The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-22 00:00:00

day for the colony. Then men and women who have
nothing to depend upon but their labour, don't take uP
these ideas at all ; with far different notions did the majo-
rity of them come hither ; and I am not at all disposed to
think that they will be disappointed. Rumours have
been rife of late as to the discovery of new gold fields, and
now when a party of diggers-to-be are about to start on
their travels, it becomes a difficult matter to decide in
what direction they shall go, so numerous are the
fields already in operation and those reported to have been
discovered. During the past week about 2,000 ounces of
gold have been received here ; and, if the production
therefore is slightly on the decrease, it is accompanied by
a more than corresponding fall in the price of provisions.
Flour is much cheaper, though the villanous bakers,
with iron hardihood, keep their bread at the old price. If
I speak by my personal experience, I should say that in
the matter of house-rent, if there is any change in Nei'
bourne, it is in favour of the landlord ; but in Victoria
you may live much more comfortably, and for less money.
Though one or two building societies have been set 00
foot, few buildings are being constructed—the speculators
in that line exercising an amount of caution which is quite
remarkable. Hard by where I live, on the banks of the
meandering Yarra,—the Yarra, which has been inworen
with much pleasant prose and rhyme by your good
English poet, Richard Howitt—a complete city of tents
has arisen. Some people have brought houses with them
—tents of most peculiar construction—and these are no v
alive with life. I should think that some thousands
of men, women, and children are reposing under
these tents while I pen these lines. Without much
regard to propriety or artistic rule, each new comer
has pitched his temporary dwelling on the first
piece of vacant ground lie could find—straightway
possession has been taken, and next day he and his
family look as if they had lived there all their lives.
Happy, and so far contented to all appearance; having
great difficulties to struggle with, but determined silently,
and bravely to overcome them ; such seem the feelings of
these dwellers in " the canvass city," as it is called. _ .

As to the crime of the district, it is pleasing to relate
that during the year 1852, only 475 criminals were tried
before the Supreme Court. As we have no minor court
like the quarter sessions of the mother country ; the
offenders were charged with all the gradations of crime--
from the pettiest charge against a runaway seaman to the.
crime of murder. Now, it is pretty clearly decided that
Victoria. with the daily-extending capital, contains at
least 200,000 inhabitants ; so that the small proportion
of crime is highly creditable, indeed, to a colony, which
so many, even of our Sydney neighbours, are pleased to
picture as a God-forsaken land, the scene of rapine, rob- •
berv, and murder.

On New Year's Day I went to the grand metropolitan
steeple chase—a most exciting scene; the ground, though
flooded with heavy rains, was capital ; and there were
altogether twenty-four razping fences to clear. It was
somewhat remarkable to see the turn-out of many eques-
trians, whose appearance " in their best" betokened that
they had been but little used to ride their own horse to
the races. In the crowd I saw many ladies on horseback
who seemed to enjoy the snort, although it poured inces-
santly the whole time. Some calculate that twelve or
fourteen thousand people were present. The winning
horse received £3OO and the second £5O, enough, even ill
the land of nuggets, to tempt a keen competition.
It has been discovered that an organised system exi=ts
here by which new arrivals and parties proceeding to the
diggings are plundered of their property by a set of people
professing to be carriers. One party receives the money'
for the carriage in Melbourne at a high rate, and consigns
the goods to a fellow conspirator at the diggings, hiring a
third party to take the goods up at half the price charged.
On arrival at the diggings, the other " firm" receives the
goods, and takes good care that they do not leav-a his
possession until " sweetly" paid for.

