The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-29 00:00:00

COLONIAL.

NEW SOUTH WALES.—Our despatches from
this colony are to the 3rd of June.
Lsmistarivit Picot:gem'Nos.—On the 19th of May the
Legislative Council, in consequence of Mr. M'Leaj's re-
signation, proceeded to the election of a new speaker. Mr.
Cowper moved that Dr. Nicholson be elected. The motion
was seconded by Mr. Murray, and carried unanimoudy.
Arta. Dr. Nicholson had taken the chair, the usual pro
formes motion was made that the mover and seconder du
signify the choice of the house to the governor; but the
colonial secretary said that, " although the formsof the house
required such a proceeding, that his excellency the Governor,
foreseeing such a determination, had authorised him to inform
the house that he would be prepared to receive the speaker
at half-past three that day, after which the house might pro-
ceed to the business on the paper." This broad hint that
Sir George Gipps wished to have no intercourse with members
of the council which he could avoid, was taken, and the house
adjourned. On the 2let of June a bill fur preventing the
desertion of foreign seamen, moved by the colonial secretary,
and seconded by Mr. Wentworth, was read a first time.
The secretary said that a great increase had taken
place in the number of foreign vessels frequenting
Sydney since the port charges had been abolished.
There had been numerous eases of desertion from
those vessels, and the magistrates had declined to act,
entertaining a doubt whether they had jurisdiction over
foreign seamen. By the bill no magistrate could interfere
except upon application from the consul of the nation to
which the vessel belonged. The French consul concurred in
the expediency of the measure. The Colonial Secretary at
the close of his speech alluded to tne advantages which had
accrued to the colony by allowing foreign vessels to enter the
port without paying harbour dues, and stated that from the
sth April, 1545, to the mime day iu the present year, no
fewer than thirty-two vessels, whose aggregate burthens
amounted to 11,1)33 tons, had put into this port. On the
28th of May, a committee was appointed, on the motion of
the Attorney-General, to whom the Jury Laws Consolidation
Bill should be referred. The committee was instructed to
report in a month. The Attorney-General said, "he was
nut wedded to the measure in the shape he bad prepared it ,•
it was founded on Sir Robert Feel's Act, but he had heard
it expressed, that the object of the bill would be better
attained by three separate measures, and if the committee
should recommend such a course, he should net offer any
opposition. His bill certainly trenched somewhat on theone
recently passed by the council relative to juries in civil
causes ; and he bad omitted that clause altogether, which ,
provided that alter six hours' deliberation a verdict of three- '
fourths of a jury should be taken, and which gave to the
judges the power of discharging the jury, if they came to no
decision at the expiration of twelve hours." A great deal
more of important business was transacted, and as usual is
the New South Wales legislature in a business-like and judi-
cial spirit ; but it was of more exclusively local interest than
the transactions we have specified. Two important motions
were about to be discussed. Mr. Grant had given notice that
on the sth of June he should move the following resolution :
"That the monopoly of coal so long enjoyed by the Australian
Avicuitural Company, is highly prejudicial to the interests of the
colony, and is distillate oppmml to all rceugni,ml pins:Mks of good
government and political Faience. That as now, owing to rations
circumstances, the monopoly ha+ almost ceased to be profitable even
to the company themselves, a select committee be appointed to take
this subject into consideration, and that they be directed to lumen tin,
as far an pas-ible, the present profits of the company Morn this source,
and the probahle rate of the rapidly descending wale of the
with a view to a proposal upon equitable terms for the surrender of
the obnoxious privilege during the unexpired term of the company's
charter."

But the great debate of the session was to take place on
the 3rd of June, for whic't day Mr. Wentworth had moved
a call of the bou,e. The subject on which the debate would
arise was, " Consideration of the (inventor's Message, with
the Crown Land's Occupation and Border Police Act Con-
tinuation Bill." In respect of these contested subjects, we
believe the following extract from the Sydney Morning
Herald expresses the sense of ninety-nine in a hundred of
the most judicious and substantial colonists :
•• This measure divides itself into two distinct branches, one of
which the Council will do well to reject, and the other they will per-
haps feel bound to entertain, an bring eswntial to the protection of
life and priperty in the squatting districts. That branch or the sub-
' jest which relates exclusively to the occupatim of land, anal which
in confessedly intended to enable the government to enforce more
etreetually the allegtsl rights of the Crown, cannot be entertained
without compromising a futabttnentd principle. For althouih the
bill prow., nothing more than to renew the art for one year, since
it will expire on the oth ot next month, it vet asks too much, seeing
that to proliatt voluntarily, even for a single day, a measure which
has been solemnly condemned, not only by the (boned, but by the
nearly Ullllllillloll4 vOiel• ofthe Colllllllllllly, as a itingeroon itirgrensiOn
on the rights and interests of Clef:01011y. Ulll/11164, to stoke t lie Cf 0111101 a
party to their own defeat, and to the drfvt of choir fc .3..u.siAS
at large. Thin surely, to n.r Lord stoney's language, in en '
hablecoatingenry.' The governor am brie.ted, crc now, titat he eon
enforce the clainte of the Crown without the act, though not I•Xlie-
ditiounly. Let him he left to do bin bast with the arbitrary power', he
set+ up; but let not the representative,. of the people be found aiding
and abetting in any such .ireer of nes ptotism. lie last, appealtsl to the
Lowning-street tlesar ; to Cmtar let Imo go. The other dirition of
the subject in of a totally different character. In MI far on the expiring
Lw provides, by mean. of a bawler police, for the protection of the
spatters:, it chinas (ruin the Comical their most willing attention.
Nit ill renewing the usptsinent on stuck. let them babe good rare to
define the purpose for which alone the tax is imposed, and to regulate
the precise mode of its appropriation."

