The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-16 00:00:00

NEW SOUTri WALES.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
SYDNEY, Nov. 21.
A new goldfield, which promiees to be of considerable
importance, has recently been opened up in this colony. It
is situated very nearly due west from Sydney and at a short
distance from the banks of the Lachlan. There are no signs
of gold scattered about the surface, although the 11ev. W.
Parke had years ago pointed out the district as one which,
on geological grouuds, he thought was likely 10 prove auri-
ferous. The miners have to sink from 100 to 120 feet be-
fore they come to a gold-bearing stratum, and, as these
shafts have to be slabbed throughout, the cost to the usual
party of four men is from £3O to £5O. The goldfield, there-
fore, is unavailable to those who cannot by clubbing toge
they command resources to that am unt, But the know-
ledge of the fact has in no way prevented a great and mid-
den rush to the locality. The very large quantities of gold
which have been taken out of some of the holes have pow-
erfully affected the imaginations of the excitable class of
gold-diggers, and the more so as they contrast strongly
with the more scanty returns which have been recently
obtainable from the other gold-fields in the colony.
The depth of the " wash-dirt" varies from one to three
feet, and the breadth of the " lead" within which gold
has been found is about 200 yards. The length of this ori-
ferous vein is at present quite undetermined. Its direction,
so far as at present explored, is north and south. The
country is very monotonous on the surface, and the
digger will be very delighted to find it equally monoto-
nous down below. Shafts are being sunk in all directions,
many of which, of course, will be failures ; but the success-
ful ones all determine the direction of the lead. Some five
or six thousand persons are already collected at the spot,
its position, about mid way between the Western and Bur-
rangong goldfields, having drawn off a large mining popula-
tion from them both. A good many miners from Victoria
are expected to swell the number.
Our legislation with respect to the Chinese has been at
' length completed. The measures passed by the Assembly
have been acquiesced in by the Council. The only altera •
tion of importance made in the Upper House, was the ex-
ception of that clause of the Goldfields Bill which prohi-
bited Chinamen who might hereafter arrive in the colony
from mining for gold. The tax on Chinese immigration is,
however, now so heavy that many fresh arrivals are not
to be expected. A small party of soldiers is still quartered
at Burrangong, and, though the animosity between the
two forces is by no means allayed, there have been no fresh
disturbances. In fact, the rush to the Lachlan is so ra-
pidly depopulating the Burrangong goldfield that it is not at
all probable that this field, from which the Chinese were so
barbarously driven, will be ultimately left pretty much in
their hands. One of the acts recently passed empowers
the Government to confine all alien gold-diggers to parti-
cular localities, and, as under the powers thus conferred
they are sure to be excluded from all new and promising
goldfields, they will be sure to concentrate in the few and
limited spots where they are tolerated. The protection
afforded by the soldiers is attracting them very largely to
Burrangong, and they are arriving almost as fast as the
Europeans are quitting.
The Colonial Treasurer has made his annuli financial
statement. It shows that for the last two years the esti-
mated revenue has not been realised. But, as much of the
expenditure sanctioned has not been incurred, the actual
outlay has not been in excess of the actual receipts. The
revenue account shows no important falling off in any of its
items, but in order to meet the incessant and expanding
claims for public works in all quarters of the colony the
treasurer requires far greater resources than are really at
his command. The consequence of this is that, in order
not to refuse the applications made to him, he puts all that
he possibly can down to the loan account, and the colony is
thus contracting a nat oval debt not only for railways, but
for telegraphs, macadamised roads, bridges, fortifications,
breakwaters, dredging operations, reformatories, and public
buildings of various descriptions. Government has re-
peatedly promised to give up the duties en tea and sugar,
and also the export duty on gold, but the Treasurer finds
that he cannot do without the money, and the fulfilment of
the promise is therefore once more deferred.
The future railway policy of the country has been very
keenly discussed in Parliament during the last month, being
a matter quite as much of private as of public interest. The
eagerness of honourable members to promote railway exten-
sion, and to borrow any sum of money that may be neces-
sary for the purpose, is patriotic in the extreme, when the
proposed line of railway is in the direction of their own
properties. But when they or their constituents have no-
thing to gain they condemn railways as a cc stly extrava-
gance. The proposal of the Government is to continue the
southern line to Goulburn, but to make no corresponding
extensions to the northern and western lines. This has
reused the ire of the constituencies which find themselves
neglected. Indignation meetings have been held con-
demning the favouritism of the Government, and loudly
demanding that all parts of the colony should share and
share alike in the blessings of the railway expenditure.
One of the western members endeavoured to defeat the
Government policy by moving that the Estimates
be referred back again for reconsideration, in order that
provision might be made for railway extension to the north
and west, co-extensive with that to the south. But his
motion was defeated, though many who opposed it did it
for reasons which by no means bind them to the Govern-
ment policy. It is quite impossible at present to foresee the
shape which the railway vote will assume. The Govern-
ment is anxious to extend one line at a time, and has se •
looted the southern as the most important; but if the
Lachlan goldfields should concentrate a large and permanent
population the Western line may, after all, present the
greatest claims.
The pry sent Minister for Works is strongly in favour of
giving atrial to horse-power railways, as being more adapted
to the finances of the colony, and sufficiently capable to ac-
commodate existing traffic, and a select committee of the
Assembly is sitting to inquire into the merits of a scheme
propounded by the City Engineer for using hardwood rails
and wheels for ascending steep inclines. It is asserted that
in this expedient much of the cost of earthworks may be
reduced. The engineer-in-chief of the railways, however,
ridicules all these schemes, and has prepared plans by
which, admitting gradients of one in 30, railways of the
ordinary character, on which a speed of 12 miles an hour
will be attainable, may be made for £9,000 a mile towards
the south, and £lO,OOO a mile towards the west, and he re-
commends this as preferable to any of the cheaper plans
that have been proposed. Government has neglected to se-
cure any very reliable traffic returns; but it is assumed that
the traffic on each main line of road is sufficient, on a tariff
of 6d. per ton per mile, to pay 5 per cent. interest on the cost
of each line. At present our railways are not paying 1 per
cent., but this is partly owing t • the fact that the expendi-
ture on the first portions of the line were excessive, and that
none of the lines are sufficiently extended to catch the
through traffic. Whether any line of railroad that we can
make in the colony will pay is a matter of very great doubt,
but the necessity f r better means of internal communica-
tion is so urgent that the Government will be forced to go
on with railway extension whether it prove remunerative or
not. The popular demand must be satisfied, and all that
the most cautious Cabinet can do is simply to moderate the
ra'e of expenditure.
The electric telegraph, which is fortunately capable of
extension at very light cost, has been successfully con-
tinued to Queensland ; and the four metropolitan cities,

Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, are now con-

netted by a continuous lino of wire more than 1,500 miles
length. All the lines of telegraph are public property, and
are under the management of the various governments.
The Queensland telegraph will probably be extended still
further north towards Port Curtis, for pastoral settlement
is proceeding very rapidly in that quarter, and the telegraph
is an immense boon to the squatters.
The Queensland Government is wisely doing all in its
power to attract squatters from the other colonies, and is
succeeding to an extent that was not anticipated two or
three years ago. The pioneers, however, have their difficul-
ties to contend with, as has been recently illustrated in the
case of Mr Wills, an emigrant from the colony of Victoria,
who was murdered, together with 18 other persons, includ •
ing women and children, on his station, by a sudden and
treacherous attack of tho natives. Mr. Wills had uniformly
shown great kindness to the blacks whom he found on the
land, but he seems to have been deficient in firmness and
watchfulness. There was, however, no suspicion of treachery
and there had been no manifestation of ill-feeling. The at-
tack was skilfully designed ; the natives gathered stealthily
on the run, and on a concerted signal the unsuspecting
whites, unarmed, and engaged in their several occupations,
were struck down with taddies and tomahawks. Two ruen
only escaped, who succeeded in hiding themselves till the
natives left with their plunder. The son of Mr. Wills, to-
gether with one or two men, was fortunately absent from
the station with the drays. The settlers in the neighbour-
hood have, of course, gathered and taken a fierce revenge.
The blacks were followed, their camp stormed, and about
30 are said to have been killed. These mutual frontier mas-
sacres have invariably marked the advance of settlement in
this country. All the governments and all well-disposed set-
tlers have been anxious to avoid them, yet no ono has sue-
.

