The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-11-09 00:00:00

THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD DIGGINGS.

The following is an extract from the private letter of an
Indian officer upon sick leave :

" Melbourne, June 18

"We arrived here on the sth, after a very good and
quick passage from Java Head. We found this place in a
state of great excitement, as you may well imagine from
the accounts you have received by this time in England.
The bay is a most lovely one,'and the entrance is narrow
and difficult of entrance. At William's Town, where the
large ships lie, there are about 50 vessels lying unable to
get away. Melbourne is a fine large town, the streets
broad and regular, all running at right angles to each
other. The houses, in size, are irregular, but none built
of wood, the Government not permitting it. The excite-
ment and business going on is wonderful. But I was
most struck, upon landing, by the number of idle-looking
fellows wandering about. I asked what they were, and
was told that they were gold-diggers, come down for a
few weeks to spend their money. The hotels are nume-
rous, but bad, being filled with these people. We put up
at one called ' The Passengers,' something better than
the others, and not, considering the times, very dear.
Gold is being found in greater quantities than ever. As
the winter advances food and necessaries will increase in
price. They are already very high, the roads are cut up,
and the creeks and rivers swollen. It is supposed there
are upwards of 40,000 people at the different diggings: The
price of everything is exorbitant. Any man with some
money might double it with the greatest ease and safety
every month ; but as to men on incomes of £l5O to £2OO
a-year, the commonest workmen are in a better position.
A common carter makes £l2 a-week ; his expenses, per-
haps, are £4. A cab, or rather carriage driver, makes
£3O to £4O a-week, or above £1,400 a-year. Masons and
carpenters receive £1 a.day, but they won't work even
for this. There is nothing of any kind going on. All
houses or public buildings that were in progress are now
at a standstill. No one can get servants. The chief-jus-
tice told me that his had left him months ago. His son
opened the door to us, and I believe his wife (as many
other ladies have had to do) washes her own clothes. The
governor has no servants ; every man is so independent
that they will not hire themselves to do anything unless
they get what they ask. Going into a shop, if you ask
them to abate in their exorbitant price, they quietly tell
you to walk out, that they don't want to sell anything to
you. A load of water is 18s. ; a load of wood £4 ; boots
are £4 ; a pair of shoes £2 ; Jack-boots, which are much
used at the diggings, £7. Pistols fetch any amount. An
invoice, valued at £6O, arrived a short time since ; in a
week they were all sold, having realised nearly £7OO. The
way they generally go to the diggings is this :—They form
themselves into parties of three or four, buy a cart and
two or three horses, load it with everything that is neces-
sary for their living and working for two or three months,
according to their own pleasure. Some men clear £3OO
or £4OO a-month, some not so much ; some have done
more. There is one just returned, and now in the hotel,
who was away six weeks and cleared £3,600 ; but the real
way to make money is buying gold, if you have any capital.
At the diggings it sells for £2 15s. and £2l7s. an ounce ;
in Melbourne, for £3 ss. per ounce. The gold is sent
down by escort, and can be realised, and the sovereigns
sent by the return escort ; therefore Ss. to 10s. may be
made on every ounce twice a-month. This is the way the
banks and all the houses are making immense sums. The
escort arrives every week. They brought more gold last
time than they ever have before, above 55,000 ounces.
There is also a private escort which brings down large
quantities ; private hands also bring a good deal."

TERM commenced on Tuesday in the common law
courts with the smallest list of arrears ever known. Al-
together there are but forty-seven, distributed thus :—ln
the Queen's Bench, 24 • in the Court of Common Pleas,
; in the Court of Exchequer, 17. Of those in the
Queen's Bench 16 are special cases and demurrors, 4 are
new trials, and 4 appeals from the County Courts. In
the Court of Common Pleas there is one demurrer, 2 are
enlarged rules, and 3 are new trials ; and in the Court of
Exchequer the special paper has 5, the peremptory paper
3, and the new trial paper 29, including one that stands
Prindsmcnt,

IRELAND.

A MOST WANTON OUTRAGE was committed on the
Castletown Church, on Saturday night, by covering the
doors, door-cases, and window-shutters with mud.

