The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-18 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 18, 1853.

of the colonists, since it is a fact—to adopt the
words of the Empire, " that still scarcely a family
in New South Wales can boast of a persevering,
industrious, and trustworthy set of servants, or
hardly of a single servant to be relied on ; and that
the higher the wages, the worse is the quality of
service obtained ?" We learn that many families
are compelled to do without servants ; that others
must change them from week to week. Most of
the young women are unfit for their duties ; many
will not even submit to be taught. While sadly
complaining of this lamentable state of things, the
colonists look for the cause of a grievance which
touches them so nearly, and find it in the fact that
in the mother country " the domestic training of
young women of the working class is not such as
to warrant their employment as servants. They
say, bad are the best ; and, what is worse, the de-
teriorated quality is trans-shipped for the benefit
acid at the cost of the colonies." It is the old cry
of damaged goods exported for colonial consump-
tion—a practice which calls forth the most indig-
nant remonstrances at the antipodes.
Another grievance is the mismanagement of the
police force. Though Sydney is by far more orderly
and safe than Melbourne, still the protection of per-
sons and property leaves much to be desired. The
police are described as
being neither efficient in
quality nor sufficient in number. Their pay is not
high enough to tempt sober, steady, and able-
bodied men from other trades, and the members of
the force are, moreover, frequently oppressed and
always misgoverned. The pay of an ordinary
policeman is 1/. 12s. 6d., and that of a sergeant
2/. per week. A policeman, if accused of any act
of negligence or insubordination, is suspended from
duty and from pay as long as the charge is hanging
over his head ; and it was shown, in a case tried
in the Sydney Police-court, that, in some cases,
the charge is thus kept hanging for a considerable
time. Even if acquitted by the Inspector-General's
tribunal, his pay is not refunded to him, and there-
fore any police officer who is accused is certain to
be punished, even if acquitted 1 Well may the
Empire ask, " How can a respectable body of men
be induced to enter into and continue in a force
so badly paid and liable to such tyranny and in
justice ?"

Besides the notorious inefficiency of the police,
there is another universal cause of crime in New
South Wales. It is intemperance. The police
reports show that one half of the offences against
the person were committed in a state of drunken-
ness—one half of the offences against property
were prompted by the desire to obtain the
means for intoxication. The local papers ascribe
the extent of the evil in a great measure to the
carelessness of the authorities. Drunkards are in-
deed punished with imprisonment or fines, but the
means of getting drunk are permitted to multiply,
ad infinitum. On the last licensing day 323 pub-
licans' licenses were granted for the district of
Sydney alone ! The Empire complains that " the
number of houses in this city licensed for the sale
of intoxicating drinks has greatly exceeded what
might be considered a proper proportion ;" and the
Sydney .32orning Herald, expatiating on the same
theme, laments that the outrageous number of pub-
lic-houses prevents the establishment and success
of less objectionable places of entertainment. It
says:—

" For the legitimate entertainment of the inhabitants
of this great metropolis there exists up to the present
time but one theatre, properly so called. A mechanics'
institute there is, but notoriously incompatible with the
importance of the city, where it stands alone. Reading-
rooms are nearly, if not altogether, non-existent. Cof-
fee-houses, combining the use of all the literary and po-
litical publications of the day, with the supply of the ex-
cellent beverage from which they derive their name, are
utterly unknown, and literary or scientific clubs have
scarcely found a footing in the colony."
That wants such as those stated above should be
felt as a grievance is certainly a good sign. There
is a spirit awake in New South Wales which will
break through the trammels of sottishness and at-
tain civilisation in spite of the authorities. Even
now, the most superficial reader of Australian
papers must be struck with the vast mental supe-
riority of the masses at Sydney over those at Mel-
bourne and Geelong. Books, which are scarcely
ever advertised for sale in Victoria, form an im-

