OUR MELBOURNE LETTER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) April 15.

Otago Witness, Issue 1891, 1 May 1890, Page 3 (Supplement)

OUR MELBOURNE LETTER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) April 15.

THE NEW LOAN.

I At length the new loan has been placed on the London market, «nd there is a good deal of anxiety to know the result. So weighty a paper as the Economist has now taken the colony to task for its financial mismanagement and extravagance. Its strictures i may have a damaging effect, but the : cable messages show that within certain limits the loan is likely to be a success. The loan now offered takes the place of a consolidated loan of £5,600,000. There remained in November last the sum of £1,600,000 to be floated on account of the prior Loan Act, and in November the Treasurer announced that an additional sum of £4,000,000 would be required to completo works already ordered. But in deference to London advices, the full amount of £5,600,000 is not to be floated. Therefore you ' will see there is authority In the hands of the Treasurer for the placing of another £1,600,000 on the market. And you may note that the £4,000,000 now being obtained is required to complete works already ordered. We borrowed £3,000,000 last year; we are borrowing £4,000,000 this year ; and next year we will borrow a further large sum for new railways. For in the coming session a railway bill is to be introduced which will propose the construction of some hundreds of miles of new railways. Therefore next year we may expect another five million? or so to be placed on the market lam afraid the colony is pushing on this work of railway extension too rapidly. [The cablehas since informed us of the successful floating of the loan ] IRRIGATION. Mildura, the Chaffey Bros.' irrigation colony on the Murray river, has— though it has only had an existence of a couple of years-^held its first agricultural show. Truth to say, it was not so | much a show of cereals as of fruit. Grapes, almonds, figs, peaches, apples, pears, quinces, melons, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, tinned, bottled, and preserved fruits; maize, sugar cane, ordinary vegetables, &c,, &c, were exhibited in profusion. Muscatel raisins and Zante currants, put up in boxes ready for retailing, were also shown, and these were the produce of vines planted not quite 18 months ago. The graphs were of the Worthy Hall and Red Prince types, splendidly developed in the bunch, and all a "second crop "this season, the first having been gathered two months ago. These results are the outcome of irrigation. The settlement is doing capitally, and the settlers themselves are all confident of success. The lesson might well be followed in some of the up-country districts of Otago. It would pay your Governmeut to send a commissioner over here to reuorton what is being done. The Mildura land, be it remembered, was valued at the freehold price of 2s 8d an acre by the

