NEW SOUTH WALES.

Colonist, Issue 24, 12 January 1858, Page 3

NEW SOUTH WALES.

By way of Melbourne we have news from Sydney to; the 26th ultimo, being eight days later than that received per the Louis and Miriam. , The Hera Id observes :—We have no Assembly. The dissolution is a confession that the late House was hostile to the present Government. The Assembly scarcely ran out half its term before it was turned .off with far less ceremony, than a gentleman uses in dismissing his servant. The present state of the Cowper Cabinet robs that dissolution of what should be the purport of an appeal to the people. It ought to mean, Will you have the Ministry as a whole, .will you confide in them as men, or will, you accept their meaSiirtis ? IVIr., Cowper has contrived to take away thesignificancy* of this appeal. The question is brought down to this—Shall Mr. Cowper be Premier ? Shall Mr. Martin and his man Friday be law officers ofthe Crown? Tlie retirement of Mr. Jones and the absence of Mr. Murray has made it quite impossible to try the policy of the Cabinet. It was no secret that great differences did exist; and who is to know this projected system of this fragment of a Cabinet ? Election Gossip.—The Empire gives the following as the latest intelligence in reference to the forthcoming elections:—The late members for Sydney will be put forward in coalition, and their re-election will be conducted by the same committee. We presume it has been determined to put Mr/'Dalley in nomination without his concurrence. '. A fifth candidate has entered the field in the person of Mi*.George Thornton, though it is extremely difficult to see. on what ground that .gentleman seeks the suffrages of the electors of Sydney. On Thursday the deputation appointed at the meeting in Wyn-yard-square waited upon Mr. Plunkett and Mr. Parkes. We have not heard the result of their interview with the former gentleman : Mri Parkes has not yet given any answer to their application. New South Wales Land League.—A public meeting, attended by about 4000 persons, was held by torchlight on Wednesday night in Wynyardsquare, to select as candidates for the representation of Sydney men who subscribe to the essential principles of the Land League. It was resolved almost urianimously to put Measrs. Parkes and Plunkett in nomination for the city. The following is. a copy of the circular-issued by the League: " The object of the New South Wales Land League is to establish a land system in accordance with the spirit of the following principles, or such principles as will make the occupation of the waste lands infinitely more easy than at present; and repress the great evil of land-jobbing. '•Ist. That al unalienated Crown lands of the colony be opened to the free selection of individuals intending to occupy and cultivate the same, in farms varying from 20 to 320 acres, without competition, surveyed or unsurveyed, at a price not exceeding £1 per acre, town and suburban land excepted. " 2nd. That a deposit of 10 per cent, be paid upon the selection of the farm, and the balance at the end - of five years, with interest upon the unpaid purchasemoney. "3rd. That if at the end of five years 10 per cent, be not brought into cultivation, the said land shall be considered as uncultivated land, and be subject to a tax of so much per acre; and no title to be given until 10 per cent, be brought into cultivation. " That all alienated Crown lands not cultivated be subject to a tax of so much per acre. " Tlie committee, however, respectfully submit that the following principles ought to be deemed essential and fundamental:— " Ist. That each and every purchaser of agricultural Crown lands who shall sign conditions of occupancy and cultivation within a certain period, must have the right of free selection over such lands, surveyed or unsurveyed,* at the fixed price of not more than £1 per acre. ■. ■ ' ■■ ■ " 2nd. That all alienated Crown lands of the agricultural class be subject to a tax." ~.. The Weather. — : For some time past the wea-, ther has been warm and pleasant, the light northeasters, which prevail at this season of the year, teuipering the ardour of the sun's rays. On Thursday, however, intense heat prevailed: for a great, portion of the day, and one of the fiercest, dust storms we have seen for a long time burst over the city. The sun rose in a clear bright sky, with not a breath of air stirring, but a breeze shortly sprang up from the northward, and the heat gradually increased till towards noon, when a burning hot wind blew with considerable force, and resembled a blast from the mouth of a furnace. The heat was all but insupportable, and public business as a consequence was well nigh suspended until late in the afternoon. .At 11 o'clock a.m. the thermometer stood at 103 degrees in the shade, and 134 degrees in the sun. At half-past 1 o'clock, with none of the usual atmospheric indications of a storm, a perfect tempest of wind and dust came from the southward. . The whole city was enveloped in dust, and so continued until about 4 o'clock, when the force of the storm gradually abated. The thermometer fell to about 96 degrees or 97 degrees in th« s shade during the afternoon. . The remaining portion of the day was pleasantly cool, but there were still indications of _a further* change of weather.— Empire.

