The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-04 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

By the Emeu we have received files of papers
and our private correspondence from Melbourne to
the 15th of November, and from Sydney to the
11th of November.

We take the following from the Commercial
Summary of the Melbourne Argus of 15th of No-
vember :

The gold market has been subjected to but one
fluctuation during the month that has elapsed
since the departure of the mail steam-ship Vic-
toria on the 18th ultimo. On that day the
rates of exchange were lowered by all the banks
to par for 60-days' bills on England, and a
consequent reduction, which had been partly
anticipated, took place in the buying prices
of gold. These are now quoted in Melbourne at
rates said to be based upon £3 13s. 9d.. per ounce
for standard gold, namely :—For Omeo, 675. 6d.
to 71s. ; Pleasant Creek and Goulburn, 745. 6d. to
755.; Castlemaine, Sandhurst, and Jim' Crow, 75s
to 765. ; Ararat, Maryborough, Dunolly, Fiery
Creek, Avoca, and Amherst, 765. to 775. ; Ovens
and Yackandandah, 775. to 78s. 6d. ;,,.Ballarat,
78s. to 795.

Export entries were passed at the Customs' to-
day for 5,281 ounces, of which 238 ounces were for
shipment in the Royal mail steamship Emeu, for
Suez, and 5,053 ounces in the clipper ship Swiftsure,
for London. This latter vessel cleared out with a
total of 84,755 ounces, shipped in the following
parcels :—Bank of New South Wales, 25,000 ounces;
London Chartered Bank, 20,893 ounces 17 dwt. ;
Union Bank of Australasia, 10,842 ounces 19 dwt.
Bank of Australasia, 10,733 ounces; Bank of Vic-
toria, 6,742 ounces 15 dwt. ; Oriental Bank Corpo-
ration, 6,065 ounces 7 dwt.; English, Scottish, and
Australian Chartered Bank, 3,852 ounces 12 dwt. ;
small shipments, 664 ounces 10 dwt.
The escorts have delivered into the gold-office of
the Treasury this week 48,361 ounces, a total above
the weekly averages of the year. That for the first
quarter was 41,925 ounces ; for the second quarter,
45,290 ounces ; and for the third quarter, 48,235
ounces. It is also above that of the year 1857,
which amounted to 47,670 ounces. In the subjoined
list the quantities are given separately for the week
compared with those of the corresponding week of
last year, the escorts arriving fortnightly only
being distinguished from those arriving weekly by
the prefix of an asterisk.

1858. 1857.
Gold-field. Ozs. Dwts. Ozs. Dwts
Castlemain.e 6,441 10 7,778 0

Sandhurst

6,856 10

•Beechworh 7;690 10 10,201 10

,
•Heathcote
Ballarat
•Itushworth , 371 10 ,W 6 0
*Donolly
Maldon

*Creswick's Creek
*Buckland River 753 10 910 0

Maryborough 2,121 0 1,919 0
*Yackandandah

48,961 0 50,986 13
Previous escorts

Total for years.. 2,046,350 10 2,138,024 8
The shipments of the week have been :
By Swiasure, for London 74,775 oz.
By Conway, for Calcutta
By steamer, to Sydney
Small parcels in passengers' hands 33 „
Previous shipments, corrected by compari-
son with entries passed at the Customs 2,111,030
.„

Mtn]. shipments for the year.. 2,198,739 oz.
This quantity, brought into tons troy, gives 91 tons
12 cwt. 1 qr. 2 lb. 6 oz. ; the value of which, at £4
per ounce, amounts to £8,794,923. Up to the same
period of last year the quantity shipped was
2,360,074 oz. ; or 98 tons 6 cwt. 9 qrs. 22 lb. 20 oz.
In the present state of immigration the popula-
tion of the colony appears, when compared with the
rapid growth of the number in former years, to be
almost stationary. The increase by the seaboard
during the current year has been only 10,697,
while for the corresponding periods of last year
and its predecessor it was more than double, and
of 1854-5 more than quadruple that number. The
total population of the colony of Victoria, calcu-
lated from the official returns of births and deaths,
and of arrivals over departures, since the census
was taken, now stands at 489,000 souls. At the
close of 1857 the numbers for the adjacent colonies
were :—New South Wales, 306,000 ; South Aus-
tralia,. 110,000 ; Tasmania, 82,500 ; New Zealand
(approximate), 50,000. The total population of
the Australian group, omitting Western Australia,
of the statistics of which colony we have no reliable
records, but whose numbers are about 14,000, may
now be stated at 1,037,500 souls.

