OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 4183, 24 July 1876, Page 3

OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

duly iv. After standing still for nearly a month, my pen resumes its course, but v, ith slow and labored pace, for there is a dearth of news. Perhaps the most important is the fall in wool—so great, and to most of us so unexpected. True, the brokers do tell us now that they expected it, but then it is easy to be wise alter the event; and for that matter everybody has been Wondering for a year and more why wool did not fall. But we had got so accustomed to the high price that it seemed the normal state of' things, and a chauge appeared unnatural, though it only brought us a little nearer to the natural condition of the market.

n u and valuable vessel, called the Geltwood, has been wrecked oh the South Australian coast. Many lives were lost, and the police only became aware of the wreck *? n 8 its occurrence. It now appears that the settlers in the neighborhood had Organised a regular system of plunder, whereby much of the cargo was appropriated. Even a darker feature in their conduct is suggested by a report that several persona were seen clinging to the rigging, who afterwards disappeared, but cannot be traced as having reached the shore. Whether this report be correct is doubtful, but the thieving is an established fact, and there seems very little doubt that many bodies were buried in the-sand by the wreckers lest reporting their presence to the police or, a clergyman should reveal the occurrence of the wreck.

The Stevenson case lags. The Government application for a special case is not decided, and the firm say that they will not , proceed with their cases until the Government have done their case. This is fair enough in one sense, but it is not quite satisfactory m another. On the whole, Stevenson s reputation might be better sustained by showing bis books and papers at once, and daring the Government to make anything bad out of them. On the other band, the general principle that an accusation must be proved against the accused, and that the prosecutor shall not be allowed to get at ex post facto evidence by any side wind is one of vital public importance, and it is really far better for public interests that this principle should be upheld than that the private interests of a firm should be studied. n , V? .* or , the firm to protect itself, and if it choose, m preference, to protect pubhc principle, the public have no right to grumble. Yet if it could bo done without lessening the value of their effort* in favor of constitutional principles, Messrs Stevenson might make a great point in their own favor by a complete exposure of their afiairs They served a whoie sheaf of writs, I am told, on the last day to save term, but no declarations ha ?e followed. Th e last step taken by the Customs department excited universal indignation. It seems that for very many years past Stevenson’s invoices have been made out as from the Loudon house to that in Melbaurne. This, they allege, is the practice with the other houses in the trade, and although a few have given the statement a flat denial, I have very good reason for believing that the denial is little better (if at ad) than a quibble. All at oreMrGntbne, the Collector of Caßtoml demanch.d, at an mstantVuotico, that the firm should present the invoices made out by the manufacturers at Homo against the hrm here. in vain it wiw protested that no such document ever odsh-.l that -the_ manufacturers’ invoices always debited the Loudon house, and wer r> ro gained in London. . The Collector insisted on instant and literal compliance with hr order, m default of which he refused to receive auy entries of goods at all. By this time, however. Parliament was cn the cvv U meeting, and the Premier, being appealed

to, thought fit to overrule Mr Guthrie’s autocracy on Messrs Stevenson complying with certain conditions, not in themselves unreasonable or difficult. These it is said will be fulfilled to-day, and the embargo on Stevenson’s trade removed.

Parliament met last Tuesday. Plenty of work was alluded to in the Governor’s speech, though of course nobody expects a tithe of it to be even attempted. The Electoral Bill is the only thing that will be done. One of the most sensible things proposed for a long rime is that relating to harbors and railways, namely, to put them beyond the reach of political corruption and intrigue by vesting them in trustees. But I fear this is too good a thing to be accomplished. Practically nothing will be done till next week as the Treasurer’s financial statement will not be made till Thursday. There is a flutter :n the benevolent dovecotes. The Immigrants’ Aid Society and the Benevolent .Asylum do work if not exactly similar yet so closely cßgfiate-that there is no reason why they should not be made one institution. The former is all but turned out of doors, for its buildings were an eyesore, dilapidated, and every way objectionable, and the Chief Secretary ordered the immediate removal of the worst of them from the Crown lands they have long occupied on a tenancy at will. The Benevolent Asylum ought to be removed and the Institution would be much benefited by *ale of its present site. But the two committees cannot see their way to unite, and after a conference each has passed a resolution to that effect; but that will not postpone the inevitable. As usual the purse settles the matter, aud both bodies are dependent on Parliament for grants in aid, so no doubt the Assembly will make very short work of their “resolutions,”

Last session an Act was passed to curtail the operations of Chinese lotteries, aud for a time it did effect its purp >so (rather an unusual thing for an Act to do, by-tbe-bye). One or two prosecutions under it failed however, and the lottery-keepers, emboldened, began to resume their business last w'eek. It is sangntnely hoped by the police authorities that this time they will certainly succeed, and be able to put down the evil with a strong hand. How widespread and virulent the gambling spirit is has had another illustration lately. A young man named Sawell, lately a teller in one of our great banks, absconded, having defrauded the bank of some thousands of pounds to pay gambling debts. He was arrested at Adelaide and brought back for trial. What made his case the more painful was that his mother was dependent on him, had been companion of his flight, and returned with him. Surely employers are to blame in not taking notice of such breaches of morals in taeir servants as are patent, not only to fellow servants but to all the world beside.

The Uingarooma, which arrived yesterday from the Bluff, made the fastest passage upon record—three days hours.