A WORD OR TWO ABOUT AUSTRALIA. {From the London Correspondence of the Sydney Empire.) Now that thousands of our fellow-subjects leave their native homes to find or make new ones .on your shores,, leaving behind them relatives and friends whose thoughts wander enquiringly, sometimes solicitously, in your direction—now that merchants send large freights of goods with the mere chance of finding a market in your colony— now that our ships come back from your regions with gold, which we count by millions, and the nation's credit is saved by such arrivals—-people of all conditions here desire to become better acquainted with Australia.- To do them justice, they have made great progress, but their ignorance of what is transpiring among you is still great, and in reference to geographical knowledge, it is absolutely ridiculous. Newspapers are great sources Of information touching the social—and I may now add, the political—worlds; but an acquaintance with the terrestrial world is not to be acquired through that- medium, scarcely by letter, and certainly hot by the : " unassisted efforts" of "intelligent travellers." Elderly individuals in whose boarding-school bills " geography and the use of the globes" was an oft repeated item, and marvellously retain some of those impressions which a well-armed master was supposed to have duly made, occasionally startle us with remarks about New Holland, which are more refreshing than edifying, and more amusing than either. These worthies remind us that Mr. Barrow named your gigantic island Nolasia; and they talk of Botany Bay as though none but convicts inhabited that district, while they regard New South Wales as the capital of a laTge settlement, and Sydney, which they invariably spell with an t, as a new town which has come into existence long since

