VICTORIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 527, 21 November 1857, Page 5

VICTORIA.

Via Sydney we have intelligence from Melbourne to the 29th October. We take the following from the • correspondence of the "S. M. Herald":—

Thursday, 22nd October.—ln the political world we are wholly destitute of excitement. The Electoral Act Amendment Bill passed the Council on Tuesday, after a brief amount of conversation—for it was not a debate—and with a great many verbal amendments. The only new feature is the introduction of four new clauses—reducing' the qualification for the franchise of the Upper House to that formerly required to vote for the return of a member to the Assembly. The educational | qualification clause met with a slight opposition, on the ground that, although a man might not be able to read and write, he might be able to understand the relative qualifications of two or more candidates. •This was discussed by the ilhiminati of the Council in a very solemn way/but the clause was maintained as originally proposed. The Council has adjourned to next .Tuesday, when, no doubt, the bill will be read a third time.

The Legislative Assembly building is being* pulled to pieces, in order to light it from the exterior. The experiment has been tried on a small scale with great success. A great many alterations are in progress^ with reference to the refreshment rooms and lower offices.

The reappearance of the small-pox, after it had been thought to have died out in Melbourne, has excited very serious apprehensions—not the less strong, perhaps, in consequence of the very obstinate and cruel conduct of some of the persons whose families are affected. Several cases have appeared in Jeffcott street, North Melbourne, and these, as they occurred, have been promptly removed to a long distance from the city or any human habitation; In one case, however, where his family were attacked, a father, named Kirk, refused to allow the removal of his child. In consequence of this refusal, no one, except a medical practitioner, is allowed access to or egress from the premises. This was hj an order of the Executive Council. The proceeding may seem an infringement on the liberty of the subject; but it is in fact, in my opinion, a just protection to the public. It is a principle of law that a man's private rights and liberty extend just so far as they can be exercised without annoyance, injury, or danger to his neighbours. Here is an immense community threatened with a foul disease, and so far from extending any consideration to this perverse man, he and all his family, ill or well, should be compulsorily removed. ;; Byron's tragedy of " Sardanapalus" has been produced with great splendour at the Theatre Royal—the pictorial effect beingdescribed as something grand in the extreme. Of course this has been done at an enormous expense, and it is to be hoped that the manager will be amply rewarded for his great effort by public patronage. It must be borne in mind, however, that Byron's tragedy is but ill-suited to the stag-e, and its representation must of necessity be a complete failure unless enor-^ mous cost and care are brought to bear upon it. Great care must be also used in the cast of the piece, and the selection of the actors. The powerful language of Byron is apt to suffer greatly unless delivered after careful study, and a full conception of its beauty. In this respect the tragedy was somewhat deficient. Mrs. Heir made an excellent Myrrha, but Mr. G. V. Brooke was tame as the Assyrian Monarch.

Monday Morning-, October 26, I find that my letter of Thursday last missed the steamer. The loss will scarcely be felt, as the three days of which, it was the history were the dullest of the dull. Very little has been done since to call for remark.

In politics there is still nothing1 of interest. People have been exhausted by the ferment on the Land Bill, and on the other exciting topics which have arisen during the longest s"ession,we ever had. The probable changes in t|LeAdmmistra-, tion have excited TwyUttle attention, nor

-do I think that political or party feeling" will be again aroused until the next Land Bill is introduced, or until the Parliamentary reform and education questions came on for discussion. •.] This will probably not be until after Christmas —for as soon as the present session is closed—-(which it will be soon after the reassembling- of the Lower House)— Parliament will be called together again in order to get through the -estimates for 1858 at once. This will be indispensable—unless it is intended that 'the money for the roads and bridges should be ag*ain applied during the winter at a loss of one-third in value.: The only way to avoid this, if the estimates be not passed before Christmas, would be to delay these works, and this is a course not to be ■thought of in the present condition of the working.classes of the colony. No new cases of small-pox are reported, -.although a good deal of alarnr still prevails. It is now believed that the decease Tvill be >confined to those already attacked, :-and .that, the infection will be extinguished in its commencement. It is to be hoped that the at the Heads have learned a lesson which will render them •more cautious for the future. The captain of the Commodore Perry has been again examined at the Williamstown Police 'Court to-day, and the hearing further adjourned for the .attendance of important witnesses. The doctor has made .his esfrom the colony. The affair has been hitherto considered a smart piece of business on the part of the captain and the Should the disorder spread any •further, general indignation from the public will take the place of congratulations sfroni congenial " salts."

