The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-08-13 00:00:00

DI the ha

with t

month of the yes

one hundred tot

proportion o

named as the colony
still pursued as a lucrative employment, and th
discovery of several nuggets, ranging from 260 tc

28 ounces,

Korong, are reported.
the same time, the old fields are steadily ant
successfully worked. The returns of the weekly
escorts received at Melbourne, for the thirteen
weeks ending May 17, show a falling off, but this is
accounted for by the fall in price from 3/ 18s 9d
per ounce, which was freely paid on the gold fields.
In March the price . rapidly fell to 3/ 16s,
'eh had been the ruling buying price since the
- April until within
_ the sailing of the F
total receipts of gold at _._
23rd to May 17th, was , 861,700 ounces, against
495,460 for the corresponding period of last year.
The receipts for the week ending May 24th were
51,21 A ounces, being an increase on the previous
week of nearly 15,000 ounces. The Walmer Castle
left Melbourne on: the 21st of May for London,
haVing on board 43,000 ounces. The Kent was
announced to leave for London on the.sth of June,
and it was expected that she would, hawa froM
75,000 to 80,000 ounces. -Grave .complaints con-
tinued to be' made of the miserable mail arrange-
ments.between England and Australia: The price
of Gold at Melbourne was quoted at 77s per ounce.
Exchange on London was quoted at -par for
drafts against gold. The ships Salem, from
Liverpool ' • Tuder„ from London ; Caldera, from
London; Clutha, from Glassow ; Athelstan, from
Liverpool ; Sardinia, from Liverpool ; and Cartyne,
from London—had all arrived out at Melbourne,
but the mail ships of the 20th of February, and the
7th of March, were still due, although the former
had been 94 days et sea, and the latter 78 days.
We here subjoin a full summary of the news
specially prepared for 'transmission by the Royal
Charter, and everything of interest that had tran-
spired between the 30th of April and .the 24th of
May :
Probably in the whole course of the annals of this
colony, there has never been a season so favourable to
health, the operations of agriculture, and the movements
of commerce, as that we are now enjoying. The extreme
dryness of that preceding has been followed by one dis-
tinguished for its beautiful alternations of sunshine and
shower, clothing the earth with the most luxuriant crops,
and imparting spirit to all the operations of commercial
enterprise. Yet at this moment trade in Melbourne is
dull. Deprived of advicesfroin Britain since the middle
of -February, tantalised. with inefficient imports, and
apprehensive of their continuance for some length of time,
the Melbourne merchants are holding their stocks in the
prospect of a rise in prices, and of course to the tempor-
ary stagnation of trade. The arrivals of the two overdue
mails of the 20th of. February and 7th March, will do
much to restore the markets to a healthy condition. A
comparative view of the commerce and revenue of the
first quarter of the present year, with the similar
quarters of three previous years, derived from Mr. West_
garth's statistics, will afford a most gratifying proof of
the wonderful advances which the colony has made in its
material prosperity, despite the sevzre ordeal it under-
went a few short months _ .

middle of

)yal C
Eelbourne from Feb

let quay. Ist guar. Ist guar. Ise quay.
1853. 1851. 1835. 1650.
48,283 686,137 865,8'.:8
1 989,478 2,615 315 2,9,1,157 4 492,6i0
1,484,',90 5 303 184 2,808.171 3,328,878
Shippin inwards, tons 118,229 205 642 127,128 115,157
Custom's revenue for
R 136,491 22? 566 245,017 410 992
157,815 213.023 214.859 18 1,"41
524,295 592 504 676,028 741,528
The same valuable authority displays to us that the
yearly average of the three years' imports preceding the
discovery of the gold fields. viz., 1848-1850, gives the
amount at €533,000. The yearly average of the next
two (1851-2) when the impetus of the gold discoveries
was partially but not entirely realised, gives the amount
at £2,550,000. The average for each of the three succeed-
ing:years. (1853-5), when the full tide of commerce and
population had reached Victoria, amounts to no less than
£15,052,000. Comparative view of the quantities of the
principal articles of export, being the pr
anodd uceBs of the
colony of Victoria, for the years 1853, 1854, 15 :
Chief Articles of Export.
1853. 1854. )'
151 135
5,3'24
28,6'5

Go'd exported,

Imports

,ozs 650,141 5

Trod ens of land sales,

Tot4l public revenu.,

Articles.

