The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-03 00:00:00

• 1 SUPPL respect to the pittances they have saved out of their labour or patrimony, and which would be invaluable to them in their new.home ; but which, with charac teristic carelessness, they squander in wanton indul gence; or recklessly waste in gambling, when they first reach the colony, and which not unfrequently within a week throws them penniless and beggared upon the resources of an unknown land. The " dig gings" naturally occupy an important portion of con sideration ; and Mr. Howitt, with his own pencil and through the aid of his friends, draws numerous pic tures of men and manners, of society and morals, as these are exhibited among the newly-formed class, " the diggers," the majority of which are greatly more characteristic than pleasing ; yet, in most instances, they seem to bear the impress of faithful as well as spirited delineation. That there are sensible and prudent, as well as very sharp men engaged in the exciting lottery of " 0.61. digging," it would be absurd to doubt ; but it would e be equally unwise to deny that a large proportion of them have few claims to be so considered. Mr. Howitt gives the following picture of the Bendigo operations, and of A SUCCESSFUL DIGGER. A gentleman from Bendigo describes that digging as like a country fair five miles long ; men, women, and children, all mixed amongst tents and huts of all sorts, with horses, and bullocks, and drays, and butchers' shambles, and the earth turned upside down everywhere, and vast quantities of gold got. The great nugget of 281 b. was dug there. Mr. Gilbert did all he could to persuade the man who found it, to entrust it to the care of the Gold Office till it was disposed of, and then to let him get the money invested for him—but in vain. He soon began to drink ; got a horse, and rode all about, generally at full gallop, and when he met people, called out to inquire if they knew who he was, and then kindly informed them that he was ' the bloody wretch '—that was his phrase— ' that had found the nugget." At last he rode full speed against a tree, and nearly knocked his brains out. He is a hopelessly ruined man. - The life of a " digger" Mr. Howitt describes as being one of great labour, and almost unmitigated hardship, the latter frequently much exaggerated by improvidence. Of the diggings" themselves, we have many and graphic delineations, of which the following is eminently descriptive of THE MODE OF WORKING IN THE " DIGGINGS." , No language can describe the scene of chaos where they principally are. The creek, that is, a considerable brook, is diverted from its course ; and all the bed of the old course is dug up. Then each side of the creek is dug up, and holes sunk, as close to each other as they can possibly be, so as to leave room for the earth that is thrown out. These holes are some round, some square, and some no shape at all; the sides having fallen in as fast as they have been dug out. They are, in fact, pits and wells, and shapeless, yawning gulfs, not three or four feet, as in the tempting accounts from Mount Alex ander, but from ten to thirty feet deep. Out of these the earth has to be drawn up in buckets ; and some wind them up with windlasses, rudely constructed out of the wood that grows about ; and others haul it up with blocks and pulleys ; ()fliers, and the greater number, merely with their hands. The diggers themselves generally ascend and descend by a rope fastened to a post above, and by holes for their feet in the side of the pit. Many of these holes are filled, or nearly so, with water, filtering from the creek. It is black as ink, and •has a stench as of a tan-yard, partly from the bark with which they line the sides of their holes. In the midst of all these holes, these heaps of clay and gravel, and this stench, the diggers are working away, thick as ants in an ant-hill. You may imagine the labour of all this, and especially of keeping down these subterranean deluges of Stygian water. The course of the creek is lined with other diggers washing out their gold. There are whole rows, almost miles, of puddling-tubs and cradles at work. The earth containing the gold is thrown into the puddling-tubs=half-hogsheads—and stirred about . with _water, to dissolve the hard lumps, when it is put through the cradle, and the gold deposited in the slide of the cradle, then washed out in tin dishes. It is a scene of great bustle and: animation. We saw some parties who had washed out in - the course of the day . 