MELBOURNE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4012, 25 December 1874, Page 5 (Supplement)

MELBOURNE.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

December 12th,

Parliament is still working heroically through ■ the fag end of the ses-ion, its mind intent on finishing up its business, and one eyo steadfastly ! fixed on the little Bill providing for payment of ' members, which at present hangß between earth and heaven pending the decision of the Legisla- ; tive Council. The Bill, us it stands, provides for payment of members, of both Houses alike, lint there is reason to believe that a good many mcmi hers of the Couucil are ashamed of the course ; they adopted in ncp.eptjng payment before, and ' that they will leave out the part referring to 1 themselves even it they pass the remainder. But there are one or two men in the Assembly—notably Mr Higinbotham—■who are opposed to the i distinction between the two Houses thftt \vould be.implifd by one'being ooinpo.sed of paid and . the other of .honorary members, Mr Higinbotham would strenuously resent any stich '. amendment of the Bill. . But it is doubtful if he would get many of his fellow members to follow ; him in his opposition, as a large number of them 1 would consider that the end of legislation was reached when they had secured tliejr own salaries all right, However f^la may be, it is quite i likely thftt we shall have something like a "shindy" over this Bill before tho end of this i unconsoidnably long session. Tho Council is now engaged dealing, in a free and eaxy_ way, with the Local Government Bill, over whish the Assembly was so long labouring. It hai struck out the clause abolishing tails, and has'also left out some pleases providing for the compulqory opening of all surveyed roads running through large estates where all the land on both skies of- the road is owned by one holder. In rosuiy suoh cases where a man has bought land in Ibis way, perhaps, as in several cases in the Western district, many thousands of acres together, ho has put a nag fence round it, enclosing roads and all. By this means many of the landowners have appropriated a good deal" of land belonging to the State, and for which they have never paid a penny, It would be quite fair to make th-em pay an equitable price for this land, or, if that course were objeoted to, to charge them rent for the use of it. But some members of the Assembly who hold that the prime object of l:ind legislation should be to prevent the aggregation of largo estates, insisted on inserting in this Bill a clause making it compulsory on such landowners to open the roads, and thus to compel them to fence along-by them, and thus cut their property up into blocks. It was in vain to point out thtvt many of the roads are useless, and that the expenditure which this course would'necessitate would be a perfectly wasteful one. The clause was passed, and sent up to the Council, which has now struck it out. Here is another little difficulty of the kind of wliich we always get a batch at the end of every te;sion. A question aiises as to when the session is to end. There is yet a good deal of business either to get through or to leave undone, and Parliament has already been sitting nearly nine months. Besides, Sir George Bbwen is going homo on, leave of absence, and will leave by tho : outgoing mail on the 31st of this month. Bnt ; it is doubtful whether all ot tho measures now before Parliament and advanced towards becoming law can be finished by that time, and it , seems likely that a good deal of work will have '. to be sacrificed in the usual way, Of course all I this arises from tho fivot that members like to ta}k somuoh better than to work, and they ' waste so much time in foolish wrangling and potty discussion that they have not time to per- • form the work for which they were sent to faj- • liament.

We have had during tho last week some specimens of thp tactics of some unscrupulous foes of the Education Act. Having failed to stop tho passing of the measure, they try to do all in their power to discredit and to embarrass its working. A favourite device is to shower in applications for new schools, with thp yiesy either of occasioning difficulty to, the Minister by refusing, qr of exciting ill will of the taxpa} rer by tho burden of expense. V\To pretty well know the source whence th.is polioy emanates, a.nd who •'re its direoting authorities. But many from, political objects join in aiding it who have no sympathy with the Catholic Cjhuroh. Somo of tbo ngents of this policy get elected to Boards of Advice with the same objects, and so succeed in hampering and impeding tbo workingof tho Act in a very dpgyo.e, ' But their procedure has, been rather too glaring, and their tricks rather too clumsy, They have been seen through and exposed, and can hardly bo productive of much more mischief.

As a specimen of the manner in which the time of Parliament is wasted, I ma;/ refer to a subject which formed, matter of solemn rlisc.uKsiqn the other evening. Jn itself the matter was cojnidul on'ough. ' Last Saturday Mr Ducanc the ex-Governor of Tasmania, sailed for Euglaud in tha Northumberland, and Sir George Bowen wont with him as far as Tort Phillip Heads. As the Blup got under way it passed close by the old man-of-war the Nelson, and somo sycophantic genius—in all probability the first Jetfcer of his name was J. J. Casey—suggested that a salute ought to be fired in honour of Mr Pueano. Of course, there was hq right whatever for a salute. Mr Jhicane had ceased to hold an official position j the ship was not flying his flag or Sir George Bowon's, but merely its own " house flag"; our Governor, was merely taking a trip .from Hohson's Bay to Sorrento, and th.ere was no pretext of any kind for a salute. Hp.wever, this was regarded as objection at ii]l worth nottqe, anxl it was determine^ to signal to the Nqlspn commanding a salute, In the meantime theNorthu,mberlanr],topreserve "steerage-way," was slowly steering round the Nelson. Thero was no answer to the signal, and after wailing some time the signal-book was referred to, and it was found that tho ship was signalling W preserved fruit," no doubt to tho hifceuse bewilderment o,f the officer in command of the Nelson. This was, rectified, but as no eiTeot was produced. The Minister of Lands, the aforesaid Mr J. J. Casoy, resolved to go on board and use his authority ; so this self-important functionary, fuming and swelling with a high sense of his position and dignity. niajestioally stepped into a bout and went on board. Here ho found that the offioor objected to receive commands from him, on tho reasonable ground that he had no right to give them, but the irate Casey stormed and bullied till tho officer at last conceded tho point. So Mr Casey returned to the ship, where the two Governors all thjs tj.rne word occupying a very ignominious position, and the captain was swearing over tho absurd delay; at length tl('e salute, jn an irregular slovenly manner, was fired, and the ship steamed away on her voyage. A more comically ignoble occurrence could hardly bo imagined, and the two Excellencies could hardly feel very gratoful for the flunlceyism of a toadying Minister, which had subjected, thcn^ to, such absurd Humiliation. Vyel.l, a member thought it worth while to put a serious question to the Government about this occurrence, to enter into all its details, and to point o,«t at length how irregular the whole affair was. The only result was an assurance from the Treasm-er that it " would not be allowed to occur agaiu,"

