COLONIAL NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 112, 26 February 1853, Page 5

COLONIAL NEWS.

NEW SOUTH WALES

(From the Melbourne Express)

Stdnet, January s.—ln political circles in Sydney one of the chief topics of discussion is the probable term of Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe's remaining in office. His having; given his assent to the ' Convicts' Prevention Bill' has excited the utmost surprise in the minds of the legal and official authorities here. A civil officer of rank, upon reading the draft of the Bill previous to its passing, exclaimed, in the library of the Australian Club, ' Well, if La Trobe gives the Royal Assent to so illegal, unconstitutional, and ill-advised a measure, I would not give sixpence for his three months' tenure of office.' That the influx of Vandemonian expirees, and their infamous conduct when wandering on the shores of Victoria, were powerful incentives to the local government to adopt strenuous measures to restrain so threatening an evil, every one here allows; but that the authorities of Victoria have far outstepped the powers entrusted to them by the Constitutional Act, and that JVIr. La Trobe has been guilty of a serious infringement of the prerogative of the Crown, are the opinions of the best informed and most moderate people here. It seems to be a very general impression, that so soon as the pressure of official business in Sydney (consequent upon the very protracted sittings of the Legislative Council) will allow, the GovernorGeneral will proceed to Melbourne, and supersede Mr. La Trobe until the pleasure of her Majesty be made known. Of course I merely state this as a rumour.

Turning from politics to police matters, I have to state a strange occurrence, which will doubtlessly interest many of your Melbourne readers. By the ?' Waratah," came a passenger named George Hanslip. He had three carpet bags in his possession ; and upon landinghhre r desired to be driven to the Adelphi Hotel, Yorkstreet. Having ordered a bedroom, and partaken of some refreshment at the bar, he carried the three bags up stairs^to his room, and shortly afterwards went out. He returned in a short time, and went back to his room, whence he quickly came down, declaring that 1,400

ounces of gold bad been stolen from one of his carpet bags. The police were called in, and strict inquiries were made, and the upshot of the affair was this. The police authorities inquired, how Mr. Hanslip could have carried, at once, three bags up stairs, said to contain upwards of a hundredweight of gold ? and, secondly, how he could have been so excessively simple (supposing he had so deposited a hundredweight of gold in a strange room, in a strange public-house) as to have left it there 3 whilst (as he alleges) he went out to find a customer for it ? These questions Mr. Hanslip could not answer; but he issued a pompous handbill, offering a reward of £1,000 to any person who should reveal the mystery by which his 1,400 ounces had been abstracted from his carpet bag, ' communications to be addressed to George Hanslip, Esquire, at the Adelphi Hotel.' That he has not thought it politic to await any of these communications, but has thought it better to return to Melbourne by the " Waratah," which sails this afternoon, —are matters which may be better explained by the police authorities than by your correspondent. The " Cleopatra" arrived yesterday. You will see by the accompanying paragraph from the Sydney Herald, that there is every probability of her being immediately placed on the line between Sydney and Panama:— "There is one point in connection with the X Cleopatra's" arrival here, to which it will he our duty to refer more in detail when the arrangement of which we are about to speak is more fully matured. We understand that, alreadj*, it is contemplated by certain of our merchants to make an offer to her owners (a representative of whom has arrived by her), with the view of placing her immediately on the line between Sydney and Panama, and so to be first in the field'which America has, in the honourable spirit of maritime and commercial rivalry, announced hei intention to enter; and which has also attracted the attention of a wealthy London company, whose arrangements were promised to be complete in the early part of the present year. There is now every prospect of Sydney being the first in the field." Gold may be quoted at from £3 10s. 6d. to £3 12s.

