Our Australian Letter.

Otago Witness, Issue 1584, 1 April 1882, Page 19

Our Australian Letter.

i !, / .Melbourne, March 23rd. _ i An experiment in railway construction is how being tried in New South Wales, which jivill ,be .watched with interest throughout Australia. A light railway — little more than a tramway in fact — has been constructed from , Cambelltown to Camden, the site of the first stud sheep-farm in the Colony, and long tire jseat of the Macarthur family. It is of the same gauge as the main lines, and is capable of carrying a small tank engine and large carriages. The cost will not exceed £3000. It is believed .that the system can be indefinitely extended, and that it will , solve the difficult problem of how to make State railways pay in a sparsely settled country. The Minister of Public Works expects great results from the new policy, and he is encouraged in his belief by the fact that the Sydney tramways were paying the State between 17 and 18 per cent, interest until, recently, when the system was extended into parts of the city where traffic was much less, though even then a handsome profit remained. v . The Victorian Parliament are to be asked to sanction the construction, by a private company, of street tramways in Melbourne. It is proposed to use horse traction in preference to steam motors. A good deal of opposition will be shown to the proposal, but tramways are a necessity and must be supplied cither by the State or by private enterprise before lon^. The prospect of an early outbreak of war m Europe is compelling a good deal of attention to be directed to the question of Colonial defences, especially in Victoria. Melbourne is certainly less efficiently defended at present than' Sydney, notwithstanding her monitor, for the Cerberus' boilers are in a disgraceful state, and it will take at least ten months to replace them. The Government have ordered some heavily armod gunboats and torpedo launches, and are showing other signs of activity. The paid artillery force that Mr Berry disbanded is to be again established, and the suggestion that a paid Militia should bo substituted for oui 1 present Volunteer Forces finds manyadvocates. Colonel Scratchley has reluctantly cmne to the conclusion that payment for the whole force is a necessity if real military efficiency is to be attained. Ho strongly favours the South Australian scheme, and it is thought that, for an outlay of from £4 to £6 per head of the men enrolled, ;m excellent and v/ell-disciplined force could bo maintained. Unuer a diort-sorvico r'VtuM a rcfi'u- c of <,i\aned iusn could soon be established. Colonel O.T-Mnan, the Imperial Coi-inrnVcione" deputed to insnoct the fortificaf ions of these Colonies, ib now in Australia. He js reported to have been much pleased with the defences of Sydney. ' With one exception the whole of the <ja.ses ari/ainf? out of the Jolimonti railway diwtotei 1 in

