The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-13 00:00:00

AIISTRASIA.

. "The formation of the Murray River Railway
northwards of Sandhurst is progressing so rapidly
that the line will be opened for traffic as far
as Rochester, within fifteen miles of the Murray, in
about three months, and almost to the banks of the
river by the commencement of the next wool season.
A difficulty is likely to occur with' the New South
Wales Government on the subject of the border
duties, and it will be aggravated by this event. The
trade of the Riverine province now passes almost
exclusively through Melbourne. The completion
of the railway will secure to this port the little that
passes it now ; and Victoria is naturally indisposed
to hamper her trade by the imposition of duties not

recognised by her own tariff, and to be levied on

goods just as they cross the northern border of this

colony. We are likely to urge in vain the assim:

.ation of the tariffs, the free trade policy of Victoria

being regarded with less favour in New South
Wales; and our neighbour will no doubt be left to

collect her own dues by the establishment of a line
of castom-houEe3 along the northern shores of the

Murray, which will cost more to maintain than
the duties they will collect will cover.
"The war in New Zealand approaches its termi-
nation. The tactics of General Cameron compelled
the rebels to abandon their great fortifications at
Paterangi. Following them by a night march, he
surprised them at Te Awamutu, and again at Kihi-
Kihi—the country of Rewi, the great engineering
chief of the Ngatimaniapotos. General Cameron now
occupies the cultivated grounds of that tribe, which
are the largest and best hitherto possessed by the
Maoris. The soldiers are now preparing for winter

quarters, and have possession of the stores of pota-
toes and corn, and herds of cattle; on which the

rebels mainly depend for subsistence. The rebels

- - -
have now taken to the swamps and mountain fast

nesses, and may protract the war for a time, bir
their final submission, without much further blood-

shed, is expected."

WORKING MEN'S CLUBS.

Yesterday the third and concluding day's conference on
working men's clubs and institutes was held in the Whit-
tington Club, Strand. The Earl of Lichield presided, in
the absence of the Dean of Chichester, who was unavoid-
ably absent. Various miscellaneous questions were dis-
cussed, and resolutions for the guidance and government of
clubs were agreed to. In the evening the proceedings were
brought to a close by a conversazione in the large hall of
the club, and which was attended iDy the Bishop of London,
Lord Fortescue, the Rev. Robert Maguire, M.A., the Rev.
H. Solly (secretary of the Working Men's Club Union),
Mr. J. Slaney Pakington, and by many ladies and gentle-
men interested in this movement. After a concert, in
which various pieces were sung by members of the Work-
ing Men's College choir, the Shoreditch Club choir and by
others, Lord Lyttelton took the chair, and opened the pro-
ceedings of a public meeting by detailing the general objects
of the Working Men's Club Union. Mr. J. S. Pakington
described the business which had been transacted at the
Conference, and which, he said, had besn of a thorougly
practical character. Lord Fortescue moved a resolution,
pledging the meeting to support the efforts being made
"to aid working men in establishing clubs and insti-

,utes calculated to promote the social, mental, and moral
advancement of the industrial classes." The' Hon. and
Rev. S. Best seconded the resolution, which was supported
by Mr. Bambridge, a working man, who, on behalf of his
order, thaaked the ladies and gentlemen who had aided the
working men in the establishment of the clubs, and by the
Rev. 11. Sony. The motion was carried. The Bishop of
London, who was received with loud cheers, proposed a re-
solution, "That the meeting trusts the future progress of
this movement may be commensurate with its high impor-
tance." He said he suspected that the many difficult ques-
tions which he had found connected with this subject had
not been solved during the 10 years he had been in London,
One of those difficulties was the exclusiveness which was
apt to spring up, and which found its way in every sort of
society. Mechanics' Institutes showed how this spirit would
creep in, for these institutes were, as their name denoted,
formed for mechanics ; but, somehow or other, they had
now got into other hands than those for whose benefit they,
were originated. This was caused perhaps by those institutes
having a tenden ..y—a good tendency—to raise persons who
as they rose, were apt to look down upon those below them,
and were not disposed to sit down with working men of a
lower grade. Was there not, he asked, the same diffieulty
with regard to these clubs ? Working men were spoken of
as if they were one class ; but the fact was, taking the term
to mean those to whom it was generally applied, it was his
experience there were as great variety among them as among
other classes of society. He had found the working weavers
of Carlisle, whose earnings were from 5s to 108 a week, and
he knew not how they kept body and soul together on such
pittances, were capable of making good speeches, and were
stretch
they
ht e y religious owere
sayingu
et
men in every way deserving of respect, but he had seen that
there was a wide difference between them and the working
men in other and larger towns. The Working Men's Clubs,
he urged, must be made to take in all classes of wcrking
men or the system would not be perfect, to consider the
doca labourer in East London and the market gardener of
Fulham, and include in fact the very poorest classes of the
towns and the agricultural population of the country. He
also urged that care should be taken Ito bring the young
within the scope of the clubs, and he praised the institutes
formed at the Savoy and in Islington for this special object.
He further said that one club with which he had been
econ-
nected the working men had discussed the questionb:one whether
or or not persons not living by weekly wages should
ess,
committee. He deprecated this spirit of exclusiveness,
so aahe
considered it would be for the glory of England
rteht
that he
hand
Chris-
tiansh
con-
nect all classes that the highest should
or po-
to those below them. He did not think th,for all
me
as
litical subjects could be excluded from clubs, r n
w ho hadand thought
citizens, waonudl d
aunclonscial well-being of the
theyse institutions
looked with great hopefulness p
The Rev. Newman Hall, Mr. Thomas Hughes,
people.
being likely to aid the religions
spoke upon resolutions •
hreemcoenmcbelurdetd b
and the Rev. Mr. Maguire spo . in sup-
portnd the meeting closed with a vote of
of the Union, a
thanks to the chairman,

