VICTORIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1482, 12 September 1865, Page 3

VICTORIA.

(From (he Argus, Aug. 25.) His Excellency the Governor has given the Royal assent to the Post-office Law Amendment Bill, the Electoral Law Consolidation and Amendment Bill, and the Sandhurst and Inglewood Tramway Bill. The first-named measure provides for the establishment of post-offloo savings banks. Another series (the sixth) of agricultural areas was thrown open for selection and leasing, under the new Land Act, two days since. The total quantity of land embraced in the proclamation was about 500,000 acres. The placcs appointed - for making selections were Longwood, Heathcote, Ararat, Echuca, Sandhurst, Sole, Beech worth, Inglewood, Camperdown, Wangaratta, Chiltern, Avoca, Stawell, Hamilton, Bacchus Marsh, and Portland. A conversation on the subject of the ocean mail service took place in the Legislative Assembly a few weeks ago. The Chief Secretary stated, in reply to Mr. Levey, that the Imperial Government had accepted unconditionally—on behalf of the colonics of Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania—the tender of the Peninsular and Oriental Company for a monthly service. With regard to a fortnightly or twice a month service (added Mr. M the Victorian Government were not in a position to accept either of those services. They were very anxious to have a fortnightly mail service, but, considering the manner in which the service had been conducted during the past six or eight months, they did not feel justified in entering into any further arrangement with the Peninsular and Oriential Company until they had an assurance that the service would be carried out more satisfactorily in future. Moreover, unless experience proved that a better class of boats were employed in the conveyance of the mails than had hitherto been employed, and unless the service was altogether conducted in a more regular and better way in the future than it had been in the past, the Victorian Government would give notice to the Imperial Government that at the expiration of two years the present contract should cease, as far as this colony was concerned. Mr. W. M. K. Vale has resigned his seat as one of the members for Ballarat West in the Legislative Assembly. The competitions necessary for the selection of the " ten" to represent Victoria in the approaching Intercolonial Rifle Match are now taking place. Major-General Chute, on relinquishing the command of the military forces in Australia.

las paid a high compliment to the volun

teers of Victoria. A brigade order, issued on the 19th inst., states:—"The MajorGeneral considers that it would bean injustice to the local forces of this colony, were he, on the eve of his departure, to omit

expressing his high opinion of the efficiency, zeal, and ability invariably exhibited by them in the performance of their respective duties. The satisfaction he has always had in commanding them on various occasions on parade will ever be remembered by him with sincere pleasure." There was a battalion parade of the Melbourne and suburban volunteers by moonlight on Thursday, the 10th inst. About 800 men turned out on the occasion. The new orderly room of the Metroplitan Artillery in William street, was opened on the 22nd inst. The Volunteer Office has been removed from Bourke street, west to 45 Stephen street. The following appointments have been gazetted ; —Robert Wallace, Esq., to be lieutenant - colonel and staff - officer, North-

Western district; James Robert Scott, Esq., to be captain and to serve on the general staff, vice Captain Mathew Hervey, resigned ; John William Hadden, Esq., M.D., to be assistant-surgeon in the Metropolitan Troop of the Prince of Wales V.V. Light Horse.

Mr. William Fraser, one of the members for Creswick in the Legislative Assembly, tumbled out of a boat, and narrowly escaped drowning in Hobson Bay, on the 11th inst.

The annual municipal elections took place on Thursday, August 10th, and passed off quietly.

The annual fees which the Government propose to attach to licences to use auriferous

land for residence or cultivation, under the 42 nd section of the new Land Act, are—for a block of less than ten acres, £2 10s; for a block of not less than ten acres nor more than

twenty acres, £4. The regulations uuder which the licences are to be granted will not be published until the board appointed to visit the various goldfields, to inquire into

the bona fides of the applications already made, shall have submitted their report. Castlemaine and Clunes have already been visited.

A specimen of the short sun-fish (Orthogoriscus mola) was found, a fortnight ago, on the mud-flats at the mouth of the Yarra. The original weight of the creature is estimated at about half a ton. Porpoises in large numbers have recently visited Hobson's Bay, and several whales have been seen in Portland harbour.

The annual exhibition of the Victorian Poultry Society was held on the 3rd, 4th, and sth inst., at St. George's Hall, There was a larger number of exhibits than on any previous occasion.

