The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-13 00:00:00

AUSTRALtA.

By the arrival of the Australian mail we have
, received files of papers from Melbourne to the 25th
of July, and from Sydney to the 20th July.
We extract the following from the summary of
the Melbourne Arqus of the July
The Peninsular and OrientshCompany's steam-
ship Salsette, Capt. Methven, arrived off Kangaroo
Island on the morning of the 4th inst., and an-
chored in Hobson's Bay at an early hour on the 6th,
with the English mail of the 18th of May. The
Salsette brought no later intelligence-by telegram
to Alexandria, and the Red Sea Cable is still out of
working order. The new arrangements for our
mails coming into operation at 15nce on this end of
the line, the Ottawa has been detained from the
17th, and sails to-morrow, the 26th inst., with the
mails from Victoria, New South Wales, New Zea-
land, and Tasmania. The Adelaide Government
have chartered the Oscar, a coasting steamer, to
meet the Ottawa with the South Australian mail
at Xing George's Sound. No arrangement has yet
been made by South Austratia with the Government
of this colony, as to the proportion of the subsidy
to be paid by that Government ; and though it is
not probable that the Ottawa will carry instruc-
tions to refuse the South Australian mail on this
occasion, it cannot be expected by that Government
that they will be permitted to receive and despatch
their mails at and from King George's Sound with-
out an understanding having been previously ar-
rived at with the Government of this colony. To
make King George's Sound the depot for their
mails will cost the South Australian Government
£24,000 a year (at the rate of the tender for the
first month's service), independently of their share
of the cost of the main line service—too large a sum
to pay for any benefit to be derived from a station
at King George's Sound in place of Hobson's Bay.
The change of the mail arrangements has been well
received in this colony and in Tasmania, while New
South Wales, in the mortification to which she is
exposed, reaps the fruits of her recent hasty, petty,
and unwise course in her relations with this colony
as to the mail route and otherwise. The next
change hoped for is a fortnightly service between
Melbourne and Galle, which this colony will en-
courage by every means in its power.
The advices from Europe, warning us of impend-
ing troubles, were followed by disastrous intelli-
gence from New Zealand, the particulars of which
are given elsewhere. The evil tidings, however,
has had the effect of drawing out the most loyal
sentiments from every district of Victoria—a suffi-
cient answer to the unfounded statements that
have lately received currency in England as to the
feelings of this colony towards the mother coun-
try, Immediate help for New Zealand was resolved
upon, and on the 18th instant the fast steamship
City of Hobart was despatched for New Plymouth,
carrying Lieut.-Col. Leslie and 210 officers and men
of the 40th Regt. Major-General Pratt, Comman-
der-in-Chief of her Majesty's forces in Australasia,
communicated to the Governor his intention of pro-
ceeding to the seat of war, with his staff and the
head-quarters of the 40th. The announcement gave
great satisfaction to the colony, and the colonial
armed steamer Victoria. which had been placed at
the service of the New Zealand Government, and
which had brought over the despatches, was again
placed at the Major-General's service, and sailed on
Tuesday last, the 24th inst., with Gen. Pratt, the
staff, and about.so men of the 40th. Only a few
sick men and boys of the regiment are left in Mel-
bourne, and the Volunteer Rifles have responded
in the most loyal manner to the call to take up the
garrison duty hitherto performed by the military.
This duty they undertook a fortnight ago, and
their only.complaint is the non-arrival of the arms
so long expected from England. The Assembly
took up the subject simultaneously with the arrival
of the despatches, and, on the motion of Mr. Wil-
son Gray, one of the ultra-democratic members,
voted an additional sum of £5,000 to provide prizes
for the best marksmen among the Volunteers, the
erection of huts, the formation of bands, &c., while
the Ministry brought in a bill to increase the num-
ber of the Volunteer force from 2,000 to 10,000, and
announced that should an emergency arise during
the veces they would be prepared to meet any ex-
penditure that might be called for, trusting to the
loyal feeling of the house for a bill of indemnity
next session. Victoria, therefore, at this moment
is without a single military representative of her
Majesty, and is engaged in her own defences in
the most loyal spirit to the Crown.
The land question approaches a settlement. At
the date of our last summary the:bill was under
