VICTORIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 965, 8 February 1862, Page 4

VICTORIA.

[from the correspondent of the ' otago ruit.y TIMES.'] , Melbourne, Thursday, Jan. 24. Thursday last was a day of disappointment, as it rained too heavily for the great match between England and Australia to come off, and most unwillingly a postponement was the result. It cleared up on Thursday afternoon, and "Friday was a day delightfully cool and pleasant, and the mateli came off. The Eli yen won the toss, and sent in their opponents to the wickets. The United Elevens, the pick of Victoria and New South Wales' cricketers, made a large score, and were not put out until they had made 153. 'The. Eleven "then essayed their skill, hut either had not their usuaMnck, or were playing against a superior team. In compliment to the i United Colonies, the English Captain took the latter view of the case, and at luncheon, in replying to the toast of his health, declared he had never met a hetter twenty-two anywhere, not even in England, Be that as it may, on Friday the All England had five wickets down for fifty runs. Of course this led to excitement, and large and small bets were made that the "Britishers " would get, what they had never been before, licked out of their own country. Some ill-natured people said it was only a "draw," as the attendance was very poor; nr.il there might be some truth in that, at all events it did get up a little excitement, and ten thousand people went on Saturday to see the eleven get what they said they would, and did give us single-handed —before our big brothers came to our assistance. The remaining wickets made a good stand on Saturday, and brought the score up to 110— thus leaving the United Colonies the victors so far as the first innings went. Our men went in again and made 145, but it was now getting late, and those who had whispered it was a "draw "of one kind were not far.wrong, for it was a " draw " as far as the game was concerned, for it was evident that the contest could not close that evening, and they hail made engagements to go to Geelcng on Monday, and the Sydney team had also to leave on the same day. Great "disappointment was, felt, as it would have been a great thing to have sent home by the mail that the renowned Eleven had met a defeat at the hands of twenty-two of Australia; arid this fact would have greatly impressed our friends at home that it must be a fine country this when we could produce such cricketers, and this little fact would have done as much as any two immigration lectures would have done. Well, the Eleven went to Geelong, and played twenty-two of that town and district, and beat them by a long chalk, as everybody expected. The Geelongese, however, made" a very fair stand, as the following scoring will show:— Geelong first innings ... ... „. 11l Ditto second innings ... so Total ... ... 191 All England first innings ... ... 128 Ditto second innings, with 9 wickets to spare ... ... ... ... 64 Total 192 That is to say they beat Geelong in one innings and one wicket. They are now ready to start for Sydney, and next week they will be busily engaged in playing the strength of that colony on their own ground. On Friday Mr. Haines brought down his builjret to the; House. It was rather a lame affair. The hon. member bad not thoroughly studied his sjibject, had not undergone enough ""cramming," ami made a most ridiculous display of -himself, so far as making a speech goes. To condense his scheme- it is an estimated'expenditure'of-£3,100.000, leaving odd figures out, and he finds the existing sources of revenue inadequate to raise this amount by £ 114,000, and this he therefore proposes to raise by extra taxation, according to the following scale:—ls additional on wine, 2s:a cwt. : on rice, 6d a bushel on malt, 3d a lb. on sheepwash tobacco, 10s a ewt. on dried fruits, 2d per lb. on hops, and a registration fee of 2d on every package of merchandise. As these duties are calculated to yield .£24,000 more than lie wants, he intends to take that amount off the gold export duty—reducing it to 2s. after the Ist of July. As compared with■ Verdon's scheme it is more simple, but has many "objections that Verdon's did not have. Verdon proposed about a similar amount of new taxation, and proposed to shift about^ £ 170,000 of present taxes from other articles which now produce that amount to the articles that enter our port. £96,000 of this amount was to be taken off the miners'gold and placed upon articles consumed by the general community. Verdon also proposed £50,000 more for roads ami bridges than Haines will find it convenient, to spend; and the deficit from 1861 of £120.000 was provided for ■ by ■ Verdon, whereas Haines allows it to stand over for a more convenient season. Besides Haines asks £50,000 more for the civil service than Verdon did; and altogether it does not appear that we have gained much by the change of Government so far as their financial policy is concerned. The pros of the colony is pretty evenly divided on themerits of the two budgets as compared with enfh other, and. the house by" a majority of seven has affirmed the principle of the!policy; the above now duties may therefore be considered as law. The Assembly gave the custom house officers power at once to levy the new duties next morning, "»l1 many a one repented he had "delayed till to-mor-row ' what he might have done the day previous. Numerous lamentations were made by parties who had hops, malt, rice, and preserves lying about the wharf uncleared. One firm had some malt lying a week at the Queen's wharf, and on coniinir to ele:ir it on Saturday morning found £150 to pay. " It* an ill wind that blows nobody good," and some of the merchant friends of the ministers who had a a wink of what was in the wind are said to have made a nice little thing out of " the revision of the tariff." Other parties who have been "let in" have some consolation in the hope that their friends will be in office next time. It is really too bad, however, that we should be extra taxed without getting «")' subtantial benefit—the extra taxation chiefly going into Mi<! pockts of the civil servants: two things not desirable in the present state of the colony. The House did not agree with the proposal of Mr. Hames to impose a registration fee on exports and