'August last have now been settled either through the intervention of the Supreme Court 'or privately. The Victorian Railway Department admitted that the accident was the result 6f negligence on their part, but the larger claims were referred to a jury for assessment, and this has been recognised as the fairest plan. In the 14 cases tried before a jury the damages claimed amounted to £48,950, while the amount awarded was £28,515. Up to the present the accident has cost the country m damages and law expenses about £37,796, and as Mr Bruce Gaunson's claim is still unsettled, the total amount will probably tot up to £40,000. Much surprise was manifested at the direction of Mr Justice Higginbotham that any sums received by a family on the life assurance policy of the deceased husband and father should be deducted from the amount of compensation to which the family were entitled. This seems to be correct in law, but its equity is much disputed. ' „",, The liberty of the' Press has once more been satisfactorily indicated in the'law courts. Mr ■EL R. Williams, the Minister of Mines in the last Berry Administration, sued the Melbourne Argus for libel. The circumstances are somewhat peculiar. , The Bendigo Independent, a paper notoriously influenced by Mr Williams, published some extraordinary evidence which was 1 elicited during some insolvency proceed; ings. AMr Samuels, who was an active political supporter of Mr Williams, was placed in possession of a gold-mining lease under circumstances which aroused considerable feeling. He admitted that he gave 500 shares in the Company formed to work the ground to the wife of Mr Hugh M'Coll, M.L.A., " out of gratitude for Mr M'Coll's kindness in accompanying him to the public offices in Melbourne ;" and another allotment of shares was made to "H. R. and C 0.," so the Independent's report read. The Argus had a leader commenting upon the evidence, and suggesting that the nrystery about " H. R." should be cleared up. These remarks were admittedly intended to direct attention "to the similarity of the initials of the mysterious unknown to those of the Minister who had issued the lease to his supporter " ; but when it transpired^ that the Independent had misprinted the initials, and that the letters " F. R." should have appeared, the Argus immediately and voluntarily acquitted Mr Williams of the imputation which the mistake suggested. He, however, was not satisfied, and tried to mulct the metropolitan journal in damages, though no proceedings were taken against the paper which caused the mistake. In spite of an adverse charge from the presiding judge, the jury found for the Argus upon all points, as they said! they were satisfied that the article was a fair 'and honest comment. ,'" . ' . f There is still great speculation m land m Sydney, and the abundance of money # is also encouraging large investments in mining and other enterprises. A joint-stock companyhas just been formed to take over the Messrs Hudson Bros.' railway works, at a cost of £300,000, the capital being subscribed in a feY days., The working classes are investing their earnings in securing freeholds, and erecting comfortable homes with the assistance of building Societies. One of these societies, which has lent upwards of £500,000 in this way during the last six years, recently announced that' it had not had a single defaulter j and another, which does a much larger business, stated that' it had not had more' than half-a-dozen such Cases. Mr Berry is going to'" orate "shortly' in Sydney upon the advantages of Protection, but while the working classed continue so prosperous as they are now they will -not be easily persuaded to abandon Freetrade principles,, I With the view of promoting 1 a- direct trade between Australia, and Antwerp, the Belgian Export Company have opened a warehouse in Melbourne, where the products of Belgian industry may always be obtained. A very large capital is available to r push the enterprise, and it is in contemplation to open .branches throughout the Colonies. The Company were exhibitors at the Sydney and Melbourne International Exhibitions, and they were' theji so impressed with the resources of Australia that', they determined to try and develop, a' direct trade with the Colonies. ' " ' i A^projectison foot to erect a 'memorial in Cooktown to the memory of Mrs Watson,' the ; heroine of the Lizard Island, massacre"."; Circulars, asking for subscriptions, have" been scattered broadcast throughout the Colonies, but I have not heard ! 6f any response. ■ The heroic spirit of self-sacrifice.wlnch this ,brave woman displayed under peculiarly distressing circumstances should not be, allowed to>pass into oblivion. Could not her memory be immortalised by including the story of her death iv the State school primers? To <ju.pte a passage from the circular to which I have referred;. "No. person can read the simple record of the last few weeks of her existence without feeling that she was a woman 'fit to take' her place with Grace Darling." , ' , ! Some not very flattering criticisms have been passed upon Melbourne by the. city architect and inspector of nuisances of the Sydney Corporation, who were specially Sent over 'fa spy put the weak as wejl as the strong pqints of bur civic administration, We expected tq he condemned for our gutters," for v th.eyi have passed into a proverb ; we don't think great things of our abattoirs; we can submit with equanimity to our city baths being compared to a mud-hole; but our visitors nave cut us to the quick by asserting that our Town Hall is not of much account— in fact, nothing better than a good music-ball. After this we find it hard to accept Sir John Robertson's^ dictum that Sydney men do not take a jaundiced— to say nothing of a jealous— view of Victoria and' Victorians. The Sydney Evening News declares that the moral to be drawn from ' the report of the Corporation officers is that there are certainly two very dirty cities in the Southern Hemisphere. A terribly destructive conflagration has occurred at Adelaide, resulting in the loss of between £80,000 and £90,000 worth of property. 1 On Sunday, the 12th inst., -the drapery premises of J. Marshall and Co. caught fire— how is not known, — and in a few minutes the whole place was in a blaze. A number of the employes were sleeping on the premises, and nearly a score of them had an extremely narrow escape, having had to be lowered from the back apartments by means of a rope. The I adjoining- premises were in serious peril, but by dint of great exertion the flames were concentrated on the building originally attacked. The falling embers, howovev, injured the Htoo]? in the Messrs Donaldson, Anttfewp and Shftrland's wholesale warehouse, and destroyed about, £SOOO worth. The premises and stock were heavily insured, and the flre will prove a > great loss to many of the local offioes, I The insurance conspiracy ca«e has been the topic ot the day in most of the Australian capitals, and more particularly Adelaide, where all the defendants are well known. . fames Barker was respected as a reputable citizen. He way a highly-successful canvasser ! for the Australian Mutual Provident Sbciety, ! and his income was supposed to average '£1000 a year. William Korsylh was believed I ' to be 'a man of some wealth. Of Hicks', the medical student, less is known, and the' particulars df his antecedents which have been published, if correct, are not exactly creditable. ■ Dr Horfcon. had not long settled in Adelaide, but was beHevccl to V, pushing his way successfully,

