MELBOURNE.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1963, 20 August 1869, Page 2

MELBOURNE.

[From our own Correspondent.) Tuesday, 10th, August, The Omeo arrived on Wednesday morning, and her budget of ill news at once drew the attention of the press and the public. The Telegraph and Argus wrote in favor of the object of Dr Feathevstoirs mission being complied with by General Chute, but the Age and Leader , with a strange perversity, attacked the colonists, and declared that it was impossible that you should expect any more assistance from the Imperial Government either in men or money, and declaring that it was imperative on the Colony to settle the Maori difficulty of itself. As usual, New Zealand was spoken of as a whole, and tioipe of the journalists went so far as to lecture the Middle Jslarid people on their selfishness in objecting to pay any more towards the furtherance of the war. A couple of days talk, and New Zealand and all belonging to it gave way to the excitement which followed the alleged discovery of the mooter diamond at Armidale, N.S.W., which ft was said weighed 7 op, 18dwts. The stone, it was added, was on its way to Sydney, and was expected to. arrive there the next day (Friday.) It did not come that day, and on the next it was learnt by telegraph that it could not be in Sydney before the 10th, So that even as I write, we are as far from a solution of the question of whefher it is a diamond or a sham as ever. If the statement be not a hoax, a mistake may have been made as to the true character of the stone, which may be a white topaz, or an error fallen into with respect to its weight. The heaviest diamond in the world, the Braganza, weighs 1880 carats, or about 12|oz. ; but doubts are thrown upon its being a diamond at all. The Orloff weighs 194| carats; the Kegent or Pitt diamond, 136|; the Florentine Brilliant, 1394 ; and the Koh-i-noor, 106 1.16 carats. Consequently, if this dubious intelligence from Sydney were to prove to be capable of verification, New Squth Wales would have given to the world the weightiest diamond, with one exception, that has ever been discovered, amounting to something like 1,100 carats. But while the many who adhere to the opinion that the whole affair is a hoax, some few infatuated persons believe in the possibility of our having found this monster gem, and as a consequence the shares of the Mudgee Diamond and Gold Mining Company are in immense demand. One gentleman yesterday went so far as to buy 100 shares at a considerable premium, in the fond expectation that by doing so he would be laying in a provision for his old age of something Ijke £4,000 or £5,000. 1 am afraid his dreams will not be realised.

Politically, if you do feel any interest in our politics in iNew Zealand, which I take leave to doubt, we are very much as we were when I wrote last, The M'Culloch Ministry still holds office, although there are not a few who are bold enough to predict that their days are numbered. The Land Bill has passed through Committee, but not till it had been the cause of many a wordy warfare. Even now. it is not regarded as altogether safe, the opponents of the measure (the

Opposition and the Ministerial corner) having expressed their determination to oppose the third reading by every means. The squatting clauses are those which are objected to, and if an appeal to the countiy were made on them, the result would be dubious Mr C. E. Jones is scotched, but not killed. That lion, gentleman has no intention of retiring from political life yet awhile, although he does not show

himself in the Assembly. He is waiting for a dissolution, when those who know say that he will be able to return in the large constituencies at least a dosen members pledged to support him. If he can do that, he will take the field in the new Parliament with renewed vigor, “ Foul play ” was not all fiction, as it would seem from certain revelations made recently in Sydney with regard to the affairs of a firm named M'Kinley Brothers. A meeting of creditors was called early last week, and the affairs of the firm being declared unsatisfactory, it was determined to sequestrate the estate. In the Insolvent Court some most startling disclosures were made, which went to show that a gigantic fraud had been perpetrated. Part of the scheme was the chartering of a schooner called the Snowbird, loading her with a fictitious freight, and then setting fire to her in Torres Straits. Tbe whole of the parties have been apprehended, and as a fitting sequel, I see this morning that M‘Kinlay, who has been in custody since his enforced insolvency, has gone mad. In Victoria, we are blessed with a brace of Copes. They are brothers, and unfortunately for the Colony, both in the Legislative Assembly. One of them is a genius of the first water, whose name deserves to be known even in New Zealand. It is Thomas. He is an immaculate gentleman, who has long led the people by the nose, and who the other night distinguished himself by causing the Press to be excluded from the galleries the whole sitting, because a Solicitor named Wisewould, had, in serving him with a subpoena sent only half a sovereign instead of the full fee which Mr Cope as a member of Parliament considez*ed he was entitled to. Wicked people* who are behind the scenes say that Mr Cope’s wrath was only put on in order to divert attention from the fact that he had a decided disinclination to appear in Court to giye evidence with relation to the affairs of Joshua Cowell, another of our popular representatives, of whom we are now lid. Our Mr Montgomery and your Mr Harrell (vice versa) have quarrelled in South Australia. shey werp stays toft bright to shine in the same heiqispljere, and as a consequence the lesser one has been extinguished. I have come to the conclusion that acting is a great art. Mr Harwood has returned from England, and has stated the failure of his missloq, anti lectured the People here recognise the fact that it was a great mistake sending Mr Hardwood home at all, and his peculiarly ungenial manner must have had a depressing influence on all who came in contact with him. We cannot expect now to have any one worth seeing till Mr Coppin introduces some. Mr Bartlett arrived from Sydney, to-day. He starts for New Zealand by next steamer with Mr Talbot, the tragedian, Dunedin will bo his first port of call. Mr Taylor (of skating notoriety) proposes visiting you in a few months with a company of Christy Minstrels.