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

AUSTRALIA,

BY the Lightning, which arrived on Saturda.y, and the
Gypsey Bride, which arrived on Sunday, we have intelligence
from Melbourne to the 11th of April.
A commission.was issued to inquire into the cause of the
Ballarat riots, and it has made a report upon which the Le-
gislative Council,have acted, and several useful measures have
been passed,

The Eagle, hence on the 28th December,. arrived April the
6th.

Ralph, Waller, hence January 4, arrived on the 7th.
The Red Jacket arrived on March 25th, and was to sail on
the 20th.of April.
Several new and apparently productive, gold fields have
been discovered lately at no great distance from Melbourne
and. Geelong respectively. Those near Melbourne are the
Caledonian diggings, beyond Little. Eltham, and Mount
Blackwood, near the Werribee. The former are thirty miles,
and the, latter fifty miles, distant from Melbourne. About
1,500 men are said also to be working and doing well on the
Plenty Ranges. The new goldfield: near Geelong is at Steig-
litz Forest, twenty miles from that town. Favourable reports
have likewise been received of the gold-field of Mount Ararat,
in the western district. The age of large nuggets has not
yet gone by. A magnificent mass o; pure gold, weighing 841 b.,
from Castlemaine, and one of AOlbs. from Ballarat, have just
arrived in Melbourne by escort.
SYDNEY, April 7.—The-declared value of the imports into
the port of Sydney, for the week ending March 24, was
£66,800 ; the value of the. exports for the same period, as de-
clared was £57,824. Freight to Liverpool—wool, per lb., id.
to id.; light goods, 50s. to 60s. per ton.
MELBOURNE LABOUR MARKET.—Since gold was first dis-
covered in Victoria, the labour market has not been in so
healthy a state as it is at present. The demand for agri-
cultural labourers still continues to increase,and the supply to
diminish; consequently wages have an upward tendency.
The large numbers employed on public works, the large
number gone and going to the " diggings,' have all but
emptied the market of good men.
GEELONG LABOUR MARKET.—WO have to note an in-
creased demand for mechanics engaged in house building,
and a trifling advance on former rates of wages has thence
resulted. There is a good steady demand for thorough farm
labourers. With reference to female domestics, it may be
remarked that though they are more easily obtained than
formerly, they are mostly very inferior. The want of good
English and Scotch girls, accustomed to town life, is much
felt.

COMMON THINGS.—Among the prizes at Harrow speeches
on the 28th, there was one, for the first time, adjudged to
proficiency in "good reading." It was the gift of the Rev.
Francis Trench, an old Harrovian, and the successful compe-
titor was Mr. Merivale. The prize was very popular among
the boys, and excited much competition on the highest form.
A DUEL was fought in Nottingham-park, on Thursday,
between two youths, who had quarrelled about a girl. Shot
after shot passed between them, and one of the belligerents
lost a finger, and the other received bullets in his arm and
and through his hat. About eight years ago a singular
occurrence, in which two schoolmates were the principals,
took place on the same spot; but on that occasion no injury
was inflicted.
CALCULATING MACHINE.—A remarkable machine, for the
purpose of abstruse calculations, has been sent over to this
country, and deposited, for the present, at the Royal Society
in London. It is the invention of a Swedish gentleman,
named Schutz, who has, it is said, expended the greater por-
tion of his property in the operations necessary to bring his
invention to a successful issue. This machine, which may be
seen in full operation, will compute all the logarithms in
Hutton's Tables, by the simple turning of a handle, and with-
out the possibility of error. It not only does this, but it
prints them and stereotypes them. The arrangements of the
various portions of the engine are admirably planned, and the
mechAnical contrivances models of beauty and simplicity.