LATEST FROM MELBOURNE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 31, 20 December 1861, Page 7

LATEST FROM MELBOURNE.

By, the " Omeo." which left Melbourne on Saturday the 7th December, we have Melbourne papers to that date, from which we make the following extracts :— The Supreme Court yesterday decided, in the case of Fenton v. Skinner, that the occupation licenses issued by the late Government are illegal find void. The charge of perjury against Mr. C. E. Jones, the Chairman of the Citizens' Reform Association, was again heard at the City Court yesterday, and resulted in the defendant's being discharged. The evidence was very contradictory. The Bench, in pronouncing their decision, said they believed both sides had told the truth, and that the affair had arisen out of a misapprehension. The Laciilan.—The special correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald telegraphed as follows, on Friday.of last week.:—"At present the lead is not struck, either at the north or south end. Two shafts have been bottomed at the southern end, at shallow sinking of eighty-five feet, without obtaining gold. It is supposed that the deep ground is more to the east, where several shafts are now being sunk. There have been several large finds, but they are all out of the ground in which the gold was first struck. .No shallow sinking at present found. Some splendid specimens of surface quartz have been found, but at present no reef. Business very dull. Our population is fast decreasing —the bulk of them making for Lambing Flat. During the last three weeks the Oriental Bank, who are the only buyers here at present, have purchased one thousand ounces of gold —only. Last night a meeting was hekl to form a prospecting association. This, on a field only some two months old, does not say much in its favour." On Thursday, the 25th ultimo, Lady Young was presented with a complimentary farewell address from the ladies of Tasmania, and a purse, containing £216, with which to purchase a piece of plate, in commemoration of the occasion. THE CHAMPION RACE. The fourth Australian Champion Race, run this year in Tasmania, —-value £2000—was won by the Victorian horse Mormom ; Mrs. Blackwell's two horses Shilelegh and Panic second and third. Ten horses started. The race won easily by Mormon in a canter. Time—6 mm. 14 sec. The weatherwas showery in. the morning, but cleared up as the day advanced. The course was extremely heavy, in consequence of the continual rain. The attendance was very large, the course literally black with people. His Excellency the Governor, Sir H. E. Young, Colonel Gore Browne, and Mrs. Browne, were present. Departure of Colonel Browne. —His Excellency Colonel Gore Browne, .C.8., the Governor elect of Tasmania, left Sydney for Hobart Town by the Tasmania. Soon after half-past 12 o'clock, the steamer arrived off the Cove, and about the same time the Governor's barge, the pinnace of the French frigate Corileille, and the Harbour Master's boat, came alongside the Government House wharf. His Excellency Colonel Browne and Lady, and His Excellency's private secretary, Captain Stuart, were accompanied to the wharf by Sir John and Lady Young, and hj Lord John Taylour and Mr. Turville ; Mr. Cowper, Mr. Robertson, the French Consul, and Dr. Neild were present at the wharf for the purpose of paying a parting tribute of respect to the Excellency elect. His Excellency Sir John Young, and his suite accompanied their . late guests to the steamer in the Governor's barge, and the French Consul followed in the pinnace of the Corneille. At a quarter-past one His Excellency Colonel Browne and Lady having embarked, the steamer was put in motion, and cleared the' Heads a little before 2 o'clock.— Sydney Morning Herald. Daring Attempt to Rob a Bank.— One of the most daring attempts at robbery on record was made in this city yesterday. About noon, four men entered the Bank of New South Wales, Parramatta-street, one of whom, feigning drunkenness, proceeded behind the counter, which of course brought the clerks together, for the purpose of expelling the intruder. No sooner were their hands upon him, than the others rushed behind the counter, each shewing either bowie knife or revolver, which they presented, one of the ruffians having his knife at the throat of one of the gentlemen of the establishment. At this juncture a junior clerk, of whose presence they could not have been aware, was seen by them to make his escape from the building, when they instantly desisted, and decamped with all speed, taking nothing more than they brought with them. Instant information was conveyed to the police, who. were promptly on the field. One 6f Inspector Singleton's men fell in with and apprehended a man near the Botany Road, who gave his name as Wm. King ; be was armed with a bowie knife and a splendid revolver, of the most approved make, and he has been identified as one of the four. Inspector Singleton was on tlie track of a man, who was doubtless another of the four, on Newton-road, who, to expedite his escape, laid aside his hat, his coat, and a revolver. Thus unencumbered, lie scaled the fence surrounding Mr. Castle's premises, where he succeeded for the time in eluding further pursuit. The police, are however, on the alert, and little doubt exists but that ere long they will be safely housed. These are all the j>articulars which, until the whole gang are in custody, it would be prudent to publish. King will be brought before the Court this morning, and it is most devoutly to be wished that his companions may be with him. — Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 3.

Referring to the Lachlan diggings the Sydney Morning Herald of the 30th ult., a journal which may reasonably be expected to place things in the most favorable light, has the following : —" Public attention is chiefly directed at present to the daily reports from the new gold-field at the Lachlan The yield of precious metal from some of the holes have been enormous—quite equal to the richest "finds" at the Victorian diggings —but the extent of the field is still far from certain, and some of the holes which have been bottomed have turned out blanks. These, then, are no poor man's diggings. No man has a right to expect success there who has not capital enough for deep sinking, and to meet the contingency of failure in the first operation." The following telegrams from Sydney, dated Friday, are from the " Argus" correspondent : — The man whose suicide was announced in my

telegram on Wednesday last, wa \ James Kirkwood l Thorn. He was thirty-six years of age, and son of David Thorn, of Leith. The coroner's jury re- ' turned a verdict of" temporary insanity," through • drunkenness. The Assembly, after a sharp debate, has con- > .sented to sit on Mondays, in order to get through the business by Christmas, if possible. Honora Biggins, a servant-girl, has been committed at Maitfand. for the murder of her infant. a black fellow, was hanged yesterday morning, for a rape committed at Brisbane. At a meeting held at Brisbane, it was resolved to invite the All England Eleven to play a match against twenty-two of Queensland. Pleuro-pneumonia has broken out at Maitland. Wool has slightly advanced. Extraordinary Suicides in Paris.—Another new street, which is to be very magnificent (says the Paris correspondent of the " Star and Dial"), is in course of erection. It will, when finished, pass over the site which the Morgue has occupied. That supplemental building to the "Bridge of Sighs" will be removed to the east end of the city, immediately behind JSTotre Dame. The Morgue naturally suggests the Bumerous suicides which have this week been committed. One was by a Savoyard, who, not having money to pay his rent, took it into his head to get out of his landlord's power by means of a pan of charcoal. Another lost in some speculation on the Bourse, and shot himself; a third grew jealous about some woman whom he admired, and drank a quantity of sulphuric acid; and. a young girl, prompted by a similar passion, stabbed herself to the heart in her lover's presence. There are several others reported in to-day's paper, the most singular of which was a man pitting an end to his existence because he felt an intense degree of curiosity about the other world which he had no means of satisfying in this. Before he committed suicide he made a will disposing of his property, that bore no marks of his peculiar state of mind!, unless in a note appended to it, after it had been duly signed and witnessed, in which he said that he bad all his life a passioni for travelling, that led him into nearly every country ©n the face of the globe, and finally into making-a voyage of discovery into regions of which no geography had been written, and) which hitherto were supposed to be the birthright of a set of fanatics.