FOREST CREEK, OCT. 31.
My dear Friend,—We had a most beautiful passages
and a not very long one either, having got within the
bar and anchored on Tuesday, the 28th September,
being ninety-four days. The next day we beat up to
anchorage at the foot of the river Yarra, at William's
Town, where we remained until the Ist of October.
We had then to land at our own expense, which cos
rather heavy to me, or any one in the same circum-
stances—but, never mind, that's over. It cost us four
shillings each for the steam-boat to Melbourne, and
twenty-seven shillings for wharfage ; then seven shillings
for carting our luggage about four or five hundred vardS,,
to my friend G. N.'s, a wealthy merchant in the town 01
Melbourne, who r"ceived us as kindly as it was possible
for any one to have done. It was fortunate T found such
a friend, as my brother lives nine or ten miles out, and
it was night before we got all put by at Mr. N.'s ware-
house, and we were completely worn out. My brother's
cart was in town next day, and we went nut with it and
found every thing as comfortable as I could have wished,
much less expected. Brother looks quite as old as he is:
but he is healthy, and hearty, and comfortable, 11/111
making money fast just nor:, and that in the way that he
seems to have most pride in. He has a most beautiful
house in the prettiest country I ever saw, and it is nicelY
furnished, the principal piece, of course, being his wife.
I am sure, if you could but see Jonathan's place, you
would locsa conceit of all your favourite haunts about
Cumberland, more especially Workington

He has

2,640 acres of land in fiirm, on lease of -seven years : he
is now in his second year ' • his rent is £3OO ; he sublets
off 1,640 acres, and that almost clears the whole ; he has'
consequently 1,000 acres of fine arable and pasture land 95
can be, as beautifully laid out as art could do it, and every
article of produce at present at most enormous prices;
instance a few—hay at £2O per ton, butter 2s. to 2s. 6(21.,
eggs 2s. to 3s. per dozen. Cows, that would, two or
three years ago, have sold for 10s. or 205., now worth.
£lO or £2O ' • horses, that would in England sell for £3O,
would fetch here £lOO, or £lO5 ;•in fact, any price fur
any thing a person wants is the go here now. The roads
'are dreadful bad in winter—in fact, impassable. if he
could get his milk into town, he says, it would be worth
£l5 per day to him ; so you may judge what his butte
will be. He has 26 fine milch cows at present, with e
lot of calvers in the bush, which he intends bringing in to
calve ; they are little or no trouble, as they go out all the
year round. lie keeps a number of pigs—from 20 to 40,
as it may happen ; they get nothing but milk beside whet
they pull for themselves, and pork sells for about 10d•
per lb. I have been gardener for him since I came ; he
has about an acre and a half in the front of his house verY
nicely laid out and planted with fruit-trees, such as se I
English garden. He had the old stands of bees when
came, and he got three swarms the day before I left ' • s°
1 suppose, before the season's out, he won't have leg
than forty hives; and I suppose they make a quantity of
honey, which is sold at about 6d. per lb. The cattle
here are much larger than I expected to have found there;
in fact, they would be a credit to my brother John's stock.
and you know what they are. Horses are better than 1
thought they would have been. but not so much as the
horned cattle. I left Prospect Hill on the 20th October;
Margaret remains with them for a while ; I think if we
had not had brother to turn to when we arrived, she
would have fairly given up. It certainly is a sad place
at
present ; no such thing as getting a bed in Melbourne
now at any price except at an hotel, which must be
bespoke and paid for according to the times. Wages are
high ; labourers 10s. per day on the reads ; their hoard,
&c., 30s. per week, which leaves 30s. clear ; but men
won't stay at the work until they have had a turn at the
diggings, and if fortunate they remain ; if not, why
tell
you then take the other. I shall now endeavour to tel
you something about myself. lam engaged on trial to
Messrs. H. B. and Co. Mr. B. is from Middleton-place,
near Bootle, and is a grocer in Melbourne, and I am
store-keeper for them in the gold diggings. Yes, mY
dear friend, on the very ground they are digging up gold'
a place between two hills, called Lever Flat ; and around
me there are some thousands of people digging, and not e
house,wld except wood huts and canvas tents to live in,
of which there are hundreds here, and in the neighbour-
ing creeks or flats. lam to have £2 per week for the
first month, with board and lodgings. They are not of
the most comfortable, I admit ; but when I see no better
amongst my neighbours, why I am proud to find myself
amongst the heads of the town ; and I do assure you theY
are a motley company,
from the refined gentleman to the

