MELBOURNE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4165, 24 June 1875, Page 3

MELBOURNE.

(from our own correspondent.) June 17ih. The Assembly is still hammering away over the Land Bill, every member thinking it necessary to make a figure in 'the eyes of his constituents by delivering a set harangue for or against the measure. It is curious to tee the way in which they ignore everything that has been said before on this much bet^lkcd question. As though former Parliament had known nothing of the matter, they take up the tale of Troy, from Lcda's egg, and repeat with "damnable iteration " propositions that were worn threadbare long years ago. "I venture to state, as the opinion to which I have been led iv reference to this subject," is often the introduction to some arrant platitudes th;»t have been the commonplaces of newspaper articles and Parliamentary spef dies for years past. The result of all this wearisome perfunctory oratory, retailed out upon a strong sense of duty by the yard, or, rather, by the mile, is that the debute upon the second reading is still going on unexhausted, although certainly not exhaustingly. A Bill to repeal the Offioial-j in Parliament Act has been introduced by a private member, and smuggled past its second reading. The Acb it is sought to repeal was passed in a selfdtnyiug moment by our Parliauieut many years a;io. It provides that no member of Parliament can accept a place of honour or profit under the Crown with the cxctij tion i of the various Ministers, and the Judg3:hip

o c the Supreme Court, while he continues a I n.e i,b;r, or withiusii months after ceasing < to .be one. -.-. This has tbeelFtct of imposing a v^ry (Useful: checks on the ain'iition of t Horo'iraliie memi-ers who otherwi&e might feel a xtr-int; <1< sro to serve tlitir country in 5 more lucriiive,positions, ami might, for the r consj leraiiuii" of a'vnte, succeed in obtaining i such p s'fiens fr mi t c Government.of the c day. What joiiti.al virtue we hare f .a«iiniig«t us is perhaps -Jargply due to the iv- r fluenee p r this li-.t'e Act, But, vow comes a t priv.i*e member, aMr Bent, by profession, t until of lale, a mtrkit gardener, vv hr> brings i in aB II f,>r its repeal, and lias, as I said, got r it passi «I the sejond reading. What is Mr r Bent's interest in the matter is not very c clear, as it is hardly like!y that the most t profligate Ministry we are ever likely to get, t would give lim an ogeut-generalship, or a c County Court Judgeship, or any of the J many comfortable offices that at times fall I for disposal. The only explanation of his \ action is the supposition that he has been 3 "put up" by some members who do not 1: themselves care to come forward, but who r find this inconvenient Act stand sadly in c the way of their advancement The same f Rill was brought in last year and passed f through the Assembly, but was lost in the Council, as it in all likelihood will also be a this yi ar. ii A curious incid-nt took place in the v Asso-bly the othi-r day. Mr Higinbotham v brought in a petition from some " labourers v on the Van Yean aqueduct, in pnblic meet- c ing assembled," praying for the passing of o the Land Bill, and the imposition of a land c tax. absentee tax. and making some very y offensive references to the Legislative Count oil. A good deal of opposition was offered y to the reading of the petition, on the ground that it was disrespectfully worded in its references to the Council, and it was ]< argued that if one House allowed f< su ;h statements to be made in peti- h tions addressed to it, the other House k might do the same thing, and a very c uncomfortable state of things iflig t thus be r1 introduced between the two chambers. c There is no doubt as to the soundness of this b ground of opposition ; but a desire to annoy a the Council seemed to have weight with the" " majority, and it was decided, on division, to s have the petition read. After another angry c discussion, the question was put that the f' petition be received, and again a majority a voted with the ayes. In both divisions the 'I (Government were found not with the a majority, and they have incurred severe re- J, prehension for pandering to motives of fac- r tion and tendencies of disunion in so doing, a But now comes the amusing part of the * affair. Some days afterwards a letter from the contractors for the works was published t in the Argus, stating that they had made v oloss enquiry, and could not learn that any " meeting of the sort had ever been lield. In E fact, it "seems that Mr Higinbotham was hoaxed either by a " jokisf or by some designing lnischit-f-maker, and that the Government also fell into the trap. So after excited debate and wrangling and two divisions, the Assembly has adopted a petition from a meeting that never had any existence, and has probably made bad blood with the Council that may tell vcy injuriously on the fate of the future leg;slation of tn3 session. In my last letter I alluded to some of the rumours that had bes"me current respecting the [estate of one of our wealthy lower orders latelj' d> ceased, to wit, MiMichael Dawson. Su cc then the possibilities of an untested inheritance and pro tracted litigation in this case, have formed welcome matter of conversation in a rather dull social time. Steps have been taken towards obtaining letters of administration for