NELSON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 198, 23 September 1854, Page 3

NELSON.

The intelligence received this week from Melbourne leads us to believe that a crisis is approaching in. the affairs of Victoria, and that, nolvviihstsiniiiiio- its golden soil, the colony has a trying' ordeal id pass through. For several months tin? supply of gold has kept no pace with the is!'.-reusing number of persons engaged in the s.'iudi for it, and many thousands of the diggers .->;■•..' s,>Ul not to be paying their expenses,

while the gainings of a very large number are almost too insignificant to be mentioned. The natural effect of this is, that labour is thrown back into its old channels, and some of these are threatened with chokin"-. If the accounts we have received of the present condition of Melbourne are to be relied upon, it would seem that labour is walking the streets, eagerly seeking for employment, and so scarce has this become that the high rates of wages formerly paid have given way, and workmen of all kinds are now glad to conform to the necessities of the altered state of affairs. Assuming that these statements are true, it might be worth while for our Government to try, what we believe is now being attempted by the Government of Van Dieman's Land, by offering a free passage here, to induce some of the men who are wanting employment, to remove to this colony, where the great want is the want of labour. As a rule, it is not amongst the unemployed in cities that we should seek for hands to enable settlers in a country like this to carry forward their operations, but a judicious agent might sift and throw aside the chaff, of which doubtless some would offer, and might be able to send us a useful class of mechanics, if not of men accustomed to agricultural employment. The matter is worth considering, and we should jilike to hear that the Government had taken the subject up. — Nehon Examiner. The Russian plan of campaign is stated to be to get possession of three lines of operation leading to the Balkan, but the belief is they will utterly fail, and that Austria will not consent to Russia crossing the Balkan, which her possession of Transylvania will enable Austria to prevent. A great change in the feeling of Austria and Prussia towards the belligerent parties appears to have taken place. Prussia has become more and more Russian in its sympathies, while Austria has evinced an evident leaning towards the western powers. There had been feelers thrown out by Prussia of a settlement, on the basis of the state of things before the war commenced, but this was met with the remark, that before any proposals for an arrangement could be listened to many things had to be disposed of, and one of the first was indemnification to those who have suffered since the breaking out of the war. The object of the western powers is evidently not only to resist the encroachments of Russia on the Ottoman empire, but also to prevent those fattempts being made hereafter, and to reduce the power of Russia within such limits that it shall no longer be a source of fear to the rest of Europe.— lbid.