VICTORIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2050, 31 August 1868, Page 3

VICTORIA.

; .^FiabM OUE. OWN, COKREsipONDENT.) ' \ Melboukne, August 22nd^> s , - The ."deadlock, 3;' together with.its pfin^, cipal cause, the Darling grant, being now: numbered ; amongst. the , things of the'i past, while the , Colony ' appears to be v Rapidly;■recovering from the depressing^ eflfecfcs■;<s, the ..late '~ suspension of public; paymfentsj. politijial matters here hayey for.the presentat least, ceased ta create much excitement at.hpme^or'. tp possess mucHi oin^erest^fpr^^.readers in any.portion of Her Majesty's dominions, outside, of the Vic-' torian boundaries, '[,'-The -tJliief-Secretary and. Treasurer, that- is to say, Mr, M'Cul-; loph, made. Ma financial • statement, in tlie Xegislatiye .Aasenitly,: on Tuesday,.; eyening; and as some; alarm, had previously been'.causecTby the .allegations of. thje former Treasurer- Mr Langtori, asto! the condition pi pur public accbunts^--- 1 which, according to his figures, would show a-:deficit:of: 1^703,000, at the-end1 of' '4he present yearj-r-a good dealof curiosity,: mingled with anxiejhry was displayed by; the1 general public as t6 the .of- Mr-M'Gulloch. In- a .speech of great lengthy bristling with a 1 formidable array of figuresj vthe. Gbief Secretary endeavoured to show that the unfavorable result arrived'at^^ by Mr Lington had been caused by leaving .certain- sums—such for justance^as L50;000 or so advanced frointEe current revenue in anticijpatibn^ of the next railway Iban—but bfth'e credit side" of the public account^ and by increasing beyond; due bounds the estimates of "expenditure on the one hand, and diminishingl those of the receipts on the1 other. : After all,' lioweyer; Mr MJCulloch. was compelled to admit that, even

making full allowance for all the alleged exaggerations of his, r predecessor, the P^Mp-finances were in a condition that involved the necessity of retrenchment in the various Government departments ; while his own estimated balance-sheet for 1868 showed a deficiency of more than L61,00Q. It is true that he expressed a hope of being enabled to wipe off that adverse balance before the expiry of the financial year ; but, as hitherto, in almost every case, the Government has either not found itself able, or has been unwilling to curtail to any -great extent the expenditure sanctioned by the Assembly,' it is not. very likely'that they will be much1 mbre successful upon the present occasion." -In "themeantime, partly on account of .the now recognised fact that the public expenditure here has reached an extravagant point, and partly m .deference to the general public opinion Which now prevails, that/the civil servants ks a body are too highly paid, in proportion to the salaries given to men of a similar class and 'Standing in private establishments, the Chief Secretary promises that'during tHe Approaching Parliamentary recess thp'Government^ it their business to cause full inquiry to be made1" into tne 'working details of, the several • .ministerial ■ departments, with a view to^taking stringent measures forreducfng the public expenditure. '". Upon the whole, the description given by Mr M cCtill6ch of "the'financial condition of: the Colony may :be considered, 1 if 'not entirely satisfactory,1 at least as affording no gre^'at cause%r; alarm. .: The* 'revenue1; for 1867, and for the past half of ihe current year has been higlierthan that; for several years.previously ; and, whilfe1 tlie^'duties" on some articles passing - through - • the Custom Souse have Mien off; ;i the v aggregate sum of taxes'cfallected there has alsbshpwn an increase. All ■-. parties -appear now to. be agreed on thinking that the great w&riifbf the Colony is'immigration'; and -in the probable; event of the establishment befdre lbhg of a powerful line of large and. swift steamers to run between England and this portviathe Cape of Good ■ Hope, under special larrangemen's -with-? the Victorian; 'Goverrimeni,' xor' the' con- ■ veyance of passengers at cheap, rates, if is hoped that we sTiall receive such accessions to ourppp'ulatibn;s^' will 'ifolaterially addtobu&prbspefity/ ;: The.esiMatea.fo^ih^.: present ye^ haye ajl been passed ;, and, as' vtKe: Gbvernm'ent'-' do"' riot* propose- 'to; bring ; any fresh * business of importance, befbre-Parliament until after !'thereeess,r the session wMI yery "shortly -be brbught to • a close. - It is anticipated that tthe priribi^al'measureSubmitted>'at the .com-' mencemen.t of the ensuing session^will be a new Land Bill; the expiry of the present squatting tenure in" 1870' rendering speedy legislatibii ,bri/that''subject-'absb^ ; lutely necessary. Vlt is not expected,' however, that any very startling novelties will be introduced into the new (Bill; but, judging" from the ' intimations - already given by.Ministers, as tp.their, intentions in : the? matter, it ( >may be expected! that the operation,* of the principle of. " free 'selection1 before isurvey^'r.contained in the 42ad clause-'bf-Hihei present Land Act, and which clause has' been found to work well; so far. as its "rather restricted; terms wouldl allow, will be extended-soob virtually to apply to'nearly all'the unali enated! agricultural land -in the Colony, and so as "to allow of 'allotments being taken up of any 'exceeding 640 acfes,~ upon very easy terms. . "-■-"■» -.'•■•-.: - 'It is anticipated that the "first,'business^, entrusted to Air Verdon, btir ; new Agent General^ will be'the negotiation o£ a loan of two millipnß. sterling, to be applied chiefly te the construction, of fai.railway toJihejQsensjliatrict. V^-JB.-^ ll*^ll^^- to carry out the hew lirieupon'a much more economical • scale ; than, has hitherto 'been adopted,' for1 while the lattei* have x cost ■- miley-it is .proposedvtoispend only about L10,000'?a" nlile,1 including on the Ovens line... The .money is to be borrowed at five per cent, interest, instead of six perxent.j as paidixpon our "present railway loans; the Government being 6f opinion that this plan will be, in the end, more economical; than.:issuing ''debentures at'svx rper cen^ at a premium, and they believe that,';at ;the' present value of Victorian securities in the Lond|on money market, -a fiv6' per cent, loan can be raised at <{'patr.'' ->■■ '■•■'' | On Monday evening last, the " Loyal Liberals" of Ballarat; entertained several membersfof the' B^nistry at a' little* " t^a' ;! p,arty^' r a^Syhich upwards; of 5000 guests : ,of both sexes sat~down-n-pr ratlier stood, : lor there--was -only. standing room for a larg^ njUmber.pf. them.: The meeting was; held, in the iPrince: Alfred .Hall.i ; Owing to., pr^ess of budriess^ ,the. Chief, Secre-. tary:was t un,able to rib§: presentj^./. "but the absence of that .gentleman- • was■compensated for 'by;-'; the t presence, of ~-, his ; , ; rfprmer ..V. Attorney ,-' Gerierali! Mr> Higiribothami upon whom.; devolved •the duty : . v pf ma^ing ;s */i,e speech of the ptening.,, , The presence of a large number of ladies: gave; to" the, affair; not 'Jof t en'belpnging to; political gathering's,: ..and' everything, passed ofi^ very^pteasahtly" and satisfactorily. A special' train conveyed the Ministers' and' some.^tT7o;hunr dred; of • their-friends and /suppoE-ters to, aridfrbmithe scene ofthe entertainment.'

