LATER MELBOURNE NEWS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 95, 6 March 1862, Page 4

LATER MELBOURNE NEWS.

AYe make the following extracts from the Sfelbourne " Herald " :— LOSS OF THI3 "FIREFLY."—TIIE DISASTROUS Exploring Expedition. —We have another disaster to add to those already recorded in connection with the late disastrous Exploring; Expedition. The Firefly, which was to act as a tender to the Victoria, has been lost. This intelligence lias reached us by telegram from Brisbane. The telegram, of which the following is a copy, was read by the Chief Secretary in the House last evening, ifc having been received from Sir. Mackenzie, the Treasurer at Queensland :— "Brisbane, 19th February, 18G2. "Jessie Oswald, just arrived in Moreton Bay. Discovered on one island in Torres' Straits, about three months ago, portions of wreck of Fir *fly ; cask marked H.M.S.S. Victoria ; four horses with Government brands ; evident from the marks of encampment that the crew had been on tbe island some time. No trace of Victoria except the cask referred to above. The cask was probably lent to the Firefly. " R. It. Mackenzie;. " Tliere are no grounds, it seems, for believing that the Firefly has ever seen the Victoria, and nothing is, therefore, to be inferred from the foregoing as to the Victoria having been in any danger. A discussion took place on the subject in the liouse last evening. Land Bn.i.i—Sir. Wilson Gray led tbo discussion on the Land Bill last night. On the eleventh clause he proposed a subdivision of allotments into quarters instead of halves, so as to reducei tbe first instalment of the purchase-money to five] shillings an acre. After a number of exceedingly tedious speeches a division was taken, and 26 votes against 24 negatived Sir. Gray's proposition. Clauses 11 to 17 inclusive were got through without any alteration. There have been several fires at Creswick and in its neighbourhood during the past week. One was at Deep Creek, Glengower, in which grass sufficient for the food of three thousand sheepj was burnt off, and Sir. Egan's house and sheep had a narrow escape. Another was at Spring Hill, where, among other things, a stack of oats, computed as containing one hundred and eighty bushels of oats, was completely destroyed. A third was at Slessrs. J. and AY. Bunyan's farm, near the Sloorcokyle, Smeaton, where six hundred bushels of wheat were consumed. These were all the result of accident. But the noxt, or the fourth, is supposed to have been the work of! an incendiary. " This occurred," says the Creswick Advertiser, from which we now quote, " on Sir. Ryrie's farm, opposite Sir. Enles's, in the parish of Spring Hill, and next to Sir. D. Davis's. Sir. Ryrie has another farm, on which he resides, near Samson's Gulley. Not far from the stacks burnt was a hut, in which provisions for the men were kept and cooked. Mr. Ryrie, before leaving on Saturday night, had carefully removed every particle of loose straw and inflammable material from the neigborhood ofthe stacks, so that no blame whatever can attach to him. At dusk everything was secure. About three o'clock on Sunday morning, one of Sir Eales's men had occasion to get up, and on going out of the house saw no signs of fire. He had scarcely gone to bed when lie "observed a light, and at the same time noticed the crackling noise produced by the combustion of straw. AVithout loss of time the rest of Sir Eales's men were aroused and all went toj the fire, but they arrived too late, as the stacks were then in a blaze. It was found that nothing 30iild be saved. Sir Ryrie was sent for, and oil further examination, the windows of the but was found broken iv and the hut ransacked, the whole jf the provisions being carried off. This leaves io doubt that the fire was caused by some mi- '

creant who, not satisfied with plundering an industrious man, added incendiarisms to his other misdeeds. About 1200 bushels of oats and 400 of wheat were consumed, the value of which was about £300, and comprised the produce of this farm. We hope that Government will offer a reward for the discovery of the offender, who ought if possible, to be made an example of." There arc few, we apprehend, who would not endorse that opinion. A return of the amount of revenue derived from the goldfields in the shape of license tees, gold export duty, and miners' rights, from October, 1851, to the present date has just been published in reply-to a question from Mr. Dcnovan on the 20th of December last. The amounts are as follow:—-Gold license fees, £1,452,008 os. 7d.; gold export duty, £2,070.297, 12s. lOd.; miners' rights, £600,904 10s. Total, £4,153,210 3s. sd. The Great Extended Company, Ballaarat, washed out one hundred and thirty-five ounces of gold on Tuesday last.