11b. weight of gold, others 6 or 6 oz.; and so most of them had some golden result. Among the " diggers" tricks of all sorts are resorted to, and none is more common than those adopted to entrap new -comers into the purchase of unproductive " holes." The most frequent of these is the pretended finding of " nuggets," which have been purposely de posited, and opportunely found when thel intended victim is at hand. On such occasions a great shout ing is set up, and the surreptitious "nugget" is pro duced with the greatest effrontery as the genuine fruit of that locality in which it has been cunningly deposited. Mr. Howitt gives numerous sketches illus trative of the demoralisation prevalent among these " diggers," and thus sums up the matrimonial pros pects of female emigrants : DIGGERS' MARRIAGES. As to girls marrying, here—the great temptation—that is ,EMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STAN • soon accomplished; for I hear that lots of diggers get married almost every time they go down to Melbourne to spend their gold. A lot of the vilest scoundrels are assembled here from all the four winds of heaven. Nobody knows them ; much less whether they have left wives behind them in their own countries ; and they marry, and go off, and are never heard of again. The character and whimsies, to call them by the mildest term, of domestic servants, are sufficiently annoying to parties in the middle walks of life in the regulated society of England, and give rise to frequent and well-founded complaints among house wives of nearly every grade and of all temperaments. In Australia, however, particularly since the gold fever has become so predominant, the evil appears to have reached its climax, and any change must necessarily be an improvement. Our author is understood to have been a Quaker, and is suspected to still retain the levellinc , partialities predominating in, if not peculiar to, thid . fraternity, and gives us the following SKETCH OF A DOMESTIC SERVANT. To-morrow morning we mean to black our own boots, as to-day we put the horse into the cart, and rode down to the wharf in it for the rest of our goods. Well, the sons of the Chief Justice have had to do the same for him and them selves,—black boots, and harness horses to the carriage, —and why not we ? Alfred and his cousin will sleep in the harness room to-night, with a revolver, and Prince for a watch-dog, as horse-stealing is a very favourite amusement here. But I must do the last groom justice. He was a real gentleman, a gentleman by birth and education. His father is a clergyman of high standing. He himself was educated at Oxford, and used to ride with the Melton hounds. One of the many real gentlemen who came out at the first successful account of the diggings, he had been up and found no luck at the El-Dorado ; so, being very knowing in horseflesh, and liking horses, he engaged with my brother ; and never was there such a groom. Steady, orderly, attentive at all hours and all points, invul nerable in his good humour, he was the perfect groom, and yet the perfect gentleman, and in nothing more so than in that he never presumed upon it. He sunk all pretensions to an equality of rank; he set himself to be groom and nothing more, while he occupied that situation ; but he was never more a gentleman in spirit and in manners than when groom ing his horses or driving out his master. When importuned by his old mates, as the term is,—his old comrades,—to make another trial of the diggings, he told the Doctor he should be obliged to go; but that he would not go till he was suited. This was the only instance of such true politeness which our relatives have met with since diggerdom commenced, for the general announcement is,. " I am going to-morrow !"—and they go. Richard, however, kept his word, and did not go till his master thought he was suited. There is something peculiarly characteristic of the " pride which apes humility" displayed in the pre ceding passage. How earnestly the good qualities of the well-bred groom are dwelt upon—how delicately the sacred calling of his father is introduced—with what tact the Oxford training of the " perfect gentle man" is brought to bear upon the picture—above all, with what simplicity of observation we have it recorded that " the real gentleman," " who used to ride with the hounds at Melton," sunk all pretensions to an equality of rank" with the roving note-taker and his ambulatory relatives. How vast the pity that this observant fraternity had not the happiness of meeting with the daughter of a veritable Lord enact ing the character of a model scullery-wench !" The self-denial of the high-bred gentleman has not been imitated by the low-bred bookmaker. He finds another scion of a goodly stock, who also appears to have cottoned to the levellers, if we may take Mr. Howitt's word on so important a subject. He thus describes AN AUSTRALIAN STONE-BREAKER. Yet, stay, there is one refuge for the destitute here, and that is, working on the reads, Let no one start in alarm at this, for I assure them it is as easy a post as any one can