lb. 2. 0 Wine, per gal 1 0 All other Goods, Wares, and Merchandise, free. The Sydney Morning Herald publishes the following letter from a Correspondent at Melbourne :— Melbourne is becoming more crowded every day. Crowds upon crowds are landed daily at the wharfs. Every steamer from Launceston and Sydney is crammed, and every vessel that enters the harbour has the full complement of passengers. We have had an arrival this week from California direct, and one from Liverpool, with four hundred people on board. The wet weather has not at all improved the appearance of Melbourne, nor the health of its inhabitants. Since my return I have perambulated the city and its environs pretty much ; and let me assure you that my first impressions of the absolute necessity which exists for some responsible body taking active steps for its sanitary reformation, were rather under than over the mark. This may not just force itself prominently before the eye of the casual observer who confines himself to-the few principal streets ; butlet him. diverge into any of the by-lanes which abound here; let him go into any of the second-rate streets—where the mills and warehouses of the merchants are, —and if he be not forcibly impressed with the importance of some steps being taken, then all I can say is, that his sense of smell and sight must be very poor, indeed. I had occasion the other evening to go into one of these places, and I assure you, were I actuary to an Insurance Company, I should require 25 per cent, additional premium on the life that was occasionally risked on such voyages of exploration. And. oh, what a state of filth and squalor presents itself when you enter one of those places of abode. Dirt, bare, and open ; the boards scarcely forming a barrier against the admission of the light of heaven, and the shingles put on in general as if the roof was intended fora shower-bath in wet weather. Oh, for a Lord Ashley here,: —for some person with influence enough to induce the Government of this place to do something to promote the health of its inhabitants and to take the matter up, for here it is no libel on the people —both " gentle and simple/—to call them the " great unwashed."

A day amongst the auctioneers here would repay the trouble, were it only for the purpose of seeing how they manage things, and also the prices, if one were commercially inclined. I strolled into Mr. Tennent's land sale a few days since, when Government had put up for sale twenty-five acres of building ground in the vicinity, of the Botanic Gardens. Well, "I had heard of land-sharks, and had seen a sealawyer, but never in all my life before had I seen men so voracious after land. There they weie a bidding, and a bidding for such little bits—one rood each allotment—just as if there was not another acre in all Australia. " I reckon," as friend Slick would say, " that the Government must have made a tidy thing on't," £48,645 for twenty-five acres of land, or £1900 and odd pounds per acre. Well that ain't bad, and that too in a colony where it is said that squatters get 80,000 acres or so just for a trifle. Well, let me tell you that Melbourne is land mad just now: go where you will, —turn which way you may,—and two announcements stare you in the face, "gold bought and " land sold." Bobberies continue as rife as ever, notwithstanding that our judges give 10 years to every ruffian convicted ; and to gives the juries em-

pannelled here justice, they do not take long to do that same for them, as Paddy would jest. Several gold brokers have been knocked down in broad daylight and robbed in the street on their way to the banks, and yet the ruffians have escaped. On Monday, an attempt was made to rob and murder a Mr. Marks in his own office, but fortunately it proved unsuccessful. Five fellows walked deliberately into his own office and, placing a 'revolver at his head, told him to " fork out all he had in the place." They were as I said, frustrated by the cries of Mr. M., after they had cut open his skull with the butt end of a pistol, and three of the gang have since been apprehended. A Mr. Tooall, also had the civilities of exchanging a couple of shots with a fellow in Elizabethstreet in the open day, on Saturday last, the aforesaid Mr. Tooall having been " bailed up" the night previously. This may give you some idea of how things are managed here, but the reality you will never know till you come and see for yourself.

Melbourne is a fine place—mud and dust and dust and mud, beef and % mutton and mutton and beef the year round, with the pleasant anticipation of getting your brains blown out as soon as you become " worth powder and shot" as the lawyer hath it.

SOUTH AUSTEALIA. We have received files of Adelaide papers to the 27th August. Considerable anxiety is felt in reference to getting in the harvest in South Australia in consequence of the want of labour. The crops are represented as most abundant, but the prospect of their being secured is but little. It is suggested that the farmers should combine, and have a number of Ridley's reaping machines constructed for the purpose. The escort from Mount Alexander arrived at Adelaide on the 12th, with 24,000 ounces of gold. A meeting of the Executive Council was held to discuss the policy of issuing the ingots of the Assay Office in a convenient form for general currency. It was determined that no steps should be taken towards the establishment of a Mint, it being thought that the issues of the Bank would be quite equal to the commercial requirements for some time to come. The amount of gold dust shipped from Adelaide for England up to the 12th ultimo, was 88,782 ounces, worth £305,345. The total value of gold deposited at the Assay Office since its establishment up to the same date was £903,838 19s. sd. A Gold field has been discovered on the river Onkaparinga ; several dishes of earth were washed in the presence of the Colonial Secretary and about 200 other persons, gold being found in all, including some nuggets several pennyweights each. VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. We have Tasmanian papers to the 21st ult. The South Tasmanian Council of the League, on the 17th August, addressed a protest against the introduction of the prisoners by the " Lord Dalhousie," as a breach of faith by the Crown, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The Courier of the 21st August, with reference to the " Franklin Fund," says—" We have great pleasure in noticing that the subscription list in aid of Captain Beatson's Expedition, which has proceeded in search of Sir John Franklin and his gallant companions, is so well supported. It amounts already to upwards of £1300, and will be a noble tribute of affectionate regard from the colonists of Tasmania to their late Governor, and an. additional evidence (if indeed such were wanting) of their extensive liberality on all occasions in which their sympathies are enlisted. The list is so far from beingcomplete, as, owing to the heavy floods in the country, many of the District Committees have been unable to communicate ; but we have been requested to state that the additional subscriptions will be printed afterwards. On the Ist of September the lists will be finally closed.