The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-21 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

MELBOURNE, JULY 22.
We have now about 45,000 or 50,000 Chinese to
the colony; out of a total population of ab°ll;
420,000. They encamp themselves in bodies at,,,
principal diggings, have hitherto conducted theme,
selves in a very orderly manner, are extremely in'
dustrious and saving, and they chiefly occupy theill,7,
selves by washing the earth after the Ear 01,0,17,
diggers hive done with it—tailings it is technics
'ntv
called. They are very sober, though many of 6°,1-
indulge in opium smoking. On the whole they air
useful producers, and as they are extensive ens,;
tomers of the storekeepers they are not unpopae
with the trading part of the community. But the
diggers do not like them. They say the Chines
spoil the water, that they are dirty in their habitgr
and great pilferers. The last accusation is not sued
ported by the returns of the courts of justice, an,.
I believe all the other accusations are exaggerate%
On the 4th of July the diggers of the Bucklan,„
river, nelr Beechworth, had a merrymaking on the
ocmsioa of the great American holiday. Alarr
number of diggers were assembled, and upon Boole
Impulse, the immediate "cause of which did not
appear, about 300 of them made an attack epee,
the Chinese encampment, and drove some 1,550 o'
the unfortunate Coinese before them into the bush.
Many of the retreating panic-stricken victims were
beaten and illtreated, and it is reported that tvi°
or three have since died from exposure. Haul"
driven the Chinese away from their homes, tree
fired the tents and destroyed the property. Sore,ll
of the "rowdies" are in custody, and the law Wm"
be put in force against them.
This occurrence indicates the real danger we hag
to apprehend from the Presence of large bodle3ct
Chinese at the several diggings. It is not tha
the Chinese are likely to attack the Europell
-but that the Europeans cannot be restrained
from attackieg them. If the Government sa=nd%
put down and punish this and similar attacks
w
habit of insubordination will be generated highly
de nimental, if not; fatal, to good order. tq
The first Parliament of Victoria, under the
Constitution, met on the 21st of Nov., and is Still
in sesiou, without having completed much. w °ali3O
and with heavy bills of the paper which will t
considerable time to work through committee.
There is .a large amuunt of effective laboUri. ig
this colony ishich is not hireable, and ,whieh ibis
the business of the statesman to render availtl3l,B,.
b
an instrument of production,—small farmers, -„0
deners, arid many of higher degree who have "th
objection to the exercise of their muscular strenglis
in useful productive employments, but not in the
position of menials. We, have here officers in*
army, gentlemen of no caliing, attorneys, gradeni. 0
barristers, who have tried their fortunes at the
diggings. In other colonies I have known Mao
labour effectively on thair own farms, and 04,0
make little, and in some cases large fortunes, of
eould not have so laboured as the hired seivaet!os
others. Women of condit ion, and even of edue3';
and accomplishmentS, turn to useful labour ,W,:fre
much more facility tlr.n their husbands. Iha
known women of considerable refinement nien-7.
their own dairy, make butter and cheese for Weit
ket, and even milk their own cows and bake.olto
own bread, and moreover do all these things bf.
it than many of the rustics who have been at
their lives. Women of tbis class would feel then't:
selves degraded, and would be degraded, hY
forming these labours for an employer at "Is
wages." From the great variety of persons lv„0
have been attracted to this colony by some ireg,7
notion that they could not fail to do well in a e°1.1,.-0
try where a few hundred thousand , people shs;3l
many millions of gold annually among t,bem, I 3.01,
convinced that the amount of labour not menial
which we have, among us is far greater in p: 013°v
lion to population than iu any of our colonies.
Now, to this class the possession of land in OW
-venient situation is the only available recourse oief
and the industrious and sober labourers who ha°
saved some money swell their ranks. In the /nod!
of submitting land for sale, in the mode of pronitie
gating noiices, in the mode of selecting localitiA
this numerous class has been wholly ignored. Evefl
the simple expedients of lots or various sizes'
"lots to suit purchasers"—liasnot I:Seen resorted to.
It seems to have been assumed also that if lots of
100 acres are " open for selection" after one trial Pla
auction, any " unhireable" labourer has no grog°.
of complaint. " Here we offer land,' says the if
•vernment, "if you have money you can buy
you have no money, you have no more right t 0 "
land than you have to a coach and six."
aucl
But my "miserable" friend looks around hire at,
does see that, in fact, a few hundred favoured s(11-1n,,..
ters do get 42,000,000 acres without money, orflli
ing a sin 41 annual rent ; and what the 03 of
capitalist really wants is, in a few words, a share es
the grass ; - that is, he says " a hundred ec,h;o
are of little use to me if I am to be confined Witwio
my own fens: s ; what I want is a little pasturageais
addition to my arable." There are, no doubt, %.°.cii,
elifficuldes in the way of a practical solution, viulcio
would be of no interest to your readers, but -"
py
not believe they are very great. The squatter's alto
is to get as much unstocked land as poWible,bt
admit of indefinite
uni,tiestiorcickreed land increase
daund:mtlimeroeniosi no d°,ll,
a 1,
the squatting lords. Hutuble claimants are aln
moderate in their demans at first. It would
tnho;tn,k;
agnireavteilylto the interest of the Ministry :ao
the squatters to yield these demands ; if p
certain they will have to give
more. In a former letter I described the l'ls-de•
the Land League. Resistance of just and fair
°p.
wands will be very likely to end in the forced auf(;r
tion the Land League plan—" free selection
as,
purchasers over the whole country, and open P
turage."
Toe discovery of some rich and well-wa't..e„rue!
land, with a fresh water lake, either part afl
Torrens or its neighbourhood, has raised 01)1"„
and expectation as to the state of the interioto
South Australia. There seems to be little dog
that the account is authentic.