PROSPERITY OF BELFAST.—There are, it is said, a
greater number of vessels in Belfast Harbour and Lough
at present than has been ever witnessed there at any pre-
vious period.

iNr THE QUEEN'S BENCII, on Tuesday, the attorney-
general obtained an order to quash the proceedings
under the coroner's verdict in the Six-mile-bridge affray.
A. true bill was found against the Anglo Cell.

THE REV. JOSEPH MAGENNIS, a Roman Catholic
priest, at Castlebar, has been held to bail to keep the
peace towards some scripture readers of the Irish Church
Mission, against whom he had used some threatening
language.

INCENDIARISM.—About four o'clock on the morning
of Monday the outhouse of a man named Smyly, of the
townland of Corconnolly, parish of Kilievan, was set fire
to by some incendiary, and was totally consumed, with
four cows, his property.
THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY.—On Thursday the
annual show of farm produce was opened at the Royal
Dublin Society. Among the prizes awarded was one to
Mr. Wm. Darean, for a cheese, which was declared to be
fully equal to the highest class Gloucester.
REVERSE.—The Limerick Chronicle says :—" Five
young ladies, the daughters of a gentleman whose pro-
perty is unfortunately involved in Chancery, are desirous
to accept situations as ladies' attendants, assistants in
shops, or preparatory governesses."

MANUFACTURES IN GALWAY.—The Galway Packet
states that measures have been taken to form a company
(£25 shares) to promote the manufacture of woollen
goods in Galway; in addition to which a northern firm is
about to establish a branch of the linen manufacture in
the town.

ACCIDENT.—Mr. Kennedy, of the Bank of Ireland, at
Baliinasloe, and son-in-law of Gerald Fitzgerald, Esq.,
R.M., met with a melancholy accident while shooting on
Monday last. In the act of discharging his gun it burst,
blowing off one of his fingers and wounding him in the
shoulder and face. Owing to timely medical attention he
is progressing favourably.
DUBLIN STEAM-PACKET Co.—On Saturday week the
half-yearly meeting of the City of Dublin Steam-packet
Company was held, at their office, Eden-quay, Dublin;
Sir J. K. James, Bart., in the chair. The reports of the
directors and accounts were read and adopted unani-
mously, and the usual dividend of three per cent. declared
out of the profits for the half-year, after making due pro-
vision for the contingency fund.
STRANGE STATEMENT.—The magistrates at Gorey, in
the county Wexford, have held an investigation of a re-
markable character indeed. A constab!e on the estate of
Mr. Forster, an English merchant, charged Col. Owen, the
agent to that gentleman, with offering him £5O to assas-
sinate the former agent. The colonel indignantly denied
the execrable charge, and the constable is committed for
perjury. He firmly adheres to his statement.
ATROCIOUS OUTRAGE.—The following appears in the
Dublin Saunders :—" Between six and seven o'clock on
Monday night, a party, consisting of eight or ten men, all
armed with heavy bludgeons, entered the dwelling-house
of Thomas Day, at Lisheen, within one mile of Parsons-
town. On going in, one of the gang extinguished a can-
dle which was lighted. Day was on his knees in prayer,
being about to retire to bed, when the ruffians rushed at
him ; they dr,lgged him towards the kitchen door, where
they fell upon him, and inflicted with their murderous
weapons three severe wounds on his head, and bruised
him greatly on the arms and body, from the effects of
which h' now lies dangerously ill. Day's wife and family,
when endeavouring to save him, were also grossly mal-
treated.-