The tunnels beneath the city approach to Prince's Bridge—necessary to connect the

lines of the Hobson's Bay and Suburban Railway Companies, which have been amalgamated by Act of Parliament—are now in course of formation. Each tunnel will be constructed of blue ashlar stone, will be ninety-nine feet long and twenty-six feet wide, and will have two lines of rails. This arrangement will allow of the expansion of the approach to Prince's Bridge to double its present width, and place it in a direct line from Swanston street. The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the tunnels was performed on the 10th inst., by Mr. Andrew Sutherland, the chairman of the united company. A permanent fine arts gallery has been formed in Collins street east. The promoter, Mr. J. W. Hines, proposes to keep the place constantly open for the exhibition (expressly for sale) of pictures by colonial artists. The Government are about to expend £3,500 in the erection of a post-office sayings bank, telegraph-office, and mechanics' institute, for the district of Collingwood. The building society movement is in great favour here just now. Several new associations have been established recently, and with every prospect of success. A new compound for blasting purposes has been patented by Mr. Pedio Nisser, who claims for his invention that the article can be manufactured at a price below that at which gunpowder can be imported, that its explosive power is from twenty to thirty per cent, greater, and that explosion is unaccompanied by the dense smoke produced by powder. Public trials of the compound have been made at the Maidstone quarries, near Kootscray. . The annual meeting of the Society for Church of England Missions to the _ Aborigines was held on the ICth inst., in St, Paul's school-room. His Excellency the Governor presided. The report submitted on the occasion stated that the society's mission stations are at Yelta (on the Murray), on the Darling, at Lake Tyers (Gipps Land), and at VVarrnambool; the last-named having been established within the past year. Tho creation of a second 1 ffisbytenan Church at St. Kilda is contemplated. The Hev. J. P. Sunderland has been appointed agent in Australia for the London Missionary Society, and has been compelled in consequence, to relinquish the charge of the Congregational Church at Richmond, over which he has presided for nine years. Mr. Sunderland took leave of the congregation on the Bth inst., when he was presented with addresses and a purse of 100 sovereigns. A gold watch and chain were at the same time presented to his wife. The City Council have adopted a by-law which pro-ides "that any person who shall drive any vehicle, or ride any horse, at other than a walking pace across the intersection nf anv of the streets of tne city, or along or Across Princes'a bridge, shall for every such offence forfeit, or pay upon conviction, a penalty not exceeding £B» George Frederick Lewis, son of Mr. George Trf.wis chemist, of Collins street, committed suicide on Friday, the 18th inst., by taking prussic acid. The verdict of the jury was to the effect that the deceased poisoned himself while in a state of temporary insanity from ° V At the sittings of the Supreme

Court, on the 15th inst., a cabman, named James Breeze, was sentenced to seven years' hard labour, for throwing vitriol over the faco of one Ann Pickering, aged twenty-five. The poor young woman is sadly disfigured, and has lost the sight of one eye. Among the passengers by the ship Dover Castle, which arrived h«re from England early this month, was a man named John Thomas Knight, who, immediately on reaching port, was arrested on a charge of embezzling moneys belonging to Messrs. Moore and Brown, of London. The warrant for the arrest was brought out by a constable named John Moon, in the steamship London, which left England three weeks after the departure of the Dover Castle, but anticipated her arrival here by several days. The prisoner occupied a berth in the second cabin, which he had taken in the name of Franklin. He had as a travelling companion a woman named Langford, in whose possession 100 English sovereigns were found. These were'handed over to the police. Knight will be taken back to England, in the custody of Moon, by the London, which is advertised to leave Melbourne on the 6th September. J. B. Philp, a lithographer in the Crown Lands Office, has absconded, with moneys to the amount of £200 belonging to the St. Kilda Penny Savings Bank, and £70 belonging to the committee of some Civil Service Athletic Sports, got up in aid of the Leichardt Search Fund. He left the colony by the Blackwall clipper ship Holmsdale. One of the most important cases heard at the recent civil sittings of the Supreme Court was the action of Kitto v. The Queen, which was brought to recover £75,000, claimed as I one-third of the amount realised by the Department of Trade and Customs since the 7th Sept., 1863, in respect of penalties and forfeitures of Chinese goods ex the ships Jack Frost, Westminister, Kingfisher, Tchernaya, and another, such seizures and forfeitures having been made upon the information of the petitioner. The respondent's pleas were that no penalties had been recovered, that petitioner was not the informer, and never indebted. The trial lasted two days, and ended in a compromise between the parties, after the jury had retired. Petitioner being apprehensive that, though he got damages, the verdict would afterwards be set aside upon a law point, consented to accept £1700, all questions raised on the other side being waived. The premises of Messrs. Finlay and Co. J drapers, Heathcote, were destroyed by fire on ] the Ist instant. The damage is estimated at f £3500, of which £2000 is covered by insurance. The Government have offered a reward of £200 (and free pardon to an accomplice) for such information as shall lead to the conviction of the person or persons guilty of the murder of Henry Junod, vine-dresser, on the 3rd July last, at Sunbury. Five persons are in custody on suspicion. Two murders were perpetrated on Aug. 14, at Yackandandah. In the one case a woman named Selina Bagster was the victim. She was killed by her paramour striking her on the head with a shovel. In the other case, Mr. Kennedy, of the National Hotel, Rowdyfiat, was stabbed by a miner, whom lie had expelled from the house. The unfortunate I man died within a few hours afterwards. |

