PRINCELAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 76, 12 February 1862, Page 2

PRINCELAND.

The movement for separating a portion of Western territory- from Victoria, and a portion of Eastern territory from South Australia with a view to the establishment of a new colony has now reached such maturity that a petition to the throne ou the subject is about being prepared for presentation through Sir Henry Barkly. One step lately taken by the Committee of the League will do much to forward the end. desired. A small pamphlet has been issued, stating succinctly the views and objects of the League and giving a sufficiency of statistics to satisfy the enquiring.- A very knotty point not yet decisively settled is the precise boundary to he .suggested .to the Home Government as to the dividing line on the Victorian side, 143 ° of cast longitude is mentioned as a desirable boundary, but that meridian-would include within the new colony- an auriferous portion of the Pyrenees, and it is the wish of the League to avoid including any known goldfield in the separated territory. To avoid this, some members of the committee propose to include the whole of Heytesbury and Hampden, and a small portion only of Ripon, so as to leave intact all the Pyrenees gold-fields. On the South Australian side it is not so difficult to fix a boundary. Any line traversing the broad belt of unsettled and barren—in many places desert —land east from the' Murray, would satisfy the sepa'ratibnists without provoking much opposition from South Australia which ha 3 lately acquired so large an addition of territory to the westward, the settlement and management of which will sufficiently tax the energies of GoTcrnment. Tiie coveted portion of South Australia is a well define I and fertile area, popularly known as tlicMount.Gambler .-District;'and embracing the Counties of Macdonnell, Robe, and Grey ; its extent, 4 000,000 acres. So neglected has this portion of South Australia been, that although the population exceeds 9,000, it is not yet provide i with Circuit Courts; prosecutors, prisoners, witnesses, plaintiffs, and defendants, having all to travel ■'100 miles to Adelaide for justice. Nor w mid it ba wise to blame the South Australian G ivernment unreservedly for tliis neglect. The listrict in question, by position, trade, and other obvious interests of the inhabitants, forms no portion,nor can it naturally ever form a portion of South Australia. A belt of desert effectually sepaia'es it from tho head-quarters of a Government, which could hardly be expected to besiovr any unusual care on a district marked by nature as destined to remain non-inally part and pireclof South Australia only so long as it is not sufficiently populous or sufficiently wealthy to, claim independence or annexation to Victorii. The territory comprised within the present limits cf the colony of South Australia is enornnus, and must, in the natural order of things, '-flake off" as fast as portions become ready for the process.

The ways and means of the new colony will be by no means of insignificant amount. Taking the year 1860 for a basis, we find that collections at the three custom-houses of Portland, Belfast, and Warrnambool, amounted to £216,231. The revenue from the sale of lands in the same year, within the limits of the proposed colony, was £46,?83, and the amount of duty p:,id iii Melbourne on goods sent coastwise to the thrje ports £31,143 ; making ii total of £296,662 : w ule the amount expended during 1860 witlr'n tie same limits fir police, gr.ols, schools, chinches, roads and bridges, proportion of mail service, an 1 every other sort of expenditure, was but £107,0)0 ; the remaining £159,662 having been swallowed up in the maelstrom of centralization. The revenue from all'sources collected by the South Australian G r.-erninent. in the Mount Gambier district in 1860 was £36,059. The expenditure in the same year was £13,189, the district thus retainingconsiderably less than half its own money for its own purposos.'Evcrybody is quite aware that some portion of tho expenditure of central governments must be drawn from distant localities, but this enormous difference is "' piling it up so mr.mtainously," , there hi no wonder the country-folks begin to kick.

lii the estimates put forth by the League, and they seem based an the actual income of previous years, the revenue of the territory comprised within the limits of the new colony is set down at £330,000 and the expenditure at £234,000, leaving a surplus of £95,00). This balance, it is suggested, might- be judicially appropriated for immigration purposes. It may he asked what area will remain to Victoria proper if the proposed alteration takes place. The area of the colony at present is generally set down at about 85,000 square miles ; the portion proposed to he cut off is 28,000 square miles, leaving 57,000 square miles to comfort ourselves with. The pamphlet of the League concludes with a summary of advantages to. be derived from separation. The summary is too long for extract, but the following will give an idea of the views of its compilers :-—'

