The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-22 00:00:00

Date or

Ship.

Dettination.

---
115 • • Telegraph ...... ........ 4y,iney
16 .. :hampion of the Seas .. • . Liverpool
17 . • City of Sydney ....
..
24 .. Telegraph ..••.•. • • . • _ • • ilydney .....
Aug. 6 .. James Baines
••.•• • • Liverpool .. .. .

July

354
9,203

301
17,353

TRADE AND COMMERCE.
To the dulness of the season of the year—the end of the
Australian winter—we have added, on the present occa-
sion, the excitement of a general election—the first under
the new constitu►tion. The weather has continued unusu•
ally wet, and carriage to the interior has ruled high for
the last four months. The stocks stored for the use of
the winter have, however, been gradually diminished,
and although trade continues dull everything promises
fair for a brisk spring trade. With these remarks we refer
to the subjoined tables.
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS AT THE PORT OF MELBOURNE.
Imports in the year 1856, up to the 16th of August...... £7,689,021
Exports in the year 1856, up to the 16th of August .... 9,105,266

Balance of exports over imports during the current year 41,416,245
In the first period the account stood thus :
Traports ...... • . ......... • ...• • • 41054,90
Exports

Balance in favour of the colony ...• .. 41,340697
In the second period :
,
Imports • .....
Exports ......

£7,689,021,
• • ...... ••.. • • 9,105,26,3

Balance in favour of the colony • • £1,416,245
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
The following information has been received from an
authentic source :
A line connecting Melbourne, Sandridge, Williams-
town, Geelong, and Queenscliffe (Port-Philip Heads)
was placed in working order in December, 1854 ; total
distance, 73 miles.
The following lines are in course of construction :
To connect Geelong and Ballarat, distance about 58
miles ; Melbourne, Kyneton, Castlemaine, and Sand-
hurst (Bendigo), about 125 miles. These lines are under
contract and -t-he work is in progress, to be completed in
working order before the 15th of November, 1856.
The folloWing lines are decided upon, and are under
survey :
To connect Sandhurst, Benalla, May-Day Hills,
Beechworth, and Albury—distance (from Sandhurst)
about 250 miles ; to connect Ballarat, Raglan (Fiery
Creek), Warrnambool, Belfast, Portland, and a point at
or near the western boundary of the colony—distance
(from Ballarat) about 230 miles.
The lines will be completed during the year 1857.
The north-eastern, or Sandhurst and Beech worth, routes
are at present being marked out by the surveyors.
A single wire is used throughout, and the apparatus
employed is that known as Morse's recording telegraph.
The following lines are proposed and in contempla•
tion :

A line to connect, via Queenscliffe (Port Philip Heads).
Cape Otway, King's Island, and Cape Grim (Tasmania),
as follows :--By submarine cable from Cape Otway to
King's Island ; thence by the same means to Barren
Island and Cape Grim. The greatest stretch of subma-
rine will be only 60 miles in length, the intervening dis-
tances over the islands being by the usual air line. From
Cape Grim an extension will be made along the north-
ern shore of Tasmania, embracing Port Frederick, Port
Sorel, and George Town, and connecting at the latter
place with the main line under contract between George
Town, Launceston, and Hobart Town—the Government
of Tasmania to bear one-half of the expense of that por-
tion of the work lying between Cape Otway and Cape
Grim. Negotiations of a most favourable character are
pending upon the subject of this line between the two
Governments, and the probability is that the work will
be undertaken during the ensuing year.
Distance. Miles.
Queenscliffe to Cape Otway, about
Cape Otway to Cape Grim
Cape Grim to George Town

Total 450
Estimated cost, 33,000/.
POPULATION.

