POOR VICTORIA.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 4, 17 November 1863, Page 4

POOR VICTORIA.

. How this unfortunate colony con- , tinues to exist, exposed ns it is week by week And month by month to the | ; attacks of the London Weekly Dispatch, I

is. entirely beyond our comprehension. What- cross-grained, ill-conditioned, " society-scouted creature can.it be, that assumes to wield the small thunder of ; the Dispatch? . We have been" accustomed to read with equanimity -and some degree of complacency the persistent digs at unfortunate Victoria which this pariah of the low London press, hebdomadally indulges himself in poking.. After a long perusal: of this really worthless stuff we have arrived at the, we think, sensible conclusion, that the antiVictorian ..scribe of the Dispatch is a mate, if not a near relative of Gardiner. Andiyet we may he doing an injustices to the illustrious bushranger. He, at ; any rate, never maltreated woman or; robbed a poor man. The Claude Duval [ of the Southern Hemisphere, he was ever courteous in his unwelcome advances, and it is not on record that he ever, during his long career of crime, did more than prey upon the rich. There is an amount of chivalry about iGardiner— at least as his proceedings have been reported — which the writer for : the Dispatch would do well' to imitate. , A bank, clerk ladeu with bank treasure he invariably eased of his possessions, as would, any other knight of the road, but we have yet to learn that the custodian of gold and notes, or both, as the case might be, was subjected to personal indignity at the hands of Gardiner. It was certainly a case of "stand and deliver," and a refusal w/as ever ;met with a pistol shot or some -such forcible reminder as brought the refractory lover of law and .order to prompt obedience. But there was no dirty work. Whether an escor.t was stuck up, or the Mudgee or Carroar mail robbed, Gardiner was ever the gentleman highwayman. We are sorry not to be able to pay a similar compliment to the scribe of the Dispatch, who is evidently a vagabond of the meanest description. Our surprise is that in the centre of civilisation such a thing should be allowed to crawl and leave its slime. A number of illiterate people unhappily read this pernicious journal, and as they believe what appears in 'print naturally lake an aversion to the colony of Victoria. It does not appear that New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, or even Western Australia have all or any of them come under the lash of the Dispatch. Not a word appears In that veracious print, save perhaps for sensational purposes, of the Gi bert and O'Meally outrages in New South Wales, not a line is written upon -the dependence of South Australia On other colonies for its very, existence, breadstuff — of Queenland sprouting into entity mainly by Victorian capital^ there is a most significant * silence on the part of what once we would have some degree of pleasure recognised as a contemporary. To Western Australia the Dispatch will doubtless look for comfort. The new views of the Times are doubtless most obnoxious to it. The Parliamentary Committee which reported in favor of "Western Australia as a good site for the deposit of the able-bodied convict ism. of England — the grand moral manure depot of Great Britain— has of course ibumi favor in the eyes of this foul bird of prey which pollutes London. As we have. a constitutional aversion to condemninga man unheard, let the Weekly Dispatch speak for itseflf. Oat of all the varied, and to a great -extent encouraging news sent to England by a late mail, the following only is commented upon. And here the journalists are pitched into. "VVe are all "purely colonial." We wish most heartily it was in oar power to say the Dispatch was purely English, either in style or manliness. The extract runs thus : — " The style of the writers is purely colonial, and in keeping with acommunity in which the Chief Secretary threatens to apply 'the toe of his boot' to the person of another member, and in which the Minister of Justice calls another 'an advertising quack,' the victim retaliating by a blow in the face, all within the precincts of the Legislative Assembly. Clearly the colony, politi-. cally, is sinking, and not slowly, to a level with New York, and commercial morality is at a low ebb. The yield of gold falls off, the population tlecreases, and the produce of the land diminishes. Are these evidences of prosperity? This progress to be boasted of ? This a conditiou removable by emigration? Rats^juit a sinking ship if they can, and surely even a ' limp-minded crawler ' may know when to ' pluck the flower _safely.' How and why is it that men are so eager to and do abandon the colony, its ' great wealth,' and boundless resources ? Why troop they over •the Murray into New South Wales, by sea to Queensland and Otago, while. every favorite ship for England is filled 1 And how many more would go if they could? A c statistics wanted ? Need we any rate of wages to quote to prove that the population is anxious not to remain and enjoy the manifold blessings of the colony of Victoria, including the climate 1 'My word ! ' I wish 1 had .the London Emigration Society's Secretary, Mr Knight, here just now." In absolute amaze, we again ask, who - 'can this creature be ? Is he an expiree or a stowaway? Mr Edward Wilson '-■has done yeoman service to this colony in the way of acclimatisation, although the Balmon ova always died, and the i sparrows have invariably been stricken ■jyitb a sore disease. That gentleman : yrould confer an additional fa vpr by im- . porting to Victoria—coats to Newcastle though the venture might be — this native bear, who, under a judicious coursfe of treatment, good fooiT, good "airi and decent society, might in time prove one of Mr Wilson's successes.