A SCENE.—The following occurred at the last meeting
of the Waterford Board of Guardians :—A letter was
read from Mr. Samuel Jones, tendering his resignation as
collector for the Tramore division, which he desired to
exchange with Mr. Gamble for the division which he col-
lected.—Mr. Cadogan thought partial resignation on the
part of the poor-law officers illegal, and he moved that
Mr. Jones be called upon to resign for the whole.—Mr.
O'Reilly : The commissioners do not think so.—Mr.
Cadogan : T think so. and I know it to be so.—Chairman
(to Mr. Cadogan): Sit down, sir (coniusion).—Mr. Cado-
gan ; I will not sit down, sir.—Mr. O'Reilly : You must
sit down, sir. You have been the cause of more mischief
at this hoard than any man that ever came into it.—Mr.
Cadogan : You dislike me, because I endeavour to put
down jobbing.—Mr. : You job more yourself
than any body ; you are an ill-mannered, impertinent
Uproar.)
DUBLIN CORPOR

—This body had a meeting
yesterday week, at which the Lord Mayor stated that, in
pursuance of a resolution passed by that body, he had
written to the Earl Marshal, requesting that arrangements
might be made for the accommodation of the Corporation
at the funeral of the Duke of Wellington. He had
received a reply, to the effect that twenty-five seats in the
cathedral would be reserved for them, and requested to be
furnished with the names of those gentlemen who
intended to be present on that occasion. Mr. Codd moved
that the Lord Mayor should take down the names of the
gentlemen disposed to attend, and if the number exceeded
twenty-five, that the ballot be taken to determine the
number. Alderman Reynolds did not think the meeting
was properly convened at which the resolution alluded to
had been carried. He was going to say that no one
respected the Duke of Wellington more than he did, and
toot he boliovcd, atoongat thocio who glorioil in fighting,
he was pre-eminently entitled to every mark of respect ;
but that, taking him as an Irishman, he was a bad one,
and his strongest ground for the assertion was that the
late hero had not visited Ireland for many years previous
to his death. They were told that there was no place for
them, but that twenty-five of them would be allowed up
into the gallery of the cathedral—that they would be put
up in a cock roost to look down upon the proceedings.
(Cheers and laughter.) Mr. Codd's motion was adopted.

STATIONS OF THE BRITISH ARMY
ON THE IST OF NOVEMBER, 1852.

[Where two places are mentioned. the latter is the depilt.]
Ist Life Guards, Hyde-park 40th, on passage to N.S.W. ;
2d Life Guards, Windsor Buttevant
Royal Horse Guards, Re- 41st, Zante ; Boyle
gent's-park 142 d, Stirling
Ist Dragoon Guards, Dublinl43d, Cape of Good Hope ;

