VICTORIAN.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 246, 15 May 1868, Page 2

VICTORIAN.

(From the late Victorian papers,) Some disgraceful proceedings on board ship are reported by the Bendigo Advertiser, which we should hesitate to believe upon less respectable authority : —" We have it from reliable authority that the conduct of some of our late townsmen, who were passengers for England, surpasses anything out of Pandemonium. From the starting of the vessel from Hobson's Bay until her arrival in London a steady course of drunkenness and insubordination appear to have reigned supreme among then. Nothing but insult and gross conduct were evinced towards the whole ship's company, from the captain down to the steward; the captain, indeed, was at last obliged to remove his table from among them, and dine separately with the remaining passengers. They went so far as to summon the captain on the ships arrival in England for alleged inattention, £:■, during the passage. The magistrate, however, showed his good sense by acquitting him; and to crown the whole affair the captain declared on oath that six individuals who hailed from Bendigo, an average of two were steadily in a state of delirium tremens during the whole voyage." The Melbourne correspondent of tha Coleraine Albion seems to have been peculiarly favored with a morceaux of Sydney gossip:—" A rumor floats to us from New South "Wales that the Earl of Belmore, disliking for many reasons his position in New South "Wales, has sent home his resignation. It was pretty notorious at home that he accepted the appointment to enable himself to save money to pay off the mortgages saddled on his Irish estates by his predecessors. Perhaps he finds that in Sydney he will have to live too closely up to his official income to enable him to achieve the

object he had in view in coming to the antipodes." The Tanko run of M'Neil Brothers. Narandera, which was the scene of the late double murder, has again been, the locality of another mysterious death. A traveller named Dixon, or supposed to be so, was fouud at one of the huts on that run with his throat gashed in a place where such a gash might cause death by bleeding. An inquiry by magistrates was held upon the body, and they appear to have come to the conclusion that the deceased committed suicide. It is also reported that a cheque for £25 was found upon him. But what renders the matter dubious is, that no weapon of any kind that may have been used for the purpose of suicide has been found.

A case.occurred in the City Police dourt <©n Monday last which aptly illustrates the elastic notions which a good many people—shall we say most people?—entertain of conjugal relations in this Colony. The case itself was simple enough, and consisted of an application by a man named Bawlings for the annulment of a protectionorder granted some time ago to his wife, the purpose of the application being obviously the obtainment of control over such property as she had acquired subsequently to her separation from him. The real interest, however, came out in the evidence, by which it appeared that Bawlings had literally sold his wife in June, 1867, for the sum of £4OO, to a man named Barrett, whose society the lady had long preferred to that of her husband. This transaction appeared to have been effected in the most busi-ness-like manner, and without any admixture of sentiment, Mrs Bawlings having made no secret of her preference for Barrett, Barrett having declared his regard for her with an edifying frankness in the presence of her husband, and the latter having presently balanced matters by calmly selecting a substitute for the legal partner of his joys and sorrows. All through theferansaetion nobody seems to have been "disturbed by the consciousness ofany outrage done to the social proprieties. As a sample of a great deal of what lies below the surface of Australian society, it is interesting, if not highly instructive ; and, moreover, it indirectly suggests how little indicative of the true character of the world around us are the external appearances which present themselves to common observation. There is, indeed, every facility in Australian society for irregularities of this kind, and those who have lived here for ;any length of time know too well that they are quite the reverse of exceptional.

The success of the co-operative •company of engineers and iron-workers established under the title of " Langlands Foundry Company," must not only he gratifying in the highest degree to those immediately concerned, hut it is also encouraging to the intelligent working-class, as pointing out in what way labour can best participate in the advantages derived from labour and capital combined. During the last six months the whole of the working shareholders had full employ, ment at good wages, and at the meeting which took place on Thursday last the balance-sheet showed a sufficient amount to the credit of the company to pay a dividend at the rate of eight per cent, per annum, after deducting £SOO for repairs and depreciation of plant, and carrying £1,250 forward to the reserve fund. We trust to see many other manufactories successfully established in the colony on the co-operative principle.

"We heard a rather amusing story the other day," says the Ovens Advertiser, "relating to the dead-lock as exemplified in Beechworth. A civil servant was walking down Ford-street, when a tradesman ran out of his shop, and asked him whether he could conveniently settle his small account. He replied,' Why you have never sent me in the bill.' ' I'll do so immediately, sir,' the tradesman cried. ' Ah, do !' returned the civil servant, 'and I'll file it with the rest.' "

A somewhat curious case of bigamy came before the City Court on Wednesday, the defendant being John Black, who was said to be a sea captain. From the statement of the case made on behalf of the prosecution, it appeared that in February, 1866, the prisoner was married, in Glasgow, to Miss Elizabeth Boyd, the daughter of parents who had since come to this colony, and were living at Warrnambool. Some time after the marriage the parents thought that there was reason to believe that Black had been formerly married, and he was questioned on the matter. He denied that such was the case, but admitted that ho had lived with a woman, who, how-

ever, had not been his wife. The friends of his wife, not being satisfied, did not permit her to live with him till the doubt had been satisfactorily cleared up, and while they were living apart he maintained a correspondence with her, writing in the most affectionate terms. On the 3rd of lost month he was married to a young lady' at Emerald Hill, and on the same day addressed a loving epistle to his wife at "Warrnambool, requesting her to send him £5. The bigamy becoming known, he made his escape to Newcastle, New South Wales, and was there arrested on warrant. Evidence having been called to prove the marriage in Scotland, in 1866, and the subsequent one at Emerald Hill, the Bench sent the prisoner for trial. Both of the wives of the prisoner were present in court, and the one who was most recently married was affected to a very painful degree at the prisoner's committal