VICTORIA. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Otago Witness, Issue 773, 22 September 1866, Page 9

VICTORIA. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

i !The following letter, in consequence of having been taken to Hokitika, reached us ' only on Wednesday. Although later news ' was received' by 1 the Mail steamer, the l3tter will be read with interest. Melbourne, 7th Sept. Our new" Governor, the Hon. Sir J. 11. Manners Sutton, has conducted himself with so much affability since his arrival, a? to have pained the favor of every one with whom he has been brought into con'act. While of his amiable lady and her daughters ecjually favorable reports prevail. At a levee, held at the Exhibition Building, and at which upwards of two thousand persons were "presented," His Excellency, so far, departed from the usual precedent upon such occasions as to substitute a cordial shake of the hand with each presentee, for the cold and formal bow which had previously been bestowed on him by the representative of royalty in this Colony. And 8s for patience and good temper on Sir John's part, both those qualities have been most severely tried by the thousand and one presentors of addresses, to all of ■' which he was expected to make a gracious reply of some sort or the other, and in each case to say substantially the same thing in a somewhat different form ef words— and in this trial he has not been fonnd wanting in the valuable qualities referred to. On the occasion of the opening up to view of the Ballarat contingent of objects intended to be forwarded to the Intercolonial Exhibition, to be held in this city next month, His Excellency visited that metropolitan goldfield for the first time. He was very heartily received, and in the course of a brief but appropriate speech, delivered at a banquet to which he was invited by the townsfolk, he expressed himself as being highly gratified with the striking evidences of the wealth and prosperity that had met his gaze during his short stay in the district. Politics, strictly so called^ being just now a dead letter with us, and the late stormy times of the Tariff question having been succeeded by a comparative calm, while the great land question is considered to be settled for the next three years, the new Governor is not likely aoon to have much to trouble or perplex him in that line, so that, upon the whole, he has every prospect of an easy time of it. There is, however, a question looming in the distance which will, no doubt, when it comes on for discussion in due course, rouse the polit'cal energies of all parties here to the utmost, and try what kind of stuff both Governor and governed are made of. I mean the question of the renewal of the exclusive rights of the squatters, all of whose present leases terminate in 1870 ; but that time is as yet too far distant to calculate what the result of the coming struggle upon the point is likely to be. The great law case of Bruce versus the the Queen, in which, as your resder3 may remember, the executors of Mr Bruce, one of the contractors for the Sandhurst line of railway, sued the Government of this " Colony for abcut L 200,000, alleged to be due on account of the works executed by the late firm ; and which case, after a trial "at bar," or before three Judges of the Supreme 'Court, lasting several weeks, terminated in a verdict for tbe plaintiff for the greater portion of the amount claimed, has again heen brought before the public. The Crown having appealed to the full Court upon certain technical points, judgment has been pronounced in favor of the plaintiff, with damages to the amount of L 155,261 Is lid. The Crown counsel have signified the intention of the Government to appeal to the Privy Council against thedeci>ionof the Coloaial Supreme Court; and it is reported that the Hon. T. H. Fellows, one ot the counsel for the plaintiff, has been offered a two thousand guinea brief to go Home to oppose the appeal—an offer which, by the way, , the learned counsel is reported to have refused. The punctuality which has beea attained ■ by the new Panama line of mail steamers, has excited a good deal of admiration here, and together with the attention paid to the comfort of the passengers by the employes of the Company, has been the means of drawing the attention of intending visitors j to Europe and America to the advantages of that route. Amongst the passengers from Victoria by the last steamer of that line was Mr Sullivan, our late Minister of Mines, who. is proceeding to America on business in connection with his private affairs. While upon the subject of the new line of steamers, I may mention that the Kaikoura's American news to the effect that a Bill tod been brought forward in the, Legislature, of the United States, for • the purpose of " establishing conditions for the admission of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, into the Union," &c, is generally ' looked upon as unworthy of belief, while it appears equally improbable that any considerable number of Canadians would be found to approve of «uch a project;. Oar Parliament stands prorogued to

