The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-07-26 00:00:00

THE

CORRE

SPONDENCE

Idressed to the Editor should be accompanied by the
real name and address of the writer, not for publication, but

as a guarantee of good faith ; this is indispensably requisite

in any statement of facts.
The Editor wishes it to he understood that he does not hold
himself responsible for the opinions or statements of his

correspondents

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SlR,—One word more, and that chiefly in reply to Mr.
Hodson's letter in the Albion of to-day, upon the question be-
tween myself and the friends or adherents of Mr. Moore.
I, myself, never pretended to know the truth or falsehood
of the facts; I simply restated what had been communicated
to me, under no . seal of secrecy, and I gave up my authority.
If I have been in error, the error was not of my own creating;
others alone are responsible. I asserted only what Mr. Big-
ham had related to me in the omnibus, in the hearing of his
friend, Mr. Godfrey ; and Mr. Godfrey, in the presence of my
friend, Mr. Robert Horsfall, has admitted, without any reser-
vation, that what I stated was correct, and, moreover, that I
was at liberty, though he himself had an objection to appear-
ing in print, to make use of his confirmation.

In regard to Mr. Bigham's second letter, I do not think it
necessary to enter farther, except to declare that the remark
which he says I made, as to our conversation being strictly
private, had no relation whatever to the point at issue, but
simply to the information I had given him of the meetings
held antecedent to the election, and which, as I purposed re-
peating the facts at the ensuing meeting of the Dock Commit-
tee, I did not desire to see anticipated by their insertion pre-
viously in the public papers. What I required was, that
nothing should appear in print before the following Thursday.
That being passed, Mr. Bigham is at perfect liberty to publish
each and everything I mentioned.

As Mr. Mellor denies his being present at the interview with
Mr. Moore, I am bound to admit his denial, though whatever
may now be Mr. Godfrey's doubts as to having spoken of Mr.
Mellor, Mr. R. Horsfall will corroborate me in asserting that
during another interview with Mr. Godfrey, in the earlier
part of the week, that gentleman unequivocally referred to
Mr. Mellor by name.

Throughout the whole of this transaction, I repeat I have
violated no private confidence, nor attacked any one beyond
what was forced upon me for the vindication of my own
honour, and I feel satisfied that the public should now decide
where the misstatement, misrepresentation, or falsehood lies.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Water-street, 25th July, 1853. THOMAS BOLD,

VARIETIES.

DID you ever know a person to believe you when you
explained how you got a black eye ?
AN UNDERTAKER'S LIVE JOl3.—A. cabman who does
not approve of sixpenny fares, wishes to know if the law
will bury him now that it has screwed himdown?—Punch.
A WESTERN EDITOR, in answer to a complaint of a
patron that he did not give news enough, advised him,
when news were scarce, to read the Bible, which he had no
doubt would be news to him.
How TO BECOME A FAVOURITE.--If you wish to make
yourself a favourite with your neighbour, buy a dog and
tie him up in the garden at night. They wont sleep any
all night for thinking of you.
ONE of the latest fashions for gentlemen, is the "barber
pole" pattern for trousers ; the stripes ascend spirally
round the leg, giving the wearer the appearance of a
double-barrelled corkscrew.
MY GERMAN FRIEND, how long have you been
married ?" " Vel, dat is a ting vat I seldom don't like to
tank about, but ven I does, it seems to be so long as it
never vas."

FIRST IMPRESSIONS.—A child upon whom it would
seem the examples made amongst the animal productions
had not been lost, upon being taken to visit an aunt,
recently confined with twins, raised the heartless inquiry
of " Which does dear aunty mean to keep 1"
STRENGTH APPARENTLY ACCOUNTED FOR..—NOt-
withstanding the small site of the Aztec children, they
are exceedingly strong. An incurable punster says they
doubtlessly derived this strength from Gymn-aztecs, from
whom it probably descended in a straight line.
"MOTHER, mother, here's Freddy teazing the baby."
" Make him cry again. Freddy, and then mother will give
him some sugar, and I'll take it away from him, then
he'll squall, and mother will give him some more, and you
can take that, and we'll both have some."
CuurosirrEs.—The chair on which the sun sets. A
garment for the naked eye. The hammer which broke up
the meeting. Buckle to fasten a laughing stock. The
animal that drew the inference. Eggs from a nest of
thieves. A bucket of water from " All's Well."
NOTHING is easier, nor more delightful to most women,
than to pay away money. To see the energy that pervades
all their movements, the light that dances in their eyes
when bound on a shopping excursion, one would think
that the mere act of passing the filthy lucre from hand to
hand has something exhilarating and restorative in it.
A RELIABLE TIMEKEEPER.--" Paddy, honey, will ye
buy my watch now ?" " And its about selling your watch
ye are, Mike ?" " Troth it is darlin'!" " What's the
price ?" " Ten shillings, and a mutchkin of the creature."
"Is the watch a decent one?" " Sure and I've had it
twenty years. and it never once desaved me I" " Well,
here's your tin ; now tell me does it go well ?" "Bedad
an' it goes faster than any watch in Connaught, Munster,
Ulster, or Leinster, not barring Dublin 1" "Bad look to
ye, Mike, you have taken me in ! Didn't you say it never
desaved you ?" " An' I did—nor did it—for I never de-
pended on it."