cee ed in finding out how to do it. The colonists
will never admit the right of the natives to a use-
less monopoly of a magnificent country, and the
natives will never tamely yield the command of their
hereditary dominion. When a massacre occurs like that
just perpetrated on Mr. Wil's's station, the Government
finds it impossible to repress the public indignation, or to
prevent the settlers from taking the law into their own
hands. The Government itself can afford no adequate pro-
tection. There is a force of native police, which, though
useful to a certain extent, is too limited to guard the enor-

mous area of country now taken up. Each settler is forced
to feel that his defence rats mainly with himself, and if his
kindness should tarn out to be misplayed or misinterpreted
he has no other esource but hTs rifle and his revolver.
The question which agitated Canada for so many years
with respect to the clergy reserves exists in New South
Wales also in a modified shape, and promises to be a subject
of bickering for some years to come. In the good old days
certain lands—about 500,000 acres—wero granted to a church
and school corporation, for the excluAve benefit of the Chtr, h
of England. The charter was subsequently revoked ; but
the lands were treated as still dedicated to the purposes of
religion and education, and the proceeds have Leen divided
by the Government among the four favoured denominations.

It has become, however, exceedingly desirable to tell soma
of these lands, as great inconvenience arises from their
being reserved. It is contended, however, and especially by
the advocates of secular, as opposed to denominational edu-
cation, that the denominations have no right whatever to
these lands—that the original dedication was destroyed when
the Crown renancd possession of them; that they became,
on so reverting, waste lands, as completely as if they had
never been dedicated ; that they are therefore at pre:A,Lt
under the control of Parliament, and th, t the leases which
have been granted are invalid. The law officers to nearly
every successive Administration have been called upon to
give their opinion on the subject. Most of them take what
is at present the anti-popular view, and maintain that the
Crown, in resuming possession of the lands after the dis•
solution of the charter, became trustee for their adminis-
tration for the purposes of religion and education. Two,
however, take the opposite view, and maintain that the
lands reverted as waste lands. In order to cut the Gor-
dian knot, the Assembly has twice passed a bill declaring
these lands waste lands. This has been done in opposition
to the Government, who, though divided on the general
question, arc unanimous in opposing this method of deal-
ing with it. The present Legislative Council, like its prede-
cessor, has rejected the bill by a largo majority. The two
houses are thus in collision, with a prospect of remaining so.
Many persons who have a proper horror of anything like
repudiation, and who dislike extremely the rude handling
by democratic majorities of the property rights of corpora-
tions, have urged that the question be brought before the
judicial tribunals ; but the Government does not seem
anxious to bring it into the Supreme Court, while the ma-
jority in the Assembly seems ready to maintain its claim
to deal with the property altogether irrespective of the judi-
cature. The cause of religion does not seem to gain much
by the grant that was intended to be a munificent support.
The estate, being of course miserably managed, does not
yield above £6,000 a year; and while it remains, as at pre-
sent, a bone of contention and a constant source of secta-
rian jealousy, the recipients of it are proportionally unpopu-
lar, and lose in one respect what they gain in another.

COUNIhY 111,4 RA Li

NV

HULL-JAN. 14.

The arrivals of wheat have been fair this week, from the
Baltic. At our market to-day there was but a small
supply of English wheat, which sold slowly at a decline of
2s upon the last week's currency; foreign quite neglected.
Malting and grinding barley in retail at rates in favour of
buyers. Beans and peas were unchanged, and in slow
request. Oats were neglected.
Wheat.... Old white.... per qr s6s Od to 62s Od
Old red
New white .. „
New red .... „
Dantzic, Konb , &c. old white 63s Od to 67s Od
Dutch, Belgian, and French. Ms Od to 62s Od
Baltic and Hamburg, red 6os Od to 62s Od
St. Petersburg and Riga, old Os Od to 52s Od
Barley.... English malting 3ss Od to 38s Od
Grinding ..... 32s Od to 34s Od
Saal and Oderbruck
Holstein and-Danish 34s Od to 36s Od
Grinding
Oats English, old
Archangel and Riga, per at oBl2ld to 13d
Friesland and Dutch oBl3d to 08130
SWedish and Danish 051241 to 0813 d
Beans .;..Englisi, old 'per qr. 4Bs oa to 50s Od

New pigeon 42s Od to 44s 0
New tick. 4os Od to 42s Od

Egyptian 3Bs Od to 40s Od
Peas Foreign breakers . 36s Od to 38s Od
Grinding
Tares ....Spring —s Od to —s Od
Indian Corn
Linseed, feeding

. ..._,
crushing
Linseed cakes (Hull) £lo 0 0 to £lO 10 0
Foreign - 815 oto 910 0
Rape cakes 617 6to 6 0 0
Bones

LYNN—JAN. 7.
Old white 65s t 6 67s I Barley. 3Bs to 405
R-d ..63s to 66s Oats
Beans .42s to 44s I Peas 48s to 545

SLEAFORD--JAN. 13.
The attendance was thin to-day, with a good supply of
wheat. Trade moderate, and is per qr under former rates.
White wheat ruled at 64s to 70s, red 60s to 65s per qr.
New wheat, —s to —s. Barley was in limited supply, and
at late prices-32s to 37s ; oats ruled st:T.dy at full prices,
21s to 265; new, —s to —s; beans at from 42s to 475;
peas, —s to —s.

