The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-11 00:00:00

items have been disallowed, under circumstances and in a mode
indicative of a'attong sentiment of disapproval, and others have
been ageeed to with eirpreShions of censure quite:as significant
as an advore vote Would have been. OoTuesd ay last the conduct
of ministers in incurring liabilities amounting to half a million,
in the purchase of railway plant and other preparatory arrange—
ments for railway works, in anticipation of the authority of
parliament, waa energetically denounced by the opposition and
feebly defended by the ministers themselves. A resolution,_
declaring it to be unconstitutional, was *lost by the narrow
majority of one—the tote of the nbov chief justice, who
sat on this night for almost the last time as Attorney
General, and so saved the government he was just quitting
from defeat. that the resolution was not affirmed may be
attributed to two circumstances. Railway expenditure at this
moment happens to be very popular. And in case of such a
defeat as must inevitably drive the ministry from power—
and this would hate been sneh=it is by ne means easy to
ace from what quarter the elements of a new cabinet could be
collected. Sense independent movements—opposed by Go-
vernment—have resulted in their discomfiture. Thus Mr.'
Duffy obtained leave to introduce a Bill to abolish the
property qualification required under the Constitution of
Members of the Assembly, and this bill passed by a very
decisive majority,

tkuttv.s.--There is no question that the administration
could dot "maintain their position for a week if there were
2.ri-ayed against them a party capable of undertaking the
responsibilities of office, and enjoying a. fair measure of the
confidence of the Muse. But the feeling of the House is that
the existing ministers are honest, able, energetic, and moderately
progressiVe . They have official . capacity and Official expe-
rience; have great Weight of character; and are strong in
debate. Few thorough going partisans have attached them-
selves to them as followers, and hence the ministerial benches
are for the most part deserted. Btit there is an independent
party, consisting chiefly of respectable city men, who almost
invariably divide with government, and who wonld assuredly
,stand between them and any presedt attempt td displace them.
If these gentlemen hare' resoltred not to pin their'faith to the
ministerial Aleei:e; i'aeftaiti that they are still• lesi. disposed
to place any confidence in the opposition, •and have the
extremest reluctance- to find themselves" 'voting voting side
by side with 'certain members of that OpiOSition. A
class of .gentlenteu ..have been tettirned .. to. the
Assembly prineipally by diggings constituencies,—
gentlemen in some instances connected with the
..i
demo-
cratic
press, or otherwse supposed to be identified with
an extreme political party, whose presence on the anti-
ministerial bench has (lobo much to check the.formation
of a numerous and eeective opposition in a house, the
predominant tone of which is undoubtedly moderate.
Whilst some of our political seers have been warning us
against the dangers likely to arise from any attempt here
at " government by parlies;" there are others who point
to what they conceive to be practical inconveniences
actually resulting from the absenhe of it proper party
opposition.. They maintain that where party is not with
its leadership, its subordination, and its prudent concert
of action, there will be faction, many-headed, each man
constituting himself his own leader, and dropping down
into some one or other of a lot of isolated. groups, each
bent on a guerilla system of warfare of its own. This
latter vie* of the case does teeth to be borne out b 3
facts, Men hOre teaSed the Government.. with petty
attiCkS, and worried the house with small crotchets, where,
with an efficient organisation and subordination of forces,
this amateur style of war would in a great measure be
superseded, and a fraitftil source of
.bindrat;ce to the pro.
gress of public business thus be got rid ofi snob a
subordination the probabilities at this iiiOntent are elteeed-
inglyreniote. It is tendered almost impossible, fist by
seetional.aniMosities, and secondly by conflicting preten-
sions. The opposition bas a very great deal to learn in
the philosophy and the practice of parliaMentary action.
You may depend upon it that, on the Whole, there is very
little reason to fear what the Londen newspapers appear
so generally to apprehend, that the legititnate,progress of
political development will be arrested by our playing at
the game of setting Up. ministers and knoebing them
down again. But enough of politics. Quitting now the
arena of civil strife, let me introduce you to some
features of outer and material life. I have some gossip
to retail to you on the subject of