The Australtas- Steameb.—The A.R.M.S. N. Cos. Steam-ship Australian, which left Sydney on the 20th September last, for England, with the first return mails under the Company's contract, arrived on the morning of the 11th of November, at the Mauritius! A letter from one of the passengers, Mr.Kenny,says, "After leaving Adelaide, Captain Hoseason expected, as did every one, to catch the S.E. trades in latitude 26 to 28 degrees, but we had to come down as low as 20 degrees, and we ran down parallel to this place." The old cause—want of coals —forced the Australian into Port Louis, and, by a fortunate chance, she obtained sufficient fuel to enable her to steam to the Cape. She had experienced very unfavourable winds, with the intermission of some two or three days, during the whole voyage. " From Sydto London, via Mauritius, by steam !" says Mr. Kenny, with a quaint effort at composure, for which he deserves to be complimented, "rather rich, certainly!" He adds, " for my part, I little expect to make the passage in fewer than 105 days." The Australian was announced to leave at 5 o'clock, p.m., on the 12th. One of the passengers was robbed at the Mauritius of £900 worth of gold dust.— Empire. Manila.—The Sydney Morning Herald reports a disasterous earthquake at Manila. A great concourse of people is said to have taken refuge in the Cathedral, the towers of which fell in upon them and destroyed Imany lives. The shock continued at intervals for a fortnight, from the 16th to the 23rd September. The Manila press speaks of the earthquake as the most severe that has been felt there since the year 1(545. Late advices state that the danger had past, and that the confidence of the people had been restored.

VICTORIA

We have advices from Melbourne to the 20th January. A private letter says:—

" The site of the town of Melbourne has been "most injudiciously chosen for the capital of Victoria. Its only advantage is that of having fresh water above the falls of tfie Yarra. Had they placed the capital at William's Town, the •'water from the Yarra could have been taken there in pipes for twenty or thirty thousand pounds, and then it could have been laid on to every man's house, while the shipping might

have wharves thrown out, their cargoes landed there, and the water taken in from pipes, as it is in Sydney. In other respects Melbourne appears well laid out, with ample streets running parallel with the Yarra. The natural formation of the land, too, appears well suited for the construction of a handsome town, but the soil on which it is built is so friable and subtle that the slightest wind creates a volume of dust.

" The price of land in Melbourne and its suburbs is greater than in any other part of the world. Indeed, there appears no limit to the extravagant opinion which both sellers and purchasers entertain of this kind of property ; on the other hand all labour is absurdly high, living and lodging equally so, and rents are high beyond example. People do not seem to value money. You meet a man in the street who a few years since bad nothing at all, and he tells you he has a thousand a-year of rents, and is making fire thousand a-year by his business. You look him in the face to see if he is in earnest, and he laughs at your credulity. You pass on and you hear the same story from the merchant, the broker and the lawyer. The excitement is now so great that men do not appear to have time to reflect whether this.state of things can last, and this sentiment not only pervades the men of business, but the Government and the Legislature appear alike seized with it. They pass items in the estimates of twenty and forty-thousand each, with a cool indifference to expenditure, as though their revenue were deep beyond exhaustion. They never dream of a check. If we examine, there is nothing wonderful in this state of feeling, although its reaction must cut deeply and severely. The mere fact of ten millions of gold being raised in one year, diffused among a limited population such as this, could hardly have any other effect. Added to this the unusual influx of population, increasing not only the wealth of the place, but creating an overwhelming demand for all consumable articles, and of all household property. There is no parallel in the sudden rise and prosperity of this place in the whole history of the world. May it continue so."

There is a magnificent fleet of ships lying here at this moment, some of them the finest of England's mercantile navy. Many are unable to move from the want of hands, while others are detained by the difficulties of discharging and taking in cargoes. No day passes without the arrival of several ships, and the population must, from that source, be daily increasing in an enormous ratio.

The following is a statistical account of the vessels that were lying at anchor in Hobson's Bay, on the 17th of January, viz.:—s9 ships, 81 barques, 2 steamers, 29 brigs, and 8 schooners, being 179 in all, and representing something like 100,000 tons of shipping. This does not include the vessels that were at anchor in the river.

The Herald gives the following description of a part of the town called, from the miscellaneous articles exposed for sale, " Rag Fair:"—

" Among the outward and visible signs of our present strange social condition, one of the most conspicuous—one which earliest strikes the eye of a new arrival when issuing in a passion from Cole's Wharf, he succeeds in smoothing down to a temper for observation, feelings sorely ruffled by the half-crowns he has had to pay on account of his boxes —consists in that heterogeneous collection of persons and things composing Rag Fair.

