VICTORIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2004, 2 June 1868, Page 5

VICTORIA.

' (FROM OUR OWN CORREHPONDKXT.) ' Tuesday, May 26th. i The polling for the first of llio con- ' tested Ministerial Elections took place yesterday, and, as was generally expected by the friendfl and supporters of <lio late , Administration, the defeat suffered by > the now men was most deciuive. At Bali larat West, where Mr Gillies, tho new Minister of Lands, was opposed by Mr C. E. ' Jones, tho respective numbers polled were : —.Tones, 2GG3; and Gillies, 23G8, giving a j majority of 295 to the Anti-Ministerial candidate. At South Bonrlcc, tho Minister f of Public Works, Mr O'Grady, was 1 beaten by Mr Crews by a rnajc- : rity of 74, the numbers being— [ Crows, 993 ; and O'Grady, 910. , The leading Melbourne 'journal of I thin morning admits that tho indication thus furnished of tho feeling of tho mat joritv on the subject of tho Sladun Administration, amounts to "a great blow , and a sore discouragement" to Iho cause which it so strenuously advocates. But while I find that many of the most ardent upholders of the pretensions of tho Lesislative Council to a co-partnership wit.h 1 the A:;sambly in the management of tho i 3 public revenue, are now willing to acsept j q the verdict of the people pronounced on 1 ~ thin occasion, co far as to admit that n ~" general election for the pnrpo3e of assur- ! r in<j to tho present holders of office, would | be worao than useless. Though thrinnm- 1 r bora of the rank and file of the "consti- j , tutionalists" find this conclusion forced upon thorn by tho rapid current of events, „ • the Argus still counsels "no surrender, 1' ,1 1 charges a desire to promote anarchy on (; 1 the Liberal party, and tell 3Mr Sladen ! r i that ho " must" continuo in office, como r ] \ what como r«-"vy- or m 7 ov.a part— c 'in aspirit of neutrality, and having t . \ regard only to tho true position of affairs ' c \ here, I have no hesitation i*n sayiu^ that |£J : such advice cannot be followed out, or at 3,1 • all events net for long. "By the result of m the Ballar.tfc election, thr, Sladen Ministry l( 1 is nt oric'o shorn of ■whrit little strength it ft had in the Lovrar BT.oubo ; for, although 'an old mem"' or of 'the Council, Mr Fel--s^, law.% comes forws»;:d as a now member of

