The Express.
London, England, 1858-10-19 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

(MOW OCR OWN COI

SYDNEY, hue. 11.
For a considerable time past commercial affairs
h►ve remained in a state of great depression, in con-
sequence of the warehouses beinf overstocked with
English and American goods. It le quite evident that
until a great part of the stock on hand is cleared off
the imports continually arriving must, if sold, be
disposed of at a price disastrous to the shippers. The
evil long complained of—great irregularity in the
mail service—has tended to cramp the ordinary ope-
rations of trade, and efforts are being made to pro-
cure the adoption of the Paoasa route instead of
that by-way of India.
The presence of a considerable naval and military
force at Port de France, New Caledonia, the French
station in the Pacific, has occasioned some uneasiness
here, lest the three ships of war, two war steamers,
and 1,000 military, should be assembled within a few
days sail of Australia, with hostile views. The ad-
vices just received, contradicting a prevalent rumour
of a rupt-re between England and France, has
quieted the alarm.
. _

A new electoral bill for this colony has for some
time past occupied the attention of the House of
Assembly. Manhood suffrage and vote by ballot
have been affirmed. The effect of this large exten-
sion of the franchise will be to give a preponderance
to the town constituencies over the " squatting " in-
terest—the pioneers of Australian prosperity.
The electric telegraph front Adelaide to Melbourne
is in full work. The line northward, from the
latter capital to Sydney, is in a state of forwardness,
the work being in progress on each aide the border,
the junction to be at Albany. When completed the
colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, and South
Australia will have the benefit of rapid communica-
tion to the extent of nearly a thousand miles.
The new lighthouse at the entrance of Port Jack-
son being finished, a bright fixed light is nightly
exhibited. The lighthouse stands on the edge of the
cliff, forming the Inner South Head, at an elevation
of 60 feet above the sea level.

A new gold-field has been discovered in the north
of this oolony, which is said to be the seat of a rich
auriferous deposit. It is in the Port Curtis district,
about thirty miles from Rockampton and seven from
the Fitzroy river. The diggers, who are as yet only
" surfacing," are well satisfied with their earnings.
What are called the old gold-fields, though so long
and diligently worked, exhibit no falling off in the
produce.
The Yeas mail-oosch was stopped about three weeks
ago by two highwaymen with blackened faces, who
robbed the passengers of money and valuables to the
amount of 2001., and carried off the mail-bags. One
of the latter has been found, unopened, and an active
search after the thieves has resulted in the capture
of a man supposed to be one of them.

We have 'lately heard of serious outrages com-
mitted by the aborigines on the borders of the
settled districts, who have murdered some of the
whites, and committed felonious assaults on females.
For a long time previously the natives had been
peaceable towards the settlers.
Mr. Roberts, civil engineer of Sydney, who has
been for several months engaged in surveying the
squatting district of the Barwan, lately fell in with
a party of the " hairless savages," whose existence
has recently been made known. They comprised •
family of six, a man and his wife and four children,
all totally destitute of hair. Their oomplexion
is of • copper colour, less dark than that of the
North American Indians, and partaking more of
the Mexican tint. It is supposed that this family is
the produce of an intermixture of the Malays
and the north-western black tribes of Austraha,
driven from the interior by continuous and incessant
drought, or that they are the remnant of some ex-
tinct race.

The winter, now on the eve of giving place to our
Australian spring, has been unusually severe this
year. Snow has fallen in some places, to the vast
admiration of many a colonist under twenty years of
age; and the creeks in various parts have been
covered with numerous flocks of swans, ducks, teal,
widgeons, and other wild fowl. Nevertheless, an
extensive drought has prevailed in the southern
district, causing great destruction among the cattle
from the want of food and water. The pnoe of meat
is consequently high in the Victoria markets.

CANADA.

(7710311 ♦ SPACIAL

TORONTO.Oc-r. 4.

The Exhibition, which the Prince of Wales was
invited to attend, is over, and has been a great sue-
°es.. Lord Napier, the British Minister at Wash-
ington, was expected to be present, but was detained
by the illness of Lady Napier. The show was the
annual one of the Provincial Agricultural Association,
which also includes manufactures and floe arta ; bat
it was rendered more noticeable this year by the
building erected for it at Toronto, which may be
compared, though on a much smaller scale, to those
of the Exhibitions in London, Manchester, Dublin,
and New York. The concourse of people was
larger than on former occasions, and I wish some
of the London editors, who have been lately calling
us barbarians because we would not locate our
capital in the worst possible place, could have been
here to see our Exhibition. A Canadian crowd is
not a very well dressed one, but it is remarkably
intelligent, and there is always more wealth in the
pocket than is displayed on the back. Our sturdy
farmers do not wear broad cloth; but they have
each the tide deeds of his one, two, or
three hundred acres—in his chest at home;
most of them have the means of furnishing each son
with a " wild lot," and some can do the same for
their daughters ; they have schools for their
children, churches for their clergy, and freedom for
themselves. The Governor-General opened the
exhibition building, and it was instructive to see
the way in which be was received by the people.
A few office-holders and office-seekers got up a
cheer at the door, and there were one or two hisses,
but the great mass received him with frigid, heavy
silence. There were 8,000 people in the building,
and when he mounted the date not a sound was
heard. Ills Excellency took his reception so much
to heart that he did not even pass through the
grounds, but drove off as fast as he could.

A sentence has jut been passed in default by a
council of war at St Petemburgh, upon an ensign of
Dragoons, named Sedoveky, who, du, log the war in the
Crime*, went over to the Turkish army, and subsequently
renounced Christianity f.ir the klahomedan faith. The sen-
tence daisies him a traitor to his country. His name,
ar-
tacbed to a gibbet, will be exposed in a public place, and
be himself, if ever taken, will be openly degraded by the
hands of the hangman, who will break his sword upon
his bead, &0., after which be will be ant to labour for
life in the mines of Siberia, never leaving the depth' of
the mine,

THE OUTWARD PENINSULAR MAlLS.—'lle steam-
ship Valetta. Capt. Kell‘xl. kit S..,u,nsnipton yesterday
with the above owl., 40 paseaugerv, 40,0001, in speLie for
Lisbon, and a toll cargo.