The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-15 00:00:00

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7
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ct apidly. Some few P,toreg and offices are
being pushed on to completion, but few dwelling-
houses are in course of erection. To :those. not
actually making money, life is a struggle :With ex-,
pensive discomfort ; many persons .who were inde-,,
pendent of trade are leaving the colony altogether
and returning to England ; profemional - men; Go4;:.?-41
vernment officials, and others are drivenfrom the
city, finding it impossible to pay the Arent s
manded, and are compelled to find resideneeein tite;*,,
country. Those who are employe dat-fiiednalariei--1
or who hold Government situations, a** dui r
off, as they can neither quit them nor, like profes-
sional men, increase their income by higher
. charges.
This unfortunate class is fast sinking into debt,
and the Government has been compelled by the
hardship of their case to propose a general increase
in the scale of all official salaries ; the measure is
now before the Council, and, when voted, will pro-
baLly be made retrospective, the increase com-
mencing from the Ist of January last. But in all
respects Sydney offers only a faint picture of the
state of things at Melbourne ; there rents are
asked for mere hovels that would not be demanded
formansions in Europe ; and the rapid increase of
the population is beginning to be regarded with
something like fear. So great is the suffering; Of
the hundreds who land there destitute that the
residents, though till now very indifferent, have
at last made an attempt to relieve it, by pre-
paring some place of temporary shelter for
the new corners. There is some difficulty in
comprehending how positive destitution can
exist where every kind of labour is well paid • but
a large proportion of the immigrants are neither
labourers nor mechanics, nor domestic servants • the
diggings failing, they soon spend all they have,
fall into a most miserable condition ; at last they
are compelled to become labourers on the road, or
anything ; but the struggle with pride is often long
land painful. One of the Melbourne journals has
published a solemn exhortation to this generally
useless class, imploring them to descend cheerfully
and " like Christians" to the menial occupations for
which there is a field, at the same time lecturing
employers on the folly of entertaining a prejudice
against taking gentlemen and ladies for household
servants—an additional difficulty with which the
educated destitute have to contend. There is, it
seems, something embarrassing to a master in having
a graduate of Cambridge to black his boots or groom
his horse ; and even if a gentleman offered to un-
dertake those duties, he would be rejected for one
who could not be accused of mathematics or man-
ners. Yet, if the advice of the writer above cited
could be followed, it would be a benefit on both
sides ; that it should be so earnestly given is one of
the indications of the anomalous state of society.
The Monumental City, an American vessel, was
wrecked on the night of the 15th by running on.a
rock in Malagoutta Bay, on her passage from Port
Philip to Sydney. 32 of the passengers and crew
perished ; 54 were saved. The captain, W. H.
Adams, is severely blamed for recklessness and
keeping too close to the land, even against the
warning of one of the passengers, who was well
acquainted with the coast. The night was fine and
the wind off shore.