The Express.
London, England, 1859-03-26 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

We have received advice, from Melbourne, dated
Feb. 4, and from Sydney, Jan. 27.
The parliament of Victoria rose on the 17th of
December, for the Christmas holidays, and re-
:mumbled on the 11th of the following January. It
was at first expected that the session would be a very
brief one, and that after the rapid despatch of some
necessary business, a dissolution would prepare the
way for a new parliament, elected on the basis of
the Reform Rill recently enacted. Several causes
had conspired to disappoint this expectation, and it
was doubtful whether the business before the houses
would be disposed of before the latter end of the
month. " This delay," says the Argus, " is, in a
great measure, to be attributed to the factions spirit
displayed by the opposition, who lose no opportunity
of importing into the debates of the Assembly the
most extraneous and irritating topics."
Of the labour market the Argus says :
. .

Every week the report from the labour offices in town is.
that the demand is dull, and that many mere men ere offering
their services than are immediately required; the farmers
are supplied with all the ex, re hands they want through the
harvest; hundreds of men are idling about all the railway
works, on the chance of being taken on; many tradesmen
and mechanics hare long been seeking employment in vain.
Such is tbo burden of each week's report, and unfortanately
the statements ere too tens. A state of things which a few
monihs since was bettered to be only temporary, and certain
to be abolished, for some yeses et least, by the commence.
ment of railways, bu become chronic, and ft is now hard to
predict when the demand and supply in this market will be
more evenly balanced.
In railway affairs the all-absorbing event of the
month had been the opening of the first portion of
the main line from Melbourne to Sandhurst. On
the 13th of January this and the line to Williams-
town were formally opened by the governor, accom-
panied by the members of parliament, the city oor-
partition, government officials, and some 3,000
persons.
In its summary of commercial intelligence, the
Argus reports :
The gold market has been, as is usual at this season of the
year, dull. Production has been at its lowest ebb, and the
. .

quentittea disposed of by the miners have been email ea com-
pered with the general averages of previous pate. Among
Melbourne bullion-broken thaw bee not been much doing.
The prices quoted by them have been:—For Omeo, 675. 6d.
to 71e. 61.; Nee/ant Creek and Gotalburn, 745. &I. to 755.;
Csetlemalne, Sandhunt, and Jim Crow, 750. to 76e. ; Ararat
Maryborough, Dunolly, Fiery Creek, Ave.., and Amherst:
765. to 77e. ; Ovens and Yacktndandah, 775. to 78e. 6d.;
Moat, 7Th. &I. to 78s. 6d. ptr ounce. The prima ere
based on the calculations of 74e. 65. per ounce for standard
gold, or, with export duty sided, to 775.
The lest escorts received at the treasury 'mounted to

34,807 ounces, against 36,861 ounces for the corresponding
week of lad year. The separate quantities received are
stout the average, them from the older fields of Cartlemaine
sad Bendigo being above, ant thme from Bathurst and
Ararat below. The total yet brought down le in excess of
that of the same period of 1868.
The only shipment during the current week has ben one
of 10,877 ounces in the Conflict, for London, which, added
t) the shipments during the month of January, brings the
total to 187,013 ounce!, or 7 tons 16 cwt. 3 qrs. 9 lbs. 6
ounces troy, the value of which, at 41. per canoe, amounts
to 748,0621. So much far the Minns of the goldfields for
the cermet year.
Since our last monthly summary the year 1868 has been
brought t a close, and we are enabled to compere the gold-
fields statistic.' of that year with those of its predecessors.
The retort returns amounted to 2,296,063 ounces, against
2,478,828 ounces for 1857. The weekly average production
was 44,841 ounces, against 47,670 ounces for 1867. The
weekly average of the first quarter of the year was 41,925
ounces ; of the second, 46,290 ounces ; of the third, 48,235
ounces ; and of the fourth, 43,917 ounces.
The shipments of the year amounted to 2,604,812 ounces,
or 104 tons. 7owt. lqr. 916.405. troy. The quantity shipped
in 1867 amounted to 2,762,859 ounces, cr ll4tons, 14cwt. 81b.,
sad in 1856 to 3,007,281 ounces, or latons, govt. 61b. 9oz.
The import market during the pest month has undergone
but little change, aid buaioees hsa been confined t) the
legitimate trade for consumption. This has, however, bens
hissfacient to produce any beneficial alteration in the veins
of imported goods; and as the eremites stocks on hand of
nearly all deeeriptions of merchandise deter speculators from
entering the markets, there is but little prospect of an early
amendment on present quotation'. Country demand con-
tinues steady, and Mohnen generally prerents a healthy
aspect. Sales, however, are confined to small parcels of
goods for the supply of immediate requirements; and eo
long as geode continue to be poured into the market in the
way they have been for some time past shippers moat not
look for any improvement on present quotatiom.