The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-15 00:00:00

AUSTRALIAN CEREALS AND MINERALS.

The statistical accounts from South Australia are
highly satisfactory, and show that the steady reliance
on, and the substantial development of, its three
staple productions of corn, wool, and copper gives it
great commercial weight, as respects the other Aus-
tralian dependencies, in its trausactionswith this and
other countries. We find during the past year its pro-
gress has been most remarkable in comparison with
its sister colonies. Within twelve months it has
doubled its exports. In 1855 the total declared
value of the produce of the co!ony shipped from its
port; was 686,9531.,
while in 1356 the amount was
1,398,367 i.
Notwithstanding that as yet no remunerative
gold fields have bean wet with in Sopth Australia,
its commercial advance is much more marked than
that of Vict7)ria, with its extraordinary yield of the
precious metals ; fur scarcely any excess of ship-
ments are shown in 1356 as compared with 1855 in
the returns from that colony, demonstrating, there
the South
fneeigvie lya
gtlri
iactulwtiltirial el tdl .eevVictorians have been
Australians have not cl.4)arted from the more staple
occupations to search for gold, and have been fully
rowarded by the great yield of cer.tel productions, to
an extent, iu fact, equivalent in benefit to the result
of gold workings in Vietot ia, when the difference of
population is considered. It is argued, and appa-
rently with much force, that although Victoria,
with its numerous gold fields, and large yield of
the precious metals, has proluced in the aggregate
a great amount of we dth to the inhabitants, yet,
, taking into consideration tha vast number of bands
thus. employed, and the distribution of the wealth
among that numlier, the sister colony of South
Australia, with its comparatively limited popula-
tion, his yielded even greater wealth by its agri-
cultural and animal productions, apart from its vast
supply of copper.—Mining Joarnal.

A CHILD .FALLING INTO A WATERBuTT,'—Yesterday
afternoon a child was taken' to University College
Hospital with a tractured thigh, and nearly drowned, by
falling into a waterbut'. -It was left in a room by
itself, and it clambered up to the window, when,
looking on its own r:flection in the water, it fell over.
Fortunately the mother heard the splash, and, rushing
to the place, was enabled to prevent the infant being
drowned.
THE PETTING STONE AT A NORTHUMBERLAND WED-
DING —On coming out of a country church the other
day, alter a wedding, I found• a sort of •barrier
erected at the churchyard gate, consisting of a large
paving stone placed on its edge, and supported by
two smallest stones, and on either side a rustle., who
made the happy-couple and everyone else jump over it.
On inquiry I was told it was the " petting stone,'
which the bride had to jump, in case she should re-
pent and refuse to follow her husband. I have heard
of a custom of a football being placed before the bride
on leaving the chrrcb, which the husband ordered her to
kick, and so makes ht .r immediately commence her
obedience to him. Perhaps the petting stone and the
football may be for the same purpose.—Notes and
Querns.
A Constantinople letter of the 2d in the Gazette
du Midi giies the conditions of the concession lately
granted by the Porte of a railway from the Danube
to the Black Sea, startinr, from Boghaskeni un that
river, wid terminating at.Kustendjie :—" The con-
cession has been givea to an English company
founded by MM. T. Wilson, Cunard, Price, Paget,
Lewis, and Newall, and represented at Constanti-
nople by Mr. Trevor Barkley. Three thousand
shares are to be issued, of which 2,000 have been
already taken and paid for in England. The firman
of the concession had been sent !o England, and in
a few days the engineers of the company were to
proceed to Kusteudjie and take advantage of the
present low state of the river to commence some
of the works. Tho duration of the concession
is 99 years from the date when the line shall
be opened. The company will be put in posses-
s on
hg
o e ssubject to indemui-
ifreligious buildings be interfered
with. At the expiration of 99 years the Ottoman
ik n t of
the alle
e theu lir
any td
r c
Government is to come into possession of the-line
proprietorsa to a valuation, but
in perfect working condition ; the sock, buildings,
km., to betaken at a valuation. The company is
authorised to construct a port as Kusteudjie ac-
cording to plans to be submitted to the Turkish
Government. The port and the railway are to be
completed in five years. The Company was bound
to deposit a sum of
with 6,0001.
Itarling which condition
has been complied . fin nine months from
the delivery of the firman the works are not com-
menced, the Concession will be null awl void."