The advantages of separation and self-government would be manifold. The statistics already given, show that,'as a community, we have arrived at tha age of maturity which fits us for, and entitles us tithe management of our own affairs. And we aw in a position to ba better judges of what our public interests require, and better fitted to provide fji them than a governing body so far removed as Melbourne or Adelaide. -The-compactness of-the ue.v colony would ensure its being better governed within ifa own limits. And its uniformity of character as an agricultural and pastoral community would renderthe worlv of legislation more simple and more successful. The Mount.Qambier-di.stricf.being,..as would then be the case, so much nearer the seat of Government, and being of so much more re'ntivo importance - in the new colony than sho is in her present connection, would thereby have insured to her that just consideration to her public interest, which she now seek* in vain. And with regard to the Victorian portion —the new colony commencing with a clear balance sheet and an unencumbered revenue, public coutidnoe would rise, capital would nnd profitable employment, and business of all kinds would improve. Ihe business at our ports would increase when our slop, pin" had to come direct to pay our own customs due.' in bur own colony. And improvements at our several ports which are-at the present connexion with Mcl bourne hopeless.- would then be promptly and adequately carried. out, as well as public works throughout tho interior. And- one-of tlie earliest gooi. ■efl'ebt&'-'oKithe- e'hVWsj'<s" juWaeatef,.-'would- ■heA-'th-itv propsvUCbf alli£MJl.a«-«ighout tlie new .colony would _ ?*?■'■ *-"- • •j-s:**/^ There woufel tiSifhsTetftSblished. between MplblWisfo; * "and Adelaide, -a"nbther,.C3ntre- of-.population, > ouotMrJ. row?We}Y- «plan»LMtM»jMB,-^^ljfeitf^ftCliloajf, which ,wlijJ^Snf^njffiilte;''abundance of r.ch land, ;aud;iau; VsJ?6' revenue.—Geelong Advertiser.

T«ra Qpiio-ttßtwp- Mwrarnnr.op Leavk«;^\^ljwv ■lertvralwe"ext'rScj!saW a'remyfiatf'asjjcrtameir that thisconsiste oft xrMus and a .yellow, principle. ",wjiic]i,fie ■ha|,9|iceeeded f 4n,i?blajj'J§!t jth« blue, IwClWwlii* the

THE SDLTAN'S DOMESTIC ESTABLISHMENT..

Tlie correspondent of the Morning Post, writing frcjpi^ns^ti^oplft-fli^tl^ltli,.^y^^^,. "I believe that I reported'at the time, in common with everybody, that the Sultan.had, on his. accession, struck.'a heavy blow at polygamy by declaring his intention to reform his isareui bills by keeping only one wife If so, I regret to .have to spoil the excellent impression which so. exemplary a pieCe of news must have produced ljyu&vy.^apprising y,pu.tha.t his Majesty has already-increased fiis'conjrigal 'stud'tirfoiir had'ins, ilipals, and a tolerably strong contingent of gasaes, which, being interpreted, mean : "the lofty iv rank,' ."-those who have found, favour," and- '.'.those who please the eye;" "The first of those, categories may be increased to seven, and includes the -fortunate ladies whose rank is as nearly .as possible equivalent to that of " wives :" for it is a Western fallacy that the "Sultan""ever" " marries." Tho first seven of his ladies have, in the order of their accession, wifely rank; but marriage ceremony, such_as loosely binds Other true believers, there is ill"liistiu'giist"case none. Next to these in the haremic hierarchy comes the ilipals, fortunate fair ones, from whom the supreme seven are generally recruited, in case of death or penal bestowment on a pasha. Whilst each of the hading has a suit of about forty attendants, these second-class linurls have severally an attendance of twenty-five or thirty. Tliay arc themselves either singled out by tlie imperial taste from amongst the retinue of tho kadiiis, or are special purchases and presents to his Majesty'by one of tbe-;e latter. The i/usdes, Jikc tbo ihpals'. are limited to no number, anil difler from the hitter rather in the degree oftheirholdon the imperial "eve" than in original inferiority- of rank in the household. But when they have gratified the sublime optic, be it only for once, they cease to belong to the rank and file of the great female brigade, and attain a substantive status and attendants of their own.

" With all three of these categories of pro-conjugal stock, then, 1 am assured by no meaner authority than one of the palace physicians that his Majesty is already well provided, having, as I say, f'onr of the, first and af'air number of both-the secondhand; the third. So much for the highly respectable story of one wife. And not only does what/1 now report dispose of that ethical fable, but it plays havoc, too,-I- : regret to say, with half the statements which have been; made as to palace reform. It was said weeks ago, and locally bilieve.l by all Pera, that the whole of the late Sultan's harem had been shipped' over to the old seraglio, and there" installed on the meagrest of board wages. ■ Indeed, I believe I reported as much myself at the time, and lavished deserved praise on Ins Majesty for such excellent energy aud' good sense. Well, the informant, above . referred to now assure*! me that not one -of Abdul Medjid's whole "eight hundred" has yet left Doluiabaktche. Apartments are, indeed, being -prepared for them at the old serai, but as yet. tfiey remain.at the newpalace—swelling the total of-womankind, vow within its precincts to nearly 1,300. Let us hot deceive ourselves. The present Sultan is as perfect a Mussulman as his father ; and .whatever may be the energy of character or the administrative ability which he may display in matters of state,, his^ personal tastes and habits—all traditional and hereditary as they are —are but little likely to coufine tlieir gratification within the limits which- Western--ethics-have in that ease made and provided. Let nothing more, therefore, be said about a one-wife Sultan. Abdul Aziz may prove a vigorous reformer, aud may even restore Turkey to something like her old-time solvency and indeoendence; but monogamic economist-he is not, nor is likely to become." ...