The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-16 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

The Melbourne Argus says in its summary :
" While we write the fate of the tariff is still uncer-
tain, though we can entertain but little doubt as
to the course the Legislative Council will take.
The measure comes before them to-day for its se-
cond reading; and as the Ministry have persisted
iu sending up the Tariff and Appropriation Bills
rolled into one—a bill to provide supply and also to
appropriate revenue—the two houses will be brought
directly into collision. The Council will undoubt-
edly respect English precedent, which the Assembly
hag violated, and will either decline to consider the
bill further, or throw it out with a stronger expres-
sion of opinion as to the conduct of the Ministry. A
very strong petition was presentedon the 27th inst.
to the Council, praying them to throw out the
tariff. It was from the merchants, bankers, and
traders of Melbourne, and bore 31,175 signatures.
What course the Ministry will take in the event
of the rejection of their bill is still matter of con-
jecture beyond the Ministerial circle. Various
rumours are afloat. It is said that they will
Continue to collect the new duties on the mere
authority of the Assembly, but we cannot bring
ourselves to believe that they will follow a course so
unconstitutional or dangerous.
Of the operation of the altered tariff itself the
country has now had five months' experience, and
the results are exactly what its opponents predicted
they would be. The official tables of revenue for
the half-year ending 20th June show that the Trea-
sury had not been replenished to the extent antici-
pated by the Treasurer. The protection inciden-
tally if not intentionally afforded is proved to be
" a mockery, a delusion, and a snare ;" and the
intercolonial trade of the port, which has been
gradually increasing and becoming more securely
established, has been injured in a very serious
degree.
The manner in which the Land Act has been ad-
ministered by Mr. Grant, President of the Board of
Lands and Survey, has led to some strictures on his
conduct, language, and bearing, which have induced
him to commence a suit against this journal for
damages, the amcunt of which he fixes at £lO,OOO.
Mr. Grant has succeeded in obtaining the transfer-
ence of the venue to Ballarat in place of Melbourne,
by which-the trial, originally fixed for August, will
be postponed till October.
leavo not yet Wawa tlto couutl7

whether they are prepared to recommend more fre-
quent postal service with England, or whether we
are still to enjoy only monthly communication under
the new contract.

Rains have fallen all over the country, and there
is no lack of water. The season has been singularly
cold, and in the more elevated portions of the colony
snow and frost have been experienced, sometimes,
indeed, severely. At sea there has been an unusual
number of wrecks.
THE GOLD FIELDS.

The severity of the weather, the frost and the
snow, have somewhat hindered work at the Wood's
Point and Crooked River crushing mills ; but we
still have occasional accounts of laige returns, in
addition to the more ordinary yields of an ounce or
two to the ton. Thus a late crushing of twelve
tons from one of the reefs produced 1170 z., fifty
tons from another averaging five ounces to the ton.
The Loch Fyne and Fern-tree Company has been
been mentioned before now for its large yields, and
the last report of its proceedings shows that from
328 tons of stone crushed up to the middle of last
month, the total produce was 2,2610 z. 18dwt., an
average of nearly seven ounces. Then some capital
yields have been obtained from the reefs at Stringer's
Creek, on the Gipps Land side of the range, as is
the Crooked River—one parcel of 60 tons having
produced 2790 z.; another, of 150 tons, 5650 z.; and
a third, of ten tons, 4 00oz. At this time of year
there can, of course, be little prospecting amongst
the mountains, but a few more reefs and new
veins of good stone have been discovered,
even within the last month. A new and
rich reef has also been opened not far
from Dunolly, six tons of the stone first raised pro-
ducing 660 z. Work has been commenced again in
earnest on the Pyrenees Reef, which used to be
famous for occasional high yields, and a late crush-
ing of sixty tons from it produced 180 oz. From
the old and best known claims on the deep leads at
Ballarat the yields are well maintained, although,
of course, some of these fall out of notice for a time,
owing to the breakage of machinery, the flooding of
the mine, or other accidents inseparable from this
kind of work. The returns obtained by the Band of
Hope Company for the last four weeks were severally
6530 z., 1,5870 z., 77440 z., and 700 oz. Several of
the companies around Daylesford are now tread-
ing closely on the heels of those of the second
class at Ballarat in regard to the weekly
yields, and the same will soon have to be said of
other districts as well. A nugget of tolerable
weight—viz„ 16i-oz., was found a few days since in
one of the claims at Gooseberry-hill, Dunolly, and
a few days before that, again, the owners of the
same claim turned out one of 700 z., these having
been the two largest found for some time past.