Several other persons are said to have been involved in the transaction, but so, far no sufficient case has been made out against them to justify the mention of their names. ' The prosecution have ripped up Weatherhead's antecedents, and have shown conclusively that though he was discharged from the Adelaide Hospital as suffering from incurable consumption, he succeeded in getting passed as a firstclass life. The defendants have not disclosed their defence very clearly, but they will probably rely upon legal technicalities. It has transpired that a similar attempt was made on behalf of Weatherhead and the defendants to effect an insurance for £1000 with the Colonial Mutual Assurance Society. They accepted the risk,' but insisted upon seeing Weatherhead prior to completing the policy, and, of course, it was found inconvenient to produce him. The defendants have been committed for trial upon this attempt to defraud, as well as the other cases:

' The Protectionists 'of Victoria are taking alarm at the unfavourable character of the evidence being tendered to the Tariff Commission, and are endeavouring, as a corrective, to obtain the testimony of a few staunch and not ' too scrupulous believers in the existing' tariff. Several such witnesses have been recently examined, and they do not hesitate to make statements which upon examination frequently prove highly incorrrect. For instance, with the view of bolstering up the position of the boot and shoe trade, Mr Trenwith, a representative witness for that industry, alleged that, thanks to Protection, Victoria is now exporting boots and shoes to the value of £122,000. An examination of the official statistics shows that- in 1880 Victoria exported £122,142 worth ©f boots and shoes, but Mr Trenwith did not explain that only £54,i31 worth were of Victorian manufacture, the balance (£68,011) being of foreign manufacture (re-exported). It has, indeed, been pointed out by the Australasian Trade Review that "in 1881 the boot manufacturers exported of their goods to the value of £30,000, and that this year has opened very, much worse, the exports of colonial boots and shoes having been of very trifling amount ' to the present. In fact the export '.trade has collapsed." The Commission are, believed to have been much impressed by the evidence they have elicited, and, it is said, have virtually determined already to recommend that large reductions of duties must be made in many instances. ' • : Dr Moorhouse, Bishop 'of, Melbourne, Has been endeavouring to awaken the Victorian farmers to a sense of their power in the State. In a lecture delivered at Kerang on .the necessity of water conservation, he told the bucolics some home truths in unusually vigorous language. " Don't you see," said Dr Moorhouse, < that the productions of our farms lie at the basis of our national prosperity. . . . Vie* toria succeeds in your success, and will decline with your adversity." "You farmers," said the Bishop, " ara a dumb, plodding, enduring set of people, who are ready to suffer almost anything before you lift up your voices.",' He, jnade' a variety ,of suggestions indicating^ how pc farmers might help themselves; in providing against the dangers .of drought, but bis last' are those which will probably bear most fruit. -They were i{ these :.— " Organise, agitate, cry out, send up deputations^ press your mem-',' bers; and give none of us any test till we haveUtilised our last drop of water, anil do all man can do to improve the blessings of God." The South Australian Government have been com" pelled to .make large concessions to selectors who are almost ruined by, drought. , They.will remit liabilities to the extent of £120,000, and. make' water conservation an important feature in their policy next session.. 1 The New South Wales people are receiving the records of the wanderings of their " political, Ulysses " with a certain pleased surprise, tempered with slight incredulity. His diplomatic failure in the States is admitted, and Colonists 'fvhoknow something of Canada cannot bring 1 themselves to believe that he has been muon more successful in the Dominion. How he can have secured a remission of wool duties in favour of New South , Wales, when no wool duties are levied, puzzles everybody. The pro-, posed line of steamships from 1 Montreal to Sydney will be believed in when the first'eon- ' tingent steams into, Port Jackson. ;", " "