The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-28 00:00:00

e.-A.•i-t,

COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE

NEW SOUTH WALES.
We have received files of the Sydney Gazette and of the
Sydney Commercial Journal to the 28th of April, inclusive
from which we make the following extracts :
SHIPS IN HARBOUR.—There are sixty vessels '
Cove at present. Of which ten are ships, forty barqt. *-teen brigs, and five schooners. The full amount of an
amounts to about 21,000 tons, making an -
-e each.—Sydney GazettP

n Spin,

runLic nousEs.—The number of public houses licensed
in Sydney on the last licensing day weretwo hundred and
twenty-five ! Considering the population of Sydney, we have
no hesitation in saying that such a number is unparalleled
in the world.—lbid.

FLOU R.—A gentleman intimately connected with South
Australia, and who has taken some trouble to make himself
acquainted with the statistics of that settlement, informs us
that for the current year it will require-150 tons of flour HE,
nntb to ha _

111WILII w ue importea into the colony to feed the population
there ; and unless some large importations of grain front
India arrive, which are not expected in consequence of wheat
being very high in price at the Cape, flour wilt be dearer than
it has yet been : its present price, according to the latest
accounts from thence. is £io net. tnn

rnmercial

April 25.
THE BarrANNtA.—Capt. Moore, of the revenue curt
Prince George, arrived at Williams' Town on Friday la
having several weeks ago been despatched by thr:
vernment a second time in search of the crew of the
Britannia. Capt. Moore found the long boat on the b,
near Cape Howe, about 25 miles to the southward of Tw,
fold Bay, as had been represented by the natives, and he is
of opinion, from the 'position he found her in, that she had
been beached by some of the crew or passengers. The boat
was entirely empty. From several suspicious circumstances,
Capt. Moore is of opinion that our ill-fated countrymen who
landed in the boat, must have been murdered by the natives.
One strong fact in favour of this opinion is, that on all for-
mer occasions when Capt. Moore visited Twofold Bay, the
natives were very friendly, but on this occasion, immediately
the cutter anchored, they all of them ran away into the bush,
and remained there until the vessel set sail, Capt. Moore,
after leaving Twofold Bay, was obliged to put back, when the
natives behaved in a similar manner. They were seen, shortly
after the loss of the Britannia, to have several stripes of a
white man's shirt divided amongst them. It is very evident,
from the boat having been found 'on the beach above high
water mark, that some, if-not all of the crew and passengers,
landed safely from the wreck, to meet, we fear, a more cruel
death. Captain Moore tells us that he visited Presewaller
Island since the Vansittart was there, and that he found the
mainmast of the unfortunate Brittomart.—/bid.
VAN DIEMAN'S LAND.—His Excellency Sir John Frank-
lin. and suite will leave Launceston ott the 11th or 13th of
this month, on their return to town. The party at Govern-
ment Cattail:lt on Wednesday esenjug last was most nutneisi
rously attended.' Captain-Parker, at present Aide-de-Camp
to his Excellenej, will not leave for Sydney until after the
ensuing royal birthday,:—Hobart Thum Advertiver, April 3.
llis Excellency has received a despatch from the Right
Honourable the Secretary of State, acknowledging the re-
ceipt of the petition from the northern public meeting on the
subject of the proposed 'discontinuance of the assignment of
convicts to domestic service. His lordship fully approves of
the reply made by the local government, and says :--" You
have very properly pointed out the distinction between the
ends of punishment and those of colonization, A distinction
• kept in view by

Sydney ec

Iciently

the remOintrants

ENORMOUS SHEEP..-14r. Edmund Bryant, of Kingston,
lately weighed alive five sheep of the improved Leicester
breed, and their joint weight was 1305 lbs., the largest of
which Weighed 280 lbS. We think that these are the largest
breed in this or any of the adjoining colonies.—lbid.
THE WEATHER.—Rain is much wanted in the country to
enable the agriculturists to carry on their farming operations,
although in some districts pasturage is much more plentiful
than in former seasons. The farmers are now pretty gene-
rally engaged in thrashing out their grain, and in ploughing
and sowing the upper lands. The settlers are very loth to
sell their wheat at the present prices, as a rise appears to be
generally expected by them .--Launceston Advertiser, April 9.
HOBART TOWN MARKETS.—Wheat, 12s. to 13s. per
bushel ; oats, 6s. 6d. to 7s. ditto ; English barley, Os. to Os. €d.
ditto; Cape ditto, 7s. to 7s. 6d. ditto; bay, 4;6 to £6 10s.
per ton ; potatoes, .£7 to £7 10s. ditto ; onions, 15s. to 16a.
per cwt. ; apples, Bs. to 16s. per bushel; she•oak, 14s. per
ton ; Port Arthur coals, 14s. ditto.—Tasmanian Despatch,
April 10.

PORT PHILLIP.
UNION WITH SOUTH AUSTRALIA.—WC are informed
upon good authority that a project is on foot carrying with it
the influence of the South Australian Colonization Commis-
sioners, for effecting an union betwee►► Port Phillip and South
Australia, and forming of the two a colony, altogether inde-
pendent of New South Wales, under tl -
the colony of Australia Felix

denomination of

WATER.—Disease, is more prevalent in Melbourne at the
present period than it' ever was on any occasion since the
formation of the settlement. In the opinion of the medical
men of th• town the existence of this disease is attributable
almost solely to the use of brackish water.
THE BLACKS.—There are accounts in town of fresh out-
rages committed by the blacks on the settlers at Portland
Bay. One gentleman has lost a considerable number of
sheep, which have either been separated or driven off by the

VEGETABLZS.—We have-seen a quantity of turnips grown
on a small farm on the estate of Dr. M'Crae, on the Moonee
Moonee ponds, about three miles from Melbourne, which
speak well for the fertility of Port Phillip. The farm on
which the turnips were grown was let only eight weeks ago
to its present tenant, and during that time it has been fenced
in, brought into cultivation, and the turnips of which we saw
so fine a specimen, raised upon it. The turnip is of the kind
called the Aberdeen yellow, a species of garden turnip, whiCh
has scarcely ever been known to succeed in England, and it
has already attained to a size which we have rarely seen
equalled at home. The most remarkable fact, however, is,
that from the time the seed was sown until the turnip was
pulled not a drop.of rain fell, and as the land is not by any
means of a moist description, we can only attribute the
growth of the turnips (extraordinary under such circum-
stances) to some principle in the soil peculiarly retentive of
e,. .When such is the success which attends garden-
.;rations in this cliinate, even in the driest seasons, we
may soon hope to see Melbourne surrounded by orchards and
fruit gardens.--Port Phillip Herald, April 21.

moisture