OctobeTj-but it is~ not "likely that the House will assemble lor the despatch of business,' until the following month. Beyond a rumor as to certain proposed amendments in the working details of the Land Act, nothing is at present c known with regard to the measures then intended to be introduced by the Government. One of those measures will perhaps consist of a renewal ot the attempt to alter the constitution of the Upper House, so as to bring that body more into harmony with the lower branch <>f the Legislature, and the ooinion- 1 of the bulk of the community. In the meantime the approach of the elections for the !><risUtive Council, in the cases of those aiembera who retire by rotation, are exciting; some attention, but tbe only new candidates at present in the fidd, are Messrs Rolfe and M'Combie, both of whom are well known politicians, holding liberal opinions.

The Colonial Defence question has again come up for discussion in con-equence of the recent European news; hut notwithstanding all that may be said upon the subject, everybody is beginning to despair of anything being really and effectually done. Every successive Government for many years past has made a show of doing something iv this direction, but hitherto the port and shipping of Melbourne have been left at the mercy of the first hostile cruiser, that, in the event of Great Britain becoming involved in war with a maritime nation, might be sent to us upon a work |of destruction ; and although the present Ministry appears to have taken the matter in hand in earnest, and have succeeded in obtaining a heavy parliamentary grant for the purpose of purchasing guns, and other means of defence, the maturing of their plans will require a long period ; and in the meantime the evil intended to be provided against, miy have come, and found us utterly unprepared to resist it. I presume, however, that in Otago as well as in Victoria, something has been heard of a book, the prophetic assertions contained in which, if held to be reliable, would tend to throw cold water upon the best scheme of colonial defence that could possibly be devised ; for, if, once for all, Louis N"apoleon is admitted to be '• the destined Monarch of be World," why v/hat on earth will be the use of fighting against fate, and of thus attempting to re;ist what is inevitable. 'In sober saduess I have to tell your readers that the copie3 sold here of the absurd, if not impious book, to which I ' allude, are numbered by thousands, and that preachers from tbe pulpit, and lecturers from the platform, have felt it necessary to expose and denounce the nature and tendency of ita preposterous statements. Turning to a much more agreeable subject, I have tbe pleasure of remarking that the beautiful sketches of New Zealand scenery, executed by M. Chevalier, a well-known artist of this city, during his tour in your Colony, are now being exhibited here, and that they are paining the admiration of numerous visitor", as well for the striking character of the scenery depicted as for the exquisite taste and skill with whi:h liie various subjects have beeD handled. A telegram received from Queenscliff last night announces that Mr Wardrop, one of the representatives of the suburban borough of Richmond, has suddenly taken his departure for Callao, on board tbe ship | Helena. It is rumored that the ab3condin£ M.L.A. has got into very serious difficulties. After sufficient rain to make all kinds of crops grow rapidly, we are now favored j with brilliant spring weather, and there is at length every prospect of a more abundant supply of bsef, mutton, and dairy produce thau we have had here for the last two years. The goldfields on your western coasts appear to be again attracting the attention of numbers of our unsuccessful digsers ; and as the fine season advances, there will doubtless be a considerable accession of that cla?a to the population of Hokitika, Greymouth, and the neighboring districts

A well-known magistrate of the county of Surrey was sitting in his library sipping | Maraschino. A country lad arrived with a letter on important business, which required an immediate answer. The Surrey squire goodnaturedly poured out a glass of Maraschino for the lad, and set to about writing a reply. Having finished and sealed hi 3 letter, he looked up amazed to see that the boule, which had been more than half-full, had heen emptied. Turning to the boy, he exclaimed,' "Do you know, you imp, that that cost me sixteen shillings!" — "And worth every penny on't, your Honour," was the reply of the simple rustic. A clergyman called on a poor parishioner, whom he found bitterly lamenting for an only son, a boy of about four or five years old. In the hope of consoling the efflicttd woman, he remarked to her that ' one so young could not have committed any grievous sin ; and that no doubt the child was gone to heaven.' ' Ah, sir,' said the simple-hearted creature, •but Tommy was co any— and they are all strangers there !'