The money market has been plentifully supplied
during the month, as the sales of Crown lands have
testified. Large sums, have also been on offer on
mortgage of first-class town and country properties
at rates varying from 8 to 121 per cent., according
to the improving situation of the lands, and to the
extent of margin between values and the sums
borrowed. In commercial paper there has been an
inclination towards an easier market, but the dul-
ness of trade prevented this feeling from becoming
very widely spread. The general abstracts of all the
banks for the past quarter have been published.
These returns show the average amount of liabilities
and assets within the colony of the eight institutions
carrying on business. The ninth, the National
Bank of Australasia, was not then open. The
aggregate average of commercial paper held by
the banks, and of advances made by them during
the quarter amounted to £7,999,138 against
£7,716,676 for the preceding quarter. The aggre-
gate average of deposits was £5,672,236 against
£5,770,150 for the preceding quarter. The rates
of discount at the banks are—for bills under 95
days' currency, 8 per cent. ; from 95 to 126 days, 9
per cent. ; and on overdrawn accounts, .10 per cent.
Exchange on England is now at par for 60 days'
sight for large amounts, and at 1 per cent. pre-
mium for 30 days' sight for bills under £5O. Freight
on gold by sailing vessels is taken at from, 21d. to
3d. per ounce, deliverable in London ; insurance 11
per cent. ; by the overland route, I per cent. —that
is, 7d. per ounce as nearly as possible ; insurance, 11
to 1 per cent. Immediately on the closing of the
last mail the banks announced this decline in' their
rates. The opinion of the Commissioner of Trade
and Customs, himself the Chairman of the Board,
and a large shareholder in the oldest local banking
establishment, is, that the Government draughts
on England to be
,issued in connection with the
railway loan will be negotiable at a premium of
from Ito 1 per cent. With regard to this loan,
there has been some discussion in the Legislative
Council as to the advantages of the arrangement
entered into between the Government and the six
banks, on the motion of Mr. Strachan, " That there
be laid on the table of this House a statement de-
monstrating the relative advantages to the country,
in the acceptance by the Government of the pro-
posal for the negotiation of the railway loan, made
by the banking corporations (named in the margin)
in preference to those made by Messrs. Baring,
Brothers, andCo.,'Melbourne." This motion was
opposed by the Government, but was carried.

The Stock and Share Market has not been sub-
jected to any movement of importance, but prices
of local joint-stock undertakings are generally a
trifle lower than they were a month since. Of the
Government securities held by colonial capitalists
there arc none offering; in the market.
The commerce 9f the year continues to exhibit

all the symptoms of sound health. The exports
uniformly balance the imports, and in this respect
the subjoined returns bear most favourable com-
parison with those of last year.
The import trade has been dull in the extreme,
and, although the brisk season is at hand, there is
very little prospect of improvement.
The arrivals and departures at Sydney, Adelaide,
and Melbourne, are now posted daily at the offices
of the Electric Telegraph Departments in all three
cities, for the convenience of the public,and thus each
market is kept in constant communication with the
other. In a few months Tasmania will also be
brought within the circle.
An important change has been effected in one
branch of trade by the legalization of distillation,
hitherto prohibited in this colony. On the 2Sth
ultimo the Hon. the Treasurer carried a resolution
in the House of Assembly to this effect and a Bill
has since passed that House with a certainty of
becoming law. Under this act the same duty will
be imposed on spirits of colonial production as on
imported spirits-10s. per gallon for proof. On
spirits distilled from sugar, on which a duty of 6s.
per cwt. has already been paid, it is proposed that
the duty be 9s. 3d. per gallon. This latter clause
will probably be modified before the bill comes into
operation on the first day of the coming year.
The Columbian, due on the 6th inst., with the
English mails of the 12th and 16th Sept., has not
yet arrived, and we are thus left in a state of com-
plete ignorance of what has been done by the
Imperial Government in this important matter.