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Otago Witness, Issue 919, 10 July 1869, Page 9

MELBOURNE.

fFftOM OTTR OWN" CORRESPONDENT?,), „ „ , , iMonda.t, June -28th. After the longest debate 1 that -has ever takenpiace in our' Legislative -Assembly, the Ministerial. Land Bill has passed its second reading by the large majority pi j 51 to Ift. The discussion terminated late on Wednesday night, when MrMacgre- J gor's amendment was put and lost, the motion" being carried immediately afterwards, the . majority above mentioned answering t for, both purposes. This is perhaps the first case in which a legislative proposal has been so very generally condemned in one of its leading, features in Parliament, and afterwards carried through the critical stage of a second reading in a manner apparently bo triumphant But the fact is that the, amendment proposed by Mr Maegregor," was regarded as a vote, of want of confidence in the. Ministry ; and as there was no opposing 1 party either strong enough or sufficiently united to* take the reins of office, the common sense of the House, carried the day, against a proposal designed to lead to a Ministerial crisis, and hence the feeble display which manifested itself when it came to counting votes for or against the Bill; But it may fairly be asserted, notwithstanding, that the measure has been read a second time "under protest," so numerous have been the instances in which hon. members have refrained from opposing it on a - division, only upon the condition of being 'allowed to attack it in Committee. The Bill, as it now standa, erects the Land Office into a bureau,' as perfectly autocratic in its cb.art.oter as any of the departmental- arrangementß'of the -present French Empire may he supposed to be ; ' and it is this' feature in the measure 'that has .been the most violently opposed throughout the lengthened discussion- which was brought to a close-on Wednesday night. It is even now possible that unless the Government consent to some considerable limitations to the clauses conferring on the Ministers of the day these large and objectionable^ powers, the Bill may be defeated, either on committee or on the third reading, It is tolerably certain, however, that the Ministry will make some concessions to the feeling of the House in this respect ; and in faot they have already done so, inismuch. as they have virtually accepted a suggestion made by Mr Higinbotham to the effect that the sittings of the Board of Land and Works should be open to the press, with a view to the prevention of anything like underhand influence, or favouritism, on the part either of the public or of the officers of the department A curious incident in connection with the last nißit's dobate on the second reading of the Bill, was the delivery of a speech in rhyme by Mr Whiteman, the member for Emerald Hill. This effusion comprised upwards of a hundred lines of doggerel verse, conveying the speaker's uncompromising opposition to the measure. The following short extract, in which the moat objectionable portions of the Bill are referred to, will suffice for a sample of tho whole :—: —

1 put it now To this Assembly, in plain spoken words, If one provision in this Bill affords To tenants of the Crown freedom of thought? If they're not all politically bought f If every squatter's acts will not be scanned. If every free seleotor who has and Will not be at the meroj of tho Minister In power ? and no one, sir, can tell what sinister Designs some men may basely entertain. My duty, sir, appears to bo so plainly pointed out, that I don't hesitate To nay, and say it boldly, if the fate Of this Land Bill of eighteen sixty-nine Depended on my vote, it would not shine Among tho statutes whioh adorn our shelves

The "Great Privilege Case " has advanced another stage since the date of my last communication. At the aittiug of the Supreme Court in banco a few days book, Mr Billing, on behalf of the Government, moved for and obtained a rule nisi to rescind an order of the Chief Justice under which Hugh Glass, committed to Melbourne gaol under a warrant from the Speaker of the Assembly, hod been discharged from custody. The arguments in the cose, or, I should be more correct in saying, the arguments on one aide of the case—seeing that the legal gentlemen, Messrs Miohie and Billing, left the matter in the hands of tho Judgo* without remark— wore heard on Saturday. On the other side it was urged by Messrs Ireland, Hearn, andAdsmson, that the Court had no powor to review the orders of the Judge on a writ of habeas. The Court, of tor a brief deliberation, pronounced judgment, discharging the rule without stating the ground of their decision. Tho effmot of this judgment ia simply tho upholding of tho Chief Jut" tico's action in the matter, and it ii now, I believe, open to the Assombly at once to appeal to the Imperial Privy Council against the power awumod by the Supreme Ceuxv in liberating a prisoner

confined -under a warrant from the j3pea.ker., > i,,|m, V ,•.",:'- t ; ,'";, <>*- i t It will be remembered that in the case iof Hugo Levinger, 'the supercargo of; the Young ' Australian,-, recently tried for t the murder iof three natives 1 of the South Sea Islands, on the high seas, and convicted of a, law \ point was , ie\ served by Mr Justice Williams, before whom the case was' tried,- as to whether there was evidence to justify the bringing in a verdict of that kind. ' The point has now been argued before the Judges, who have reserved their decision .until 'the next Criminal Sessions, commencing on the 15fch of July, when; Levinger-was 1 to be called upon to surrenderee his bail., In the meantime, , however, that person has again been arrested ,on a similar charge to that which ' is still ,s«&, judice, and again committed for trial. Application for bail has been made on the prisoner's ;behalf, but it has not yet been granted. . „ , , Amongst the, new, « enterprises recently set, on foot here- is ,a. company for seeking for diamonds ; and Dr Bleaadale, a Catholic clergyman whpjse efforts in the cause of science are widely, known, has consented to , become „ one >of the directors of the undertaking, The company haa obtained possession on lease of a piece of land across the New,. South Wales border on the bonks of the Murrumbidgee, from which a number of valuable gems of various kinds have already been extracted, .and, there seems good reason for anticipating a considerable amount of success for this new branch of " colonial industry." , , , .