MURDER OF A GOLD BUYER IN VICTORIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 217, 19 August 1862, Page 5

MURDER OF A GOLD BUYER IN VICTORIA.

It is supposed that another shocking aud coldblooded murder has been committed in Victoria. The Argus of August 9 says:—

" In a telegram which appeared in the Argus of yesterday, it was reported that Mr. Soames Davis, a well known buyer of gold at Beeeehworth aud the Omeo, had been stuck up and murdered near Yackanclandab. On enquiry at the Detective Office last evening, we were supplied with the following particulars :—Mr. Davis was a partner of the late Mr. Cornelius Green, who wus shot some few years ago by tho men Chamberlain and Armstrong, on the Omeo road, whilst conveying gold. Mr. Davis was supposed to have hid about b490 worth of gold in his possession when he left Omeo. Two horses have been discovered; on the saddle of one there were spots of blood; the stirrup leathers were missing, and there were spur marks on the seat of the saddle, as though the rider had fallen, or had been pulled off by violence. The deceased was thirty-three years of age, five feet in height, of stout build, of dark complexion, broad shoulders, black hair, beard, and whiskers, black eyes, good teeth, and an American, being from the State of Maine."

The same journal of the llth, has the following:— " Some little light has been thrown upon the Soames Davis murder near Beeehworth., -^'he police have found Mr. Davis's hat and other property concealed in a tree about half a mile from the spot where the coat was discovered. His boots and trousers, and a stick with human hair adhering to it, have also been found near the creek, apparently ' planted.' Nothing further hiis been found which can prove tbat actual murder has been committed."

The Ovens ConstUion of August 8 says:—"The only items of additional intelligence we have to report respecting the murder of Mr. Soames Davis is the finding of *,he deceased's hat in a tree about lialf a mile from where the coat was found. The saddle of the horse Davis rode is scratched, seemingly with a spur, in such a manner as to lead to the belief that Davis fell or was dragged od hia horse. Two watches have been found in the saddle bags. The drags had been used iv the lagoon, but as yet no trace of the body has been discovered." The same journal says:—" It has come to our knowledge that one of two strangers who slept at the Criterion Hotel, High-street, on Monday night, left behind a pair of almost new trousers, considerably stained .with blood. The trousers were found under the bed the stranger occupied.'? '

'.-^HBnDUKE OF NE#cISTLE'S ])iSPATCH7~" "™

(From the Olayo Daily Times. Aug. 16.) The despatch ofthe Duke of Newcastle, which we publish in our issue of to-day, is a very remarkable production, whether the matter or the manner be considered. It is remarkable for its extreme firmness and decision of tone, and for a degree of out-spokenness seldom noticeable in official correspondence. Hi 3 Grace when penning it, was evidently resolved that there should be no mistake aliput his meaning, nothing can be plainer or more easy to understand. He had a disagreeable duty to perform and he lias discharged it in a simple straightforward manner. He had evil tidings to communicate, and he has told them without circumlocution. He had a "No "to say and he has said it valiantly. It is as well it should be so. No good purpose would have been served by any attempt to disguise in the honied^ phrases of official compliment, the distasteful communications he had to make. For '.hat this despatch is a bitter pill for the colonists of New Zealand, cannot be denied.

In the first place, after summing up several despatches of Sir George Grey's, in which his ideas ofthe plan to be adopted for the conduct of native affairs had been explained in detail, Ins Grace observes that he cannot see any adequate apprehension on the part of the New Zealand Government of the obligation that the colonists lie under to exert themselves and make sacrifices for their own defence. He then proceeds to point out that the whole ot the General Revenue of the colony niMit be appropriated " to the one paramount object of averting absolute ruin," that is to say be expended exclusively on native wars or native affairs generally,—and that, if the amount proved insufficient, further taxation might be imposed. ll e goes on to say that although not satisfied with tlie efforts of the colonists, he is desirous to offer the colony the utmost assistance that can be given in justice to the mother country, and then states" what we presume must be regarded as his ultimatum—and here occurs a very remarkable paragraph, one which can hardly be too attentively considered by all who have the prosperity ofthe colony at heart. His Grace says that he is ready to sanction the important step that Sir George Grey has already taken in placing the management ofthe natives under the control ofthe Assembly, and he adds as the reason for the Imperial Government handing over to the Colonial Assembly a power that has hitherto been vested solely in the Crown, that he cannot disguise from himself "that tlie endeavor to keeo the management of tlie natives under the control of tlie Home Government has failed" adding that "it can only be mischievous to retain a shadow of responsibility when the beneficial exercise of power has become impossible."

