SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 502, 26 August 1857, Page 3

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

The news from Adelaide, by way of Melbourne, is to the 6th instant. There is little of interest.

Nothing further has transpired with regard to the discoveries in the north.

The ' Register' mentions the arrival in Adelaide of eighty-seven conditionally pardoned men from Swan River.

Mr. Carstairs, of Tapio. on the Murray, has had a small silver plate engraved for presentation to an aboriginal female, who heroically saved a white man from drowning, when several persons were looking on, either without an effort or without power to assist him. The plate bears the following inscription, which tells its own story:—" Given to record the heroism of Grace Darling Nero, who by her courage and presence of mind saved a! white man from drowning before several spectators at Tapio, 29th May, 1857." We hope the brave black woman will long live to wear her badge of honour, and that the' distinction it will confer upon her in the eyes of her tribe may stimulate them to deeds of a similar character.

The Murray Navigation.—Shortly before the adjournment of Parliament, the sum of £8000 was asked for by the House of Assembly for the purpose of placing a steam-snagboat on the river Murray. Of this amount £5000 is for the purchase of the vessel, and £3COO for its working expenses. The Chief Secretary, who moved the address to his Excellency, remarked that he hoped other steam-snagboats would be placed on the river by the Governments of New South Wales and Victoria. So far as Snuth Australia is concerned, we trust that no time will be lost in procuring the snagboat, and in making preparations for commencing work at the earliest possible period. The ensuing season seems likely to be more than usually suitable for this work. We are informed that it is the general opinion on the river that there will be little or no flood this year, and all we have heard hitherto confirms that opinion. The great desideratum is to render the Murray navigable all the year round, and toward this much desired end the snag boat now authorised to be purchased will very largely contribute. We hear that the Leichhardt has run upon a sunken snag near to Swan Hill, and has sustained some damage, though we do not know to what extent. In the speech of the Chief Secretaryon the occasion previously referred to, we are informed that Captain Cadell has been cutting of snags level with low-water mark. It would, be interesting to know whether it is upon one of fiese shortened snags that the Leichhardt has run. We fear that cutting off snags level with low-water mark is likely to increase, instead of to d;minish, the risk of navigation on the Murray. A sunken rock is worse than a rock above water, and the same must hold good of a snag. At all events the locality of these hidden obstacles to safe navigation should be indicated by a buoy, or by a stake driven into the water, or on the shore, otherwise we are simply expending money to increase risk, and to injure the trade which we wish to promote. Quartz Crushing.—ln answer to our enquiries yesterday at the Government quartzcrushing mill, on East-terrace, we were informed that there had been crushed a sample of six cwt. of quartz sent in by Mr. Gower, of Woodside, and that it had yielded 74 grains—equal to half an ounce to the ton. We are, of course, aware that at the present rate of wages a permanent yield of half an ounce of gold to the ton of quartz would not pay the expenses of raising and brushing, but it is probable that the quartz" in question was taken indiscriminately from the surface of a reef, and, if so, it affords a good indication of a valuable gold deposit. It is °ertain that in Victoria a less palpable proof of the existence of such a deposit has caused a search to be continued which has terminated in the discovery of a rich gold-bearing quartz reef. We may further observe that the gold found in the quartz sent from Woodside affords satisfactory proof that Echungais not the only place in the colony in which auriferous reefs are situated. Distinguished Arrivals.-—Of the passengers from Swan River by the Lochinvar and the C. W. Bradley, 87 are conditionally-pardo-ned men.

Aebival op Dees.. —There have arrived hy the Havilah, from Melbourne, two deer, a stag and a roe. They are the property of his Excellency Sir E. G. M'Donnell.