The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-09 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

By the arrival of the Columbian we (Times) have
received our private correspondence and files of
papers from Melbourne to the 16th January, and
from Sydney, New South Wales, to the 6th
January.
The following is the letter of our Melbourne
correspondent :

MELBOURNE, JAN. 16.
The Simla arrived on the Bth inst., bringing not
only her own (the November mail), but also the
October mail, delayed by the Emeu's disaster,
which you will have learnt before this time.

Our local Parliament re-assembled on the sth
inst., after the Christmas recess. We had rather a
hot Christmas, more fitted for cold salmon and cu-
cumber, cold lamb and salad, cider cup and iced
clarets, than the orthodox beef and plum-pudding,
and yet we are so imitative that our banquets, with
the thermometer atl.oo deg., are carefullyedapt ed to
a northern winter. I only wonder that people do
not light a sea-coal fire, and shut the window-
shutters, to make believe it is a real Christmas.
It would, however, have required a stronger
imagination that of Charles Dickens's Marchioness
to " make believe" that 100 degrees in the shade
is a real thorough-bred Christmas, though it
was cool compared with the Wednesday before,
when we had a hot wind 110 deg. in the shade,
the sun, aggravated by bush fires in
manyn 139 a
the country. In February, 1855,
almdela3surdreetdsg.n
ofi
the heat of the hot blast. The ther-
mometer was insulated in a corner formed by the
portico of a stone-built house. The wind was due
north, blowing hard, and the time noted (11 a.m.)
the north-east sun's rays had not touched the corner
in question. The temperature of the blast was 117
deg. Fahrenheit ! But to return to Parliament.
Our present Constitution was framed by a Council
consisting of ene-third nominees and two-thirds
elected members. The latter were elected when the
population of the colony was short of 80,000 souls.
There was a property qualification for members, and
the right of suffrage was limited. The consequence
was that the demand for reform was coeval with
the introduction of the new Constitution in Novem-
ber, 1855. The number of the old Council had
been twice increased, first from 30to 54 and secondly
to 66, by the introduction of representatives of the
mining districts. It was by the Council so increased
that the ballot was carried ; so that the first elec-
tions in September, 1856, under the new constitu-
tion, were by secret suffrage. The next reform was
the abolition of the property qualification (2,0001.
or 2001. a year in land,) by Mr. Duffy's act. There
the matter remained until the close of the late
session, when, in the electoral act then passed, the
suffrage was extended to all men of 21 years of
age—" manhood" suffrage it is here called. The
act contains another clause giving a plurality of
votes to freeholders, and around the metropolis it
is quite practicable for a man having a 50/. freehold
in several electoral districts to give about 10 votes
in the said districts in one day-
Ministers have now introduced three Bills ; one
to shorten the duration of Parliaments from five to
three years ; another to increase the number of
members and alter and equalize the electoral dis-
tricts on the basis of population ; and a third to
regulate elections, the novel and important feature
of which is a provision for the representation of
minorities. The Bill for altering the electoral dis-
tricts and increasing the number of members to 90
(from 60) proceeds on the principle that the popu-
lation of the colony being 450,000, and the
number of members being 90, 5,000 is the mean
number which belongs to one member. Frac-
tional differences cannot be avoided, and from
the great territorial extent of some of the
thinly-peopled districts a large margin is neces-
sary and unavoidable. Some districts have three
members assigned to them, some have five, and
a few have seven—all odd numbers, in order to
admit of the minority-representing scheme. The
plan is that in districts entitled to three members
the electors shall not vote for more that two candi-
didates ; in districts having five members, for three;
and in districts having seven members, for four;
and it is considered that the remaining one, two,
and three members, as the case may be, will repre-
sent the minority. In the debate on the second
reading this scheme was generally accepted by both
sides of the house. In committee I think it will
be farther modified by reducing the larger districts
so as to make the division uniform—i.e., 30 dis-
tricts returning three members each, equal to
90 members, voters being allowed two votes
only. I believe this measure will be carried
g will fulfil the expectations of its
by a very large majority ; but I doubt whe-
mthoesrtitsas wtiginourkine
supporters. It is also clear that
under the present syetern minorities are in feet re-
presented. Thus Conservative A and Radical B
stand for a district having 1,000 voters. B carries
it by a majority of 1. So far the 499 who voted for
A are not represented ; but Conservative A tries
his fortune in another district aga'ust Radical C
and beats him by a majority of 1 also. Here the
adverse opinions of the two districts collectively are
equally represented. Ido not remember that in
Democratic America the Whig minority is
ever unrepresented, and if the scheme go
beyond the mere representation of the minority,
and operates to give a majority
in the House
to the minority out of doors, it will be pro-
ductive of evil ; but with universal suffrage I do
not conceive it will work to that extent. Some
members who come in " a good third" will be of
the opinions of the majority, though they will
apparently be representatives of the minority,
while in some districts (where squatting prevails,
for instance) in all probability the man at the head
of the poll will coincide in opinion with the gene-
ral minority, while the third will represent the
majority of the country, though the minority in
his district. It has been tried at the Cape, but
as elsewhere, it must be deemed an experi-
hneortel,ong enough to ascertain its working, so that
ment.

Another very important measure, which has
passed the second reading and has been committed,
is an Education Bill. Hitherto, we have had two
systems at work, managed by two board,, with a
double machinery of secretaries, clerks, and inspec-
tors—namely, the Denominational and the Na-
tional or Secular system. In the schools under
the Denominational Board religious instruction
is mingled with secular teaching in any way and to
any extent desired by the several denominations. In
the national schools four hours of secular instruc-
tion are required, but certain hours are set apart
during which
the priest or minister or religious
teachers approved by the parents have access to
the children of their respective persuasions. The
new bill seeks to bring the whole under one board,
and to make the whole of the public schools of the
country
tem than they do at present. There is also what is
approach more nearly to the national sys-
called a compulsory clause ; but it does not go to the
extent of the Prussian system, which enables a police-
man to catch a boy and take him—not to a police-
court as a "rogue and vagabond," but to a school.
It merely adds the gentle pressure of an increased
rate upon the parent who neglects or refuses to
send his child to school. This bill passed the
second reading by a majority of 33 to 11. It is
chiefly opposed by the Roman Catholic members in
the house and by the priests out of it ; but the lay
members of that Church are not unanimous. Some
persons are sanguine enough to suppose that the
bill can be so modified, without materially impair-
ing it, as to obviate or soften the opposition of the
priests and their followers, but I have no such
hope. They will accept nothing but the unalloyed
denominational system. They state that it is
an essential article of their religion that re-
ligious services should pervade secular instruc-
tion, and that it is contrary to their religion
to separate secular instruction from devotional
practices. But I believe the bill may be made satis-
factory to a great number of Roman Catholic
parents. We have a large National Training School
in Melbourne, with 714 scholars at the last report.
The Roman Catholic bishops and clergy withhold