the Assembly (not that I forget that many years ago he was a member of tho latter body, but times have wonderfully changed silico then) and all tho other men aro more make-weight* in the scale. Mr O'Grady again, tlvo rejected of South Buurko, was, although not a remarkably | good debater, an old and highly renpec- i table member of the Assembly, and a desirable aci|iiiaition to an intrinsically weak Ministry. It ia anticipated too, I that Mr Korford, the now Minister of Mines, will, at tho Ovens, share the I fate of his colleagues at BalWir.it and South Bourko ; and. if auch should prove to bo tho case, the probable return of the two remaining urinistorinl candidates at Villicrs and Hoytesbnry will not add much to tho parliamentary prestige of tho Ministry. It is true they will have Mr Langlon, their Treasurer, in tho Assembly, but clever as that gentleman ia an a framer of statistics in tho House, he is a failuro even in the estimation of tho constitutional party. The problem which the party assuming tli.it nnnio has taken upon iiivilf to Btilvo in, in plain terms, thin : —The carrying on of tho Government of a Colony possessing free re2>reaentative institutions, in a manner opposed, both in theory and practice, to the desires of tho majority of the electors. Now, it Hceurn to mo tliat such a proposition an this involves something like a contradiction in terms, and that tho Tfdnc'it wt (iliMvthim is the only line of argument at all applicable to it. I may bo wrong, but time, the great decider, will decide this as well as tho real of (ho knotty points which go to make up our pivßont political dilliculties; a:id, as I have tsnid b-jforo, so I say again, <pd virsu i;.»rm/ Should it eventually turn out that, in a free country, the minority can lxjnd and shape tho majority according to their own sweet wills, I, for ono, lihall certainly havo to learn my politit.-:vl creed overa^ain. In mentioning tho names of Mr Gillies and Mr O'Grady, Die two gentlemen who have just been rejected by their former constituents, I ought to ii.ivo stated that, personally, they an; f'oth uwn of high standing and good repute; as" local men, generally liked and respected! bnt all this only adds to the ignominy of tho defeat of tho new Government as a political combination. In gcriural imwHlhero has not boon much stirring since the date of my last. Yesterday having been sot apart for the cole-! oration of the anniversary of Her j Majesty's birthday. w;is very loyally ol>- j R'Tved as a g«n«-i\il holiday. A grnncl j Volunteer Itovievv was held in th>- -St. Kilda Park, that portion of our little Colonial army present upon tho occasion amounting to noarly two thousand, and ; everything passing oiF very satisfactorily/ , The attendance of spectators was, as v usual, very l-'irge, and tho weather was exceedingly pleasant. In the afternoon His Excellency the Governor, who, I am j happy to say, is rant recovering from his , rt'Ciiiit indisposition, hold a b:w<: at tho now Exhibition l.nilding. At night, Ki-ickcrs were let oft" in thy streets in some-; what dangerous profusion, and koiuo few j of the citizens U-sfilied their loyally by illuminating their shops and dwellings. A sad occurrence took place at tha i VViSliamatown Rifle Butts on Saturday:! morning. A mntch between two rival j 2orps of our Volunteer force being in j' progress, one of tho competitors—a man.:' named ltamsay-—unfortunately fired at a j' ivrong target, the front of which Gunner) : Doolcy, of tho Royal Artillery, was employed in cleaning or painting. Tho sullct struck the unfortunate Artillerynan in the back, and passed right through lim, injuring the lungs in its passage. . Happily, the wounded man ia young and ; itrong, and, in spite of tho highly dan- j jerous nature of his wound, hopes arc '.ntertnined of his recovery. , A rather important action for damages, jy way of compensation for injuries susaiued by one of tho parties to-tho suit, i' through the carelessness of tho other, was ' ;ricd at tho ni.ti priiis sittings of tho ' Supreme Court, last week. Tho ease ro- ' 'erred to wan that of Batcman o. Moffalt; . ;he plaintiff being a decorativo artist j j md landscape gardener, and tho defen- ' laut, ono of those wealthy squatters by ' ivhom His ltoyal Highness the Duke of ' Edinburgh was entertained in the course '' >f his tour through tho Western Districta j if this Colony. The plaintiff, who was in '' service of tho defendant, as xn orna- j ■ mental gardener, at a salary of L3OO a ' [ pear, being driven in a buggy and pair j r>y thedvfendant, when tho vehicle coming ! nto contact with a log, tho horses bolted, ; plaintiff and defendant were thrown ont, md the former Beriously injured. Tho sufferer was, in tho first instance, removed to Hopkins' Hill, Mr MoiTatt'a residence ; but as, after a few weeks, it . was found necessary to remove him to j ', Melbourne, for tho s ike of" better medical ittendance, tho defendant sent him to tho nearest station in a wagonnette. ' Bnt, as " misfortunes nivcr coma as single Hpies, but in battalions," sad to tell, on the road another accident ocsnrrcd, and tho unfortunate landscape gardener was aijain thrown out, and ' severely shaken and further injured. Paralysis ensued, and tho poor fellow became a hopeless invalid. It was altered i that in both instanc ■« the defendant was j ::hargeal»lo with negligence, inasmuch as '■ both of tho carriages from which thej plaintiff was thrown out were in want of j repair, and the horses vicious and un- j manazcablo. Tho plaintiff claimed T/5000 tlamaics, and tho jury gave him LldOO. Tho trial occupied two days. Had Watkr avd rra Tvvlvexck owj Hpaltw.—A short time ago w« (Lancet) | directed attention to an ontbrenk-of typhoid j fever in tha Royal Marino Barracks, at j and in. reference to it the re- j gistrar f f the d^airiat; reporti :—" Tho water i which waa u«cl l>y tho men f\rom a well ad- j joining the new wing of fcVj barracks is clear j »md sparkling, nml apparently niuch hotter | than that aunpliod by" the Do^onport Water j Company. In tv>ns;equoncc> of its lx:ing much ! in roqiHßifc'on. there win: ft gr:at drain from j jta sourco, which, I havo every rcasrw to be- j Isctc, in a v *ry larse n.atnral <sJiv<'rn —ono of t those wbkh aro sa ofton found m tho limcnfcon3 formation. Thiao.iver.-i is upwards of 100 feet from tho top of tbis very woll. There is slso a smill burial ground, nob now in uao, about fifty feet From the. top of thia woll, and only about IS) yanls from it." Wo aro! told in the Times of thi 3rd iasfcint. that; at ono tima the iahabitnnts of HfwctS, in Suffolk, nscd water from a woll sitaa^cl actually ia tha clmrcliya-<l. Hcaaett was at that timo described by t\". registrar as a hot» bod of fevar; but tho w.,-11 hnu l>3?n stopped tip; and, *t tho cloao of 183 Y. tha rosist«r report*s—" I consider my jmb4ptr«t to bo .»» very healthy «W»," '