therefore proposes to adopt a tax on bank notes * -tend- He a' so ct>nsentet* t0 r«Jtluco the tax on !" for unmanufactured toba;:oo to Is. which will be i-Mit protection to manufacturers, and is another f.^f out of Verdon's budget, in fact, the policy of i < present minister of finance is almost identical • if thnt of his predecessor, and many consider they f.'vo therefore sufficient reason to complain of the \-<>n«l)lv having unfairly treated the ministry— driving them from office on account of IT \v flniincial sclieme, and yet afterwards endorsing ! ■idoptinjr it in all the leading particulars. The n',t marked similarity, also exists in the vogistraJi in'fee on imports on every "unit of entry." Of •oiirse. ll brick is a unit, and a horse is a unit, but •f would be absurd to charge 2d. for every brick ■iml -•'• for every uorse (uss or l«ule) and therefore !, , governor in Council brings out by royal .] ani iition a new description of units, and makes 'i do". pig. horse, &c, one unit, whilst it requires 050 bricks. 1000 shingles, half a ton of hay, flour, "iotntoes. &c., to make one unit. A horned cow is pne unit, but it takes five hundred horns according to proclamation to make the same amount. It will lie a most vexatious thing as everything not mentioned will come-under-the designation of a package and require a most expensive process of custom house clearing before you can relieve a small parcel consigned here of the twopence charged on it. A little incident transpired in the Assembly hist iiHit, which shows how needy some members are who are usually supposed to be well off. Mr. Sinclair put a question to the treasurer, and Mr. Iliiines replied that "Mr. Pyke had received an advance from the treasury of a portion of the money on the estimates as compensation to him for loss of office whilst an emigration agent." This has surprised a .rood many, that a gentleman formerly a minister jn'Veceipt of £1500 a year, should be so reduced ns to require in advance a portion of the small sum of £450 set down on the estimates, but not yet voted. Jt is believed that below a fair exterior there is a large amount of genteel poverty amongst many members who pass for well-off. A despatch has been received from Mr. Ilowitt the leader of the exploration party sent out to brings in the remains of Wills and Burke. He was at Pamamaroo Depot on the Darling, which point he expected to leave on the 7th January, and proceed liv way of Mount Murehison towards Poira Creek, whence he would have little difficulty in reaching Cooper's Creek. His party were in good health and excellent spirits, except the Sepoy, who had the misfortune to be bitten by a camel whilst in the act of cleaning it. This camel appears to have been si very vicious one, and it is now intended to leave him. as without him the party has a large carrying power, consisting of forty-fiv/5 horses and nine camels. A movement is on foot by Mr. Howitts' friends in town to get the Government to engage him on a more extensive exploring expedition, as so very little is known yet of the interior of the continent. A large fire has taken place at North Melbourne, fourteen houses burned, chiefly wooden cottages, between Coventry and Tyrone streets. They were insured. Another fire took place yesterday morning by which the large store of Messrs. Dove and Oswald, tallow chandlers and marine store merchants, was totally gutted. One of the partners, Captain Dove, lately visited Otago, and there disposed of the steamer Samson. The value of the stock is £ 15,000, which is covered by insurance. Some slight recognition of the services rendered by King, the explorer, has been made by the people of Castlemaine—the only place that has done anything beyond giving empty addresses. They invited him to a public dinner, and presented him with-'a-hand-some, gold watch and chain, of the value of £40. The Government have placed the sum of £3000 on the, estimates to purchase debentures, the interest to be paid yearly to Mr. King by way-of an annuity. This will amount to £180 per annum for life. The Aldinga arrived this morning.