The Express.
London, England, 1864-11-16 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

We have Australian advices to the following
dates :—Melbourne, Sept. 24 ; Sydney, Sept. 23 ;
Adelaide, Sept. 26.

VICTORIA.

The mail left in the midst of a general election.
The Legislative Assembly was dissolved towards
the end of August.

The main truck line of railway from Melbourne
to the River Murray has been completed, though
not yet opened for passenger traffic. The colony
of Victoria can now be traversed from north to
south by means of the railway iu something like
six hours. It is anticipated that a large propor-
tion of the wool and goods which heretofore have
been forwarded via the Murray to Adelaide,
will be sent direct to Melbourne by rail.
Coincident with the accomplishment of this
important work a dispute has arisen with the sister
colony of New South Wales. The Ary ms gives the
following account of the quarrel :
Jealous of the trade which, owing to her facilities of
intercommunication, Victoria has opened up with the
western or Riverine section of New South Wales, our
neighbours have resorted to the unwise step of establishing
• cordon of cuatoms•housee along the River Murray, so that
no dutiable goods shall enter New South Wales from
Victoria without being subject to such imposts es
the Sydney government may think fit to levy. Nor
is this all. New South Wales claims the Money es part of
her territory, and therefore proposes to seize all goods
which she may find on the river, unless customs duties are
paid upon them. This arrangement the officers of the
Sydney government eodearoured to enforce on Monday last.
A detachment of police was accordingly sent to Echoes to
protect Victorian intereste, and when the Sydney collector
of custom. sought to seise • shipload of goo is, the inspector
politely told him that be must not do so, and, to use the
curt language of the telegram, " resisted the collector."
The question of sight being thus raised, the subject, it is
to be supposed, will be brought before the courts of law,
and will ultimately find it. way to the Privy Council. For
• difference far less tntling, neighbouring European nations
have come to blows, but, fortunately for Australia, there
are no standiog armies in these parts, and the solutwo of
the difficulty may well be left to judicial arbitrament.
The Gaztfte announces the nullification of the
compact entered into by the Victorian govern-
ment with the governments of New South Wales
and South Australia, relative to the collection of
Custom duties on the border. Official notice is
given that all dutiable goods entering Victoria,
whether by the river or otherwise, the duty not
being paid to the Victorian government, will be
liable to forfeiture ; and persons concerned in
introducing such goods be subjected to a fine
treble the value of the goods, or 100/. penalty, at
the option of the Commissioner of Customs.

The Council of the Anti-Transportation League
continued to hold periodical meetings, and public
feeling on this subject was strongly excited.
The mining prospects of the colony are reported
as encouraging, and this improved condition of
things has caused a considerable influx of capital
from all parte of the country. There has not been
much doing in reference to new rushes, but many
of the old mines have been yielding well, and re-
turning something like an equivalent for the outlay
which has been made. The operation of the
Limited Liability Act, as applied to mining
ventures, has bad the effect of reducing many of the
large shares held in several of the companies at
Ballarat with scrip, thus affording a more extended
field for the disposal of capital.
Some nuggets of goodly size bad been discovered
during the past mouth. One weighing 103ozs. was
found in the Old Lead at Dunolly ; half a dozen,
weighing from two ounces to six ounces, have been
turned up in the neighbourhood of Creswick ; and
a magnificent specimen, weighing four pounds and
a half, nearly all gold, has been unearthed from
an old 'haft at the White Hills, Maryborough.
The young salmon have been safely deposited in