The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-20 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

SYDNEY, July 13.—The ses,ion of the Legislative
Council of New South Wales was opened by the Go-

vernor-General on the 6th of June

In his address his

Excellency stated that, fur the first time in the history
of the colony, the legislative body was called together to
contemplate the possible contingency of war. He added
that measures had been taken for the defence of the

harbour and city of Sydney, quite sufficient to insure
both against any predatory attack from armed vessels
under a hostile flag, while the instructions given to the
French and English naval forces on the Indian and
Pacific stations and the vigilance of the commanders
were an adequate security against any more serious
attack. By the authority of an act of Council a volun-
teer corps is to be raised for the defence of the country ;
but, for the present, no militia or more regular force is

to be organised. The finances of the colony were de-
scribed as very prosperous (there is a large increase of
revenue on the quarter just expired, and a surplus
on nearly all the branches of expenditure.) From the
despaLches of the home Government on the subject
of immigration, it appears that the self-supporting
system, proposed by the act of Council of 1852,
cannot be brought into immediate operation ; and,
to obviate the inconvenience of an interruption
of the supply of labour, his Excellency stated
`hat the Land and Emigration Commissioners would be
utborised to expend the funds now at their disposal in
sending out immigrants under the ordinary regulations,
which the new act was intended to supersede. It was
also announced that an application had been made by
the Sydney Railway Company for an additional loan
and guarantee of interest on an issue of new shares,
which the Executive is prepared to grant under certain
conditions. Among the measures of local importance
proposed for discussion are an amended building act, a
bill regulating common lodging houses, and an act for
the promotion of public health. In addition to the usual
grants for the purpose of public education in the colony,
his Excellency recommended the appropriation of an-
other grant to establish colleges of residence affiliated to
the University of Sydney. He also stated that the plans
and estimates for the buildings and machinery required
for the new colonial Mint had been prepared ; till the
works are actually commenced the detachment of Sap-
pers and Miners sent from England to erect them are
employed on the batteries in course of construction in the
harbour. The act for the management of the gold fields of
the province expires with the close of the present year.
It is proposed by a short bill to make the regulations
of the present act permanent. The law of marriage
in the colony is to be placed on a more satis-
factory footing ; it is at present productive of much
legal uncertainty. His Excellency stated, in conclusion,
that measures would be proposed to the Council intended
to increase the trade of the northern districts of the pro-
vince, which he had recently visited. The new settle-
ment at Port Curtis promises to be of great value to the
colony, oa account of the advantages of its harbour, its
genial climate, and fertile soil.
In the address in reply to the Governor's speech, the
Council pledged itself to provide all the funds required
to raise a volunteer corps, and to provide for the defence
of the colony generally. On the 27th of June Sir
Charles Fitzroy communicated to the Council a copy of
the declaration of war with Russia, which he had re-
ceived on the 26th. It was accompanied with her Ma-
jesty's announcement of her intention, during the war,
to wave certain belligerent rights appertaining to her
Majesty by the law of nations. In consequence of this
communication the Council, on the motion of Mr. C.
Cowper, unanimously voted the following loyal address
to the Crown :
" We, your Majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects,
the members of the Legislative Council of New South
Wales in Council assembled, having learnt from your
Majesty's royal proclamation, dated Buckingham
House, 28th of March, 1854, that the anxious
efforts of your Majesty, and your Majesty's ad-
visers, for preserving the blessings of peace have
been unsuccessful, and that, in concert with
your Majesty's ally, the Emperor of the French,
it has been' deemed necessary to declare war against the
Emperor of Russia, offer your Majesty the expression
of unfeigned loyalty to your Majesty's Court and per-
son, and of our hearty sympathy with those just princi-
ples by which your Majesty and your Majesty's Minis-
ters have been guided in so momentous a crisis. Unit-
ing in that sentiment of cordial approval of the policy
of your Majesty's Government which has been mani-
fested by the great body of our fellow-subjects through-
out the British empire, we most earnestly pray that,
under the favour of Divine Providence, your Majesty's
arms may be crowned with success, and we humbly
assure your Majesty that, as far as in us lies, we are
prepared to adopt all necessary measures for resisting
external aggression, and for upholding and maintaining
your Majesty's royal authority in this distant portion of
your Majesty's dominions."
Several of the subjects alluded to in the speech of the
Governor-General at the opening of the session have
since been debated—the new loan to the Sydney
Railway Company and the question of immigra-
tion, at considerable length ; another discussion
has been raised by Mr. Martin on the state of the
common roads throughout the province. All these
debates threw a strong light on the state of the colony,
and none of them a very hopeful one. Now that the
feverish excitement of the first period of the gold
discovery has passed away, it is possible to consider
calmly the actual effect of that event on the social con-
dition of the country. It is evident, even visible, that
all has not been gain ; in some things we are not pro-
gressing—in others, positively going hack ; against the
sudden rise in wealth must be placed the difficulty of
employing it with permanent advantage. Many classes
in the towns are much worse off than they were before
the change, and are thoroughly discontented. On the
oldest and best gold fields there is so much disease and
want that an appeal has just been made to the public for
subscriptions towards the establishment of a benevolent
asylum. In a short time even the golden soil will have
its full quota of pauperism, and the successful minority
of gold-seekers at Bendigo and Ballarat may yet find
themselves "daily rated to the relief of the poor." The
tendency of things is really in that direction ; the appear-
ance of a pauperised section of the population on the
great centre of colonial wealth is only a question of time.
The charity now invoked for several purposes will not
be sufficient for all, and the different necessities may
soon increase beyond relief by the "voluntary prin-
ciple."
While the gold fields, though still productive,
have ceased to return the former average of gain
to the population on them, the results of the sus-
pension of labour (or its withdrawal from other occu-
pations) are becoming more apparent, and create
some uneasiness. In the first place, the roads through-
out the colony, bad as they were, are now worse than
ever. The inland mails cannot run by night, and stick
fast and upset in all directions by day. Communication
with the interior towns is possible only at enormous
cost. The price of conveying a ton of goods from Sydney
to Bathurst, about 130 miles, is eight times the freight
of the same quantity from London to Sydney. In cost
of conveyance London and Liverpool are, in fact, only
16 miles from Sydney by land, though the distance by
sea is 16,000. We here see daily the most striking
llustrations of the truth that
" Seas but join the regions they divide."