Wood's Point has been created a borough, and is now governed by a mayor and corporation.

A young kangaroo, perfectly white, was caught near Yandoit early this month. Wild rabbits promise to become an important article of food in this colony. Between 6,000 and 7,000 have been sent to market by Mr. T. Austin, of Barwon Park, near Geelong, since the commencement of the present year.

Mr. Robert Strickland, one of the members for Sandhurst in the last Parliament, has been presented by his admirers with a purse of 150 sovereigns.

An acclimatisation society has been formed in Gipps Land, as a branch of the parent society in Melbourne.

Sale (Gipps Land) and Melbourne have been in daily postal communication since the Ist iust. The contract time is thirty-six hours, and the mails have been carried through within that time, although the bridges on the line ot road have been washed away by floods.

A deputation from the Albury and Wagga Waega districts of New South Wales waited upon the Minister of Customs a few weeks ago, for the purpose of soliciting the remission of the Customs duties on wine, tobacco, and other produce of those districts imported into "Victoria. Mr. Francis expressed himself favourable to the proposition, and promised to recommend the matter to the consideration of the Government, provided the New South Wales Government would exhibit reciprocity, and allow articles produced in Victoria to cross the Murray duty free. The residents of the districts represented intend to urge the matter upon the serious attention of the Sydney Government, and, in the event of their appeal being disregarded, to agitate for annexation to Victoria. I

The Riverine Council have resolved upon sending their president, Mr. G. P. Desailly, to England, to support the Riverine petition.

The Murray river trade is rapidly increasing. It is estimated that the expenditure in the construction of boats for the trade at Echuca since January last amounts to £21,800.

The Government of Tasmania has placed on the Estimates for 1866 a sum of £800 for the introduction of salmon ova.

Several persons on the Yanko Creek, New South Wales, have been poisoned through eating bread made of flour into which arsenic had accidentally fallen. An affray took place at the close of last month, at Messrs. Lake's station, Youltucaroo, near Barrier Ranges, South Australia. Two blacks were killed. One had previously speared Mr. William Lake, for refusing to allow him to bring a number of dogs on the run. It was found necessary to cut the clothes from Mr. Lake's back. The spearhead was extracted only with great difficulty.

The attempt made by the Adelaide Government to form a settlement at Adam Bay, North Australia, threatens to become a failure. By the barque Bengal, bound for Batavia, thirteen members of the first and second expeditions left Adam Bay, early in May—some on sick leave, some because the country presented no temptations to them to remain after the expiry of the time for which they had entered into engagements with the Government of South Australia, and some because their dissatisfaction with the proceedings of Mr. Finniss, the Government Resident, would not permit them to remain longer under his authority ; seven others purchased an open cargo-boat, and in that frail craft ventured upon the long voyage round the continent to Swan River. The adventurers were Mr.' Jefferson P. Stow, who visited Adam Bay as the agent of numerous purchasers of land in the newly-opened territory, to select their farms; Wm. M'Minn and Arthur Hamilton, surveyors ; John White and James Davis, seamen ; and Chas. Hake and Francis Edwards, chainmen. The boat, which was named the Forlorn Hope, is twenty-three and a half feet in length, aud six feet across the beam, with two maßts, spritsails and jib. The party left Adam Bay on the 7th May, and reached Geraldton, West Australia, on the Bth July. The distance sailed was altogether about 2500 miles ; and thus was accomplished, says the Perth ln~ guirer, " as perilous a voyage as, with the exception of Bligh's, in the Bounty's boat, we have ever heard or read of } for they have twice grounded on coral reefs in an unknown sea, and for three days were in a violent gale of wind, expecting every moment to be de- , strored. Such an incident was hardly to be expected at this period of the world s age." I