Victoria.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume XII, Issue 1228, 9 May 1857, Page 3

Victoria.

[From the Maitland Mercury, April 9, 1857.] We have received Melbourne papers to the 2nd instant. A considerable space in their columns is occupied with details respecting the Williamstown tragedy. Public feeling, if of late excited by the declarations of Melville, and subsequent statements of tyranny by the officers, to an improper sympathy with the men undergoing sentence in the hulks, now appears to have undergone a complete revulsion. There have been rumours of the appointment of a special commission for the trial of the murderers, the ordinary process being too tardy ; but these rumours are contradicted. The strong language used by the Argus in reference to the citizens’ committee has originated a controversy, in which Dr. Schultz takes a prominent part.

The unfortunate victim of the outbreak, Mr. 1 Price was buried on the 30th ult. The funeral procession was large, many public function- ’ aries joining. At the cemetery the pall was borne by the Chief Secretary, the Treasurer, 1 the High Sheriff, and other persons of note. The Herald publishes the following particulars, which may not be uninteresting:—“ It is a melancholy reminiscence in connection with the death of the late Mr. Price, that little more than three years ago Mr. Samuel Barrow, the first superintendent of convicts in this colony, was accidentally drowned in the bay, whither he had gone to witness the departure per steamer Golden Age, of Mr. Latrobe, the first Governor of Victoria. Mr. Barrow, as well as his unfortunate successor, left a widow and large young family unprovided for. It may not be generally known that Mrs. Price is the niece of the ill-fated Sir John Franklin, to whom her husband owed his early appointment in Tasmania, Norfolk Island, &c. Nir Price was heir to an English baronetcy.” A return of the number of prisoners in the hulks, given by the Herald of the 2nd, shows that in addition to 454 convicts, 53 refractory seamen were confined on board. The writer says:—“ By this return it will be seen that “ refractory seamen ” are now confined in these convict hulks—a fact to which our attention has been called before, and which demands immediate remedy. Running away to get to the gold-fields, and misconduct of a similar nature are the offences which commonly bring Jack into trouble; and though these deserve punishment, they ought not to be expiated •among the desperadoes of our penal hulks. Such contact must necessarily deprave the sailor, who nine times out of ten is a weakminded creature, susceptible to persuasion of any kind, and generally led into vice or virtue bv about the same means. As a striking example of the effect of mingling tars and convicts in these hulks, we may mention the case of the attempt to seize the Streboneath, some twelve months ago by three of her ctew, on the homeward passage, for which they were tried at Newgate and condemned. When the vessel was about to leave our bay, the captain . hud applied to the authorities here for threi i hands, and was told that he could have them ’ from the hulks, but was cautioned that they 1 would probably turn out great rascals. lie was desirous ol getting away, however, and • took the three “ relracfory seamen.” Tin

! consequence was what we have stated —these same three men concocted a scheme to seize the ship, murder everybody else on board, and secure the gold ; and the plot only failed from one of the wretches turning faint-hearted and betraying his accomplices. A precisely similar case occurred more recently with the ship Gharra, some “ refractory seamen ” taken from these penal hulks, having made a like attempt to seize the vessel on her voyage. It will thus be seen that danger at Williamston is not the only risk we run by the course pursued with Jack in his ** trouble,” and the “reformatory school ” which we select fur his improvement.”

An Unknown Visitor.—A rumour was current last evening that the masters of the several vessels which had arrived (luring the previou« forty-eight hours, had seen outside the Heads a large steamer whose movements were of the most suspicious nature. The report proceeded to assert that the steamer approached the vessels near enough to ascertain what they were, and then left them. The late occurrences at Williamstown have caused so much excitement that the most flagrant canards will, no doubt, for a time, obtain credence. Still, the rumour to which we have referred is worth inquiring into, as the truth of the story that has thus been circulated is by no means impossible, when the value of our gold freights is considered ; also the ticklish state of European and Asiatic politics. Our informant, although a thorough sailor, disbelieves in the *‘ Flying Dutchman.”— Morning Hera d, April 1. Breaking up of a Gang.—For the last week or two, a gang of four or five ruffians have been watched by the police, and have at last been broken up by the apprehension of two or ti-ree nngleaders. Their practice was to look out for drunken people, follow after them, and when in some lonely part of the town, knock them down and rob them. Two instances of this kind have come before the police, in both of which the fellows have been committed for trial. — Geelong Advertiser.