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

ATISTRALIA.

than in London and Paris, in the distant districts, where
the sheep are healthy, they are killed and boiled down
for tallow ;.where the scab rages, they are killed, piled
in heaps, and burnt by the hundred, to destroy every
trace of them. Tn neither case do they add a pound to
the supply of human food. Australia is called a "great
grazing and pastoral country," and yet mutton and
milk are scarce and dear ; both are growing scarcer,
and meat of all kinds, according to colonial authorities,
is fast deteriorating in quality. Australia is not a pas-
toral or grazing country in the true sense of the words ;
its surface is devoted to the production of wool and
tallow for exportation—the last may be termed a manu-
facture ; but the supply of wholesome and abundant
food for the inhabitants is not the chief object of the so-
called pastoral interest ; it is secondary to the exports,
to obtain one of which the cattle must be totally de-
stroyed as food. Thus, with 1,00,000 of horned cattle
and 8,000,000 of sheep in this province alone, less than
300,000 people pay more dearly for meat than the in-
habitants of the densely crowded cities of Europe ; and
milk, that most pastoral article, can scarcely be obtained
pure, even for money.
The following is an abstract of the quarter's revenue
for New South Wales to the 30th of June :

it, and contrasts moat favourably with the sluggish in-
difference of the authorities in both provinces before his
arrival. The lighthouse built on Cape Howe after the
dreadful wreck of the Monumental City had been allowed
to run short of oil for the lamps and provisions for the
The superintendent sent notice of the. state
aotftaenffal
iarnstbs.oth to Sydney and Melbourne, but nothing
was done. Questions were asked in the Council here,
but the Government could only hope, and believe, and
consider as usual. The shipping interest grew alarmed,
and, through the press, urged the Government to send
down supplies instantly. Nothing effectual was done,
and the light was reported to be burning dim, as if the
attendants were eking out the stock of oil by reducing
the number of lamps. At the end of six weeks the light
was extinguished, and there was no beacon on this dan-
gerous turning point of the coast for eight nights. On
his last voyage down the captain of the Hellespont, a
coasting steamer, reported the total disappearance of the
light to the previous immovable authorities of Victoria ;
but in the interval Sir C. Hotham had arrived ; the instant
he heard of it a stock of oil was placed on boardthelleiles-
pont, with a letter from the Governor's secretary to the cap-
tain,containing a stronger expression of feeling than is
generally foundin an official " hereby directed"—namely,
an intimation that "as the articles were sent in the cause of
humanity, and especially for protecting the lives of sea-
men," his Excellency felt confident "every possible
exertion would be used to land the stores," and with all
despatch they were landed accordingly. The authorities
of both provinces, if they can read between the lines,
may, perhaps, detect in Sir Charles's letter a censure of
their previous indifference to the " cause of humanity
and the lives of seamen," foe which they cannot plead
ignorance. Slight as the incident may seem at a dis-
tance, it has produced a most favourable impression here,
where quick decision and prompt action are unusual,
and an inexplicable difficulty in getting anything done
weighs on the community like an evil spell. It is also
rumoured that Sir Charles Hotham has already ex-
pressed his disapproval of the lavish and, in some cases,
senseless extravagance of expenditure in some of the
departments. There is some chance of the estimates
next year not being a million above the revenue.
The prospects of steam communication with England
begin to be regarded with anxiety. The success of the
American Company that has opened the Pacific route to
Panama, with the Golden Age, is yet uncertain, anti
from the Atlantic side of the Isthmus no exact arranee-
ments have been made for the conveyance of mails or
passengers. One English Company has abandoned the
1 line ; the one steamer of the Peninsular and Oriental
Company every 2 months, and the vessels of the General
Screw Company by tl.e Cape of Good Hope, are now the
only steamers to Australia that can be depended on. It
was expected the war would withdraw some vessels from
the Australian trade ; but it is feared, unless the colonies
afford some substantial assistance to the companies, that