the. widow, ar.d the value of the de ceased's property is stated at £228,500. This, although not so large as was at first stated, will form a good substantial alleviation of the grief which the loss of the departed gentleman will occasion to his relatives. That is to say, it will if the danger of litigation is avoided. Altogether, uring the last few days, far more attention has been paid to the affairs of this rotund, little, round-faced Irishman, than he ever attracted before during the course of his life. It is remarkable the interest that is felt in sporting circles in the comparatively newly-introduced sport of coursing, and the predominance that it has obtained. There are now several large and liberally supported coursiug clubs, and large sums of money are given in prizes at the various meetings. Every ship that comes from England brings some greyhounds of long and ill istrious pedigree, and these dogs, from being very rare, have become very common indeed. The large rough kangaroo clog of the early days of the Colony has, in the settled districts, given place to the fleeter, cleaner, finer framed greylioui.d. Over a large area of the central part of Victoria, hares are multiplying and spreading rapidly, and coursing will, without question, hold a high place amongst the sports of the future. Serious attention has been called to the miserably precarious, ill-paid positions held by a very large number of the Church of England clergy, in Victoria. The Episcopalian Church has for a long time failed to secure to its ministers an equal salary and equal status to that of the ministers, for instance, of the Pres jyterian Church. Its members have been accustomed to look upon it as a rich State Church, and cannot understand being asked to support it. The State Grant to Religion, which was abolished by an Act passed some years ago, absolutely ceases with the current year, and as a large part of the salaries of the clu-gy depend upon the State grant, it really is a very gloomy future that lies before them. That this should be tne Gase is, of course, most disgraceful to the laity of a Church which includes amongst its members so many of the most wealthy persons in Victoria, but the fact is only too undeniable, and, although attention has often been called to it, the exposure seems to have very little effect on the liberality of the well-to-do members. Of course, the difficulty will in time bring ifci own remedy, and the " struggle for existence" will induce many aspirants to clerical positions to devote their energies to more promising fields. Already this influence is apparent in the lowering character of the recruits that are being secured to fill the vacancies in the clerical Tanks. If the average clergyman is not well paid on the other hand, he is not a man that would have earned much more in any other career— perhaps would have found no other career in which he would have got a living. Our Melbourne Exhibition bids fair to be a successful one. It appears now that we shall have exhibits from all other Australian Colonies. The area of contributions has been constantly widening, and we have f.very probability now of gettinc a good and important collection together. Some jealousy was shown in Sydney towards the scheme, as, indeed, was not very surprising, but it has given place to more liberal feelings, and New South Wales is likely to be an imnortant exhibitor both with us and at the larger show in Philadelphia. The success of the Rev. Chas. Clark and his lecture on the "Tower of London" has been unprecedented. The rev. gentleman would clearly do well to surrender the evidently uncongenial calling of a preacher, and, getting rid of its trammels, devote himself to the lecturing platform His lec'ures are denounced as merely superficial, tinsel parades of eleuution, anecdote, and a wonderful memory. Probably they are open to all of these criticisms and more. But the net result is that they succeed as no lectures have ever succeeded here before. He gave the lecture in the Town Hall to an immensely crowded audience, and on repeating it a week afterwards, gathered a second crowd equally large. Mr Clark having announced that he would again repeat it on Friday next, dubbed for the occasion " Waterloo Day." an anniversary not usually much noticed here, the crowding is transferred to the music-seller's shop where tickets are sold, and where we are told the throng yesterday was 6uch that ordinary customers could hardly get into the shop. It is estimated that Mr Clark clears £200 by each delivery of the lecture in the Town Hall. So that at present he is doing very well, and his clerical brethren, who have always shaken their heads over him as a doubtful one, are no doubt moved with great joy to observe his flourishing condition. Mr Charles Bright, whose series of freethought lectures attracted so much notice here, intends, I believe, to proceed on a lecturing tour, in which he will re-deliver them to provincial audiences, Mr Tyerman, the spiritualist, has been lecturing at Sydney and Brisbane, and in the latter town, the formation of a "Free Thought Association " has grown out of his efforts. The Rev. C. Featherstonhaugh, of the Churoh of England, whose sermon in a Melbourne church some months ago so startled and horrified poor ii J Dean Macartney, has finally decided to quit p I the Church, feeling that he could not any