chief surveyor. In Sandhurst there is a strong movement for utilising old diggings areas. A start has been made. The areas are let out in about five-acre blocks ; the soil is to be levelled down, water will be brought to bear, and the laud used for fruit-growing. It is one of the finest climates in the world for all kinds of fruit. I visited a Sandhurst vineyard the other day, and saw grapes being carted in by the ton. The at present useless wastes thafc exist about the Teviot, the Dunstan, and the Upper Clutha valleys could all be turned to advantage by irrigation ; the Government ought to take the matter up. THE QUEENSLAND AND NEW SOUTH WALES FLOODS. Though the very heavy rains have ceased to a large extent, yet the papers are still filled with reports of the sad effects of the floods in the ! adjacent colonies. Indeed, the damage now being done is greater than ever. The whole country has experienced an excremely heavy rainfall, and the water sheds are now draining into the rivers with alarming results. The rivers, which are often only a scries of water holes, are now great streams, and on the Riverina plains we read of them being 20 miles wide. The Darling river, for instance, drains a water shed of extreme length, and its tributaries extend for almost thousands of miles into the interior. Thesg tributaries are coming down bankers, and gathering volume as they go. At some points no less than four rivers have joined their waters over the whole face of the country. The flood waters, it has been known in places like Bourke and Walgett, are steadily approaching from the interior. Consequently there has been abundance of warning. Indeed, to such an extent is this the case that deputations have been able to j vißit Sydney to a?k for Government assistance in precautionary measures. Bourke, Brewarrina, and other towns, are inclosing their boundaries with embankments. Civil servants, bankers, storekeepers, town councillors, all hands — even to the Chinese — are working at the building of earthworks to avert the common danger. A Sunday evening telegram from Bourke gives a graphic idea of the situation: — "Matters have now settled down to a hard fight with the rapidly rising waters. Every available man is at work, even to a gang of Chinaman and some blackfellows. A gap of 10 chains exists in the western embankment, which must be closed before night, or all the western suburbs will be submerged by morning. Aldermen M'Farlan". and Bloxham, who are in charge of that portion of the work, are working with great determination, and if human efforts can avail, the town will not be submerged, but the issue is very doubtful. The railway station was crowded this morning, and hundreds of persons left. Some were allowed to go at reduced rates, and there were many free passes. A public meeting has been convened by requisition for to-night to con c ider the circumstances. The Government has granted £500 to the police magistrate to use for relief purposes; and another £500 will be raised privately., The Culgoa waters will reach here to-night, md there will be a very anxious time, as, notwithst <nding all efforts, the embankment is in places only a foot above the water." THE COLONIAL BANK OF NEW ZEALAND. The following paragraph from the oity article in the Argus of Monday will doubtless be read with gratificatiou < by others as well as the Hon. George M'Lean : — " At the recently held halfyearly meeting at Dunedin of the shareholders of the Colonial Bank of New Zealand— an institution distinguished for the soundness and conservatism, as well as for the ability of its management — the chairman's address was rather out- of the common. He informed the shareholders tbat the directors had resolved not to depend too much upon deposit money obtained in London, but regulated their acceptance of such money entirely by the natural growth of their business, a certain ratio being observed. The wisdom of the policy pursued is obvious enough, The bank's resources always embrace a fair proportion of London deposits, but the proportion is not allowed ■to be large enough either to place the destinies of the bank at the foot of such money or to encourage overadvancing and consequent inflation," NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. Commenting on the above tho Argua says : — " Considering that the yield of oats for the whole of New Zealand (exclusive of Auckland) for the season 1888-89 was estimated at 10,637,134 bushels, it is pretty certain that the exportable surplus this year will be greater by at least 2,000,000 bushels. The prospect is therefore free shipments to Australian ports and low prices. The Victorian crop is pretty nearly large enough for Victorian requirements, but the danger is that the demand which will arise for the stout New Zealand kinds at low prices will thrust inferior Victorian descriptions into the background. At moderate prices we estimate the local market value of the four crops (oats, wheat, barley, and potatoes) at about two millions and a quarter sterling for 725,748 acres, of slightly over £3 per acre all round," MISCELLANEOUS. The Premier (Mr Gillies) and the Commissioner of Customs (Mr J. B. Patterson) have been among the victims of influenza, as also has Commander Collids, secretary of the Defence department. Mr J. Thomson, of Keilambete estate, Victoria, has bequeathed all his money to local charities and Presbyterian Church objects. His estate is expected to realise about £150,000, out which the Melbourne, Geelong, and Warrnambool Hospitals will each get about £12,000. In connection with the Presbyterian Church, the Mission to tbe Heathen, Widows' and Orphans' Fund, and Infirm Ministers' Fund will each got £12,000, ani about £25,000 will go to the foundation of scholarships at the Theological Hall, Ormond College. A miserable murdpr Ins bren rommif.ted at i Wagga, in New South Wales. John Taylor, a prospector from Victoria, c'rovo out; from the town in his own waggonetfe, accompanied by Alfred Smith, a man whom he employed. Smith came back alone, and on being arrested for being in unlawful possession of the horses and trap made two attempts to comncit suicide. Taylor's body was afterwards found headless buried in the bed of a creek, and the head, battered iD, was subsequently found also buried. A gang of thieves and burglars, comprising seven men and three women, to whom upwards of a thousand pounds' worth of stolen property, principally jewellery and clothing, had been traced, has been broken up in Sydney. Jack Thompson, the brother of the celebrated Joe of that ilk, has died in Sydney. He was a bookmaker and a pugilist. He was the hero of a romance in his day. A young lady, well connected and beautiful, fell in love with him on the racecourse. ; went to his house in the evening and offered him her hand and fortune; and they were married. It ended in divorce. A flourishing condition of affairs was disclosed by the report presented at the annual session of the Grand Committee of the M U., Independent Oddfellows of New omilh Waits. During tho year the net incresse in the members was 524, the total foe tbe colony now standing at 15,019,

The funds have increased by £7,753, bringing up the total to £168,395. There has been some alarm in Melbourne over the dangers from electric light wires. The telephone box in the Tramway Company's office was found on fire, and the reason was found to be that an electric light wire had crossed the telephone wire. The electrical engineers say, however, that though a fire may be caused in that way, there is no danger to life, as the current in the electric light wire is not strong enough.