common labourer, of all countries—English, Irish, Scotch,
Welsh, German, French, American, and every other
country—even China. In this establishment of ours
there are the manager, Mr. W., myself, and a Cumber'
land man, from Carlisle, who acts as cook and man of all
work, and we get on first-rate so far. The diggings
here are not doing so well as they have been doing, and

parties are I

eaving faster than new comers are turning in
so much so, that if it continues so another week, it is
very likely that we shall have to leave also, and it is not
improbable but I may be up at the Ovens, as tl
them

It is a distance of 130 miles from this ; I am. noes

about 82 miles from town. If I go there 1 will have
some money before I go down again, either by store-
keeping or by digging, and I don't much care which. it
is quite a lottery : some men just before our door are

making £3 per day ; whilst others, eight feet from them,
don't get a speck for weeks : but gold is gold when they
get into the vein of it. I know this to be the fact, be-
causeso w e
many,are
that I know now.
g lbu ye rs and lmve itT throughhep
re
present
rptire is
fingers
from
£3 6s. per ounce. We take a great deal of money for
very little goods here, prices are so high. Flour and oat-
meal ls. 61 per lb. ; sugar, raisins, currants, and soap,
Is. 9d. ; tea and coffee, 3s. ; tobacco, 10s. ; rice, is. 3d. ;
pepper, 4s. per lb. ; bread, 23. 6d. per 2 lb. loaf ; a pair
of boots the same as I wore, that cost me 63. 61, are
here 333. ; Wellingtons, .-C4 ; and all sorts of clothing in
proportion. Clothes such as I wore in Liverpool are of
very little use, except what I wore in the hide warehouse.
I am now in a woollen shirt and cabbage-tree hat, and
quite like an Irishman. It is my opinion that perseverance
will ultimately succeed at gold-seeking—but it requires
that ; and the aid of £lOO or so is a great acquisition to
those who use it properly ; but many, I fancy, threw it
away in trying foolish experiments ; and when they have
lost their all are thrown upon their own resources, and
worse off than those who had nothing to begin with. I
think the great body of what are termed unfortunate
make a fair day's wages in the long run ; but taking care
of it when it is plentiful, I find is a secret here as well as
at home. Workmen are coming in here hourly, and
calling for a stick of tobacco, to pay for which they will
pull out a roll of notes, like a banker, and they are
actually lying about the roads frequently. It is a very
horrible place here just now though ; and men are struck
up,
easstthaetytchaelilrit,
ownan robbedddear
a.
‘ove
of all
areall armed
theyl haveo n
to t
he
h et ra,
almteeth, as it is termed, at our place; we have each a brace
of loaded pistols for bed-fellows, and can't take off our
clothes for fear of being disturbed through the night. We
are rarely without six or ten hundred pounds on the pre-
mises, temporary though they are, and a stock of perhaps
two or three thousand pounds. You will think
they are large sums; but when you take into considers,
tion the price of goods and the material we deal in (gold)r
you will admit it must require a great amount of cash'
The purchases go from here once a day to what we terra
the main store, where my employer stays on the premises'
the place is called Forest Creek, about a mile and a half
or two miles from here. They have stores at a place'
called Golden Point, and Fryer's Creek, and also at tile'
Bendigo Diggings, so that you see we are in a large waY'

DISTRICT CHURCHES.—A petition, signed by urrarde
of eight hundred incumbents, pointing out the very unsay
tisfactory state of the district churches at large of the
country, is to be presented, after Easter,
House, by the Marquis of Blandford ; and in the Upper'
by the Esri of Shaftesbury. in the Lower