The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-06 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

By the arrival of the Australian mail we (Times)
have received our private correspondence and files
of papers from Melbourne to the 16th of April, and
from Sydney to the 13th of April. The following
is the letter of our Melbourne correspondent :
MELBOURNE, APRIL 16.

" The Malta arrived at Sydney on the Bth inst.,
and is appointed to sail from this port to-morrow
morning with the homeward mails. The Oneida
with the English February mail is not expected
until the end of the month, and, as she has always
been behind her time, it is probable the March mail
will arrive first.

" The Melbourne Chamber of Commerce has ad-
dressed to this Government a strong expression of
dissent from that part of the new postal arrange-
ments which provides that the mail ships shall call
at Kangaroo Island, South Australia, before deliver-
ing the mail here. The Chamber urges that th e
large proportion of the subsidy contributed by this
colony, added to the contingent of Tasmania, entitles
the merchants of this colony to expect and require
that the mail ships shall proceed from Mauritius
direct to Melbourne, whence the South Australia a
mails may be transmitted to Adelaide without any
delay. It should not be overlooked that while the
ultimate fate of the contract was in a state of un-
certainty—and the same remark applies to the for-
mer contract—the Legislature of Victoria, in order
to strengthen the hands of the home Governmen t
in that behalf, pledged itself to the amount of this
whole of the Australian contribution, leaving to
future arrangements the determination of the pro-
portions of the other colonies. The mode of fixing
the proportion has the effect of charging against
Victoria a larger sum than she ought strictly to be
called upon to pay, as a large number of letters
despatched from Melbourne are received by mer-
chants from their correspondents in the other colo-
nies to be posted here. It is probable that a corn-
munication will be made to the Secretary of State
on the subject. There is also some discontent that
the normal irregularities of the mail service are not
yet cured. Why, it is asked, is the Oneida, the
worst of the vessels employed by the royal mail com-
pany, still used by the Peninsular and Oriental
Company ? There is another subject respecting which
the colonies have no voice, except by way of advice
or criticism. The Peninsular and Oriental Company'
have fixed their rate of passage money so high as to'
drive a great number of passengers to proceed to'
Europe by Green's ships, which now make the'
voyage with great regularity and speed. In order
to attract passengers the Royal Mail Company
charged £9O, and made a very liberal allowance
for families. They also permitted passengers to'
stay at any intervening port, continuing the pas-
sage by the next ship. They also issued " return=
tickets," allowing, I think, twelve months' resi-
dence, for one passage money and a-half, or £135.
The charge by the Malta is £l2O, which is 50 per
cent higher than the passage money by the Oneida.
(£80), and 133 per cent. above the charge of the
Royal Mail Company; and the Peninsular and.
Oriental Company have not as yet given any notice
that they intend to continue or discontinue the
two privileges which I have named. I believe that
the high charges, together with the absence of some
arrangement and notification that they permit
their booked passengers to stop on the way, and,
that they will grant return tickets, will deprive
their ships of one-third of the whole number of
passengers, and perhaps of more. Six months'
experience will, I believe, afford ample proof of
this. The return ticket especially is a great in-
ducement to people to pay a short visit to Australia
or to England, as the case may be.
" The gold returns for the first quarter of the
37. a
ounces in excess of the
er of 1858. The escort
ew
returns for 1859 exhibit a total of 545,778 ounces
quantity t areity fora ft
firsthu n d
quarter r t
against 545,032 ounces in 1858, being a difference
of 746 ounces in 1859. I believe the quantity would
have been much greater but for the extraordinary
dryness of the season. I never saw the gardens so
parched up as they were until rain fell on the Bth inst.
The fruit trees have lost their leaves as in winter in
England. Water tanks are used here extensively to
collect rain water, because the well water is brackish.
Tanks which have not been empty for four years
have lately failed. The dryer diggings have greatly
suffered from this cause. Then the total mining
population is not so great as it was, owing to the
numbers that have been draughted oliby the railway
works and the extension of tillage. The average
weekly yield for the three first months of the year
was in 1858 41,925 ounces, and in 1859 41,982
ounces. The weekly average of the whole year 1858
was 44,841 ounces. I see no reason why a similar
increase to that which took place after April, 1858,
should not also take place this year. One thing
against such increase, however, is the strong disP°-
sition which has lately grown up in favour of
farming. The increase of tillage last year was veil
considerable, but this year I believe it will be inuca
greater.
" Though the production of gold this year is
about equal to last, the exports exhibit a consider-
able falling off. Last year in January there was
large stock of gold on hand, which, as Carlyle
might say, had to " get itself" exported. For the
first three months of 1858 the quantity was 602,7.04
' ounces ; this year it is only 560,852 ounces, being
a deficiency of 41,852 ounces. This tells unfavour-
ably on the balance of our imports over and above
our exports. The figures are as follows :
Imports .. • • • • • • £3,830,570
3,279,286
Exports ..