Sh-ep ...... 749 ........ --
Ta110w............ Tons 598 1614
..... lbs 20 342 591 23 998,
W 001... ....... . 400 22,353,373
G 011........ ........ ozs 2 497,723 2,144,699 - 2 751,405
The Customs' Revenue, for the four weeks ending the
20th of May, amounts to A'102,393 8s 3d.
Shortly after the gold discoveries, the attention of the
colonists was strongly directed to the subject of railway,
communication, in consequence of the great traffic with
the mining districts of the interior, and the expense
and Hob-
difficulties o' the land carriage. The Melbourne
son's Bay Railway wasp rojected in 1852, to aid the dis-
charge of vessels in the overcrowded harbour, and was
completed in 1854. A branch of line of about two miles is
now being made to St. Kilda, through the suburbs of
Emerald Hill. The Melbourne, Mount Alexander, and
Murray Railway was projected about the same busy and
enterprising season as that to Hobson's Ba). This great
scheme, however, has met with much less success than its
lesser contemporary, notwithstanding that the paid-up
stock bears an interest, guaranteed by the Colonial
Government, of five per cent per annum. This company
was disappointed in the expectation of raising the requi-
site capital in London, and has, therefore, confined its
efforts to a short line of nine miles connecting Williams_
town with Melbourne. 'But this offshoot being still un-
finished, afler a long delay, and the further progress of
the lino appearing to be exceedingly uncertain, the local
government have recently purchased the whole interest,
with the view of expediting this most essential under.
taking. The Williamstown branch is expected to be
completed towards the middle of 1857. The line from
Geelong to Melbourne, which was projected at Geelong,
and simultaneously with the others, promises a more suc-
cessful issue, and that without further government aid than
a guaranteed dividend upon part of the capital stock.
The entire length to the point of junction with the Wil-
liamstown line, a distance of forty miles, has been con-
tracted for, and is expected to be in readiness for the
trains in the beginning of 1e57. On the Ist July of this
year, the first ten miles of the line, namely from Geelong-
to the Duck Ponds, will be open for traffic. The greater
part of the locomotive machinery has already arrived
from Britain. The original estimate for the line was
.W 350,000, an amount, however, that will be exceeded.by
about twenty per cent, owing to a higher compensation
for land, and higher rates of freight and insurance on the
plant, &c , than had originally been estimated for. The
amount already expended (May 1856) is €320,000. The
total cost is computed to approach £12,000 per mile.
A. wide extent of telegraphic communication has been
aecdt
oi lrys carried
are
air out.ealy In
at
-
for some time in the contemplation of the government,
and the present promising aspect of the colonial finances
wilol pgerremaitt
coefntthraol si
sedviiveiw
so
divisions n
being
c o speedily
One of these is the line from Geelong to Ballarat,
a distance of sixty miles, which is to be finished in
November next, at a cost of .e 73 15s per mile.
It is pro-
posed that this line shall be subsequently extended west-
ward to connect Fiery Creek (Raglan),
wßelfast, Portland, and so on to the arrnamboob
South
boundary, to meet a line that is at Australian
pr
templation of the South Australian present in the e•in-
other great Victorian telegraph line government The
Mel-
bourne in a north-westerly dire proceeds from
t•
e t
Gishorne, and Kyneton,
to
theon. by way of Kelton
Castlemaine and Sandhurst. T mining townships of
To this distance the line is
expected to be completedalso in November, and at a
cost of £64 per mile. A
continuation of this line is in
project, to pass Violet Town and Becchvvorth, and at
Albury on the Murray, to meet the expected communica-
tions from Sydney,
on the part of the New South Wales

_
government.
The supply of land still continues to be considerably in
excess of the demand, although the selection of choice lots
has not fall• n off. The Surveyor. General's department is
active enough for the present requirements of purchasers ;
but we incline to the opinion, that so soon as the new
Legislature seta fairly to work in the establishment of a
sound land system. that agricultural ' operations will
sustain a rapid impetus. At present, the number of
those disposed to invest 'in the cultivation of the soil is
comparatively few, being confined to such as have had
already some experience as farmers. This class has been
largely remunerated. The results both in the quality and
quantity of the produce have been calculated not only to
confer credit on the energies and skill of our own agri-
culturists, but to prove that at no distant period we
shall be able to compete with older, and, in the opinion
of some, more faiouraley circumstanced countries. It
is impossible to judge, with any degree of truth, of what
Victoria is capable of as an agricultural country,
whilegherEefforts, are .still partial and uneystematized,

and she is without an efficient method of irrig,atioo.
We have in this colony some of the richest land in the
world, and when once an aericultural interest is
created, and it begins to be seen that reservoirs will
have to be: constructed in every suitable situation,
then, and not till then, will the capabilities of the
colony for the growth of grain be fully ascertained.
The supply of labour is a question to us of the deepest
interest ; and the want of hands will be severely felt rl„
proportion as more land is taken up. The advent 01
peace in Europe will be to this colony, in this respect, a

source of sure benefit. The stream of emigration will vo
largely fed by two classes of the home populations-U9
such as have made money, and by those who have been
reduced by the influence of the war. We may reaonablY
expect that many a returned soldier will be anxious to
bring his family to the) land of gold, nor will 1

last to feel the attractions of a permanent peace. un
other hand, many who have suffered from the wt v
almost necessitated to emigrate—they will come in til
hope of repairing their shattered circumstances, and 610
the works of independent industry will be rap;_
eraased. Upon the whole, peace_ promises well

r will he

for