SYDNEY.

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

SYDNEY.

(FROM OUR* DWW CORRESPONDENT.) ,;,,...... 11th August. The rush to ihe Queensland Goldfields is still in full strength; ; A, telegram frem Rockhampton, dated Wednesday, the sth instant, states that the result of a crushing finished at Ridgelands on the preceding day, waij a yieid' of 411ozs. from 48 tons of quarfc. Some, idea of the vast numbers of people who start daily to seek their fortune in' this direction, may 17 be? formed fromthelact that the Australasian^ Steam , Navigation Company, which, though .smartly opposed,,, elsewhere, I has almost a- '.njpitojly, of ,the Noythem trade

was able, after paying from the profits L42,0Q0, for the-^purchase-.bf-the; boats and plant of the;-lat&; Queensland Na"vi--gation Company, and, transferring large 4umsto thY insurance and depreciation account/ to. pa^Xl6,od() as'; aT dividend, at the rate of 10 per ceriiper annum for ijhe half-year ending witji July. And by far the greater part of these enormous profits resulted from the conveyance of diggers and {tatejidmg '.'diggers north- \ ■wards. .-,; ;. ...... '''',","[,'•!""' •■ ■;. ... ■~

I Thursday, last, the 6th instant, being .Ijhe birth-day.cl, prince Alfred, was made a -public holiday, and the Government tpok, the. opportunity ,to open the, extension" of the South Western line to MariJan, a small toVn, distant 115 miles from Sydney^, and 20 from Gduibum.;! The lately n^a^ei^-EaUwa^y extension is most safcisfaitory. /We have now 236 miles open for traffic—rthat. is to say,. 115' nlile^' joid; the jj>9uth'- western line, ,76? Oib. .the Western, :and 45 on the Northern, The greatest of engineering difficulties has. been conquered, and,; while' the country through. which the rails have untU lately, been laid has, ori the Southern, and.Western;lines.at least, been generally-j unproductive, every mile of road, now being constructed brings iis> farther - into the best agriculjmraV districts of the country., ? In; thq sis; mojiths. frpm Januarys to Julyy, over" 5,600; tons of i: breadstuffs. have been brought to, Sydney by rail; and' before,.very long iye shall be. Entirely;, independent;of- .foreign supply, and sp^ there was much rejoicing'on Thursday. , A few months ago a,gentleman,.newly arrived^ in Sydney, introduced himself to one of the> foreign Consuls hpije as the distinguished Austrian Count Yon Attem. He had with him such books, .private papers,, and photographs of members of his• illustrious family, as perfeotly to satisfy the Consul in questiofa as to his identity.. The result was that he soon became knownl' to all the "best people", in .Sydney. He was receded ;• in society, 'installed. at .the Union Club, hunted at the, Opera, caressed at Government- 3 Hoase | aiid^et^Lhe inot=postor—for suca. ; he was—carried about with, him evidence o£< his rascality sufficient to excite suspicion. His manners and appearance were those of an ostler. There, was. not<a vestige of ihigh'birth 'or polished manners about him. Your correspondent met him at the Flore-AusT tralienne in George street ay few days after his; arrival,- and at; the time that the 'Prince-was a very strange specimen of royalty; a doubt which was considerably strengthened in your corresppndeht's 'mind when-he heard that the Prince "had no money with h'imy 'but was' borrowing it on the strength of his representations, and- of certain1 nbn^riegotiable bills ;on -'ithe1 ' A^glo-Austrian Bank.?After spending a ;pl'easarit month, or two hfere, our illustrious visitor resumed lis tour, and was last' heard of as having touched at 'Bowen, in isForthern Queensland, in command of his yacht Hamlet's Ghost. „: In telligence 'receivedI,' by 'the; last mail has innicted a heavy blow apon the ■insinuating foreigner's confiding friends. It is found that .he is -not the" Count Yon Attem.at:all (a punster might say there-was,' nptyppatom of truth in hisstory), TEeroal* Coiini, .it -is said, [ died' at, Sierra;fceone : a .short time ago, and. the gentleman who; has honored us wito his acquani^ticie or .was, his. valetj who :had.tmanaged -itq possess ■ himself of the ..defunct ?nobleman!s. ... travelling.V, effects. ) '.; .l This laughable little affair reminds us of; Gentleman Chucks, ; who excused;^himself for a similar." misfcake ", by^saying the.:" only thing of my poor master's I took was his ,namej.;which he" had no further occasion forj poor -fellow !"<■ Our late; visitor can Jay: nps such salve to his conscience, if he had one.' '■■■■-•-■ ';.'-■-i.:^.- v.r- ( -•.">.,,.>■

: Airaction for Kbely tha. details of which areToflisoine-interest, is likely .to "occupy the attention of; the Supreme- Court in a month; or so. 'WheflDr Bland died, the S. r M. published ■ an .obituary article the day after.-- "The writer of this notice .alluded, in > a ;-,yeisy. disgusting manner to an. incident in Dr gland's career previous to.his arrival in" Isew South- Wales. He-said: <cDr Bland arrived in the .Colony in early "days, having been sent out for murdering a man ;in a duel.?' ■> Now Dr Bland, it is said, was the challenged,. and not the challenger, in this duel; and being ac the time a surgeon in. a. man-of-war, he had no' alternative but to ; accept the; challenge. ■ His opponent fell. Dr . Bland was tried, found.-, • guilty, and sentenced to transportation ; but his pardon ■ came out with him, or very soon after^ ; He then practised as a physician, and took a prominent part in the stormy; and dangerous politics; of the time, in conjunction with" the celebrated Wentwortli and ' otKer" afden% reformers. Since his arrival in ihe eoleny to the time ;of his death; his personal conduct was • : He had avlargepractice^ as a physician,' took a considerable in- 5 terest in the cultivation of Science, and latterly held a pension of L3OO a year—a pension,, conferred; by th;e"Legislature asa, sreward for his political services'to'itKe. •country.- The unfeeling allusion in the '. H&rald'. gave great pain to': his i very nii-,; vmerous friends-and admirers ; and one of them, a■ Mr ..lee, ? felt, himself called upon to avenge tne insult. He •wrote.- a -letter -.to- -the Herald- which was refused psertion,: ..and, h.e then distributed it in the. shape of a tract or handbilly keaded } of ithe Sydney Morning Herald." This document announced Mr Lee's intention, in the event _of his surviving the senior proprietor of Sthe Herald, of publishing ," a history of sthat; distinguished person's life" ; concluding with an allusion which furnishes the growid/ior legalproceedings. ':■