£551,284
" With this balance of trade apparently against
us, people seem puzzled that we have not an awful
depression of trade. The answer is simple :—We
Are to use the language first, I believe, employed
by 'Sampson Ricardo, large exporters of securities.
Colonies, moreover, are always importers of a cer-
tain' amount not to be remitted for ; for example,
goods brought out by or sent out to immigrants,
the value of which remains in the country for
investment. Thus, we have often a great apparent
disturbance of the due proportion between ex-
ports and imports, without any disturbance of
the rate of exchange. If the first disturbance
were real, the exchange would necessarily be
affected. If exchange be at par, we may be very
sure that the differences between the values of ex-
ports and imports does not represent the true
balance of trade. Such is the case now. Exchange
is at par. There is also rather more animation in
the demand for goods generally than there was a
month or two ago. This again shows that the table
of imports and exports does not
exhibit the whole
tarth, and requires considerable correction. The
elements of the correction are these ; but I have no
means of carrying them out in figures. To the
amount of exports we should add debentures sent
home and specie remitted. To the imports we
should add specie imported, and we should deduct
the value of goods imported for investment, and not
for sale and remittance. If we could do this, it
would probably nearly exhibit a balanced account,
and explain the two patent facts, that exchange is
at par and the market is not depressed.
The traffic returns of the newly-opened railways
show a steady increase. In my last I gave the re-
turns for the first seven weeks, giving a total of
£6,423 19s. 2d., being an average of £917 178. Per,
week ; the last week's return, ending the 10th of
March, being £1,362 15s. 7d.
" The return for the four weeks ending the 7th
of April is as follows :
Week ending March 17 .. £1,404 10 8
Week ending March 24 1,359 15 0
Week ending March 31 1,632 7 1
Week ending April 7 .. 1,873 3 6
being a total of £6,269 16s. 3d. and a weekly'
average of £1,567 9s. ld., the average of the previ-
ous four weeks being £1,277 16s. 10d. four
" The number of passengers during the
weeks was as follows :
Week ending March 17
Week ending March 24 .. 12,945
Week ending March 31 • 14,564
Week ending April 7 . 15,692
" The last week's receipts comprise the following
heads :

L s. d.
Passengers 1,198 12 1
Parcels
Horses and carriages.
Excess of luggage 7 9 8
Goods 369 17 1
0
Cattle
Rents 261 8 3

1,873 3 6
" The goods traffic as yet is confined to Williams-
town. The carriers to Castlemaine and Sandhurst
do not as yet find it worth while to avail them'
selves of only 21 miles of railway.
" The death of I,lr. Cornish, one of the contrac-
tors, will not in any way interfere with or check
the progress of the Northern line.
Turn we now to a more amusing, but, so far as
our social condition is concerned, not less instruc-
tive topic. We have had a smart discussion by the
colonial press upon the question of the compatibility
of the status of an actor with legislatorial honours.
Coppin, a comic player of the Jem Bags and Billy
Barlow class—and a very clever one, too—has, or
is reputed to have, reali,ed an independence here
by his very spirited and liberal management oftwo
principal theatres and our local Cremorne. Apart
from his clever acting, he is a man of considerable
ability, of unblemished character, and of generous
sympathies. He is just the sort of man that every
body likes, and I may add, that everybody ought
to like. I believe his name is not unknown on the
London boards, for his father, who was a surgeon
by profession, took to the stage. Well, in August
last Coppin set up for a seat in the Legis
Council, when six of the Lords' went out by rota-

tion. He ' went in,' as our colonial phrase is, for
the Liberal interest, and was returned, and cer-
tainly in that august assembly he did no discredit
to the choice of his constituents. On presenting
himself as a candidate he retired from the stage ;
and from July to March he abstained from its temp-
tations—great as they must be to a popular and
ranch applauded actor. But in March last he was
tempted to reappear on the Ballarat boards for, I
think, six nights, for the benefit of their local
charities—the hospitals, benevolent asylums, &c.
Re played to crowded houses, and the result was
that very handsome sums were handed to the in-
stitutions in question. Upon this Coppin was
attacked by the starched and straightlaced portion
of the press. 'lf he had been a tragic actor,' said
one, 'it would not have been objectionable—but
Jem Bags ! faugh ! we shall never see him in coun-
cil again without calling for Hot Codlings." But
Coppin, on taking his farewell at Ballarat, made an
excellent and sensible address in reply, and has since
declared that he will contribute to the benevolent
institutions of the colony every year in the same
Way.

Now, this little colonial episode should not be
altogether judged by a mother country standard;
and yet I am not quite sure that something of the
same nature might not be, at least, tolerated in your
!till aristocratic House of Commons. Macready, for
instance, is a gentleman—a man of good education
and of unexceptionable character. If he, on his
retirement from the stage, had got elected a mem-
ber of Parliament, would English fastidiousness
have said nay ? I think not. Nor do I think his
position would have been impaired by a subsequent
appearance' for some charitable object. At all
events, our Upper House is not composed of aristo-
cratic elements. It consists of men many of whom
hive raised themselves to opulence from very
humble beginnings. The clever actor is superior
to many and behind none in creditable antecedents,
and I am very certain that public opinion will
support him in his determination of putting annu-
ally a few hundred pounds to the credit of our
benevolent institutions."