r In spite of these pujdic.denjons'rations in favor of the new Ministry,rhowever, ; a ., very.serious charge ; is : ,hanging; over thei head of'one of tits'.' members ; =- ay change '■ 'indeed,; !that, : 'if ii.otV sp)eedilyr refuted, > '-, may - not : r improbably- ;re' suit in ,the involuntary retirement into; private: life of vthe person accused*, The ■Minister 'alluded to is >Mr O;'-E. Jones,, the of Railways, who: several months agoy atteriifaving previously ■supported the old M'Cjilloch.; Ministry,''suddeiily took: i^p a'position 1 antagonistic to them. It was asserted by, Mr Jones's accusers that in: the early partof the present yearj and while acting in opposition to his former party, he received, a sum of'!L6o-aS'a honus from the "Constitutional' 3 party, in aid of his endeavors fto ;ou'st the -Ministry. "In reply to.; this* charge, Mr- Jones, at an election meeting, solemnly denied the charge, calling upon his "Maker" to witness the truth of that denial. As soon as this became known, Mr Moses- Alexander^ one of the secretaries of the Constitutional Association, made" a statutory"depuration;; before a Magistrate in -to. ; the ..effect that he had paid the money in question to Mr Jones at the bbuse of the; latter ; and this doilaratioh' was' supported by others' bearing incidentally "upon ; the . matter,. whichj taken altogether, certainly; gave a very'graVe aspect to the charges 'Among; other facts which came out in .connection! with the affair, it appeared that about the time *>f. ;the" alleged payment of the, money to Mr Jonesj> Jie wrote a letter ta : a Mr Randallj' of "Gollingwpod, :ari active freetrader and constitutionalist, in which the following- passage occurred—"thepaschal lamb is ready for the sacri-; fice, but- the mint sauce- is wanting.s; This-1 highly ■■ improper lusion to a sacred subject has-.naturally created -a good deal of disgust in the minds even of persons who are not dis- ' posed to believe that Wr Jones has been guilty of *he more heinous crime of calling ■upon his-Maker tq" attest a f aisehppd.. r andwhethpr he "succeeds or fails in establishing his innocence of the latter offence, ihere'cah be no doubt that it will require

a very long course of discreet behaviour ;on the part of Mr, Jones, to obliterate the disagreeable impressions caused amongst the public by the former; It seems that the subject will shortly engage the attention of the Supreme Court, as Mr Randall- and a Mr Rees, who were attacked in print by Mi Jones for the share they took in endeaVoring to fix the charge o? bribery upon aim, have commenced legai proceedings foj libel against that Minister. On the other hand, Mr Jones states that he intends to iaove for a Parliamentary inquiry into th& whole subject, and there, for the presehtji the matter rests; '