The population of the colony on the 30th June was,
according to the last census and the returns of the Im-
migration-office, upwards of 335,000 souls. To these
must be added about 2,300 for the balance of births over
deaths for the first half of the current year.
The official returns of the Immigration Board for the
month of Julyare of little interest, except that something
like a "rush" of the mining population towards the Syd-
ney goldfields has taken place ; but this "rush" does not
appear to have been so extensive as is represented in the
Sydney papers.
The balance against this colony in favour of Sydney
for the month was only 868 ; the net loss to the colony
90 souls. Among the departures for foreign ports are
about 340 Chinese. The totals are thus divided :
Arrived 2,250, of which 1,466 were adult males, 541
adult females, 141 male and 102 female children. De-
parted 2,340, of which 2,067 were adult males, 188 adult
females, 48 male and 37 female children. Of the arrivals
2,250 landed at Melbourne, 11 at Geelong, and 14 at
other ports. Of the departures 2,317 sailed from Mel-
bourne, 2 from Geelong, and 21 from all other ports.
SOCIAL TOPICS.
At the commencement of the present month a confer.
ence of delegates from the various suburban and provin
cial municipalities held its session in this city, and after
an intelligent discussion of the objects which the confer-
ence had assembled to promote, athpted a series of reso-
lutions affirming the desirability of endowing the various
municipalities with the unalienated Crown lands lying
within their limits, and indicating various amendments
which are necessary to be made in the Municipal Act, in
order to secure the efficient working of the principle of
self-government. Several candidates for seats in the Le.
gislature have given in their adhesion to the movement,
which is also warmly supported by the press throughout
the colony generally.
Some excitement was occasioned in this city on the
10th inst. by the rumoured discovery of gold in the su-
burbs of Richmond and North Melbourne respectively,
and several hundreds of people speedily congregated on
the ground believed to be auriferous, and prosecuted
" fossicking" operations with clasp knives and similar
implements until nightfall. The specks and nodules of
metal discovered turned out, however, to he a spurious
compound, manufactured as a soldei. How specks and
nodules of this solder became intermixed with the sand
and grit in the small watercourses worn by the rain on
the Flagstaff-hill and in Richmond paddock is not ex-
plained.
We are glad to be able to report that it is the intention
of the Railway Board, in expending the large sums of
money at its disposal, to afford as much encouragement
to local enterprise as can be given consistently with a due
regard to the interests of the public. In all young coun-
tries, and especially in those which possess the attraction
of producing gold, there is to be found scattered abroad
a considerable amount of mechanical skill and engineer-
ing ability diverted from their proper pursuit by the
allurements of more tempting occupations. The exten-
sive works now in progress, or contemplated, in con-
nexion with railways, will present an admirable oppor-
tunity for collecting and concentrating skilled artisans
who have temporarily abandoned their legitimate calling,
and the object is one by which the highest purposes of
public utility way be judiciously promoted.
We paid a visit on Saturday to a small schooner, the
Pomona, now lying in Hobson's Bey, and bad an oppor-
tunity of in:peeing the codfish caught by Capt. Liddle,
on a bank near King's Island, and have no hesitation in
pronouncing them a small variety of the cod of com-
merce. We saw one of the fishes cooked, and a gentle-
man who has had much experience on the North Ame-
rican coast, agreed with us in thinking that there was
not a shadow of doubt as to the fish being a genuine
cod ; and that there is every prospect of the discovery off
our coasts of fish-banks as valuable in a commercial
point of view as those of Newfoundland.
The Mount Alexander Mail announces the discovery
of an immense bed of slate in the vicinity of Castle-
maine. Its quality is said to be fully equal to that of the
best Welsh. It was found by a couple of quarrymen who
were prospecting about the district, and they not unna-
turally laid claim to some reward for having been the
immediate means of adding so materially to the already
ascertained riches of this district. Specimens of the slate
have been forwarded to the Government.
The following extract from the Bendigo Advertiser of
Saturday last indicates the confidence felt in the perma-
nence of the auriferous resources of that district :
" One or two of the storekeepers of this township are
contemplating vastly improving their business premises.
One firm, we believe, has given a contract for 8,000/.,