A LIKELY JOKE. -- According to the Liverpool
Standard, the Irish have been quarrelling amongst them-
selves at Liverpool ; but from our contemporary's version
of the affair, we are inclined to doubt this intrinsically
very improbable circumstance. That narrative states
that the row apparently originated as follows :—" An
Orangeman complained that a Papist boy had thrown
some dirt at him." Orangemen never complain ground-
lessly of Papists boys, and Papists boys never throw dirt—
either literally or figuratively. Dirt !—how are they to
come by it? Whoever saw or smelt any such thing as
dirt in any the most remote connexion with a " Papist
boy ?"—Punch.
A MODERN BELLE.—." Love in a cottage, indeed ?"
said Lautetta one day to one of her admirers, a senti-
mental swain. "I do not fancy the picture. A cottage
always reminds me of pigs, and poultry, and dirty
children, and sluttish women, and coats oat at elbows,
and broken windows patched with paper, or stopped with
old hats—things that I hold in utter abomination. Give
rae an elegant sufficiency—a handsome house in town,
splendidly furnished, in the most fashionable style—a
dashing equipage—a well-filled casket of jewels—a mag-
nificent wardrobe—a circle of gay and fashionable ac-
quaintances—a wealthy and indulgent husband—and then,
perhaps—l might think of love."
LANCASHIRE WITCHES.—" How strange it is, Sophy,
that you couldn't recollect me ! Maybe it's witchery, for
that has a prodigious effect upon the memory. Do you
believe in witches ?" said I, leaning on my elbow in the
grass, and looking up in her pretty face. " How can I
believe, who never saw one ? Did you ?" "Just come
from a county in England," said I, " that's chockful of
'em." "Do tell me," said she, " what sort of looking
people they are. Little. cross, spiteful, crooked old
women, ain't they ?" " The most splendid galls," sais
I, " mortal man ever beheld—half-angel, half-women,
with a touch of cherubim musical tongues, tele-
graph eyes, and cheeks made of red and white roses.
They'd bewitch old Scratch himself, if he was only to look
on 'em. They call 'em Lancashire witches." " Did
they ever bewitch you ?" she said, laughin'. " Well,
they would, that's a fact; only I had been bewitched
afore."—Sarn Slick.