longer retain the position of minister of a chnrch, when he found that h« wns more and more separating himself fiom the doctrines he was expected to teach. ■ ! At the Theatre Royal the ' Shaughratin " still runs most successfully Tha*. fortunate management has again dropped v] on a pood ihing, and having got the piece started, may | continue it, without any difficulty or trouble, for some time longer* The men who make ■up the management are not, with the exception of Mr George Coppin, persons to « horn the drama owes much, !,ut what it does owe it is paying in very full measure. They do nothing to elevate the stage, they seldom or never produce anything that anyone of taste or culfure can see without annoyance, but iv the art of working the theatre so as to yield themselves a good substantial profit, no one can deny that they ate perfect masters. Miss Alice May is doing well at the Opera House, although she has a comtjmy by which 3he is on'y indifferently supported. Miss May's progress on the stage since she has been in Victoria is something extraordinaiy, and she deserves the credit of being a conscientious industrious artist, who shrinks from no pains to arrive at the hightst perfection of which she is capable. Commercial matters continue to be very shaky at Sydne3', and day by day we receive intelligence of large failures, showing the unsoundness of trale, and the extent to which confidence and credit have been weakened. The only large case of commer cial difficulty that has occurred here is that of Messrs M'Ewan and Co., wholesale grocers, but in this the accountants have not yet been able to prepare a statement, so t&at the state of the assets and liabilities cannot yet be known.

Strasukrs paying <i .isit to uunetlia are often at a loss to know which is the best establishment to visit for the purchase of drapery and clothing. Herbert, Haynes, and Co. offer special advantages to the public that can be met with nowhere else in the city. They keep at all times the largest and best assorted stock of every class of goods, imported direct from the leading uianufacturers and warehousemen at home, which, being bought entirely upon cash terms, they are enabled to offer goods of such sterling value as cannot be equalled by any other house in the trade. Every article in stock is marked at a fixed price for reidy money, from which no abatement is ever made, so that the most inexperienced buy their goods at the same price as the best judges. Their terms are—net cash, without discount or reduction of any kind. A fuller description o their stock will be found in an advertisement in the first pase of this caper. —-fAdvt. Holloway's Oistmpxt and Pills.—Sure rcliet— The weak and enervated suffer seveiely fr. m nervous affections when storms or e'ectric disturb vices agitate the atmosphere. Neuralgia, goiry \mngs, and flying pains, vcy disfessiug to a delicate fj--tc.ni, may be rea/lily removed hy rubbing this Ointment upon the affected part sifter it l.as b en fomented with warm water. The Pills, taken occas'onally in the doses prescribed by the instructions, keep the digestion hi order, excite a free flow of ht-althy bile, and replenish the impoverished blood with those richer constituentswhi:h result from thoroughly assimilat. d fowl- in the absence of wlvch the strongest mv t inevitably toon sink into feebleness, and the delicate fi> d it difficult to maintain existence. Ilol.oway's Uiulmeiit and Pills are inftiHib'e remedies.