MELBOURNE.

New Zealander, Volume XIII, Issue 1221, 30 December 1857, Page 3

MELBOURNE.

[From the "Sydney Herald's'' Correspondent.] Monday, 7th December.—The Assembly have commenced the session by setting aside live days out of the week for the progress of business, Monday to be an open day, and from Tuesday to Friday, inclusive, to be devoted to Government measures. This gives promise of an active session . The Ministry have not yet made the financial statement for the year l«r>8 ; but Mr Haines has indicated to the House that he intends, if possible, to push the Estimates through before commencinng on the promised Reform Bill. Tin' Chief Secretary does not, of course, expect to be permitted to do this quietly. Mr. Duffy has already reminded of the possibility of amendments being moved from day to day, on the question that the Speaker leave the chair. But, judging from the general tone of the House, I do not think antagonism will run so high this session as it did during last. There is :i great desire to come to the Reform Bill ; ami the dissolution, to take place immediately after the carrying of this, acts as an inducement towards decorous behaviour, the constituencies being kept in view. If Mr. Ebden acquit himself well in bringing forward the Budget, he may induce the House to follow him rapidly with the necessary votes. Opposition to the Estimates is not very popular just now. It is believed to operate against the employment of labour in the carrying out of the great public works which call so imperatively for completion. The Oaths of OtV.ce Bill, or the "Religious Equality Declaration Uill," as it might be called, has been rc-mtroduced, and has already given rise to a smart debate, in which the conduct of the Government has been canvassed for first carrying the bill through Parliament, and then advising his Excellency to veto it. This admits of explanation. The Governor could not give his assent to the bill presented to him, but he suggested an omission in the preamble which would remove all doubts on the matter. The Government fell in with his Fxcellencv's suggestion, and preferred the course of having the bill thrown out rather than of losing time in transmitting it to the Privy Council. Tuesday morning,'.) o'clock—There was a movement yesterday with regard to one of our banks, which has been dignified by the name of a "run," but this is a misnomer. For the last week or two, in fact, since the arrival of the last English mail, all manner of rumours have been afloat respecting the Union Bank. At the last half-yearly meeting held in London dissatisfaction was openly expressed by some of the shareholders with the colonial management for advancing to the local directors cnormoas sums of money. Since the publication of this it has been the common talk here, in commercial circles, that a gentleman who arrived in the Columbian, had been sent out to set things right. Bumour was very busy with the names of a former manager and of three large mercantile | houses. Nothing was said about any loss likely to be sustained by the bank in consequence of the heavy advances alleged to have been made, nor was any insufficiency in the securities on which the amount had been advanced even hinted at. It appears, however, that one or two independent firms removed their accounts to other banks, and this gave rise to the report that a ran had taken place. I was in the bank three fieveraljtimes during the day, and can bear testimony to the fact that no genuine run took place. Tongues ran freely on the matter. It is almost impossible to convey to you a notion of the present condition of trade. There are really no transactions occuring other than retail ones._ The very best of the second houses are refused credit, and the very best of the first houses are refused discounts. This state of matters is likely to continue until after Christmas. There have not been any more suspensions, but rumour is still busy with one or two names. Flour is moving off quietly, at .£l7 per ton for first ! brands of Adelaide. Sugar, oilmen's stores, spirits of all kinds, and provtsions are quite nominal at the rates quoted in the papers. They can all be bought at lower figures than those given. OSM IRIDIUM. To the Editor of the Argus. Sir,—May 1 request space in your columns to state tin-, existence of the so called Osmiridium in the alluvial gold from Ilaldane's Creek, Anatoki, New Zealand. The interest of this announcement depends principally upon the following facts : The specific gravity of this native alloy being about the same as that of alluvial gold, while this compound is of an exceedingly hard and refractory nature, it will therefore be liable to become diffused through the ingot, and in such cases to cut and damage steel rollers and dies in working and minting. Owing to its chemical relations, it would, in cases where unnoticed, give rise to error in the assay, passing intact through all the operations by which the metals ordinarily alloyed with gold arc seperated. Advantage of the hardness of this alloy is taken in its employment for the tips of the "Mordan's gold pens ;" but it would be a shortsighted view to consider this as the limit of its applicability, for, containing four metals of the platinum group—iridium, ruthenium, rhodium, and osmium—whose properties, as yet but litlle known, are yet ascertained to be of the highest interest, it is proper to regard these as material in reserve for the future wants of the industrial arts. And this alloy is usually accompanied by the other metals of the platinum group, it is quite possible that platinum and;palludium may also be present in the same locality. I am, Sir, yours obediently, GnoKGB Fooko, Assayer. Clarke's Gold * ((lice,-20th November, 1857.