" Rag Fair, like all human institutions, however perfect at first, has not been exempt from corrupting influences, and a Melbourne antiquary, looking back through a long vista of time, to that remote epoch when some 6 months ago Rag Fair sprang into existence, is obliged to admit that the primitive innocence and simplicity which then characterised it, no longer reign supreme. To the wide open eyes of neuchummism, however, this is not apparent, and it must be confessed that to such eyes the first, aspect of Rag Fair is not very cheering, but on the contrary, rather calculated to dispel all Dick Whittington notions of this gold abounding land. The theory of Rag Fair, as we all know, is that immigrants short of the necessary capital to begin digging with, or, as certain advertisers obliquely phrase it, " possessed of superfluous wearing apparel, Sec." repair thither and spread out these superfluities for sale. Though Rag Fair is now in some respects a mockery and a delusion, its old outward character is still scrupulously maintained, and our

friend from Cole's Wharf, who of course is rather on the watch for symptoms of how immigrants thrive, is supposed to look somewhat blank at what he sees.

" He sees men and women standing passively in the sun, with their real aud simulated seachests about them—books and old clothes are spread upon the ground—warranted Joe Mantons, direct from Birmingham, are being cognoscenti? snapped to show their uitra genuineness. Engravings of all kinds, from Landseer's best to the well-known black framed representation of a blue sailor boy returning to the pink girl he left behind him, are conspicuously displayed in the inverted lids of trunks. Here a speculator, who, distrustful of bank bills, has brought out his capital in the shape of a box of boots, is offering up a complete series of alarming sacrifices the whole day through— there the " Original Phoenix aerated mineral water fountain" supplies lemonade, said to possess extraordinary merit. Jn some places Tenders are seen offering some solitary article— a gun, a book, a watch, or a pair of boots—and with the sale of this their business opens and concludes. Even Jean Paul's merchant, who went to market to dispose of a solitary egg might here effect a sale without sustaining any. humiliating rebuffs. " The tout ensemble of Rag Fair, as we said, is certainly not very encouraging to the newly arrived immigrant, because it implies that in the earlier stages of the Gold Digger's career, at all events, decided cases of " impecuniosity" do occur, and compel the sale of little household chattels rarely parted with except from necessity —because it shows that the semi-mendicant apple-stall-form of existence is not altogether discarded here, and that the wants of our society have created in Rag Fair a sort of substitute for that very useful, very übiquitous, but not very popular friend in.need, " my uncle," in England. " Although our friend from Cole's Wharf may turn from Rag Fair into Elizabeth-street with somewhat saddened feelings, with his air-bright castles looking much more remote and unstable than they did a few hours ago, and though he may be so occupied -with his reflections as hardly ever to notice that stupendous monument of engineering skill the Corporation Waterworks, we are still able to regard the booth]ess fair with comparatively little regret. We know that the troubles to which immigrants are exposed, need be but temporary, and we are not oppressed with that terrible feeling which spectacles of squalor and poverty in older countries produce from the knowledge that there, misery once admitted, generally become a life-long guest—we know that the sort of poverty, which Rag Fair makes known to us is entirely relieved of that hopeless character, which is the most distressing attribute of English and Irish destitution—we know that those who are selling their clothes and books to-day to purchase a digger's outfit, may within a month be men of substance, or, at the worst, can be at no loss for a good livelihood and fair wages."

TASMANIA

Party spirit runs very high in Tasmania on the Convict question, owing to the recent act of the Victoria Legislature forbidding the entrance into that Province of Expirees. The indignation is great, and for the moment it would seem tliat the pro-transportation party is in the ascendant. This feeling, however, does not prevail in the Legislature ■ which still protests against a system which deluges the Island with the rascality of the United Kingdom. When in committee on the estimates, on coming to tie vote of £52,000 for police and gaols, Mr. Uox moved an amendment, with a view to voting one-thirteenth part only. A discussion followed, and the amendment was lost by a majority of seven. The salaries, allowances, contingencies, &c, under this head were then voted for three months ending 31st March, at the rates proposed in the estimates. For a health officer at George Town, £75 were voted. The salary of the Speaker was fixed at £800*. The Salary of the Chairman of Committees was fixed at £300 ; Clerk of the Council, £500 ; Sergeant-at-Arms, £200. The sums of £3,000 for the extension and repairs of the wharves at Hobart Town ; £2,500 for the new public offices, and £1500 for the port officer's department and water police at Launceston'; as also £5000 towards defraying the expenses of erecting a new government house in the domain, were all granted, with the condition attached

that no part of the money should be expended in the employment of convicts. The Council was prorogued by the Lieut. Governor to the Bth March next. His Excellency's speech contains nothing of importance ; he l'egrets that the Council has abolished that most useful institution, the Normal school, and considers that if the resolutions concerning the police expenses should ultimately be carried out, that much injury would accrue to the colony.