COLONIAL EXTRACTS.

Wellington Independent, Volume VI, Issue 469, 10 April 1850, Page 3

COLONIAL EXTRACTS.

Transportation.—The correspondent of the Sydney Herald says :—-The ciase then stands thus; —both the Cape of Good Hope and the colony of New South Wales have declared against receiving convicts. Then with gaols, and hulks, and penitentiaries all filled to overflowing and no outlet for their contents in Ber- ,- mudaj Gibraltar, or Van Diemen's Laud, —all inturn surfeited with British crime, —there can be no doubt the question of our convicts has become one of.grave and urgent importance. So that, however the government may encourage a fueling of nonchalance on the subject, we may be assured that they are, in reality, very anxious about the matter, and sorely puzzled what course to take next. I have ho doubt, therefore, that the convict question has shared with the RussoTurkish questions in the recent deliberations at the foreign office. Ft is much to be regretted that this is the period of the recess. Were parliament now sitting, we shouldy no; doubt, find that hef Majesty's ministers would be subjected to a few interrogatories aa to their future " penal policy." Referring to the decision of the Sydney council, which had reached England, though despatches had not arrived, he adds:—l suspect you will find that the tone assumed will be that of great indifference, as that her Majesty's government can have no desire but'to consult the wishes and interests of the colony, and if the colony does not want the convicts, they shall be sent elsewhere —as, for example, to Mo'retok Bay. 7 A shipload of convicts is to be forthwith dispatched to West Australia; but it seems impossible that that ruined settlement can at first, or for some time to come, find-room for all our disposable convicts —botween 2,000 and 3,000 every year- _JMo_saonor had my Lord • Grey come, up from the North "thach he deoidod to scnil convicts lo Mere-tan Bat/. Some of the Moroton Bay settlors, nowiu England, addressed a nioniorial to Lord Grey suggesting that convicts might dispatched to that rjuarter—immediatoly on coming to towu 'his , , lordship, sent- forth out—and the result, of, the interview was that Mor'eHoii Bat/was fa firiiui coiivicls iuiil 'equal sirppli-es' of frse emigrants.

There is no intention of declaring- More ton Bay a nonintegralpart of New South Wales. ■ •"-

Deep Sea Fishery.—-It is with extreme pleasure thut we have an opportunity of congratulating our fellow-colo-nists on the probability that at length, through the exertions of Mr. Button, and other gentlemen associated with him, and the confidence of assistance from his excellency the lieut.-governor and the government of the colony, the great bank to the southward of this island, spoken of by Sir James Ross, the celebrated navigator, in his voyage of discovery and research iv the Southern and Antartic Regions, and as in his*judgment "likely to prove a valuable fishery to this colony," is to be shortly accurately surveyed an'l examined. It has also been ascertained, by information obtained from a merchant oi" great respectability, Mon. Dioreofthe Mauritius, with whom Mr Sutton has been in communication on the subject, and from other sources, that in that and other islands in the Eastern Seas, dried aud salted fish of the description of the I)firacootcr, and other large fish known to frequent Storm and Adventure Bay and other colonial waters, would always find a ready market, and at remunerative prices to the active and enterprising merchant and shipowner. Mr. Sutton having taken some pains to obtain information from different fishermen, as to the names and description of edible fish in the rivers, streams, channels, waters, and on the coast, can enumerate upwards of forty, and. there can be no doubt of a greatly increased number to be ascertained on research at a future period.—//. T Advertiser. Wool.—We are very sorry to hear that the clip this season falls very short of the average of many years past,—in some cases varying from two to eight ounces per fleece. This will be a serious drawback on the advance in the price of wool. We have received our information from unquestionable authority; that is, from several highly respectable wool-growers, who all attribute the. cause to the three months' draught and consequent scarcity of feed immediately, after the shearing of the previous year.— S. M. Herald. Subscription-Ball,—OnFriday evening last the delightful town of New Norfolk was enlivened by the merry pipe and tabor. The Rotpau Catholic chapel was made the hall of the festivity, which was very tastefully decorated, under the immediate superintendence of Mr. John Martin. The occasion of the ball was the departure-)f the well known and respected Mr. Edward Glover, who quits the land of his birth for.California.. There were nearly 100 persons present, and the joyous party did not separate till /early dawn.— Col. Times. Colonial Manufactures.—Nor too favorable mention can be made of the enterprise of those, who, by their exertions and ingenuity, develop the resources of the colony. Mr. Cleburne has entirely put a stop to the importation of soap and candles ; Mr. Harte bids fair to do the like with glue and .isize ; and Messrs. Tibbs and Co., who have erected a new kiln on a large scale, export their pottery ware so extensively, that although they have taken on a number of extra hands, they cannot supply the demand. To those who have not seen the complete premises of Mr. John Mezger, at New Town, an adequate idea cannot be formed. The brewery, malthouses, granaries, flour-mill, aud bone-mill are perfect; of the only one in the colony, the benefit the farmers had derived from it is self evident: crushed bones as a manure is highly extolled in almost every agricultural work or treatise on soils. An immense quantity of this valuable article has already been sent to some of the principal landholders in the interior.— Col. Times. ~