COAL DI
(Prices of Coal per Ton a'
B. d.
Byass's Bebside West
Hartley . ... 15 9
Wylata 16 0
Davison's West Hart-

ARKET.

the close of the market

s. (1.
Hastings Hartley l5 9
West Wylam 15 0

ley ...V.16 0
H olywell 16 0
North Pelton l3 3
Bell's Primrose ll 9
Tanfield Moor Butes l2 9
West Hartley 15 9
Hartlepool West Hart-
ley
Ships at market,

Walla End.
Cassop l6 3
Heugh Hall 16 0
Hunwick .. 15 0
Thorpe . . ..15 6
Whitworth 15 0
Harton .... .... 15 3
Sheriff Hill 15 0
,lieiper Grange.... l6 0
113; soli, 63.

FOREIGN MAIL PACKET LIST.

MAILS DUE.

Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton. Jan. 18.
arseilles ... Feb.
Brazil and Cape Verds, byvia BrMitish packet. Feb. 3 13..
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena Feb. 1.
China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton Jan. 18.
Falkland Islands via Marseilles ...Jan. 27.
Gibraltar, via Southampton
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton.. Jan. 18.
via Marseilles.... Jan. 27.
India (Bombay), via Southampton ..
via Marseilles Jan. 19.
Lisbon
Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Jan. 18.
via Marseilles Jan. 19.
Newfoundland
Oporto and Vigo
U. S. and British N. America, ty Brit. packet Jan, 16.
b U.S. packet....
W.C. of Africa, Madeira, Te and Feb. 10.
ybnyeCriaffnea dian packet. Jan. 1.5
Bahamas, via New York Jan. 16.
Mexico
.... Jan. 28.
All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, 1 Jan. 28.
oan.
California, and British Columbia..

FRANCE AND PRUSSIA.—The Journal des Debuts
says that in the negotiations with Prussia for a commercial

treaty, France insists upon an ad valorem duty. " France
(says the Debuts) has asked, without hitherto being
able to obtain it from Prussia, an ad valorem duty
for many articles which were scarcely of a nature
to establish the necessity of any other duty, such
as artificial flowers, furniture, carriages, &c. On all these
articles the Zollverein wished to place a specific duty. This
was the first difficulty that arose. The second difficulty Was
the refusal of the Zollverein to make a reduction on certaio
articles in proportion to the reductions made by France'
We believe that all these points will shortly be satisfac-
torily settled."

A NEW MINERAL.—An interesting paper wa°
read to the Royal Academy of Turin in its sitting of the
sth, by Professor Qaintino Sella, on a new mineral disco-
vered by Professor Bechi in the argentiferous lead mines of
the l3ottino in Tuscany, and which have now received the
name of Meneghinite. Professor Sella having happened to
meet with a few crystals of this substance, among certain
mineralogical specimens recently sent to the School of AP'
plication for Engineers at Turin, examined the crystalline
system to which they belonged, and measured their
angles, notwithstanding their extreme minuteneses
Meneghinite consists of trimetric crystals, present-
ing 16 different forms, with angles of 46 deg. 33 min•
and of 18 deg. 59 min., for the arrangements 100110
and 001101 respectively. Profess or Bechi found,
by chemical analysis, that the new mineral consists of sul-
phuret of antimony and sulphuret of lead ; but, as these
two substances combine in various proportions, forming
species nearly related to each other and difficult to be dis'

tinguished, Professor Sella has thought it necessary to ill"
vita Professor Hofman to renew the analysis on picked
crystals carefully cleansed, whence it has at length beeli
ascertained that M eneghinite is composed of four equ'va'
lents of sulphuret of lead and one cf salphuret of anti'
mony, with traces of iron and copper. Professor Sella
produced at the sitting several specimens of crystals of
quartz, limestone, blende and copper pyrites, inwardly tra'
versed by needles of Meneghinite. This mineral seems t°
occupy but one vein in the mines of the Bottino, and
greatly resembles antimonite, differing but little from it
the form of its crystals.