The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-29 00:00:00

difficulty has arisen in Geelong. It may appear strange
that females should remain unemployed while the wages
of domestic servants range from 121. to 351. per annum.
The truth is, that a very large number of the
young women who have been sent out to these
colonies are quite unfitted for the labour required. They
are utterly inexperienced in domestic duties, or in those
of the dairy ; and many are equally indisposed to learn
them. A benevolent effort has been made in Gee-
long to transport these girls to the gold fields in small
groups, and to secure for them employment there as do-
mestic servants. This seems a kind and wise mode of dis-
posing of them. There is doubtless still a good deal of
difficulty experienced by the numerous class of clerks
and shopmen. Of these we always had too many in pro-
portion to our wants, and now that the business of the
merchant and the tradesman Is so much curtailed, the
consequent necessity for reducing establishments has
caused numbers to lose their situations, and prevented
them from again procuring employment. The decrease in
imports to the colony will, however, enable the market
to rally. Merchants will be able to dispose of their accu-
mulated stocks, and in the improved position and pro-
spects of this important class all will participate. With
our enormous and increasing export of gold and our in-
creasing productions for home consumption, an improve-
ment in the condition of all classes must necessarily
ensue.

" The public amusements of our city are acknowledged
by all who have had experience of them to be at least
equal in attraction to those which any second-rate city
in the United Kingdom could present. A very large pro-
portion of the population of Melbourne being composed
of unmarried men, and the climate at this season being,
to some extent, unfavourable to outdoor amusements,
the theatre and the concert-room are the principal places
of resort to those in search of relaxation from the stern
duties imposed by a colonial life. To any person arriving
during the weekfrom London or other large English town,
the placards which would meet his eye on every side, an-
nouncing the appearance of Miss Catherine Hayes at one
theatre, and of Mr. G. V. Brooke at another, would pro-
bably suggest such familiar associations as to promise him
a speedy reconciliation with a city which, although at
the opposite end of the world to that which he has just
left, seemed to indicate the possession of refinements and
amusements such as he could hardly have expected to
enjoy. We thoroughly believe that such is the case in
numerous instances, and the great patronage which is ac-
corded to oer theatre substantially demonstrates the
public appreciation of the amusements there afforded.
"A few minutes before three o'clock on the morning
of the 17th inst. Melbourne was visited by an earthquake.
It was sufficiently severe to awake nearly all the inhabi-
tants, some of whom hurried out into the streets. Both
birds and beasts shared in the alarm, and the dogs howled
and rushed into houses. There were two shocks, and a
sound resembling the passage along a street of a well-
filled omnibus. Slight rents were made in the walls, or
rather in the ceilings and plaster of several buildings.
The phenomenon seems to have been confined to the
neighbourhood of Melbourne. It was felt with less seve-
rity at Geelong, and still less on the gold-fields. It does
not appear to have been experienced in any of the adja-
cent colonies."

At Geelong a meeting of Scottish Highlanders
had been held to take into consideration the best
means of affording relief to the suffering poor of the
Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Some of the
speakers addressed the meeting in Gaelic. It was
stated that, although a sum exceedipg 8,0001. had
been lent to emigrants who bad come to Victoria,
all the society had been able to collect was about
1,500/., the collection of which had cost 5 rer cent.
The defaulters came in for indignant comments.
The foundation stone of a Mechanics' Institution
hid been laid. The revenue for the town of Geelong
for the year ending the 31st of Aug. was 200,4781.,
including a balance of 170,991/. ; the expenditure
was 198,800/., leaving a balance of 1,6781. A.
new banking company, under the style of the Com-
mercial and Agricultural Banking Company, had
been started. It is to be carried on on the Scottish
principle. The Executive had puta veto on the for-
mation of a telegraph to Ballarat. Lola Moutes was
fulfilling an engagement at the Theatre Royal, but
with very little success. Commercial affairs were
gloomy, and failures still of common occurrence.
" An immense loss," says the correspondent of the
Argus, " must be sustained by many people who
during the rush of 1852 and 1853 built houses that
are now, and are likely to continue to be for years
to come, tenantless." However, it is pretty gene-
rally supposed that we are drawing towards the
close of our commercial prostration. Money is
certainly easier, and fair trade paper more confi-
dently taken than it was a few months ago. New
shops, neatly and elegantly fitted, continue to bo
erected in the more central business portions of the
town. The reported discovery of extremely rich
and extensive diggings at Fiery Creek, to the west-
ward of Ballarat, has given a little more briskness
to our local trade. Public works had been con-
siderably checked owing► to the want of funds, and
many men had been thrown out of employment.
The Geelong and Melbourne Railway was progress-
ing in a satisfactory manner. The state of affairs
in the Western goldfields was generally very satis-
factory. A general rush of the digging population
had taken place to Fiery Creek digging. It is
situate in the immediate vicinity of the place where
Edmonds first discovered gold in 1851. Upwards
of 20,000 diggers had assembled there, and some
serious disputes had occurred about claims. A.
kind of quartz-crushing mania had 1 _y pro-
Tailed, and all kinds of machines had been invented
and used for the purpose. In the labour-market
there had not been much alteration. Agricultural
prospects had been seriously threatened by drought.
The prices of many descriptions of farm produce
had fallen considerably.