[From the " Sydney Herald 1 ," Correspondent, December 18.] Monday Morxixo, 14th December.—The " run " on the Union Bank, which was over when I last wrote is now a matter of history merely. The reflux of specie and of accounts has been great during the last few days, and notes are no longer coming in. The entire amount of the run did not sum up more than £50,000; so that it was a small affair after all. At the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, held on Thursday afternoon, there was a very large muster of members. There was a general expression of opinion that the meeting was uncalled for, and that the Union Bank of Australia was too strong an institution to need the support of the Chamber. A resolution was, however, passed, unanimously expressing confidence in Union Bank notes. The reporter of the meeting in the Argus has left out the numerous pleasantries which were interspersed in the proceedings, and which gave the meeting the character of a jovial congregation of good fellows rather than that of a meeting of merchants to discuss a serious question. The following letter was handed in to the President of the Chamber by a member with a Yiew to having it read. As it was not signed by the author (Mr. Robert M'Mcking), it was held to be out of order. Its publication has caused great excitement here in mercantile circles, where the evils of an overgrown indent system are freely admitted:

Melbourne, 10th December, 1857. To the Chairman of the Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce. (Per favour of the Argut.) Sin, —In considering the requisition calling this special meeting, it appears to me that we ought to determine upon what has caused the rumours injuriously affecting the mercantile and trading interests of the colony. I have no hesitation in saying that the foundation of our reverses arises from the indent tystgrn pursued by several of the firms signing that requisition. We all know the nature of that system as pursued here. And we have all lately seen indents for immense amounts corning into the market, for all sorts of people, whose temporary success in times past has been disastrous to us all, from having tempted many well doing traders to forsake their legitimate business, and has fostered the reckless speculative spirit throughout that class which, as all now see, is above all things the most ruinous to credit, and damaging to trade in the long run, and from which we now suffer, Owing to the facilities afforded by one or two firms here to speculators, we have lately seen cargo after cargo of all kinds of produce sacrificed at auction. In many cases the ship has arrived one day, the cargo has been advertised the next, and the whole or the greater part of it sold off, at any prices, the day after. We have seen the results of such sales averaging from 20 to 60 per eent. loss on a cost of from £ 10,000 to £20,000 each cargo. What can stand that? No profits can long. Unfortunately, these losses have not been confined to speculators, but steady buyers have involuntarily shared in them, from the depreciation of their stocks, and have lost greatly from that cause alone. Some of them have already been unable to meet their engagements, and doubtless ere next month is past we shall find that more still are to follow. These consequences make us all suffer from the reckless indent system, which has afforded greater facilities here than are obtainable in any other market, and of course from its vicious character we will sustain greater losses than in any other place where it does not exist. It appears incomprehensible tome that those firms indenting for others should not prefer to take the risk themselves, instead of helping the mushrooms who do. Experience will no doubt ere long teach them that when the market is good the indents will be taken, and when it is bad they will be repudiated, so that all the risk and none of the profit will belong to them. Hut they now want to stop the rnmours Why, Sir, it appears from this that they are not afraid of doing the thing itself, but only of being found out, and damaging their own credit from being talked about. This Chamber ought to condemn such a system of reckless trading in the- most unqualified manner, and to express its opinion that the present crisis has been mainly produced py the reckless system-of indenting merchandise of all kinds pursued by several firms here (some of them singing this requisition). It ought also to declare its conviction that the indenting goods to immense amounts, for all sorts of people, has in many cases induced small traders to forsake their legitimate business, and fostered a reckless gambling spirit, ruinous alike both to trade and credit. If the banks reject all accommodation bills the system would soon come to an end. Yours truly, A Mkmiikr of TIIS CIIAMDEn, There is no appearance yet of the Mail steamship Emeu, and to all appearance we are to suffer a similar inconvenience on this occasion to that to which you have been subjected on the three last—the loss of a course of post. Ther« has been very little excitement about this particular mail, as it is known that the Emeu cannot bring answers to any mail hence ; but as the time approaches when the European is to sail, and the possibility of answering advices will cease, something like indignation in freely expressed. The committee of the Chamber of Commerce have addressed a protest on the subject to the Postmaster-General of Victoria, which 1 encloseA curious feature has arisen out of the debate the other evening on Mr. Home's motion on the land sale system pursued by the Government pending the settlement of the general question. Mr. Blair, in urging upon Mr. Home the withdrawal of the second portion of his resolution, took occasion to regret the circumstance of a censure being implied upon any oflicer or member, and announced that he would on th» following day call attention to the system quite apart from any personal considerations. This pledge was redeemed by Mr. Blair when he addressed the House on his own motion, by a most violent personal attack upon Mr. Moore. In the course of a speech, an hour and a half long, Mr. .Moore was represented as totally incompetent to manage the Public Work* Depanment—a petty tyrant to his subordinate", and an officer neglectful of the public interest, inasmuch as he had attempted no means of reform in his department, and had allowed the idleness and dishonesty of his officers to go unchecked. Mr. Moore designated this attack as uncalled-for and disgusting, for which he was called to order by the Speaker ; and after a pretty little Parliamentary scene, Mr. Blair withdrew his motion. The federation question is to be brought forward by Mr. Duffy this evening, and a long discussion may be expected, although there is no doubt on the mind of any one that the committee asked tor will be granted. Hon. members here, however, seem to think that no subject is complet« unless they have each and all " said their say, 1 ' and of course the public time is most wofully squandered.