This is indeed remarkable language. It is the plain admission of the fact that the Imperial management of native affairs has proved a failure, and upon this admission is founded the determination to hand the matter over to the colonists to make the best they can of. Having got the native affairs into a regular cod, the Home authorities coolly propose to transfer the whole responsibility of getting out of the difficulty to the colonists, and with the responsibility the whole cost also. It will further be observed that the Duke of Newcastle speaks of the handing over of the control of native affairs to the Assembly as a thing already accomplished, although when or how this transfer of responsibility was made we have yet to learn. It is true that the Fox Ministry accepted the responsibility of advising hi? "Excellency on native affairs, and that the native department was placed under their control, but even they took care to disclaim any pow^r to bind the Assembly before hand. In h» speech on the •22nd July, when making a general statement of native policy, Mr. Fox was explicit on this point. " He said that "Ministers accepted practically the position, but refrained from reducing to writing the precise limits of their relations to His Excellency," and he further quoted from a ministerial miaute addressed to His Excellency, in which occurs the following remarkable passage : —" But His Excellency must not misapprehend the extent to which Ministers can pledge the colony in matters or finance. They can and will recommend to the General Assembly to make the requisite provision for the intended objects, and they can and will stake their position as Ministers on the Assembly adopting their recommendation, but they have no constitutional power to bind the Assembly beforehand."

The Fox Ministry did " stake their position as Ministers," and the result has been their ruin. The House did not endorse their views of responsibility, and they have had to give place to others who, while not refusing to give advice to His Excellency on native affairs when ashed, will carefully avoid committing themselves or the colony to the responsibility which their predecessors were so eager to assume.

It is somewhat singular that the despatch of the Duke of Newcastle, taking the question of the acceptance of colonial responsibility as settled, should have arrived almost immediately after the Fox Ministry had "staked their position " and lost it, and after the House of Representatives had thus, in the most positive manner, expressed its determination neither to endorse the views of Mr. Fox, nor to accept for the colony the responsibility of the native policy. It will remain to be seen whether the Duke of Newcastle will, on receipt of the news of the action taken by the House of Representatives, sec cause to modify his demands; and whether the Imperial authorities will insist upon handing over to the colonists the responsibility of native affairs, whether they are willing to accept it or not. The Duke of Newcastle having, as >we have seen, settled the responsibility question so entirely to his satisfaction, naturally proceeds to point out what steps will be taken to shift the burden that must accompany that responsibility. He says that a speedy and considerable diminution of the military force in the Colony will be made; that the Imperial Government will not bear any portion of the expense of militia or volunteers; that the contribution of £5 a head for every soldier employed must be paid up to the end* of 1861, but, and this is the great concession, the' Home Government will consent to accept as military contribution all monies expended by the Governor on purely Native objects in excess of the sura of .£26,000; this -arrangement to last for three j'ears, and that the whole question must be held subject to such general arrangements as may be made by the Imperial Pa: liament for the maintenance of troops in colonies.

The Duke of Newcastle has taken every pains to place the subject clearly before the colony, and lest there should be any chance of misunderstanding, he says in one part of his despatch that the colonists should provide a military police for the protection of outsettlements, and that if it is not worth the while ofthe colony to go to that expense, it is not worth while to keep those settlements! All this, however satisfactory to His Grace, will be read with dismay by tlie colonists, who will see that it is proposed to saddle them with the whole expense and responsibility of the solution of the Native difficulty, which has been caused entirelyby Imperial mismanagement—to leave them to accomplish with their

small means what the Imperial authorities haveTfailed in, although wieitKn^the power of the greatest nation on the &Cc of the earth; To 'the*''people of the Middle Island this despatch will have a further significance, a3 placing in the strongest possible light the immense division of interests that exists between them and the North. Tbey have been accustomed to complain that while contributing the most largely to the general revenue, they have not received their fair share of the benefits to be derived from its expenditure, but they will now see that it is recommended by the {Secretary of State for the Colonies that the whole of the general revenue be expended in the North Island on native affairs, and that, if needful, further taxation be imposed for the same object. Nothing could more strongly illustrate the position of those who have advocated separation than this simple fact.