VICTORIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 460, 1 April 1857, Page 4

VICTORIA.

We Hare Melbourne papers to the 26th of February. In reference tb the decision of the Committee on elections and qualifications *in the case o£ Mr. _ Kaye, the 'Age' of the 25th has the following remarks :-—" The decision'of the Committee of elections and qualifications ,pf tJie Legislative, Council in the matter of the Eastern Province Election Petition has given occasion for some surprise, and must have a rather startling effect on the great majority of the members of, both Houses of Parliament. The/decision of the Committee amounts to. a declaration that the employment of paid agents at elections' is illegal, and in fact ' bribery.' That such was the intention of the framers of .the Act is at least doubtful, looking at the proviso in favours of the lawyers; but. such is the construction put upon it by a majority of the tribunal w|th which the final determination of the question rests, and therefore it must be 'taken for thetnonce',as the actual law.- <The pains and penalties' which this offence involves upon the honorable member, are not only the loss .of his seatj and disqualification for reelection for a period of fiye years ;-but he is alrfo liable to punishment for a misdemeanour

Uni to the forefeitiire of one Hundred pounds to any person who, shall think proper to sue him. Mr. Kaye's position is one of peculiar hardship and injustice. -He is acquitted without even being called upon for a defence of all corrupt practices in connection with, his election; and in paying his agent he but followed the common practice, without the slightest intention of offending against the law. Bat his greatest hardship is that he is not unseated on any complaint preferred by , the petitioner against his return, but on an objection raised by a member of the, committee,appointed to sit in judgment. The business which' the Legislative Council intrusted to the committee was simply to in- . quire whether the allegations of the petition were or were not proved, and in going a step beyond this the committee unquestionably exceeded its powers. But the effect of thedecision as regards Mr. Kaye is trifling in comparison with its effect on the members generally of both houses of the Legislature. Mr. Kaye was not the only employer of a paid agency du.iing the recent elections. We feel assured we-are speaking within bounds when we assert that three out of every four members of both Houses of Parliament are open to the objection which has unseated Mr. Kaye. The SolicitorCreneral, in a recent debate, openly avowed that Marsden/the defaulting Government clerk, was his paid agent during his late election. The Attorney-General, too, had notoriously a paid agency amployed. The time for lodging petitions on the score of bribery has not elapsed, and there is nothing to hinder any person who chooses from setting the ball a-rolling. We observe that a beginning has already been made by lodging a petition against Miv Fellows, and it is doubtful whether he can now be allowed to vacate his seat. The same remark may apply to Mr. Stawell. It would be awk t ward, certainly, to have the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General of the colony' cheek-by-jowl' in the prisoner's dock, on their trial for misdemeanour^ —but why not these .'■ grave and reverend seigniors,' if Mr. Kaye has to run' the gauntlet? The whole business is very awkward;.-and we are not surprised that their lordships should have hesitated to receive the report of the committee. There will be some keen discussion upon this subject before it is. finally disposed, of." An adjourned public meeting of Welsh colonists was held on Monday evening, the 23rd, in the Welsh Chapel, La Trobe-street, Melbourne, for the purpose of adopting a petition to the Legislative Assembly, praying that a properly qualified emigration agent should be, appointed to visit the principalitjr of Wales. William Jones, Esq., occupied the chair, and the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:—" That this meeting view with dissatisfaction that portion of the immigration scheme relating to Wales, inasmuch as it contains no special provision for the principality ;" " That this meeting deems it highly necessary that a person capable of speaking the Welsh as well as the English language should be appointed; " " That it is the opinion of this meeting, should the Government overlook the appointment of a person capable of speaking both languages, it will be an act of .great injustice towards the The' adoption of the petition was moved by Mr. J. J. Jones, seconded by Mr. A. E. Parry, and carried unanimously, after which the meeting terminated. A public meeting was held on Monday evening, in the Town Hall, Geelong, for the purpose of aiding towards the erection of the proposed Wallace Monument. Several speeches in favour of the object of the meeting were delivered; and a committee was appointed to take charge' of the practical portion of the undertaking. At the Castlemaine Circuit Court, on Mon-' day, the 23rd, Michael Higgins, who was on Saturday found guilty of the murder of William Lobb, at Green Gully, Muckleford, on the 6th January, was sentenced to death, the judge holding out not, the slightest hope of mercy. Twigham alias Laxton, found guilty of the murder of Sergeant M'Nally, was also brought up for sentence. On being asked, in the usual way, if he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed on him, he said, " Nothing more than that the witness Adams, (by whose testimony he was convicted,) was a prejured man, and that his statements were false." His Honor said he was perfectly satisfied with the justice of the verdict, and even if Adam's character was bad, yet he had evidently, spoken truly on this occasion, as the evidence of the