consideration by the Council, after a Ministerial
crisis, brought about by the opposition of the
squatters in the Upper House to the measure.
The bill was altered in many of its essential fea-
tures, especially in the substitution of a system of
limited auction for that of lot, in deciding between
applicants for any particular section whose claims
were equal; and on the return of the bill a fierce
faction fight was got up by the extreme party in
the Assembly, headed on this occasion by Mr.
Duffy. Ministers, while indicating the amendments
they would agree to, and those they would not as-
sent to, proposed to consider the amendments
seriatim. Mr. Duffy proposed the rejection of the
amendments in globe. A fierce debate followed,
lasting over two sittings ; and although the O'Sha-
nassy party combined with the few Duffyites and
" the Corner," Ministers triumphed by the unex-
pectedly large majority of 37 to 23. The amendments
were then taken up in detail. A number of them,
of small importance, were agreed to, and the Bill,
restored almost to the shape in which it had origi-
nally been sent up, was returned to the Council.
There the battle was again fought, mainly on the
question of lot or limited auction. The Council
has taken its stand on three points—limited auc-
tion, the limitation of the land to be surveyed
and open for selection in one year to 2,000,000 acres,
and the subdivision of allotments into two in place
of four. They desire that the purchaser of one sub-
division shall have the privilege of leasing the re-
maining half, for pastoral purposes only, with a
pre-emptive right, in place of three fourths of the
lot, as originally proposed by the Assembly. The
practical difference between the two propo3itions,
as regards the subdivision, is, that by the Assembly's
amendment the price of the land would be ss. per
acre ; but the Council's, 10s. per acre, with seven
years given to buy, in the one ease, the three-fourths,
and in the other, the half, of the lot leased. On
Tuesday night last the question was again before
the Assembly, and the state of matters at the latest
date will be found in another column.
Some important measures have been under dis-
cussion during the month. The Divorce Bill
(originally sent down by the Council) has passed
the Assembly. This bill assimilates the law to that
of England, excepting in one provision, considered
very desirable in the circumstances of this colony—
namely, absolute divorce in cases of desertion for
four years. It is probable that tke addition of this
proviso may occasion the reservation of the measure
for the sanction of her Majesty, in terms of a de-
spatch dated in 1858, from Lord Stanley, then
Colonial Secretary ; but with this warning before
it, and notwithstanding the remonstrances of the
law officers of the Crown, the Assembly, in
repeated divisions, insisted on the retention of
the proviso ; and as the social state of the colony
demands a change of law, in the interests of
morality and humanity, such as the bill provides,
we trust the measure as it has left the Assembly
may receive the Royal assent. The bill to abolish
imprisonment for debt has also been passed
through the Assembly, and that abolishing
Ministerial pensions and legalising limited partner-
ships in mining enterprises, will shortly pass into
law. A Law of Property Amendment Bill, in-
tended to remedy a very great variety of legal
anomalies and difficulties, has almost reached its
last stage.

Ministers have announced for an early day next
session a bill for the institution of district councils
and the management of commons, with a view to
the transference of the care of roads, &c., to these
local Parliaments. The subject of pastoral licenses,
with a view to the final settlement of the squatting
question, will also be then dealt with.
The railways are still a source of difficulty. The
recent investigations, and the remeasurement of
the works by the new engineer in-chief, have led
to a resolution on the part of the Government to
abandon the system of payments on what are known
as "progress" measurements. It is understood
that these quantities have been found to be, in
many instances, largely in excess of the work actu-
ally performed. In regard to the execution of the
work itself the report of the engineer-in-chief is
favourable. The latest phase of the railway ques-
tion is a strike of the labourers, who have resisted
for some four or five weeks an attempt to introduce
monthly, in place of fortnightly, settlements. The
strike is likely to terminate in the yielding of the
men.
The dredging operations on the bar of the Yarra
have been successful. Vessels drawing 14 feet of
water can now enter at any time of the tide.
Within the last few days additional interest has
been given to the subject of the internal navigation