the reduction cf the number may be carried further.
One of the heaviest items of the expense of a steamer its
the steak of coals for the home voyage and the lab. ur
of shipping it. It has been suggested that the New
Soe.th Wales coal might be dug by thelebour of prisoners
under sentence, brought down from the Hunter River
in ships chartered for the purpose, and put on board in
the same inexpensive manner. The Government could
thus lessen the outlay of the steam companies in Syd-
ney considerably ; but a joint subsidy in money, to
which the three provinces might contribute equally,
evonld be simpler. It is regularity of arrival and do.
departure that is required as much as speed ; and eit ll-
out some recornpenc; it is rot to be expected that any
English private company can regulate the sailing of its
yes-As to suit the colony alone. At the same time the
colonists feel that, in the postal arrangements of the
Enghsh Government, they have not received the con-
sideration they are entitled te. To China, where the
Europeans may be counted by scores, there is a fort-
eigittly mail ; to Australia, with a population almost
exclusively British approaching a million, till lately the
only contract mail was one every two months ; even
now there is only one a month. The Argus calculates
the amount of postage to and from the Australian colo-
nies at 200,0001. a year. For half that sum a steam
communication might be established every fornig,ht, and
as it seems an accepted principle that postage should
not be considered a source of revenue, the present rates
might be reduced fully one half.
The establishment of a Mint in the colony has excited
a long debate in the Council; doubts have arisen whether
a colonial gold coinage is now necessary, though it was so
when the permission to coin was applied for. But, as
the expense has been incurred, and the staff and machi-
nery provided, the general feeling is that the experiment
may as well he tried. The privilege of coining is also
no small step in the progress to self-government. The
vote of the Council, therefore, confirms the proposal of
the Governor's speech, and the Mint will commence
work as soon as the arrangements can be made. Pur-
chasers have frequently been imposed on by direct
frauds—coating lead by the electrotype has been prac-
tised successfully. Shipping agents are well aware of
the differences of quality even in genuine samples of
gold, and will not give receipts for the value, only for
the weight of parcels exported. It ie to be feared that,
on examination at home, they have not always been
found up to the Bank standard, though the price here
has long been above it. This uncertainty, at least, will
not attach to the Australian sovereigns, which are to be
of the weight and value of the Imperial coin. There
seed not, therefore, be any prejudice against them,
though legally they will not be money in Eugland.
As so much of the raw material of coin is raised here,
it cannot be any disadvantage to convert it into the
manufactured article on the spot, as in that shape it
will be equally valuable everywhere else. It does
seem irrational to send gold half round the world to
be coined that it may come back again as money. lint
those who think the establishment of a Mist will dirni
nish the exportation of gold, or even check it, will be dis-
appointed.
The Council has voted the sum of 5,0001. which the
Executive proposed to advance as a loan to the Paris
Exhibition Committee for the purchase of specimens of
the gold of New South Wales, to be sent to Paris among
the other products of the colony. After the Exhibition
is closed, it is calculated the gold can be sold, and the
sum advanced by the Treasury replaced. There was
coin. opposition to the plan, as many think the money
can be better appropriated in the colony—in repairing
the roads for instanee—and that the richness of our soil
in this metal is sufficiently known to the world already.
But it was urged with much force that an exhibition of
the products of New South Wales' without any classi-
fied specimens of its gold, would be very incomplete,
while, if well arranged, a collection of every variety of
form in which gold is found would be the most interest-
ing of our native productions. The money was there-
fore voted, the more readily as it is tolerably certain it
will be recovered by the sale •f the solid " nuggets,"
dust, and gold-bearing quartz which are to represent our
mineral wealth at Pans. Our other staples—wool and
tallow—may not attract much attention ; but the speci-
mens of the different Australian woods will be well