IMPROVENHNTS IN MELBOURNE.—If some early
resident in Victoria, or rather as it used to be, Port
Philip, were, after the three or four years that he may
have been staying in England, to return to Melbourne at
this day, he would be somewhat beivildered I apprehend
at the very extensive substitution of substantial stone
and brick for the wood and canvass which he left ; and,
talking of canvas, reminds me of the "übi Treja fait' to
wit ; Canvas Town, which I rem amber as a very prominent
feature of this very wonderful city of Melbourne, but of
which (like the other celebrated ciey of old just named)
there remains now not one vestige. Canvas Town was
rather a picturesque looking suburb at a distance, but in
its case, as in a great many others, distance did " lend
enchantment to the view," for it was unquestiocably one
of the most utterly objectionable collections of ragged,
dirty, stinking dwelling places which could by any possi-
bility be put together, and 1 am sorry to say its inhabi-
tants were very appropriate to the locality. Gone is
Canvas Town, and I regret it not : where it stood, the
newly arrived old colonist just spoken of will find a
Government enclosure with a sober looking pile growing
up into tall proportions, but of whose use I am ignorant.
The St. Kilda road, too, now passes above where the
encampment stood, and there is that very English insti
tution, a toll bar, a little way beyond. Not less complete
in the city has been the clearance of tents, I think now
it is decidedly unfashionable, and in fact something
low, to live under American " duck." Here and there,
in very back " rights of way," and in out of- the world
places around. Melbourne I find a tent now and then, but
they all seem in a flaccid, dejected condition, as if each
one had seen very much better days. They are dirty and
patched and look strongly suspicious of not being
watertight; in fact, they are becoming rapidly extinct
as far as the city is concerned, and even on the diggings,
where I have not been these three years, they are yielding
to slab huts and weatherboard cottages. Melbourne has
not yet given up wood as a material for habitations,
but I think we are quite alive to the desirability of using
stone when re-building becomes necessary, and it gratifies
me immensely, as I take my walks hither and thither
to see the handsome facades of masonry where but a short
'ime ago stood ugly stacks of boards with apertures
filled in with glass which served for windows. But we
have begun to have public buildings of late ; public
buildings deserving of the name, and such as must endure
for many centuries hence, when we who live at the
present time will be regarded as the " ancients." Some
eighteen months ago there was laid with great pomp and
masonic ceremony the first stone of a new market which
is to stand opposite the present Bank of New South
Wales: The large area between Collins street and
Flinders street, north and south, and William street and
Market street, east and west, is, I believe, to comprise a
series of buildings consisting of Custom House, Exchange.
and General Market. The first of these is as yet scarcey
commenced, and the little, ugly, reddish brown stone
building which fronts Flinders street vet serves for the
official residence of the Hon. the Commissioner of Trade
and Customs. The market at the other side is at present
progressing but slowly, but there is sufficient of it com.
pleted to indicate the very substantial character which it
will eveneually possess. Some people have attempted to
be witty in describing the unfinished appearance of this
public work, but though I am quite satisfied of the
general slowness of municipal councils and of the extreme
difficulty under which they ordinarily appear to labour in
keeping pace with popular progress and in meeting
the wieies of the people, yet in this instance I give them
credit for good intetitions, and I do not doubt that they
will in the end give us a building worthy of being
deemed one of the ornaments of our city. To go from
extreme (of this same city) to the other, we have at the
top of Bourke street the new Houses of Parliament.
They are substantial even to heaviness, but inasmuch as
the bluestone walls which now encompass them are to
be encased by another series of buildings whose outside
will consist of a light coloured stone, their present ap
pearance is a matter of small moment. lam not an
architect, and I do net therefore pretend to the task of
describing these buildings with that reference to technical
details which might be necessary to the conveying of an
exact idea of them. I give my impression , and my
impressions are, I should suppose, much the same as
those-which are felt by all behafers n .tarchitecfs. On
the basement there are endless cool passages, and prison
looking rooms. Igo up stairs and there- are lobbies and
anterooms in embarassing abundance. I walk into the
reporter's gallery, and I am struck with admiration at the
elegance, glitter and lightness of the Assembly Chamber
which I view from thence, and which I confess to liking
very much better than the heavy grandeur of the Council
room where meet our Australian lords (Australian lords !
how odd it sounds, as oddly as an Australian ivy covered
abbey). There is more going up stairs, and if you can
find your way, you may get outside on the leads, whence
you have on fine days a view which is not by any means
Uri picturesque. Careful finish appears to have been be-
stowed unon every part of this national structure, and
the solidity of its construction is a not less prominent
indication. When it is finished, it will,astonish " new
chums."
- - - •

The Melbourne branch of the Oriental Bank are putting
up a palatial structure at the corner of Flinders lane and
Queen street. In the matter of shops, I would almost
challenge Regent street to show a more imposing array of
plate glass fronts. It is true that some of them are all
shop and nothing else, but many are topped by handsome
superstructures which exhibit a most creditable amount of
stucco art. And talking of stucco, I may say as a rule I
do not like it, and I think in the end that chiselled stones or
bricks and stone facings will be tound almost as cheap as