Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-19 00:00:00

VICTORIA.

By a sort of semi-official intimation in the government
organ. we are informed that Parliament would be pro_
rogued about the end of August. A Melbourne journal is
of opinion that all the talk about delaying the public
business merely meant that no tine was to be lost in
completing the grand act of public spoliation by handing
over the country to the Squatters in virtual perpetuity.
" Oace get this arrangement carried out, and the really
pressing business or the country—the Management of
G dd Fields Bill, the Mining Bid, the Railway question,
the Chinese question, &3.—these may be shelved. The
Government is the servant of the Sqlatters, not of the
country. It will undertake to see the Squatters right
before the session closes; but, as for the interests of any
other class, though more pressing, they must not even be
named.'

A great deal of opposition was being shown to •the
" Squattor's'' Btll. then bAnre Parliament.. A. convention
of delegates, from all parts of Victoria, to consider the
social and political state of the colony, which had been
sitting at Melbotire for some days, had adopted a formal
protest against this bill, stating explicitely and emphati-
cally the most objectionable features of the measure. The
convention would Complete its sittings iu a day or two
after the departure of the Royal Charter. The delegates
returning, pledged, says the Melbourne Age, to carry on the
anti-iquattor campaign in their several districts, and
" prepared to return to the metropolis should any
contingency renew the necessity for united ac' ion. They
have discharged their duties wisely and welt, and can
meet their constituents • without blushing for a broken
pledge or dishonest vote. Their protest' has stamped the
Spatting Bill a a swindle which will never be accepted
by the country t and they have defined the main principles
upon which the Lind Qiestion can be satisfactorily
shttled. These were the chief duties for which they were
delegated ; and they hare discharged them with genuine
fidelity."
The rumour of Sir Henry Barkly's retirement had bee n
again put into circulation, and with an appearance of
vrai-semblanee that it is difficult to contradict. It is,
moreover, said, that he has no sympathy whatever with
the policy of the present cabinet, and that he takes little
pains to conceal his disapproval. The delicate state of
the govt rnment was the common topic of conversation.
" The tame and wild elephants do not seem to live in such
happy harmony as the public were led to believe. Some
of them threaten, it is alleged, to break lose from the
menagerie,—an event which would cause no small dismay.
A ministerial crisis, at the present time, would place all
pat tics in a curious position, and is not, so far as we are
aware, desired by any of them. There is no disposition
to embarrass tke ministry ;:but there is; a) determination
to prevent the passing of thsir bad measures. Govern-
ment should (16 the work of the country ; and they should
do it as the country wish it done. A very simple rule for
them ; but it does not seem to be the one they are acting
upon." Such are the expres,ioas of a Melbourne paper.
Oae of the curious characteristics of the Victoria

legislatature is, that it always seems to be in the
most delightful humour possible when it has to
consider the question of abolishing state aid
to religion. A lacel paper says :—" After the storm which
the Squatting Bill excited in the Assembly, the calm of
yesterday s proceedings was peculiarly edifying. Even
Michie was suave and almost conciliatory in moving 'the
house into committee upon the bill; and as most of the
great guns of the opposition took little or no part in the
debate, Jeames will. doubtlessly say that the vvh6le busi-
ness went off very gentlemanly. Nut that there was no
contest, however. Mr. Horne moved, on the threshold of
the debate, that the bill should be committed that day
six months, but was defeated by a maj -may of eight. Mr.
Wood, albeit opposed to State Aid, would give the clergy
at least as long a notice as the Squatters. Oa the
sect nd clause, fixing the cessation of State Aid in 1839.
Mr. Horne moved the substitution of the year 1861—and
his amendment was put from the chair and carried—just
as a batch of the hon. members rushed in from the lobby,
tine enough to be too late. So, upon the present aspect
of affairs. State aid is to continue in operation till 1961•
Considering the impulsive temperament of Mr. Michie,
and his intense anxiety upon the subject, he seemed to
bear the calanaity.with•Stoical fortitude."
The Chinese difficulty was assuming more alarming
proportioss every .tiay. Meetings were being held all
over the country for the purpose of considering what
steps ought to be taken to rouse the Government from
their lethargy ; but there was too much reason to fear
that thee ngitation will not be much longer confined to
mere epeeches and resolutions. In fact there stems
to have been a slight collision between the Chinese
and the other diggers at the Golden Point. We
have not as yet ascertained all the facts of the
case. "It must not be supposed by those at a distance,"
writes a correspondent, "that the Chinese have been
guilty of any mere flagrant act on the present occasion
than usual, but rather that the present is but the fore-
shadowing of the more serious results which are certain
at no very distant date to take place, if ad immediate
stop be not put to the further jell ix of the Chinese—or at
least to their immediately on arrival commencing mining
operations. At the present moment the most trifling
incident imaginable may kindle a fl tme which
will be the cause of hundreds losing . their
lives or property, and of a heavy blow being
inflicted on the trade of the colony, from which it may
take years to recover. On the present occasion. as far as
I have been able to learn particulars, the ringleaders were
neither English, Irish nor Scotch, but foreigners, several
of them Lascars ; and I aen creditably informed that none
of the settled residents on Golden Point took further part
in the affray than swelling the mob, and that by their
expostulations grievous bodily harm was prevented being
inflicted on the Chinese. who, shortly after the first onset,
ran like a flack of sheep to take shelter in their camps,
the principal of which is situated alongside the police
station."
There had been a meeting of the Society for Chinese
Missions, presided over by Sir Henry Barkly. The great
event of the evening was His Excellency's speech. which
embodied an outline of the spirit in which Her Majesty's
representative regards the Chinese question in general.
Sir Henry is in favour of imposing such a tax as would
compel the Chinese to contribute to the State in propor-
tions suitable to their inferiority of race and civilisation.
He looks upon their presence with no little anxiety, but
upon grounds of justice and economy would be opposed
to any measure for their sudden or violent removal.
A bill had been introduced into the House of A.ssem.
bly for to regulate the residence of Chinese popu-
lation in Victoria. The bill provides that the
officers appointed for the purpose shall publish a
notice in the Chinese 'language, requiring every male
native of China or its dependencies, or of any islands in
the Chinese seas, and every person above the age of
twelve years, born of Chinese parents, either to obtain
from such officer a license under this act within fourteen
days after the date of such notice, or toleave this colony
before the expiration of that period. Within one month
after the passing of the act, every such male native, and
every person above ,the age aforesaid, born of Chinese
parents, shall obtain from one of the officers, who are
requited to grant to every person applying for the same,
neon payment of the sum of one pound, a license under
his hand ; and every such license shall be dated on the
first day of the month, and at the plaee of the issuing, and
shall continue in force for one month. After the expira-
tion of two months from the passing of the act, no such
license shall be granted to any person whatsoever, except
in exchange either for the receipt bereinbefore directed to
be delivered, or for, the license issued under the act to
such person for the preceding month, unless aueh person
at the time of applying for the same shall pay to one of
the officers nominated and anointed, a fee of ten pounds
in addition to the said sum a one pound, and a receipt
for such sum signed by the officer receiving the same
shall be endorsed upon the said license. Every such
male native as aforesaid, and every person above the age
aforesaid, born of Chinese parents, who shall reside in
Victoria, without being duly licensed according to this
act, or who shall, when required so to do by any officer
nominated and appointed as aforesaid, or by any officer
of customs or police, neglect or refuse to produce and
show to such officer the license of such native or person,
shall, on conviction of any such off .nce before any justice
of the peace, forfeit a sum not exceeding ten 13-minds.
For the more effectual apprehension of all offenders
against this act, any. such native as aforesaid, and any
person above the age aforesaid, born of Chinese parents.
who shall reside in Victoria without being duly licensed
when requirodj so_to
according to this act, or,wbo shall,

do by any such officer as aforesaid, neglect or refuse to
produce, or show to such officer the license of such native
or person, may be immediately apprehended without a
warrant by any person whatsoever, and detained and
taken before a justice of the peace to be dealt with accor-
ding to this act.
It is notified in the Mabourne Gazette, that persons
desirous of cultivating the cotton plant will receive seeds
on applying to Dr. Mueler, government botanist, at the
botanical gardens, Melbourne.
The report of the select committee on railways proposes
the immediate commencement of a main trnnk line from
Melbourne to Sandhurst, with a branch line from Har-
court to Castlemaine, with a view to the ultimate exten-
sion of the main line to the Murray ; and also a main
trunk line from Get long to Ballaarat.
The " light of other days" has decidedly faded away
from Melbourne. That city is now illuminated by real
gas In the early part of May last, the Gas Company
made an offer to the Corporation to light the streets with
gas, which, after some deliberation, was considered suffi-
ciently reasonable to be accepted. Accordingly, tenders
were, without loss of time, invited for the erection of 300
gas lAtops within the city. The contract was divided
into Mute which gave to each contractor the erection of
75 lamps. The time was limited to six weeks, and in
each case the work was performed within that period.
On the 18th August, the final step in the arrangement
was taken, by the mayor signing., on behalf of the corpora-
tion, the agreement with the Gas Company, and
aecordingly, shortly after sunset, the city was, for the
first time, lighted with gas. The eff et was exceedingly
cheerful,' particularly in the more central streets, where
it was greatly heightened by the lights from the numerous
shops and hotels.
If we are to put much faith in the annexed paragraph,
cut from a late Melbourne paper, we shall have a tele-
graphic communication with Australia very shortly :
In the Assembly, yesterday, another instance was given
of the readiness of English capitalists to undertake work-
of great magnitude connected with the Australian colo-
nies. We refer to the presentation of a petition by Mr.
Greeves from, a number of gentlemen in London, repre-
senting that they are prepared to undertake the erection
of an electric telegraph from Melbourne to Lyndon, and
complete the work by the end of 1861; and praying that
leave m'ght be given to introduce a bill to authorise and
enab'e them to carry out the proposal. The petition
was received, but no further steps were taken in
regard to the subject. It is, however, probable that, in
accordance with the usual practice in such cases, the
hon. member by whom the petition was presented may,
in a few days, move that the prayer of the petitioners be
granted, and subsequently bring in a bill for the purpo3e
of empowering the petitioners to proceed with the work.
This, however, will of course fiery much depend on the
reasonableness of the terms on which the petitioners may
be disposed to carry out their proposal. As to what
these are, we are entirely ignorant, as nothing whatever
was said respecting them. The same silence was observed
in regard to the route, but this we take it will be by the
east coast of Australia, across Torres Straits on to India,
and there be united to the European and Indian tele-
graph."
During the recent trial of a case in the Supreme Court,
_ _

there was an interesting illustration of the fertility of the
Australian soil. In Lucerne Garden, the property of Mr.
Wills, and situateg on the Darebin Creek, within four
miles and a-half of Melbourne, a witness swore that from
one peach tree he gathered•loo dozen of good marketable
peaches, worth 2i a dozen, on the g-onnd ; and the wit-
ness added, that after taking this quantity off the tree, so
many remained, that those taken off could not be missed.
He also said there were upwards of 40 trees like this in

the garden-
The report of the select committee appointed for the
purpose of investicating the operation of the penal
establishments of Victoria, had just been laid before
Parliament. Taking the report as it is, the committee,
after holding twenty-five sittings, and examining twenty-
one witnesses, have arrived at a conclusion that " the
condition of the penal establishments is (to say the least
of i ) unsatisfactory." Perhaps it will be felt that this
opinion might have been arrived at without any such
expensive machinery as a committee of the Upper
House. The committee then proceed to account
for this " unsatisfactory" state of affairs. " This has
" arisen chiefly," they say, " from the want of adequate
vcomtnodation for the carrying out of a proper system of
penal discipline, and from the consequent impracticability
of enforcing the necessary classificationlof criminals ; bat
the committee are also imnrtssed with the opinion that

the reformation of criminals, or in feed their capability of
being reformed, has not been allowed to exert that
practical influence upon the management of the institution
which its itnportancq demands."
We take the' following ;paragraph :from a Melbourne
paper :—" Cases of lunacy have also become of almost
daily occurrence in Melbourn.—no less than three coming
under the cognisance of the City Court yesterday. The
first was that of a passenger, named Thomas Brovvnless,
who came to this country in the ship Themis. His hal-
lucination is, that he is pursued by the spirits of his delft
rc lAtives, raised through the atency of his mother. The
poor fellow's madness is attrinuted to grief for having
been obli,gel to separate from his family in England. In
dealing with this case, the magistrate stated a fact not
hitherto well known. He informed the captain " that if
it.were shown that he knew of the defendant's derange-

ment prior to leaving England. he rendered himself liable
to a penalty in the terms of the Statute. And, further,
that he would have to enter into a bond for the safe
custody of the man."
The labour market was in a very discouraging position.
From the Melbourne Age we extract the following re-
..__

marks :—" The tact, not less extraordinary than humiliat-
ing in such a country as ads, that large numbers of
workmen amongst us cannot find employ neat, is now too
obvious to admit of doubt. It is, indeed, admitted on all
hands.. The" ranks of the unemployed comprise not
only now arrivals, but those who have been in the colony
for several years. Driven almost to desperation, the
workmen see no way out of the labyrinth of doubt and
difficulty in which thy are entangled ; and in their
anxiety too for the means of extrication, they purpose to

come en rreasse before their follow-citizens and take council
together in the face of day, so that saspicious and tang'.
ble testimony may not be wanting, at all events, to satisfy
the " lords of misrule" aho are undoubtedly to blame
for the mischief, of the actual posture Of affairs. in

the labour market.' We hope that soma re-
sult toyond a mere temporary alleviation of present dis-
tress will follow froth this detronstr ttion of the popular
necessities. But were we to judge from the past: our
expectations would not be very sanguine. This is at least
the third crisis in our labour market within the last three
years. It recurs like an ague fit. It may not be a
periodical plague arising from the -unnatural and un-
healthy condition of the body politic ; but it looks
extremely like it. At all events, whether it is intermit—
tent and constitutional, or simply casual and fUeting, the
remedy should be directed not only to the removal of the
immediate evil, but to the prevention of its possible
recurrence No remedy of a mere temporary character
will suffice to restore the tone of continuous healthy
action, with satisfactory certainty.''