2d, Newbridge Templemore -
3d, Cahir 44th, Gibraltar ; Chatham
4th, Dublin 45th, C of G Hope; Chatham
sth, Newbridge 46th, Belfast
6th, Canterbury 47th, Corfu; Limerick
7th, Ballincollig 48th, Newport, S W
Ist Dragoons, Manchester 49th, Corfu ; Waterford
2d, Birmingham 50th, Preston
3d Light Dragoons, Bengal ; 51st, Burmah ; Chatham
Maidstone 52d, Dublin
4th Light Dragoons, Ipswich 53d, Bengal ; Chatham
6th Light Dragoons, York 54th, Quebec ; Londonderry
7th Hussars, Piershill 55th, Gibraltar; Tralee
Bth Hussars, Nottingham 56th, Bermuda ; Chatham
9th Lane., Bengal; Maidst. 57th, Cork
10th Hussars, Bombay ; 58th, New Zealand; Jersey
Maidstone 59th, China; Charles Fort
11th Hussars, Dublin 60th, Ist bat,Bengal:; Chatm
12th Lancers, Cape of Good ~ 2d bat, Cape ; Birr
Hope ; Maidstone 61st, Bengal ; Chatham
13th Lt Dragoons,Hounslow 62nd, Athlone
14th Lt Dragoons, Bengal ; 63d, Dublin
Maidstone 64th, Bombay; Chatham
15th Hussars, Madras ; 65th, N. Zealand ; Portsmth
Maidstone 66th, Quebec ; Guernsey
16th Lancers, Dundalk 67th, Barbadoes; Dover
17th Lancers, Brighton 68th, Malta; Nenagh
Grenadier Guards- 69th, Antigua ; Chatham
Ist bat, Wellingtonßarracks 70th, Bengal; Chatham
2d bat, St George's Barracks 71st, Ist bat, Kilkenny
3d bat, Windsor , 2d bat, Canada
Coldstream Guards- 72d, New Brunswick; Clare
Ist bat, Portman-stßarracksl Castle
2d bat, The Tower 173 d, Cape of G Hope; Bristol
Scots Fusileer Guards- 74th, Cape of Good Hope ;
Ist bat, St. John's Wood Fermoy
2d bat, Chichester 75th, Bengal ; Chatham
Ist Foot, Ist bat, P'smouth 76th, Malta ; Chatham
„ 2d bat, Cork 77th, Weedon
2d, C G Hope ; Kinsale 78th, Bombay ; Chatham
3d, Malta ; Castlebar 79th, Edinburgh
4th, Bury 80th, Burmah ; Chatham
sth, Mauritius ; Chatham 181st, Dublin
6th, C G Hope ; Canterbury'B2d, Manchester
7th, Plymouth Rid. Bombay ; Chatham
Bth, Bombay; Chatham 84th, Madras ; Chatham
9th, Galway 85th, Portsmouth
10th, Bengal ; Chatham 86th, Bombay ; Chatham
11th, N S Wales ; Hythe 87th, Bengal; Chatham
12th, Ist bat, Newry 88th, Isle of Wight
~ Res. bat, C G Hope 89th, Templemore
13th, Gibraltar; Jersey 90th, Dublin
14th, Limerick 91st, Ist bat, Enniskillen
15th, Ceylon ; Mullingar , 2d bat, Cape G. Hope
16th, Jamaica; Birr 92d, Corfu; Naas
17th, Dublin 93d, Portsmouth
18th, Burmah ; Chatham 94th, Madras; Chatham
19th, Winchester 95th, Chatham
20th, Canada ; Chatham ,96th, Bengal ; Chatham
21st, Hull 197th, St. John's, N.S. ;
22d, Bengal ; Chatham Chatham
23d, Ist bat, Chester 98th, Bengal ' • Chatham
„ 2d bat, Canada 99th, V. D. Land; Chatham
24th, Bengal ; Chatham Rifle Brigade, Ist bat, Cape
25th, Madras; Chatham of Good Hope; Walmer
26th, Gib'ltar; Isle of Wight „ 2nd bat, Canterbury
27th, Dublin COLONIAL CORPS.
28th, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Ist West India Regiment,
29th, Bengal; Chatham Jamaica; Chatham
30th, Corfu ; Dover 2d, Demerara ; Chatham
31st, Fermoy 3d, Jamaica; Chatham
32d, Bengal; Chatham Ceylon Rifle Regt, Ceylon
33d, Glasgow Cape Mounted Rifles, C G H
34th, Barbadoes; Aberdeen Royal Canadian Rifle Regt,
35th, Devonport Canada
36th, Trinidad ; Pembroke St Helena Regt. St Helena
37th, Ceylon, Chatham Royal N'foundland Veteran
38th, Gosport Companies, N'foundland
39th, Clonmel RoyalMaltaFencibles,Malta

ROBRE Ry.—Messrs. Whittaker and Sons, publishers in
Ave Maria-lane, have been plundered of cashto theamount
of nearly £l,OOO. Saturday week was what is known in the
trade as magazine day, when the
.firm would be in receipt
of some large sums, and too late in the day to place it in
the bank. The porter, who resides on the premises, is
allowed to be absent all day on Sunday, and an entrance
was effected, and the money abstracted, before his return,
when, finding the premises in a disordered state, he gave
the alarm. No clue to the robbery has yet been found.
DREADFUL MURDER IN DEVON.—A dreadtul murder
was perpetrated at the village of Milton, in Devonshire,
on Friday night or Saturday morning week. The victim
was a widow named Mary White, 60 years of aee, who
kept a small huckster's shop, and who was found in bed
on Saturday with her head nearly severed from her body.
Some money, it is supposed, had been stolen from the
house. A son of the deceased lived immediately opposite
to her house, and frequent quarrels had taken place
between them, but at present no clue seems to have
been discovered to the perpetrator of the crime.