It was a curious coincidence which brought us in one day two telegrams notifying the arrest of two notable culprits. One of these achieved fame in New Zealand. I allude tq Sullivan, the araiablo murderer whqm jour Gp,vermnent recently set r,t K»'ge o,n his premise to leave the Colonies fo,r ever. The Qther d,ay, the polioe authorities were informed hy telegraph from Jnglewood that a man had been arrested who was boljeved to be the Sullivan whom the New Zealand Government lately succeeded in smuggling out of the Colony, and shipping to England. At first, the report was disbelieved j but as we now hear that the prisoner has bepji pearly identified, and as it also a.npearst that he has relatives at Ingle\Yood,jt »oems that there can be no doubt $s f v his identity. Many persons hftve recognised him, and there appears no question that we have this sentimental scoundrel safely in the lock-up. He made a great miscalculation in coming to Victoria, (\a we, have an awkward statute, the Criminals Influx Invention Act, whijjh fits his ois.e to a nicety, and under its provisions he is liable to three years' imprisonment. After ho has served that period we shall bo happy to hand him over to your Go-: vernment again. I have not the smallest doubt that before long we shall henr that Gardiner, the New Sou,tb Wajes. bushranger, has been arrested nea.r some of his old haunts. The old places,. with all their dangers, have a fascinating attraction for these men that they cannot resist. The other case I alluded to was that.of O'Forrall, the defaulting lands official, who has been arrested at Singapore. ©'Ferrall is a very mammoth amongst embezzleis. It is given to few men to steal £17,000 ov £18,000, to do it safely over a series of years, to spend it and enoy it iuthe. eyes of tUe.public, a^w^ht^e

reputation of. being a generoiis, princely fellow,: whq had Aladdin's ":lamp, or tho ■philosopher's stone, and at last'to get'clear away before it was suspected.: Thewonderfnlluckof'O'Forrall still followed him. Jloreached New Zealand uuin' terfered. with, ' and, got away; to New Caledouia before those sent after him could overtake him! when his' whereabouts were ascertained; a detective was sent to'try-to bfffct his capture; liut the officer's efforts were baffled by some officials in the Police, who had sonic sort of connection with O'Ferrall, and kept him informed of evejy. thing that was being, done. ■ A t length a ruee was tried.. The detective.was recalled, and the chase was ostensibly abandoned. At the same timo; secret arrangement was made with a French resident of the island to watch O'Ferrall, and to give information of his movements. The result of this was that he was reported lately to have left ijlie island for Queensland. Steps were taken to secure him, but too late. He had sailed in the Torres Strait mail steamer Legislator,, for Singapore. . Up to this point O'Ferrall's fortune had never_ deserted him. He seemed to have a charmed life, and to be secure against all attempts. But this going by a vessel between ports joined by the telegraphic wires was .a, great miscalculation, and inevitably led to his capture. In fact he had put himself in tho trap, and there "was no escape. Our Government telegraphed to Siv Andrew. Clarke, Governor of the Straits settlements, requesting him to aid in securing the defaulter. Sir Andrew, who was at one time Surveyor-General in this Colony, and in that capacity the chief of the offico to which O'Fer-. ral lately belonged, responded to the invitation, saw that the proper means were taken, and the other: day was' enabled to report to our Government that tho runaway was secured. It is expected that he will be brought to Melbourne by the next mail steamer, and that he will arrive in some six or seven weeks. We were shocked to hear last evening that a telegram had been received announcing the sudden death of Professor Wilson, Mathematical Professor at the Melbourne University. Professor Wilson went to Movoington to take charge of one of the subsidiary observation stations, formed to, ghserve the transit.of Venus, and superintended the operations quite successfully. On the second day afterwards ho was seized with paralysis, and died before medical aid could be procured from Melbourne: Professor Wilson was a man of great ability i\nd gpiontiflo aeal, and it will be q djffipult matter for the University to supply his place without losing by the exchange. It is unnecessary for me to say anything About the observations of the transit, more thau that, they were taken in spite of broken uncertain weather with fair success, and that Viotoria will be able to supplfa good quota to the general result ' . . '