RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 171, 23 December 1874, Page 3

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Western Australia does not seem to be so enamoured of the boon of responsible government that has been offered it, after all. The old Council has been dissolved, and a sort of plebiscitnm of the inhabitants is being made on the question. So far, however, as the elections have gone, there has been very little public enthusiasm, and the most populous and intelligent constituency in the colony, the metropolis, has pronounced in favor of the existing system. Nor is it much to be wondered it, when we recollect that the whole colony does not muster more than /GOO adult males. it is a question of time however. Free institutions must come to all Englishmen as soon as ever there is sufficient material for working them, and before that they may do more harm than good. That the colony is progressing is evidenced by the significant fact that it is a borrower in the money market to the tune of I JIOO,OOO, to lie devoted to the construction if telegraphs, railways, and other national works upon a .small scale.

QUEENSLAND. LOSS OF HUME'S !•;"tUiOUT 'C KXPEDITION. (From the lirin'i.uic (,'anrier.) The strange story (old !>y Andrew rlin.rm in these columns som i months ago respecting his alleged discovery of C'af-san, a member of Leichardt's j.arty, andlnany relics of the last and ill-fated expedition of that explorer, has another sad chapter added to it now. On Saturday last a Icleirrnm was received by (he Under-Colonial Secretary, from the police magistrate at Chailcville, to the following effect : — ;: Fifty miles from Drynan's si ition. on Urn Wilson River, in this district, Hume, the explorer, has perished for want of water. o'llea, another of the party, is also supposed to be d ad. Thompson, (he third man, reached Drynan's. and went out fium the. station with a party, which found Hume's body. Sub-inspector Devinc and a parly of native police are searching for O'lica. Two of Hume's horses arc dead." The story told by Hume was a very extraordinary one, and we are free to admit that it was, in many respects, improbable, and to some, extent incoherent. It is not to be wondered at that not only the New South Wales Government, but the public generally, refused him any assistance in prosecuting his scheme, for rejoining the tribe of blacks amongst whom he stated Classan, the survivor of Leichardt's parly, was detained, and rescuing him. He did, however, find some who trusted him, and subscribed for an outfit for himself and others so adventurous as to be willing to join him in the hazardous enterprise of again finding Classan, The party left Newcastle some months ago, and were reported at various places along their route. A little time served to shake the confidence of some of Hume's mates either in She credibility of the man or in his capacity to lead such an expedition. They broke away from him, and he re railed others ;but in the end the parly consisted only of himself, Thompson (who, we think, was one of his comrades from the first), and O'Hea, who joined him later. Hume has perished, and the extremity must have been very great indeed from which so practised a bushman failed to extricate himself. He seemed to be a man who knew every secret of the Australian explorer's craft, and who cou'd find means to sustain life anywhere that an aboriginal could exist, yet lie perished for want of water. O'Hea, I hero is little doubt, has met the same miserable, fate, and Thompson lives to tell the disastrous laic. Why the parly should have lu en in the neighborhood of the Wilson Uivel" seems at present inexplicable, unless on the supposition that they were endeavoring to return to the settled country. The Wilson is entirely out of the line of march that would lead to the locality In which Hume asserted that Classan was to be found. No doubt Thompson will be <d>le to give some explanation of the fact, and his account of this last tragic episode in an enterprise that will in future be associated with the mystery of Leichardt's fate will bo looked for wi!h interest.

With reference to the calamity, the Sydney Morning Herald publishes the following clegram from Brisbane :

'•Hume, O'Hea, and Thompson left Nockatunga Station, Wilson's River, to make Doyle's Tookabarnoo. Cooper's Creek. About 25 miles down the Wilson the river makes a great bend. Hume's party got into this bend, crossed the Wilson, and left it. They then got into dry country between the Wilson and liulloo rivers, low down. The weather was intensely hot. They ' lost their heads ' on the fourth day, after having been without water. Thompson left Hume and O'Hea alive, and found water. He reached Drynan's, and returned with a black boy and a party from the station, and found Hume's body. Sub-Inspector Dunne and the native police are searching for O'Hea, who is supposed to be dead. Two of the horses are dead; the rest, with the equipment, are safe with the police."