police completely corroborated him; He proceeded to pass sentence of death in the usual form—without holding out the slightest hope of mercy. The prisoner was removed, without "evincing the slightest symptom of emotion. We subjoin a few extracts from the country papers. The Cost of the Whistle. —Adopting as the basis of calculation some figures which have been furnished to a contemporary by a correspondent, who is stated to be "in a position to furnish reliable information on the subject," we believe that we are warranted in assuming that the inhabitants of the populous districts of which Castlemaine and Sandhurst are the centres, respectively, are mulcted in the sum of one million sterling annually, in the shape of tonnage upon the goods received from Melbourne, over and above what the carnage of those goods would amount to if a railroad were in operation. One million sterling taken from the 'pockets of some seventy thousand working bees, while the drones in the Assembly are drowsily humming over the question of who shall eat the official honey! Either our representatives must have a great contempt for our interests or our understandings; either they must believe in the boundlessness of our patience, or of our stupidity ; either they have never known, or they have entirely forgotten, the purpose for which they were sent to Parliament ; else why this everlasting drivel about " May," and foi'ms and precedents, and abstract theories, points of order, and niceties of constitutional doctrine ? When a house is on fire we do not waste time in discussing what engine shall be fetched, and which of the bystanders shall be selected or permitted to work the pumps; but everybody applies himself with the utmost promptitude to extinguish the conflagration. When a ship has sprung a leak, the captain and crew do not sit down to discuss the abstract question of hydraulic pressure, but all hands devote their whole energies to remedy the evil. Is there any reason why our legislators should not follow their example, and exhibit the same.vigour and promptitude of action? One millon sterling per annum is leaking from us, and instead of the officers and crew of the State vessel manfully and heartily combining their efforts to stop" the leak they aggravate the calamity and prolong the monstrous waste of our means, by rivalling each other in contriving how not to do it. All this sort of thing may be very amusing to honorable members ; but that which was sport to the boy in the fable was death to the unfortunate frogs ; and what is pastime to the oratorical gladiators in the legislative arena, is enormous loss, base injustice, and cruel wrong to their constituents. 'Every month's delay in the settlement ot the railway question is equivalent to the imposition of a'tax of nearly one hundred thousand pounds, "upon the inhabitants of Castlemaine, Sandhurst, and the surrounding localities. This is what we are called upon to pay, because our representatives will persist in considering the Legislative Assemby a debating society instead of a workshop— Mount Alexander Matl Progress towabds Pebmakbnce.—■ Some slight idea may be formed of the activity visible amongst the traders on the Mat m effecting improvements for the transaction of their business, when we state that on the Mam-road between the Bridge and the Caledonian Hotels, -we observed on Friday no lessthan sixty-three buildings for business purpose in course oi erection and completion, thefrontages occupied varying between twenty and one hundred and thirty feet. The buildings were chiefly of weatherboard, and sawn timber, of one and two storeys hio-h- a'few were of brick, the amount of contracts in some cases reaching upwards of three thousand pounds. This does not look much like steg^atioiS or a doubtful aspect m commercial aKzivs.—BaUaarat. Star. g The Wabkanheif Saw Mills. me S&h ez,X doubled «*»^ — on and around the various localities in the foiests the market of the interior, and the result ib that,

as the source'6f a prolific and cheap supply, Ballaarat is; enabled to command a large share of the trade in native timber with the neighbouring gold 'fields;-— Bdllaarat Miner. v The Cko:pß.—-The harvesting' operations of this district are now fast drawing to a close,and we believe, after all the gloomy predictions, the yield will be little short of an average one. The crops of barley and potatoes are not so extensive as last season, but we. have seen many farms where the late crops of potatoes ai-e very prolific. The farmers generally, regard their prospects as very gloomy, but, considering the daily increase in the, population of the colony, the prosperity of the working classes, and the improbability of imports from America, we think their, fears are not well founded, and that seven or eight shillings a bushel is more likely to be the ruling price of the season than five or six shillings. All who can afford to do so will hold over for a few months, and at all events they will not lose by this.— Banner of Belfast. - - ■The Teijegkaph in Victoeia.—ln the far north—that is, at Hemington—the simplicity and rusticity of the primitive inhabitants of the settlement just now being illustrated by the following story, told of a well-known village Crispin.. The old worthy has a son at Williamstown, to whom he wished to send a pair of new boots, and having been told by a neighbour that he often; sent to that marine retreat by the telegraph, Crispin mounted a ladder one evening, and hung the new boots on the wire. Not long after, a wayfarer seeing the tempting high-lows, clomb up and exchanged them for his .old bluchers. What was Crispin's delight next morning! " Well, that be clever"—boots is gone all right, and Tom's sent back his old ones for mending." .— Melbourne Herald.