The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-08 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

We take the following summary of Australian
news from the lliebourne Argus of 14th April :

"Our last summary was despatched by the European,
Royal mail steam ship, on the 15th March. The depar-
ture of the Columbian affords an excellent opportunity
for the transmission to Europe of another chaptor in the
history of the progress of the colony.

" THE GOLDFIELDS.

" The yield of the goldfields continues to be subject
to the fluctuations with which the current year com-
menced. The mildness of the weather and the scarcity of
water have been protracted over a longer season than
usual, and the escort returns have not been maintained
up to the average of the year 1856. It is, however,
satisfactory to know that they have been considerably
above the average of the years 1854-55. The re-
,ipts by escort and the shipments for the first three
quarters of the following years, were :

FIRST THREE MONTHS.
1854 1855 1856 1857
oz. oz. oz. oz.
Receipts by escort 382,901 407,394 748,303 527,154
Shipments
"The greatest falling off this year, as compared with
1856, is, it will be observed, in the escort returns.
The shipments, under ail disadvantages, still keep up to
the average of 10 tons troy per month, or 120 tons per
year, a sum total not to be despised from a colony so
sparsely popullted. The decline'in the escorts is to be
attributed to the fact that the improved state of the
roads enables coaches to run through to Melbourne in
a day, quite as much as to the undoubted temporary
flucteation in the yield.
"When tha wet weather has set in sufficiently to
flood the creeks and the old water holes, the escort re-
turns will show a decided improvement. At present
comparatively few puddling machines are at work, and
large boards of rich ' washing stuff' are in the hands of
the miners. Some fine nuggets were brought into
town last week from Korong and from Dunolly. The
departures of gold ships since last summer have been—
" March 3, JosephTarratt, for Bombay, 1,576 ounces ;
7th, Sussex, for London, 47,844; 80, I'. A. Cole, for
Hongkong, 7,260 ; Bth, Persia, for Bombay, 1,445 : Bth,
Lancaster, for Calcutta, 2,669 ; Bth, Monarch, for Syd-
ney, 45 ; Bth, Stebonheath. for London, 5,254 ; 14th,
Walmer Castle, for London, 38,123; 14th, European,
for Suez, 10,704 ; 20th, Francis Henty, for London,
24,732 ; 21st, Tudor, for Liverpool, 14,502 ; 21st, Royal
Shepherd, for Launceston, 20 ; 23d, Jeannette, for
Hongkong, 2,831; 25th, Kent, for London, 69,221 ;
29th, Day Dream, for Calcutta, 2,311; April 3,
Challenge, for Hongkong, 675 ; 6th, Champion, for
Liverpool, 32,831; 7th, Roxburgh Castle, for London,
30,267; 9th, Cornwall, for Hong Kong, 596.
" The population of the colony on the let of January
was, according to official returns, 351,000 souls. To
this, if we add the balance of arrivals over departures
since, and the increase of births over deaths, we shall
arrive at the following calculation :
Population Ist of January, 1857 351,000
Balance of arrivals, January • 5,214
Ditto, February. 7OO
Ditto, March
Increase by births over deaths for three months 1,400

Total 362,152
"A census was taken on the 29th of March last, from
which, when completed, valuable statistics can be drawn.
Hitherto it is admitted the information on the subject
of population has not been very accurate.
" All our politicians are looking forward with strong
interest to the events of the next tew days. Parliament
reassembles to•worrow, and the Parliamentary verdict
upon the O'Shanassy Ministry will then be given.
Hitherto, since the sudden and unexpected overthrow of
the Haines' Administration, which we chronicled in our
last summary, almost all political topics have been
purely prospective. Speculations have been rife as to
the reception that Mr. O'Shanassy will meet with, and
indications have been abundant that the country has no
faith in him as the head of the present Cabinet, but
whether he will be tolerated for the present still remains
to be decided, and round that question the political
feeling of the time accumulates.

"The most engrossing topic of the past month—one
before which even the interest of the Ministerial crisis
grew dim—has been of a very melancholy kind. On
the 26th ult., the Inspector-General of the penal depart.
ment, Mr. Price, was brutally murdered by a number
of convicts at Williamstown, who set upon him and mal-
treated him with such ferocity that he never fairly re-
covered his senses, and died the day after the onslaught.
" The excitement among the convicts both in the
stockades and on board the hulks became exceedingly
great after Mr. Price's murder. The greatest insubordi-
nation prevailed, and on board the SUCC,B3 this reached
to such a height that the warders were unable to go
among the prisoners, who maintained a continual uproar
for several hours. It was deemed necessary to place the
Victoria war steamer with shotted guns alongside of the
Success, and there can be no doubt that had the mutiny
among the convicts gene much further, orders would
have been given to fire into the hulk, Since then quiet