EXTRAORDINARY NIDIFICATION.—At many railway
stations large balls are run by pulleys and cords, to
intimate, by their being lowered or elevated, when the
way is or is not clear. Ono of these balls, on the
Ardrossan line, near Kilwinning,lately attracted the notice
of a couple of starlings on matrimonial thoughts intent.
With much labour they forced their way into the centre,
and proceeded, despite all interruptions, to construct a
nest. The ball has to be lowered and elevated fourteen
times a-day, but this did not interfere with the proceed-
ings of the happy pair, and in due time four eggs were
deposited in the moveable nest. Tho female is still
sitting closely, quite undisturbed by the frequent process
of being let down within a very few feet of the ground,
and raised again, and there is every probability of her
hatching her young.—Dumfries Courier.
LADIES IN AMERICA.—How difficult it is to admire
and appreciate without comparing ! Comparisons are
odious ; but avoid them you cannot, when contrast be-
tween the American and the Creole lady is so strongly
presented to the stranger's observation, as on his intro-
duction to New Orleans society. The poor American
lady is like an exotic plant. In the first place the climate
disagrees with her : she is languid from the heat, and her
good looks rapidly fade. Then she dresses badly, though
expensively : her choice of colours is extensive, but not
good ; and when she is dressed her clothes cling about
her much as you could fancy they would had she fallen
into the river and had been drawn out again. If she
dances, she does so awkwardly, and a quadrille or two
(for she seldom ventures on a higher flight) soon fatigues
her. The Creole, on the contrary, combines the naivete
of the Spanish girl with the polished elegance of the
French lady, whose toilet she scrupulously imitates ;
though not expensively dressed, her beautifully rounded
figure is attired with an exquisite neatness that makes her
at once the ornament of the opera, and the light and life
of the ball-room. She is passionately fond of dancing, in
the enjoyment of which she is as graceful as she is indefa-
tigable.—Pallis-r's Solitary Rambles.
STEAM-BOAT RACING.--I must tell you a good story
which is very apropos here. An old lady in Cincinnati
had a quantity of bacon to ship to New Orleans, where
she was going herself to buy supplies. She stipulated
with the captain of a steamer that he should have her
freight, provided he would not race during the trip. The
captain consented and the old lady came on board.
After the second day out another steamer was seen close
astern, with which the captain had been racing all the
time, and would every now and then fall back again. The
highest excitement prevailed amongst the passengers, as
the two boats continued for nearly a day almost side by
side.
At last the old lady, partaking of the excitement,
called
that
tsahga°llhaveto
to do, madam, as I i
pass us,
are
agreedCu not to race." " Well, you can
lt hoeldCabpoteati n and
oa
Ip, t, Captain
~ you sin
y
just try it a little, that wont hurt." " But, madam, to
" it a
Gisraaclimouossit but
evend tryth u
ltietltlle youmore the; tsreuet,ht,hle doildd.
from boat
m the h e u
p. p,
and a loud cheer arose passengers gers on
e the
all
theol d
boat." " I can't raise any more steam,
"Good gracious;
madam,
tar and pine knots are
burnt
o
what shall we do ? b'ee, the old boat is
passing us. Is
there nothing else on board that will make
" Nothing, madam,—eh, eh, [as if a new idea struck steamhi
m ?,1"
the old lady, "throw
except your bacon." " Throw in the bacon," shrieked
old boat 1"
in the bacon, captain, and beat the
—Arnericap paper.

LT-VERPOOL STAN DATA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF VICTORIA.

(FROM THE TIMES.)

Rents are enormous, and even ridiculously so, £4OO a-
year being paid for houses which scarcely cost that sum
to build a few years ago. Wooden houses are being im-
ported from Van Diemen's Land in great numbers, but
not fast enough to meet the daily influx of population.
On the south side of the Yarra-Yarra has sprung up a
town the material of which is explained in its name,
" Canvas Town," and which is almost as large as Mel-
bourne itself, and many are the people who lived in
affluence at home whom one can see under this frail cover-
ing performing the drudgeries of household duties.

When the commonest labour is IOS: a-day, it may be
supposed that all produce is extravagant. Butter is
3s. 6d. a pound, and everything equally expensive. I
cannot help mentioning this, as in England one is assured
that " living" in Australia is a mere nothing.
Servants' wages are enormous—in fact, the working-
classes have it all their own way. Nothing in the shape
of a man-servant is to be got under £6O a-year, and fre-
quently two guineas a-week. Female servants get from
£3O to £45 a-year. All mechanics flourish here. Com-
mon carpenters get from 20s. to 30s. a-day ; cabinet-
makers get more ; and a paperhanger who came out in the
Anglesea told me he was getting 50s. a-day. Draymen
get Is. a load for the shortest distance, and the policemen
in the streets all get lOs. a-day.
The price of land has of course risen in proportion, and
at a government land sale a few days since some lots at
the outskirts of the town—and which, to quote one of the
papers here, "can never become a centre of business, but
must always remain a mere suburb at best"—sold at the
rate of 2,000 guineas an acre. The distance from the bay
is about nine miles by the river, and yet it costs almost as
much to get one's baggage from the bay as it does froth
England, the freight in the latter case being only £3 or
£4 per ton, while in the former it is £2 5a., and trouble-
some to get it at that even. _ _