portant item in the trade of Sydney. We note the
names of three large booksellers advertising the
arrival of Fresh supplies of English literature. The
Illustrated Eonfitakz News, the last voluine of Punch,
Sealsfield's " Cabin 'Book," " Ida Pfeiffer's
Travels," Whateley's " Logic and Rhetoric," Roe-
buck's " History of the Whig Ministry," Macau-
lay's History and Essays, the " Household Words,"
Dickens's " Copperfield," and Thackeray's "
mond," are freely offered for the amusement and
instruction of Australian readers, and Oxford and
Cambridge men in their log huts on the Turon or
the. Murrumbidgee may read the " Tramp to the
Diggings," and Mundy's " Antipodes," and review
them on the spot. There are, moreover, French,
German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese stan-
dard books offered by the purveyors of literature
to the Sydney market ; and it is not too much
to say that a studious person might more readily
and easily procure food for the mind at Sydney
than in the majority of our second and third-
rate country-towns. Instruction, too, is not
wanting. Sydney has for more than a year past
had its university, and now a preparatory col-
legiate school is being opened. It need scarcely
be said that there is no lack of private tui-
tion. " Ladies accustomed to tuition," and
" Governesses wanting places" abound as a matter

of course. It appears that the most eminent masters

of Europe have e emigrated in a body to teach the
young Australian idea how to perform polkas. New
" manias" are faithfullyreproduced at the antipodes.
Diggers, stockmen, and hardhearted squatters have
sighed over the sorrows of Uncle Tom, and they will
no doubt, in the fulness of time, dance to the tune
of "Pop goes the Weasel !" though to learn that
popular and hacknied polka is rather an expensive
affair at Sydney. The pianists to all the crowned
heads of Europe, and pupils to all eminent musi-
cians, past, present, and to come, who advertise
in the Sydney papers, have a just appreciation of
the value of their services. Their lessons, by the

quarter, cost 2i guineas for half an hour twice a
week, and 31 guineas for two hours per week—of
course, at the residence of the professor, who de-
mands an additional guinea and a half per quarter
if the pupil desires to receive his instruction at
home.

The art of puffing has made astonishing progress
in Sydney. The tailors, of course, are foremost in
the race. Under the heading of " Companies," in
the advertising columns of the Sydney Empire, we
note what appears the prospectus of a Bathurst
Railway Insurance Company, whose paid-up capi-
tal is quoted at 500,0001., in 100,000 51. shares. It
is a tailor's puff. Mr. Pyke, of Bathurst, seeks to
attract attention and custom by offering to insure
" the personal appearance of gentlemen from all
defective dress."

THE NORTHERN COAL TRADE. NEWCASTLE•ON-
TYNE, Oct. 15.—Between 300 and 400 sail of coal-laden
vessels left the Tyne yesterday afternoon, the greater
proportion for the London market. The wind has been
from the south-west since they sailed, and not very
favourable to the progress of their voyage. London coal
freights are from 10s. 6d. to lls. 6d. per ton. A. private
letter, received here from Cronstadt, states that there
are a great number of British vessels there, and that
vessels which left here with coal at high freights have
some difficulty in finding a market. The high freights
to London do not appear to be consequent upon our
English shipowners naving a monopoly of the coasting
trade ; for during the past three months coal-freights
have been equally high to ports in north Europe, the
carrying-trade to which is open to all the world. Most
intelligent shipowners are so satisfied with the operation
of free trade principles that they are not at all alarmed
at a suggestion for throwing open the coasting trade,
and only regret that they lost the Californian trade with
the eastern States of America because of our coasting
trade being closed to the Americans.
HORRIBLE CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS.—"Up till Satur-
day last from Monday preceding, the town of Newport
had been the scene of a numerous and truly. frightful
chapter of accidents, almost unparalleled in its history.
Accident upon accident, all fatal in the results, have
succeeded each other. On last the engine-driver was
smashed to pieces on the local railway, his arms, thighs,
and head being literally crushed to atoms. On
Monday a driver fell off an engine on the same line
(the Western Valleys) ; his bead was severed from
is body, and his abdomen frightfully mangled.
On Tuesday a man dropped dead in Charles-street. On
Friday a man named Win. Reeves, an excavator,
who was employed at at the Letty-shenkin mine, while
lowering some stone by a crane, from some or other
happened to let go the handle, which struck him on the
face and head, and he was killed upon the spot. Nearly
all the sufferers were married men, and the last unfortu-
nate fellow has left a wife and five small children.
DEATH OF LIEUT. HUTCHINSON BY DROWNING.—
Intelligence has been received at the Royal Artillery
Barracks, Woolwich, of the death of this young officer,
whilst cruising in his pleasure yacht in the Australian
rivers, a sudden squall of wind catching the sails, and
upsetting the boat, the whole of the hands on board
perishing. The bodies were afterwards picked up, and
have been buried with military honours.—Kentish,
Mercury.