worth the notice of the French cabinetmakers. A far
better selection will be forwarded than that sent to
London, and among
the varieties are some admirably
adapted for the ornamental work in which the French
manufacturers excel. To make the collection of speci-
mens as complete as possible, Mr. Moore, the director
of the Sydney Botanic-garden, was despatched to the
most remote northern districts of the province to obtain
some of the varieties only to be found in the region ap-
prea:hing the southern tropic. We have no manufac-
tures, except those of a few common articles that are
made better and in larger quantities its the poorest
countries of Europe ; but of natural products Australia
will send enough to prove her immense " capability," as
yet wholly undeveloped. In everything that requires
labour it is only a had of promise, the realisation lying
far in the future. If gold could not be dug out of -the
earth ready for the market—if it reqUired any process
of smelting or working to render it saleable—not a
tenth of the quantity exported would be produced.
We have abundance of iron, for instance, but not a
single mine has been opened, though a few score miles
of tramway would be more valuable than a new gold field.
There is an enormous coalbed at half the distance by
sea from Sydney that Newcastle is from London, yet
the retail price of coals this winter has ranged from 71.
to 81. 10s. per ton. Specimens of our iron, coal, and
copper will,'no doubt, also be sent for exhibition ;
but the public in France and England must not thee-
fore be led to believe that the community tierlees
more than the slightest advantage from them. We
have scarcely smelted native iron enough to make an
axletree, and native coals can onlybe burnt by the weal-
thy; who, in case of necessity, could feed their kitchen
ranges withiumps of silver ore if that were combustible.
The tickets of most of the specimens of native produc-
tions, vegetable and mineral (gold excepted), to gitra an
honest account of the state of thinge, should be inscribed
" Known to exist, but not to be had?' This is the case
even with colonial wine, of which several cues will be
sent to frighten the French growers by apprebensioes of
competing vineyards of clarets and. Burgundies, The
French vignerons need not feel the least alarm. At the
present rate of progress in the cultivation of the vine in
the colony there will not be a cask of native yin erdi•
nacre for sale in Sydney itself for the next half amities;
The annual meeting of the New South Wales Vineyard
Association has just been held, and its report proved a
complete stagnation of enterprise. Even if the growers
were as active as they are apathetic, they' would not ef-
fect much in the Manner they now proceed. They aro
few in number, wealthy, and indifferent to the pursuit,
except as it furnishes a source of amusement ; there is
a mild, quiet rivalry between the dilettanti, who grow
vines much as they might grow dahlias or tulips. At
the annual meetings they taste each other's samples; pro-
nounce an opinion more or less flattering of this or that
gentleman's squeeze "of 1851"—to call it a vintage would
be absurd ; and, after reporting they have done nothing
during the past year, separate to do the same through
the next. Wine-growing in Australia is not yet an indus-
try; the result never reaches the market, and foreigners
who have read the glowing descriptions of, the " capa-
bilities" of the colony, copied by ene bookmaker from
another, are astonished to find that in what they have
been led to suppose is a wine-growing country it is im-
possible by ordinary means to obtain a single bottle.
This is to
be regretted, since it makes a bad impression
Pursuit.
One on the natives of those countries who
knowledge of this
as ,_,
otrer branch of cultivation with them ; ex-
ceptembarkea in the pen!' bring a practical
exibitin,rta:mateute the employ of what may be called
Frenchman or German has yet
One article formerl
y i. 3
teat—tobacco—has dl,/r ose n in the colony to some ex-
revised tariff destroyed that
ex-
appeared from commerce. The
branch of cultivation, nor
is it much to be regretted.
The supply of meat is running
can be taken as an indication. l short, if rising prices
triot of Victoria the scab is ravaging°. "the western dis-
It bee appeared, also, -in the district of fflocke of sheep.
in thiS-previtiae: it does- not eeem.Pooie-
i9tetois Bay,
this disease by any individual effort, Ume.l t:o
'arrest
action is alleged to be impracticable. Thus, wcioitinebl.-e,
mut-
ton is at a higher retail price in Sydney ii 1
an 0 'mune 1

