RIOTS IN MELBOURNE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 522, 4 November 1857, Page 3

RIOTS IN MELBOURNE.

' Bell's Life in Sydney' of 26th September, says:— ■ ....--. - The Melbourne papers give a deplorable account of the state, of things existing among the working classes, which has at last resulted in a disturbance of rather a serious nature.

Meetings-of the unemployed have been of frequent occurrence, and a discontented spirit appears to have; been encouraged by a Mr. Osborne, an agitator and seditionmonger of considerable notoriety.- We should be loth to believe that anything like real destitution can

exist in the present day in so prosperous and wealthy a colony as Victoria, and rather incline to the belief that the present emeute has its origin in the turbulent disposition of a few malcontents, who have worked upon the ere* dulity of the majority, and excited them to a demonstration against the authorities. Beyond one or two assaults upon the police at the Queen's Wharf, nothing serious has occurred. The ' Melbourne Herald' says-—

For the last three or four Sundays, Mr. Osborne, of " unemployed." notoriety, has been holding mass meetings at the wharf, and by a compound of Bible and politics has contrived to furnish a pleasant afternoon's entertainment for his hearers. Yesterday afternoon he had an unusually large audience, and dealt profusely in scriptural illustrations, to show that Victoria was one of the most miserable and worst governed countries under the sun; and in allusion to Mr. Bruce's offer of employment, declared that when " the people asked the Government for bread, they gave them a stone." He proceeded to contrast old England with young Victoria, and would fain persuade his hearers that Britain was a regular working-man's paradise, when some profane reprobate in the crowd shut up the preacher, by very politely telling him " he lied." This was the signal for a row, which soon became general, and bufrfor the prompt interference of the police, some of the scrimmagers would have been treated to a cold bath in the Yarra. Several arrests were made; an attempted rescue followed; and six or seven individuals are now " unemployed" in the watch-house, and will be brought before the Police Court this morning."

The latest accounts state that 500 men had already been taken on by the Government, and that employment would be found for 1,000 more should it be found necessary.