Captain Flinders completed his survey, which was published in 1814, when he called the island Australasia, and which lies somewhere between Cape York and Cape Howe. Ask them about Victoria, and they will tell you that that town has come into - existence with the reigu of.oiir , present Q,ueen, and the site was formerly Port Jackson. They deny that Van Diemen's Land is an island, and confound Bass's Strait with New Zealand. But they are quite learned compared witli many younger people. The , best school Atlas of. twenty years old gives little more than .an imperfect .outline, of. Australia with, two Van Diemen's ' Land — one in the norllr and one in the south.; And more modern- productions seem to ignore the existence of important places which will make a noise in the 'world some day; but it is deplored that the map is not more generally consulted. A colonist, who has made a fortune at Sydney, complacently assured me the other day," that it was his conviction that if the interior of Australia were,, thoroughly explored there would be no occasion for taking ship for England, as *•* all the South Pacific could be cut ofF overland." Experience, however, teaches much which is never guessed at by those not possessing it. One inquires whether, "it is more advisable to go to Sydney first or New South Wales first, en route .for California, by the way of the Rocky Mountains?" Another hesitates between Port Natal and Melbourne, biit wishes to visit Canada on his passage. And now\ Moreton Bay is regarded as "new ground "just discovered (in the Gulf of Carpentaria, some imagine), and entirely independent of Colonial or Imperial Government! This may be all natural enough, and it is remarkable how much correct information has got abroad on the subject since, as we are quaintly informed, the commander of the Duyfhen,"a Dutch yacht, in 1606 "unconsciously discovered New Holland," and particularly of late. The jumble at present existingin a majority of minds, as to the precise whereabouts and defined positions, and limits of your, various localities, confounds the otherwise-well-informed, and "sends them to school again.'" It is, therefore, as well to consider whether it were not wise to endeavour as much £9 possible to help them in their study so as to prevent the formation of erroneous conclusions as well as to disseminate what is correct and calculated to benefit all parties. Of course there are "new maps" iri circulation, but wduld not a new government map, precisely drawn, well authenticated, and cheap, be worthy the. age and its progress ? The Imperial Legislature is at this time deciding certain boundaries, and you are yourselves, as 1 learn, correcting and otherwise reforming many vulgar errors as to certain-lines of demarcation; now then is the.time for having your geographical portrait properly taken—so far as it has been developed. Let your physical features be familiar to us and let false impressions be destroyed. There is current a little handbill, representing the overland route, and making pittEifit iiirii'e information concerning your position on the globe and the figure you cut there, than is to be gathered from all the maps and charts that are exhibited in shop-windows, at prices by no means tempting. This is a mere advertisement. How much more acceptable would be something more complete, especially in respect to the division of your colony—so far as it goes—-and illustrating for example, the exact position, of Nelson and Wellington. Everybody, you may rely upon it, will be the better able to help you with such knowledge as I have attempted to describe as wanting, than they are at present: and the comparatively humble have it sometimes ih their power to be of service in important matters, particularly when they write for that purpose. The voice of a multitude is heard and heeded, when that of a few,' be "they ever'so strong, is raised in opposition to them. For instance, report tells us that you are arranging for the shipping of emigrants through your own direct agency, and have passed legislative enactments to that end; and we are desirous to know precisely what you intend to do, and how you purpose doing it. We read too.of a squabble about the support of " Religion," and we are curious to know how you intend to settle the question. In tlie next place we are informed that your squatters are anxious to secure unto themselves certain rights of land which will in.time make them great landed proprietors, lords,of the soil, aristocrats, and wealthy landlords—-just whatmost men would become at a hop, skip, and jump, had they the opportunity; and we are curious to see what you, with your own Government, will permit to come to pass, and what you will prevent. We are, in the next place, somevvhat interested, and to say truly, not a little amused—-for this is a heartless world, my masters!—at your visitation of Chinese, and the circumstances attending it. " God bless my soul!" ejaculated a Railway passenger in my hearing, " 40,000 male adult Chinese without women or children, and 100 arriving per week! What is Victoria about? and what is Great Britain about?" To my thinking, the absence of the female sex is calculated to. restrict the increase of this race amongst you, and you can the better pack them off to their own shores (one thousand per week), or despatch them as. they do one another in their own country, when you shall think fit to do so. But seriously, it seems odd that John Chinaman should be scraping up gold in John Bull's territory, in order to carry on war with him; and when we shall have formally proclaimed hostilities with China what will we do with your 50,000 Chinese ? Yeh would say decapitate them to save trouble. Are they a breed you would desire to cultivate ? Will their presence and increase add to your demand and supply, and, consequently, increase your commercial prosperity ? Will they secure to you labourers as well as consumers? And should they become a burthen and a pest instead of an industrious community, what will you do with them ? That you have taken alarm is obvious by the tax put upon them on landing, and the penalty of bringing them without paying it; and that you would turn them to account is evident by your attempt to impose a duty on opium, and so make smugglers in your infant state. Could you snare them for fighting braves—for a Chinaman can face death—in India? They would be "food for powder," and could brave the climate at least. But 50,000 Chinamen congregated in your colony is indeed a startling fact that requires looking to! Then again we are sorry to find that the jealousy of Melbourne has interfered with a project for corresponding with Australia via Panama. The idea of making it a sine qua wore that the steamers shall go direct to Melbourne without calling en route at New Zealand or Sydney should be scouted,-because, as it would seem, Melbourne would in that case secure to itself an advantage at the expense of Sydney—nay, Melbourne,- would submit to a disadvantage rather than give Sydney a natural advantage Were it in the power-of Sydney to insist upon the delivery of all mails at tfiat place instead of their being landed en '■■ route at Melbourne, what would Melbourne say to that? Surely the West Indian Mail Company, and Mr. Wetten, their agent, know best which port is the more desirable Under all circumstances ? Be that as it may—whether the accommodation . and coal of Sydney, or the geographical position of Melbourne, carry the preference, it is to be hoped that no advantage to the world at large will be lost.- It will not be at all surprising if private enterprise, backed by colonial aid, beats the British Government; and when the British commercial world discovers what can be done in the woy of improving postal communication with your colonies, I am sure the Imperial Parliament will be compelled to encourage the , most satisfactory plan. You make your Executive do their best in that way. and .we. will force ours to do the like.

We regret to record the death of William Fevan, a lad aged 13 years, the son of Henry Fevan, Appleby, Waimea East. It seems the poor youth was out fishing on Saturday night last. His relations having missed him, his father went to seek him at one o'clock on the Sunday morning; he. found drowned in the Wairoa. Parents cannot be too strict in forbidding such late fishing by rivers and eel pools. . , Police Court—Saturday.—John Ladd, of Nelson, bricklayer, was summoned for allowing his cattle to wander at large contrary to. the Ordinance. Defendant admitted the offence. Fined Be. and costs, amounting altogether to $\ 7».6d. .

.J

ROOM*

W. F. M.