SYDNEY, July 13.—The session 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, for 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
despauches 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
uthorised to expend the funds now at their disposal in
sending out immigrants under the ordinary regulations,
which the row 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
tle 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 Sop-
pere 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 mile-
fectory 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 hid recently visited. The new settle-
ment at Port Curtis promises to be of great value to the
colony, on account of the advantages of its harbour, its
genial climate, and fertile soil.
Ia theaddress 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 celemy generally. On the 27th of June Sir
Charles Fitzroy communicated to the Council a copy of
the declamation of war with Russia, which he had re-
c on the 26th. It was accompanied with her Ma-
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
commuideition the Council, on the motion of Mr. C.
Cowper, una ihnees'y voted the &Vowing loyal address
to the Crown :
" We, your Majesty's moat boy .1 and dutiful snb"e
the members of the Legislative Council of New South
Wales in Council a,esetnbled, having learnt from your
Majesty's royal proclamation, dated Bucking,:iam
House, 28th of March, 1854, that the mucous
efforts of your Majesty, anti your Majesty's ad-
visers, for ureeerviiig the bleebiege of peace ha, e
been unsuccessful, and that, ni concert with
your Majesty's ally, the Emperor of the Freneli,
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-
tem, and of our hearty sympathy with those just princi-
ples by which your Majesty and your Majesty's Minis-
ters have been go ided in FO 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 tae 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 burUely
assure your Majesty that, as far as in us lies, we are
prepared to adopt all necessary measures for reaistieg,
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
g
iilway Company and the question of irnmi
ra-
tinn, 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 effeet 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-
gres:ing—in others, positively going. back ; again: t 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
aeyluna. In a short time even the golden sell 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 hot join the regions they divide."
Cargoes are poured into--the-sestptertes-with the greatest
facility, and then the distribution is suddenly chocked.
Hence the enorrnoue rents of stores, cessation of de-
mamid, and the necessity of forced sales, with the natural
consequence—heavy losses to the exporters, who perbepa
wonder how trade with Australia can be so unprofitable,
scarcely snspecting 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 a
year ; and the calculation does not include the loses
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 " Aus-
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 aeloss 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 wt. or 80/. per
ton for the journey, they have a notion of one pecnlarity
of the Australian market ; and if they suppose they are
not affected by this state of things they are grievously
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 ithreaks suddenly, and beyond all is primitive,
rude; and
barbarous in the means of conveyance. The
bale re eees-z-1
dfrom the railway train is trans-
ferred to-the Tenn,* draey,
country, co,itiug, in its to begin its "crawl" up the
e t from England for every 20
Tanoialdess.;'lnt.rfroure"ntlirs'boleitootlti)siirin—wghise. There are no passable
.s
no prospect of debate on the subject, there is
are 80 enormous that ma y soon supplied. The distance
repair and reconstrnet)i- to
years would be required
the lines-
English model cannot be ts* Railroads on the
great, es:proved by the 16 attempted,
n The cost is too
asruitor for of
The 'company is again way to Paramatta.
There is a disposition to consider fa Government loan,
of traneroads. We do not so inucZaurably the system
w
-the facility- of moving merchandise aid
high speed as
pace. ,We must find sonaeemedium betweenl3rciduce at
ar'y
road's arid'the expensive railway, and,
the present
with a little
nesst texerlion it would not be impossible. ear=
Paramatta line will be invaluable as an example
of What'may be done by skill ; and if it only sevs
disgust the colonists thoroughly with the existing system
of of crawling, the money it has cost will have been 411
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 assistance. The subscribed
capital is 100,000/., with a Government loan of 150,000/,
At present rates the line when completed will cost
289,0001„ or 139,0001. more than its own capital and
loan: together. The company has, therefore, resolved to
issue new shares to the amount of 100,0001., and to ask
for a second loin from the Government of the same
et:noun,: as the first--150,0001.—and Also for a guarantee
of per cen. t interest on the new shares as well as on
a
the old ones. The Executive Council has approved the
aptiri9a4r,pad the Legislative Council, after some
de ,11,7-EaTSM OW Governor's message proposing
c.,l,7lrik—ntiderstood, however, that for the
VelOtetthe /ine is not to be carried beyond Paramatta.
Theltou
_gel- had really, no alternative except to grant
puisli what had been begun, or all
the-4' Iv
ue g, else. ould have been utterly
+EXisof Skr Charle.A itotham's first public acts has ex-
hibited prompt decision in a case that urgently required

GENERAL REVENUE.
1853
Second Quarter / 1854

£154,999
...

Increase, being 8/ per cent £14,111

TERRITORIAL REVENUE
1853
Second Quarter 1854.

246 825
59,982

Increase, being 28 par cent £13,157

TOTAL RECEIPTS
Second Quarter { 1835531

E 201,824
299,092

Increase, being 13i per cent £27,268
The Customs' revenue shows a considerable increase :-
1853 £15,658
Second Quarter 1854 98,164

Increase, being 30 per cent £22,506
All the items of this branch of the revenue show an in-
crease except one ;--

Increase. Per cent.
Spirits imported £10,510 24'3
Tobacco imported
Wine 3,763 72'6
Sugar 855 11.9
Tea 4,532 621
Coffee, &c 1,267 221'5
Decrease.
Ale and beer £239 10'9
The gold revenue again shows a falling off, the decrease
on the quarter having been 8,5701.

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20, 1854.

9,268