desire, and quite lucrative. It is, moreover, a gentlemanly profession here, and rather the fashion with the knowing gentility. I saw a young acquaintance of mine the other day perched on a stone-heap, on the high road that is to be. He is a smart fellow, of a very distinguished family, and first-rate education, and he gave me these tempting particulars of the practice in this his new profession :—The wages are £3 per week; and the rule is to take it easy enough. Their motto is the old one—Festine lente. The rate of exertion is three strokes to a minute, and half a minute's pause. They work a little before eight o'clock for the sake of an appetite ; and then breakfast till nine. They reckon to work till twelve; then dine till two, and profess to work till four: I say profess, because, if a cloud comes over the sky, and a drop or two fall, they go into the good tents which government finds them, and which cre always pitched at hand, and amuse themselves with books or cards. If a real shower falls, that's a rainy day !—and they never even profess to work on wet days. In the evening they go out shooting opossums ; and thus they earn their 10s. a-day, or £3 a week per man. Our peripatetic friend, who has not been reduced to the ranks of the destitute, probably because a brother, AED. more discreet and less aspiring ceded him in Australia, with thi chalance tells us,—" This is the work is done." One feels sorely species of elective affinity which subordinate intercourse establisht educated members of distinguish uneducated observer who tells us since he came, wanted a boat /A been able to get it done ;" but St' occur in the new world, that Mr. cultivating aristocratic society ti with a success which he would ha' at home. In the two volumes which ) piled from his experiences in Ausf interesting and useful facts desc' valuable hints thrown out. W: which at present beset it, he r epr a paradise for labour ; and in borne out by authorities more book can reasonably pretend tope home, he seems to have enacted grumbler abroad ; and, imbuing colours of his own mind, he app very drab-hued coating to men Antipodes. The Liturgical Class Book. tificated Teacher, Head Master Harewood's School. London We were present, not long ago by one of H. M. Inspectors, of p 1 third year. One of the papers ' this paper was answered the woi questions were by no means dia remarked that he generally foul that the greatest ignorance pre\ even among masters and mistressL Book : few were really acquaint fewer still with the changes that fore it has been brought to its prk any one make himself acquainted, this book since the first mouldit something like their present shat that, to look at it merely in coo tory of England for the last th has borne no inconsiderable Par changes, revolutions, rebellions> place during that period. It NT Common-Prayer, as containing and the exposition of faith, that our Reformation cheerfully suffel book that they clasped to the: flames surrounded them. It srl troduce this book, or, at least, o a rebellion in Scotland agains.t was to maintain this book in itsri that King Charles became a ulsf a ful times its influence is no le Church is in danger" was ofte n ca l purposes, which could ove rt stir up a mob to burn dissete These results showed how dee/ Englishman is his love or his Book. Now, looking at this fact view, merely as connected wit country, we cannot but be stro ,- ,. and the influence it has exercise" must show how necessary a la i° is the history of our Prayer -13 ° ° deeper, and begin to consider 01 :1, point of view ; when we con s '. means of approach of the soul to to the Creator, it assumes a Pl s . eye far above the quarrels and rebuke on world. The remark of the insPr sc hoo , Ignorance of our this b elementar ook y amouilts command of the apostle to answer to every man that asketh hope that is in you." . There can be little doubt, bi why the Prayer-Book is so lit there is wanting a really good A , A teacher ought not to have to s' Ottoo books as Wheatley, Palmer, Comb! 0 have written on this subject ; 11 !. manual of his own, compiled fo' . , sk. e p Y 3, 1 Nro .: 4 s l ban hiniself,_, oi he most perP", 41., fr: 3 way all go !_'A ' Kto • puzzled to psi ealia seems to regT., M . led between ".d q,141 hed families;.,/, yttl 5 of a ulaa #:;it tliir ,ien,d,,,,,,, ,„,4„4, uch strange v.," ~,,14, .o llowitt's slital, (,178 there 0,3f)i9, lit :Irk, 100 10010 1° , ' 1.1t1tt.,1 by t at gr. lioritti,'i., , t i O„ Lstralia, ire, O ot t ariff , §; i, ieribed, 0 'd'oilf". Q(r, rith ail the u coottfri Wt , )resents th e illo he ~ N rc Z!,l tiliS P, ti b e f th° 11 : 1 1N tra.iticv•to obkr • Q 0 De. jth?! l b , t t d d i e c o , f ith ea Ll o 4 it i Y el'et.,a 011 k;n7t .1 ' lv a ua rtbe Pl.qe , , GI ---- ee. 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