When-our baggage arrived I procured a dray, the
driver of which I saw, malgrg his blue frock and hobnail.
boots, was not at any rate born a drayman, and on get-
ting into conversation with him I found he was a gentle.
man, the son of a clergyman, and had come out some
months before, and having found all attempts at getting
gentlemanlike employment unsuccessful, he had pur-
chased a horse and dray, and boldly put his shoulder to
the wheel in more senses than one, and was then saving
at the rate of £lO a week. I was rather struck with this
at first, but now I am quite accustomed to similar recon-
tree, as one often meets men hard at work, and whose
rough costume cannot destroy the stamp which nature
will sometimes put on one of gentle birth. One fre-
quently meets successful diggers—men dressed up in a
most extraordinary style, who insist upon buying every-
thing, cost what it may, and press everyone they meet to
have a "nobbler"—the colonial term for brandy and
water. I saw one the other day ask a whole gang of
masons, overseer and all, to go and have " a nobbler,"
and on their hesitating he pulled out a handful of
sovereigns to show that he was in earnest and could afford
it. Then, again, for the band, the other day, some in-
convenience was felt from there being no boys to hold the
books for the men, a service for which most of the ragged
juveniles of Melbourne have hitherto volunteered ; but it
was not to be wondered at that for this once they were off
duty, as a drunken digger was throwing about handsful of
sovereigns for them to scramble for. These men often
marry on their return from the diggings, dress up their
brides in a most extravagant style, and drive about the
town with them, stopping en pageant at most of the
publichouses to have " a nobbler." They spend all their
money in a short time, and either die of drink or return i

n
to try their luck again at the diggings. But this must
be taken as the standard of diggers, as many, nay,
most of them, are steady, hard-working people, who
know that it is to their own interest to keep quiet; and
the crime—of which there is, unfortunately, an alarming
extent—must not be attributed to the diggers. It is the
men who do not dig who are the pest of the country. Tho
local government have passed an act for the prevention
of convict immigration from Van Diemen's Land, for
hitherto every vessel from Launceston or Hobart Town
brought over a cargo of ruffians, but now every passenger
from Van Viemen's Land who cannot prove himself
" free" is sent to work in chains on the roads, and every
captain of a vessel bringing such a man is fined £lOO.
The measure seems a severe one, but it is really neces-
sary, as the trials and police reports but too clearly show.
To prevent, in some measure, the frequent murders and
attacks in and near the town, any person seen with fire-
arms at night is liable to be taken up ; and yet it would
be folly to go out beyond the town without them, and I
never cross the " common " after dark without carrying
a pistol on full cock in my hand, with my finger on the
trigger all the way, preferring, if needs be, to be taken
police-officeto s
it is and give an account of myself to being
termed here.
stuck
u p ~as
The murders, committed, however—and their name is