►j'HE GALLERY OF PICTURES AT BRIDGEWATER
HOUSE is now open to the public, but not the Library.
MOLLARD'S SULPHUR SOAP.—The extraordinary
demand that has sprung up for this novel article has in-
duced the proprietor to remove his business to more com-
modious and larger premises. The depot is now 221 A,
Regent-street.

We take the following summary of news from
the Melbourne Argus of the 24th of March:—
" The Parliament has adjourned.
" The last Actof the Legislature before the recess
was adopting in both Houses the following series
of resolutions, proposed by Ministers, on the sub-
ject of transportation, in reply to a despatch from
his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, received by the
January mail :
" That as the despatch from his Grace the Duke
of Newcastle to his Excellency the Governor Sir
Charles Henry Darling, dated 26th of January,
1864, on the subject of transportation of criminals
to the Australian colonies, states the determination
of the Imperial Government to send convicts, to a
limited extent, to the colony of Western Australia,
it is resolved by this House—
" 1. That while we desire to acknowledge the
consideration which has been paid by her Majesty's
Government to the remonstrances of the people and
Parliament of Victoria against the continuance of
transportation to 'Western Australia, we learn with
deep regret the determination of her Majesty's Go-
vernment to maintain the exl.liting system, by which
upwards of 500 convicts will b 9 sent annually for
an indefinitive period from the Milted Kingdom to
the shores of Australia ; and we earnestly protest
against that determination.
" 2. That while we disclaim any general right
to dictate to her Majesty's Government what shall
or shall not be done throughout the whole of Aus-
tralia by the Government of the mother country,
we insist upon our right to press upon the attention
of her Majesty's advisers the injurious effects to this
colony of the policy upon this question adopted and
persevered in by the British Government.
" 3. That we deny the right of the colonists of
Western Australia to calculate upon the continuance
of the policy which was initiated ae an experiment
a few years ago, and which has produced effects of a
mischievous nature to the subjects of her Majesty
in the other colonies of Australia.
"4. That while we earnestly desire that the
loyalty and goodwill which have hitherto united the
people of Victoria to the Crown and to the empire
should continue unimpaired, we are constrained to
record our belief that so long as any convicts are
transported from Great Britain to the shores of Aus-
tralia, the feelings of attachment of the people of
Victoria to the Crown will be mingled with a deep
sense of unmerited wrong inflicted upon this colony
by the advisers of her Majesty.
" 5. And that an address embodying the fore-
going resolutions be presented to his Excellency for
transmission to the right ken. the Secretary of State
for the Colonies.'

LAW INTELLIGENCE—This Day,

COURT OF DIVORCE.
(Before Sir J. P. Wilde and a Common Jury.)
HICK V. HICK AND KITCHEN.
_

This was a suit by the husband a turner and ironmon a.
ger at Leeds, for a dissolution of marriage, on the ground
of his wife's adultery with the corespondent, a dyer in a
large way of business at Leeds. Both defendants denied
the adultery, recriminated the charge, and further alleged
cruelty and misconduct conducing to the adultery.
Mr Field, in stating the case, said that the parties were
married in January, 1859, and there were two children
issue of the marriage. The husband treated his wifa
kindly, and they appeared to live on happy terms until last
June, when the petitioner discovered circumstances that
induce] him TO suspect his wife's infidelity. The corespun-
dent was introduced to the petitioner shortly after the mar-
riage, and then became a frequent visitor, particularly dur-
ing his asence.
Edward Packe, a clerk in the bank of NU:sham and Co.,
Leeds, proved having been present at the marriage, bat
could not say on what terms the parties lived afterwards.
The petitioner had a shop in St. George's-street, and a pri-
vate residence at Blundell-terrace, Leeds.
Mary Ann Turner was in the petitioner's service in 1861,
and shortly after she went to the place Mr. Kitchen used to
come frequently. When Mr. Hick was at home he remained
only a short time, but when he was absent he used to stay
for a considerable time. She heard "a scuffling noise"
while Mr. Kitchen and Mrs. Hick were in the parlour
together, and when she entered the room they both rose
from the sofa. On another occasion she had seen Mr,
Kitchen's dress disordered, and she had seen him and Airs.
Hick kissing each other.

Winifred Brown said she had seen Kitchen frequently at
the petitioner's house. On one occasion she discovered
them in a bed- room, and under circumstances that could
leave no doubt of the nature of the intimacy that existed
between them,

Mr 0 verend, for the respondent, said he should not deny
that adultery had been committed ; but then the respondent
was about the last person in the world who should have
come into this court to seek for damages for the loss of his
wife's society. The petitioner had himself been a most
abandoned person; and he should call before the jury evi-
dence to prove that the petitioner was in the habit of
attending the most immoral places in Leeds, in the corn-
pany of women of the most disreputable character. After
the jury had heard the evidence ho felt they would at once
assess the damages at the lowest coin current in England,
The trial was proceeding when we went to press.