Cargoes are poured into the seaport; with the greatest
facility, and then the distribution is suddenly checked.
Hence the enormous rents of stores, cessation of de-
mand, and the necessity of forced sales, with the natural
consequence—heavy losses to the exporters, who perhaps
wonder how trade with Australia can be so unprofitable,
scarcely suspecting one of the main causes of its uncer-
tainty. English merchants might do worse than help
to open up the internal communications of this conti-
nent, for at present the waste of capital in this province
alone, from the want of them, is above half•a-million &
year ; and the calculation does not include the losses
by forced sales of goods, compelled by the impossibility
of removing them from the port of landing, I doubt if
one-fourth of the persons who have rushed into the " Ause
tralian trade" as a "good spec" ever gave a passing
thought as to what awaited their consignments at the
other end of the line, and why they returned as loss instead
of profit—with the country full of gold too I If they can
imagine the Great Western Railroad, instead of termi-
nating in a splendid station, with every means of convey-
ing and removing goods to roads in every direction, end-
ing suddenly in swamp, forest, and sand, through which,
by dint of lashing, and swearing, and unloading, and
reloading, a team of bullocks and a dray drag their
Manchester goods 10 miles per diem, at 501. or 801. per
ton for the journey, they hare a notion of one pecularity
of the Australian market ; and if they suppose they are
not affected by this state of things they are griesously
mistaken. The channel of trade is all that civilisation,
science, and capital can make it, from the threshold of
the Manchester factory to the edge of the Sydney wharf.
There it breaks suddenly, and beyond all is primitive,
rude, and barbarous in the means of conveyance. The
bale of goods last unloaded from the railway train is trans-
ferred to the bullock dray, to begin its " crawl" up the
country, costing all its freight from England for every 20
miles. It cannot be otherwise. There are no passable
roads ; and, from the last debate on the subject, there is
no prospect of the want being soonsupplied. The distances
are so enormous that many years would be required to
repair and reconstruct the lines. Railroads on the
English model cannot be attempted. The coat is too
great, as proved by the 16 miles of way to Paramatta.
The company is agai❑ a suitor for a Government loan.
There is a disposition to consider favourably the system
of tram-roads. We do not so much want high speed as
the facility of moving merchandise and produce at any
pace. We must find some medium between the present
roads and the expensive railway, and with a little ear-
nest exertion it would not be impossible.
The Paramatta line will be invaluable as an example
of what may be done by skill ; and if it only serves to
disgust the colonists thoroughly with the existing system
of crawling, the money it has cost will have been well
laid out. The company, in consequence of the rise in
the price of labour and materials, is compelled again to
apply to the Government for assistaree. The subscribed
capital is 100,0001., with a Government loan of 150,0001.
At present rates the line when completed will cost
380,0001., or 139,000/. more than its own capital and
loan together. The company has, therefore, resolved to
issue ❑uw shares to the amount of 100,0001., and to ask
for a second loan from the Government of the same
amount as V:e first-150,0001.—and also for a guarantee
of 5 per cent. interest on the new shares as well as on
the old ones. Tho Executive Council has approved the
application ; and the Legislative Council, after some
debate, has affirmed the Governor's message proposing
the advance. It is understood, however, that for the
present the line is not to be carried beyond Paramatta.
The Council had really ne alternative except to grant
enough money to finish what had been begun, or all
the money previously spent would have been utterly
wasted.
One of Sir Charles Hotham's first public acts has ex-
hibited prompt decision in a case that urgently required