The first exclamation of the traveller who for the first
time sees the southern shores of Australia is one of disap-
pointment, for the length of the voyage and consequent
longing for the land naturally invest it with a beauty it
does not possess, and for days before it is sighted he pic-
tures to himself, if not a land flowing with milk and honey,
at any rate a finely-wooded country, " with verdure clad,"
and with hold scenery and a vast expanse of water ; and
it is amusing to listen to the different pictures drawn, by
people from all parts of the world, of the land they expect
to find, each one, of course, depicting scenery with which
he is familiar. The Londoner, for instance, expects to
meet an exaggeration of Bushy-park, or of the view from
the hill at Richmond or Windsor-park, minus the Castle;
while the Welchman and Highlander look for bold crags
and lofty mountains; and yet one and all, the most ex-
citing as well as the most moderate in their expectations,
cannot help saying, as the land comes in sight, " Is this,
then, Australia ?" and, indeed, well they may, for it is
unlike any other country in the world, perhaps. To any-
one who has seen the coast of America, or even the dear
shores of Old England, the coast of Australia—at least in
the neighbourhood of Port Philip—appears sadly insigni-
ficant, and on nearer approach one looks in vain for the
" bush," of which one has heard so much, and which, to
one accustomed to Canada, conveys the idea of a dense
forest. Ilere it consists only of trees far apart, and, like
all that is Australian, different from anything else of its
kind. On still nearer approach, and when objects on
shore can be distinguished with the naked eye, every man
is taken for a savage and every animal for a kangaroo ;
and many were the exclamations of disappointment on
finding that the men seen from the deck were white, and
the animals with them were nothing more or less than
unromantic dogs.
But the land has been sighted since daylight, and we
are now running with a fine breeze up to the " Heads,"
as they are called, and which, again, to the lovers of fine
scenery cause some disappointment from their being in
fact no beads at all, but only two necks of land as flat as
flat can be, between which an opening of a mile and a
half gives admittance into Port Philip. The sea between
the Heads is more like a caldron than anything else, and
although the passage across this caldron is made in a short
time, everything is secured, as the rolling and pitching are
as bad as in the heaviest sea, and a nasty passage it is to
make—a ledge of rocks on both sides, with a strong cur-
rent running, and the pleasing certainty that, if the wind
fails, ashore you must go ; and to add to our anxiety no
pilot is to be had—he has gone on board a fine American
ship a-head of us, and sends a boat to tell us that we can-
not do better than follow him.
We see a bark, lying-to waiting for turn of tide—appa-
rently, and as we pass close by her we see a dense crowd of
men on her decks—some in blue frocks, some in red, all
unshaved and very dirty, and with the most forbidding
expression. These we are told by old " squatters," who
came out with us, are Vandiemonians, which being inter.
preted means men from Van Diemen's Land, though
their appearance would justify one's giving a very different
sense to the term.
The caldron between the Heads is passed at last, to the
no small relief of the captain evidently, and for the first
time since we left Channel we are again in green water,
when overboard go dog kennels, old slippers, tin pans,
and other " fixings," much prized while at sea, but dis-
carded when within a few miles only of our journey's end.
The sail up the bay shows first the quarantine station,
where two ships are at anchor, having already lost up-
wards of 200 passengers since they arrived—emigrant
ships , too closely packed and badly ventilated,—what
more need be said ? Further up we see to the left
the arm of the sea stretching up to Geelong, and at
last, after a few hours' sail, we anchor outside the
lighthouse on the point which forms Hobson's Bay—the
captain prudently keeping as far off the shore as he can so
as not to lose his men. And here I may mention a
rather ingenious stratagem by which they manage to get
ashore and desert ; it is simply this :—in the middle of
the night the cry is raised, of "A man overboard !"
which may or may not be true, as sometimes a man is
fool enough to drop overboard for the purpose; the men
then rush aft, lower the boat, pick up their comrade, and
pull ashore. This answers very well at first, but the
trick gets known at last, and we were prepared, should it
have been tried, to man the boats with officers and pas-
sengers.

Next morning the steamers from Melbourne came
alongside to take people ashore ; and, to show that time
was precious, they no sooner got alongside than thepper-
formed a most odious solo on a bell as a signal for
starting. Baggage, beds, trunks, chests—all are bun-
dled over the side, and off goes the little steamer to per-
form the same operation at another ship, and finally to
take the passengers up the Yarra-Yarra to the long-
sought El Dorado.
In a straight line Melbourne is not more than two
miles from the bay, but the windings of the Yarra-Yarra
stretch the distance to nine miles. It is a narrow river,
and yet very deep, even to its banks, as large vessels of
400 and 500 tons lie close to the shore, and make fast to
the brushwood. The water is as dark as the Ottawa
water in Canada, and its :effects on new comers pretty
much the same, generally causing dysentery.
A little below Melbourne we pass some of the most
offensive of slaughterhouses, then some wool-washing
establishments, then shipping discharging cargoes on the
grass, and finally the steamer stops at the wharf, and
ashore we go into the town, and cannot help repeating
our remarks that town as well as country is unlike any-
thing else of its kind. The wharf, which extends about
half a mile on one side of the river, does not seem to have
grown with the commerce of the place, as vessels are now
crowded on either side of the river far beyond it.
The first object that catches the eye is a noble stone
bridge across the Yarra-Yarra, which would do credit to
any city, young or old, but it appears to be the only
public work worth noticing, and one cannot but be
struck with the diminutiveness of all the buildings in
Melbourne.
There can be but one opinion as to the site of Mel-
bourne—that it can be made one of the finest cities of
England's colonial empire; and, much as is yet to be done
to the town, one cannot look at it without surprise
when one reflects that sixteen years ago it was a wilder-
ness. Yet, strange to say, there has been scarcely any
enterprise in Melbourne since the positive glut of gold.
Had " Brother Jonathan" been here he would ere this
have cut a canal to the bay and converted the large
swamp to the eastward of the town into docks. That
such will be done eventually I have no doubt, but one
cannot but regret its not having been done, or, at any
rate, begun already, for, as I said before, the vessels now
stretch, on both sides of the river, far beyond the limits
of the wharf, -the bay is full of shipping, and the con-
stantly increasing tide of commerce which is setting
towards Melbourne will soon render some other arrange-
ment necessary.