A good deal of public indignation has fteen excited in consequence of a decision of the leading* butchers and salesmen to raise the price of meat nearly ."§d. per lb., when the price of stock does" not call for

any such increased charge. Letters from butchers'in a comparatively small way of business are constantly appearing in the Argus,' complaining" of an organized system to prevent them from purchasing cattle, unless they will follow the example set them by the leading men in the trade. They assert —-and there can bs no reason

to doubt them—that they. were, and are still quite content-with the former prices, which were so amply remunerative that a could ■■clear £70 profit on the sale •of 100 sheep. As it is a very small business indeed that does net do 100 sheep in a fortnight, some idea may be formed as to the the enormous profits of the 'trade —^especially when'the foregoing ealeula--tram ;assumes'the meat to be sold at sd. per per Ib. What it must be at 7d. and Bd.

may be amagined. .Some talk is raised.i about forming- an association similar to the ' "Bread League .Company," in London, in order to prevent this disgraceful imposition on the public. ' It is greatly- to be hoped that the idea will not be suffered to drop, for such a causeless increase must iadd considerably to-the distress already existing", and compel many a poor family to, restrict themselves in their use of wholesome diet for a warm climate, but, unfortunately, bread is nearly as dear, and vefetables much dearer than meat, while sh is at an extravagant price. s Osborne is beginning his agitation again. In answer to the deputation to: the President of the Board of Lands and Works, Mr. Moore replied with a distinct refusal to give the unemployed work in Melbourne and not in the bush—for this is the latest demand, as you are aware. Osborne thereupon, assembled about 150 malcontents in the Eastern Market, and addressed* them on two or three occasions in a most inflammatory manner. He is reported to have advised the people to cling together. " What one does let all do, and they cannot puaish one or two thousand, but they could punish a few." He moreover asserted, as I am informed, that he was willing to fight for their rights, but it was of no use doing so while they were so few. This man, in spite of his cunning, seems determined to get himself within the grasp of the authorities, and if he does, the grasp will not be a very tender one. As a climax to the folly of his adherents, they publicly hanged a copy of the * Age' m the Eastern Market, and afterwards burned it. Fortunately, the mass of the formerly unemployed find' it pay better to work than to listen to the ravings of this designing man, and unless impotent malice prompt him to the commission of some act which can be ■brought under the cognizance of the law, lie is. likely to die out,.and be numbered amongst the stump orators " that were, and are not."

; The mates of the Champion and Lady Bird have both been tried. The mate of

the Lady Bird on Friday, and the mate of the Champion on Saturday. A verdict of acquittal has been recorded in both cases, and the public are left to the inference that two steamers, each sighting the other on a clear night, at a distance of four miles, may run into each other, cause a great destruction of human life, and yet no one is to blame. The 'Argus' of this morning takes a just view of the case, contending that the inquiry made was too limited in its scope, and that unless juries are to adopt the system of fatalism they must have found out the blame rested somewhere. The reasons why the officers of the vessels were tried-separately was this. Had both been tried together the facts must have criminated one or other of them, while, being separately arraigned, on one trial all the blame was shown to rest with the Champion, and on the other it was demonstrated that it rested with the Lady Bird. This may be in accordance with the law, but it looks very like an evasion of justice. Trade is as dull as ever. The weather is unprecedentedly lowering, and the roads are bad in some places and flooded in others.

No arrivals to-day. The Sydney champion, Veno, was yesterday fairly defeated by our old Victorian favourite, Tomboy. The victory was an easy one, and we are quite sure was totally unexpected by the most "intimate friends" of the victor. But Tomboy was in her 1855 form, and Holmes confesses that he could not hold him at the start, and that the horse appeared to have "made up his mind" to win. What a dash and splash it was through the liquified mud! veno, jaded by his previous contests, positively refused to go to victory by so bad a road. The shouts which heralded and greeted the triumph of the conqueror proved the good condition of Victorian lungs, and the deep interest taken in the event. This manifestation of partisanship was healthy ■enough—a fact proved by the good temper in which the spectators exhibited their enthusiasm. It will be seen by our advertising columns, that Mr. Atkinson has challenged Tomboy to run against Veno again. The terms are—Veno "to run Tomboy for £1000 aside, three miles over the Melbourne Race Course, in one month from this date." Whether Veno or Tomboy is in such dilapidated condition that he would require a month to do his three miles, we do not quite understand j but from the conclusion of the challenge, we suspect it must be the Sydney hero, and that he is to have a substitute; for we further learn that "Wm. Randle, Esq., will act on the part of Veno." Not with a locomotive, we hope!— Melbourne Herald, Oct. 10.