THE MAIL SERVICE IRREGULARITIES. The Chamber of Commerce have caused the following letter to be addressed to the Hon. the Postmaster-Gene-ral on the subject of the repeated failures in the performance ot the Mail contract: PROTEST or THE MELBOURNE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Sin, —By the direction of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce, I have the honour to bring before your notice the proceedings which have taken place at a meeting of their body for the special consideration of the Mail Contract Service. The committee are unanimously of opinion that the performance of the Mail Contract has been most unsatisfactory, as expressed in the following resolution— Resolved, —" That the past irregularities of Mail service have been of serious inconvenience and loss to the mercantile community.” Th# committee deem it necessary to band you a detailed statement of the short-comings of the (European and Australian) Royal Mail Company, as follows : By Article 1 of the agreement the Company are bound to have “ not less than six full-power steam vessels between Suez and Sydney." Up to this time there have never been more than four vessels employed at one time, and for the greater part of the period only three. Article 4 provides—" That all vessels employed under the contract shall be constantly efficient for the service hereby contracted to be performed.” The Oneida, although condemned by the Admiralty Surveyor, was nevertheless placed on the the station by the company, and broke down on her first voyage under the contract. The Columbian and European, after a few months’ employment, are found no longer equal to the service. Article (J provides—“ That vessels under the contract shall leave the Port of Melbourne ou such day in such month as the Commissioners may determine.” The following statement will show the dates of departure of the vessels as compared with the dates under the contract:

Appointed date. Date of departure. 1857. M>7' January 15 • • • • January 2ft February 15 • • • • February 15 March 5 •• March 13 April 15 ■• •• April Itf May 15 • • May 30 June 5 •• June 25 July 15 • • July &T August 15 • • No mail September 15 • • «- September 17 October 15 .. October 14 November 1-3 •• •• November 17 Te arrivals of mails from England Lave also been at variance with the periods stipulated for in the contract, as per following statement: Mails Due. Arrived at Melbourne. IUS/. 1U57. May 5 •• •• •• May 14 June 5 •• • • ■ ■ June 8 July 5 •• •• • July G August 3 • • August 1".

September 4 •• •• September 3 October 5 •. • • October IS Novembers ■- •• November 14 December 5 Not arrived this 9th December. Article 15 provides—" That the Company, in ceae of any vessels becoming disabled, immediately, at their own cost and charge, replace the same by pood and efficient vessel of similar tonnage and power.'* • In direct contravention ot this engagement, thr Company hare never had an extra vessel at Suez o Svdney, at neither of which ports was there a reason* able probability of their being- able to obtain by hire or otherwise an efficient substitute. The Committee would here call your earnest attention to the reprehensible delay on the part of the Company in not having adopted the next best remedy in their power to cover the breach of contract in the case of the Oneida, by promptly despatching an efficient vessel to supply her place ; the fact of her non-arrival at Suez having been known by them on the 2nd April, yet no vessel was despatched until the 17th of June ; nor has any arrangement been made up to this time to provide against a smilar disaster, the European hav« ing arrived on 14th ultimo in such a disabled condition that the colonies have been compelled to the substitution of a colonial steamer of inferior tonnage and power. In laying before you the foregoing statement of past irregularities, the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce feel bound to record their belief that the infliction of penalties, however stringently exacted, is no sufficient reparation for the losses and inconvenience" complained of, and would suggest that the Home authorities would better terre colonial interests by exactin? preliminary control, in insisting on the Company's placing and retaining on the line the full number of efficient steam vessels contracted for. The Chamber, while feeling it to be their duty to protest and remonstrate against this most inadequate discharge of a contract so liberally subsidised, express the hope that their views will meet with your concurrence and support, and be transmitted through the Government to the Home authorities by the ensuing; mail. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, John Russell, Secretary Chamber of Commerce, Melbourne, 9th December, 1857.