The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-03-18 00:00:00

VICTORIA.

We have Melbourne dates to the 22nd December
inclusive We learn that the Commissioner of
Trade had made the House of Assembly acquainted
with the resolutions upon which the Government
intend to found their bill for the establishment of
a National Bank of Issue. These res )lotions had
given rise to a great deal of discussion; but they
hod been on the whole very favourably received,
especially by those who had previously held back
their opinion. The red hot supporters of a National
Bank were rather disappointed with the measure.
The powers are too limited, and the functions
too circumscribed to please them. It was rumoured
that the Banks pill oppose it, unanimously ; and
that this is not to be wondered at. It will inter-
fere with the pleasant way in which these Joint
Stock Institutions have been managing the
exchanges, and its operations will confine them
to the legitimate business of banking.
The division on the fourth clause of the Electoral
Act has afforded a topic for any amount of con-
versation. The principle involved in the clause
is regarded generally as a decidedly equivocal
if not utterly unconstitutional one, and after
the opinions expressed on the second reading of
the bill, both by the Ministry and their op-
ponents, it was expected that the clause would he
quietly disposed of. Somehow or other the Go.
vernment did not seem disposed to stand to it.
The provision was defended by its authors, but not
very effectually or earnestly, and the remark made
was almost tantamount to its abandonment—
" Well, you may deal with it in committee." " Per-
haps," says Mr. Stawell, " the clause is objection-
able to the house—then let it be thrown out in
committee." It was expected in these cireum".
stances that no very earnest support would be
given to the claim, very earnest opposition was
offered, and the result was rather a surprise. By
opposition members the result is ascribed to the
defection of such men as Embling, ;'Brien,
Miles, ac., the first known to be untrustworthy, the
two latter influenced by the ministerial represen-
tation that the object of the. clause was to secure
property its due and legitimate influence. It
is plain that the Ministry have more support in
the House than they got credit for, and that a
number of members are prepared to vote with
them in any crisis, even although the measure in
debate be ono in which they differ from them. The
Ministry did not acquit themselves well as debaters,
and so far as their defence went, deserved to be
defeated. The clause seems to have been an idea
of M
M. Haines', intended to meet the anomaly
e. '
existing in reference to votes founded on miners'
rights the possession of which entitles a man to
register himself as an elector in any district in the
colony; but even the authors of the bill 'seemed to
feel that, in endeavouring to avoid one extreme
they had gone into the other, and the support of
their own measure was cold and ineffectual.
The correspondence of the then government
respecting the Murray River trade has just been
published. A Melbourne correspondent makes
the following remarks oh the correspondence
alluded to :
The conduct of the South Australian authorities does not
appear to be guided by sound judgment in the matter, as
I New South Wales and Victoria will be driven to the erection

of a custom house at the point where the river first beenmese
the boundary line between them. A war of tariffs ought
to be avoided by every possible means, and this the m.rchanta'
of South Au3tralia will discover from bitter experience, if
they presi,t by the pressure from without in forcing their
Governme it to assume a hoitile position towards her next
neighbuurs: