The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-25 00:00:00

AN INVITATION FROM AUSTRALIA.

The Ocean Chief brings us bright and encour•
aging prospects from Australia. According to one
of the Melbourne papers the great want of the
colony of Victoria was population; but, with the
view of remedying this serious drawback, the
Government was about to introduce a bill into
the Parliament of Victoria, making provision for
selecting emigrants from this country. The acting
Governor, in his speech on opening the session,
recommended that large sums of money should be
set apart for the purpose of " Immigration."
The same paper tells us that good. artisans of every
description were in demand, and although wages
were somewhat loweii than they were in 1854,
provisions of every kind were as nearly as possible
at English prices, and the mechanic and labourer.
could not only procure for himself all the neces.
series, hut. a large proportion of the luxuries of
- life, with very much less exertion
.than he could
i obtain a precarious livelihood in -the a mother
country." As an illustration of these remarks, we
shall first quote the wages paid to a few of the
mechanical and labouring class, and then note the
latest prices of the leading articles of provisions.
Ploughmen received 30s per week ; farm labourers,
30s ; haymakers and pitchers, 30s; mowers, 8s per
acre ; bullock drivers for roads, 30s per week ;
ditto for farms, 25s to 27s 6d ; blacksmiths,
31 to 31 lOs ; carpenters, 21. to 21- ss. ; rough
ditto. 30s. In addition to theserates. all
were provided with rations, consisting of flour,
beef, or mutton, and tea and sugar. Without
rations, there was a corresponding advance in the
rates of wages, For instance, labourers were paid
10s per day ; quarrymen, lOs to 14s; ablebodiod
pick and shovel men for roads, 10s. and tent accom-
modation; blacksmiths, 5/. to 51. 10s per week;
carpenters, 12s to 15s per day; masons, 1.4 s to 15s ;
bricklayers, 14s to 15s ; plasterers, 14s to 15s ;
thorough servants, 30/. to 35/; housemaids, 301. to
321.; laundresses, 35/.; cooks, 351. to 45/.; nurse-
maids, 181 to 301.; and needlewomen, 30/. per
annum. So much for the earnings. • Now as to
the cost of living. Cork butter varied from
9d to is Lid per lb, and American 10d to 11d.
Cheshire cheese is to ls ld ; American 104 to 11d,
and Stilton is 5d to is 63. Best Yorkshire and
Cumberland hams is to ls ld. American 8d to 83d,
do. in pickle 61d to 7d. Wiltshire bacon lid to
up, Irish and American 10d to lid. Potatoes 4s
6d to 5s 6d per cwt. Carolina rice 116 s to 1/ 10s
per cwt. Coffee 7d to 134 per lb. Good fine
counter Mauritius sugar 2/ 5s to 21 7s 64 per cwt
Sydney loaves 51d to 6d per lb. Liverpool fine
table salt 5s . per cwt. Imperial hyson tea 2s 6d
per lb, caper 2s 3d, orange pekoe 2s 3d. Flour 21s
61 to.- 22s 64 per cwt. Beef and mutton sold at
Melbourne for 4rl to 8d per lb, veal 6d to 10d, pork
91 tfl Is, and lamb 4s 64 to 5s 6d per quarter
Fowl and eggs are dear, and the four pound
loaf lid to Is. Taking every thing into consi-
ration the cost of living is not much, if at
all, above that of Liverpool or London, whilst the
opportunities of obtaining constant employment,
at a rate of wages in many instances 200 per cent.
over that paid in this country, is a matter of every-
day occurrence. From the viceregal speech
respecting the extension of agriculture, the promo-
tion of railways, and the encouragement of immi-
gration, we infer that the demand for all kinds
of labour will continue to increase, instead of
diminish, so that wages will, in all likelihood,
meet a further advance. And admitting that these
accounts will stimulate a very active and exten-
sive movement towards the Australian colonies
from the United Kingdom, we must bear in mind
that no small portion of such emigrants will be
loathe to settle down, but make their way to the
gold fields, in the expectation of being one of the
lucky diggers who make a fortune in a month.
Respecting the gold fields and the mining capa-
bilities of the colony of Victoria, the advices now
to hand are most gratifying. Fresh discoveries
are being made daily, and instances of rare good
luck are occasionally reported- At the Mackenzies
Gully, a party of three came upon no less than
893 ounces of gold, at a depth of about 9 feet from
the surface. It was divided into, two masses,
weighing, respectively, 381 ounces, 323 ounces, and
189 ounces of smaller nuggets weighing from 2 to
10 ounces each. The value of the whole was 1,100/.
and was found comfortably nestled together in a
diameter of about 30 inches.

We beliQve that we have said enough to convince