The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-12-28 00:00:00

AUSTRAL lA.

The Marco Polo, Forbes, commander, arrived in the
Mersey from Melbourne on Sunday last, bringing intelli-
gence to the 11th October. Her voyage out and home
has been extraordinary, and she accomplished it within
the comparatively short space of 175 days, including
detention at Melbourne. The steam-ship Australia, Wit'
the mails, and 156,000 ounces of gold, left Melbourne
eleven days before the Marco Polo ; she had arrived at
Adelaide and was to leave that port on the 4th October,
with an addition of 65,000 ounces of gold. The Marc°
Polo passed the Banks Straits, 12th October ; sighted the
Auckland Islands on the 17th, and Cape Horn on the 3cl
November. She brought gold valued at £lOO,OOO 013
freight.
On her arrival at Melbourne she was surrounded b 9
boats, the occupants of which threw small nugget 3 of ge•
amongst the passengers. The crew of the vessel havil
disobeyed orders, the captain had them imprisoned eat!
his departure, when they were again shipped, and nsv'''
gated the vessel home.
The Dutch steam-ship Java was expected at Adelaide
the Dutch East India Steam Company having establisbeth
fig
a line of vessels to trade between Batavia, King George
Sound. Adelaide, and Melbourne.
At Sydney exchange on London was quoted as follow9xl
—Drafts against gold ten per cent. discount by the PTA
of New South Wales, or an advance of 40s. The toya;
amount of gold shipped from Sydney to the 2d Octebeci
was £2,474,627 2s. 4d. The escort from Barwood ,
brought in 457 ..s. ; from Araluen, 2690z5. • Bell's Cree
500z5.; Goulburn, 120z5.; Sofala, 1020z5.; Bathurst, 4705. v
Yass,
eflothodesproonptrhieetoTrusrtoonha had
commencenot subsided
operationssuwffliectih ea
sufficiently
45ozs.
The
eof sirit. The mines showed no mtoms f
to oe allow
haustion, bupt, on the contrary, every week announced tiv,
discovery of some new spot containing gold. On Ceurc ,ro
hill, in dry diggings, some claims had yielded well, etu"o..
barely paying expenses. At Tambaroura the yield C° 0
tinued good, notwithstanding the difficulty arising fr 003,,
superabundance of water. At Tuena many parties vgls
making from sixty to seventy ounces per week. i 64
number of mines was increasing, and success aPPelaei.lf,
pretty general. Major Creek diggings were realizing fier,
The accounts from Bingari are contradictory ; some Pero
sons had been exceedingly successful, whilst others v;

disainted.
Npopot less than 30,000 persons had arrived at Forfs
(110
Creek in a fortnight, many of them from the Ben or
diggings. This influx had occurred owing to the discelteii
of some rich diggings at Moonlight Flat, a gully ab°tlbo
miles from Forest Creek, which had proved richer t
any former diggings. Every consumable article
at
rising at Forest Creek. Oats were selling as a favottoo
5s to £3 lOs per bushel ; flour £l4 to £l5 per to'
sugar is 6d to Is 9d per lb. For tools and cradles eittie
ordinary prices were asked. Stubbs and Co. andliti to
f
and Co. of Melbourne, were selling hay at from ~cOO
£lB per ton ; Hamburgh butter is 1,1,d per lb. ;
Is Id. per lb. ; Gloucester cheese is 6d per lh• ;
at 383 per 1,000 ; tobacco 3s 5d per lb. ; silver wa'yep
£4 2s 6d ; long boots 38s ; serge shirts 37s per clx°,o to
axes 3s 3d each ; superior draught horses from rdiapg
£9O, with drays and harness from £B2 to £l3O ; wc).frotii
bullocks, per pair, from £l7 to £35 ; mulch cows
£4 to £B.
A large sum of money bad been subscribed forts,
erection of a Home, intended as a shelter for immigr 1193
Adelaide advices, of the 4th Oct., state that ther eer. ,tig
been great excitement in the market that day, mice °
orders having arrived from Melbourne. The,,Proso to„,
flour at the opening of the market was £26; " es to
£3O, and left off at £29. Most of the expired lice,,nd been
-
work at the Echunga diggings, near Adelaide, l'`,,,,ber
renewed, and many fresh ones taken. The "es 115
diggers amounted to about 500. Five and six ounc!lbs,
been obtainedfound a
b pieceof gold weighing an ti
one miner, another obtained c
col
ual tele:
another
half. Some diggers were obtaining five or
a-day.

CHRISTMAS IN VAN
DIEMEN'S LAND' Ford
years I have been accustomed to eat my Christmas' el 5 and
in a white jacket and a loosc shirt collar, the cleo,,,foi
windows thrown wide open, admitting with the vrlorlY.l
sluggish breeze the scent of summer flowers and tcPl'
made hay. A much prized lump of ice, cooling
lemonade, has long been to me the only sign of fro,
mania,sole
adessert
o f
oofh il
u-
coyu nt rnyg
English
Christmas
cherries, w eraitoheeiro.q, ocou;:
d
ing gooseberries, ruddy bunches of newly gatheli'r r'e°l
rants, and delicious strawberries, formed a repast
in keeping with the weather than the dinner of ripe got,
and hot plum-pudding which, in obedience to,t
-
old custom, we vainly strove to swallow. Be'
Australia, as in every English colony, whateret:i
latitude, Christmas retains its old associations, aethe rto ic.l
usages ; and the yule log, and midnight waits' abse`o
spice cake and mellow cheese, recall to the long in tic,
settler many a happy Christmas of his boyhooll'vstraline
bunch of miseltoe that hangs above his head (lc". ',eea tPS
has her mistletoe), the newly-landed emigrant
_llO
bright eyes and sunny smiles of that fair cousin 5!,,,,pW,
his partner all last Christmas eve ; and in vrbose c;:Ticer:,
he was continually losing himself among the 1.011!
hanudnaashoifttheen
btuttrin.rinogoraupkbiteenheeautlQl
ft hugeliosittlenillonugsbc°ol