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.—GoLn 111iNE.—We have
private letters and journals from this colony to the Bth May.
they confirm the reports of the discovery of mild veins which
had previously reached us. The mine in which the gold has
been found is the pr. party of the Victoria Mining Company.
The shares of this concern a short time previous had been
selling from two to three pounds; they have since risen to
upwards of twenty pounds. Fears arc entertained that the
Crown, on the same plea on which it claims a reserved
royalty on all mi.ierals, may claim an exclusive right to the
precious metals. This apprehension alone has prevented the
company's shares fro:n rising still higher. We wish we could
say with confidence that the Crown will not exert an
oppressive right derived from the feudal ages, which must
necessarily check mining enterprise; but its conduct in
respect to the reserved right ov.r minerals is no good augury
of its wisdom awl justice. On the other hand, we would fain
hope that the succe,sive discoveries of mineral treasure which
hove been made in South Australia may not re-inspire the
colonists with that spirit of speculation and jobbing from
which the colony sufferol so much at the outset; or withhold
their attention from the leu alluring hut more healthy
and more steadily prosperous pursuits of agriculture and the
fisheries. The accounts of the discovery in the South Ant-
tratian aindle and is the AdJaide Obserrer vary slightly
in some particulars. We therefore give a place to both, as
the right to the honour of the discovery appears to be in-
volved in the discrepancies. The Gazette says :

" On the 7th of February het Mr. lVicksteed paid into the colonial
treasury seven hundred and nicety-nine pounds sterling for a section
of land in the county of .Idelaide, numbered 5,697, tunbiining one
hundred and forty-seven acres purchased by him from the govern-
ment at public auction, and meleed the team] grant. ,retion so
punhascal was officially advertise l ns containing valuable minerals;
and this very large sum w s paid fur it because of the belief that Mr.
Wicksteed and his partners in the transaction had in the correctness
of the description which the Government had given of the land. Nor
have they been deceived. On Saturday last nue of the nun employed
in sialdng a shalt on what was supposed lobe a copper hale, when at the
depth tu six fathoms suddenly brio:in intua small wino( metal of a totally
different character from any before sen in the mine. surrounded
and imbedded in dark chocolate-coloured earth or were
thickish layers of a bright yellow metal, pliable to the touch, and
evidently unconnected with the neighbouring copper. The vein was
about two inches wide —giving metal in the proportion perhaps of u
quarter of an ounce to an Melt, and showing a tendency to enlarge in
size. The person who made this discovery —a miner tinned Tyrrell
—gathered up a few pieces; and in the course of the evening arrived
In Adelaide with them. On Monday last, we had the gratinaut ion to
(Dunne these specimens, and we haw since wen a much larger
number from the same spot. They have been also examined by
Canlain Frome, Captain Sturt, Mr. Iturr !deputy surveyor-general),
Dr. Davy, and others, whore seient ate and practical knowledge of
mineralogy leaves the fact without a shadow of doubt, that a most
valuable mine of gold has been din overed. Dr. Davy has furnished
us with the assay made by him on Thunalay, which we subjoin :
Analysis of a specimen of native gold ,eparated from the matrix by
the lingers, but not washed or otherwise purified :
Gold
Silver 2.8 or under .
Oxide of iron, accidentally adherent particlesof
earthy matter, Ike.

The version of the Observer is as follows :

" To Captain Tyrrell, of the North Montacute Mine, belongs the
honour of thin discovery, which was brought to light bv him out of a
shaft undertaken for the discovery of topper ore under his directions,
fur "The Victoria Mining Company," in section No, 5597, not far
from the celebrated Montacute (tipper }liar. The auriferous vein,
which in described an " about two inches big," is composed of a rich
ochreous gossuo, more or Icon intermingled with native gold, in vari-
ous forms, and of the utmcat imaginable purity, some specimens hav-
ing the appearance of what in rolled dead gold," and many portions
posseming a high degree of brilliancy. An may well he supposed this
"crowning" discovery has been the engraining topic of the week—
and the Directors of the Victoria Mining Company as elsewhere
named, after haring instituted the necessary measures to pro-
tect the property, and " guard the approaches,. seem to
have betaken themselves to the study of that part of the
royal siitute entitled 5 William and Mary, c. 6, see. 2
in nnpect of which, interpretation., unfavorable to the undisturbed
possession of this treasure by the associated proprietors have rather
authoritatively gone forth. ,hares in the mine hare been greatly in
request, and really as well as nominally at very high premium,
but until the relative position of the proprietors with respect to thin
newly discovered as well a unexpected wealth be ascertained, no
rational quotation for our mining shin e-market cruk be propounded."