NEW SOUTH WALES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 592, 10 July 1858, Page 5

NEW SOUTH WALES.

Our Sydney papers by the ' Malay' are up to the 19th ult. In commercial matters they do not report anything of very peculiar interest. A complimentary dinner to the Messrs. Eed. wood is advertised in the Sydney papers, to take place on the 21st June. The New Electoral Bill was still in committee, and. as may be supposed, commanded much public attention and; interest., . . On the 18th.June!the House of Assembly went into committee on the Chinese Immigration Bill: The Colonial Secretary moved that'the rate to be paid byiariy-Chmamaii in/migrating to the port should be £10 per head, instead of £3, as origin nally proposed;•■•;;; A.very long;debate took place, m which the question as to' whether the tax should be raised ifo a "prohibitory amount, of absolute prohibition' of. -the-; immigration, raised. ■ The Government the' Bill On these different grounds iijoat of the. members addressed the House, but very generally tliej" • took different phases of the question. At twenty minutes'past eleven Mr. Hodgson moved an. adjournment, which was negatived by 22 to 14. After further discussion, the House divided, when the sum of £3 per .head, as proposed in the clause, was/rejected by a majority, of 26 to r .10." A motion that the rate' should be £5 was also rejected, under a majority of 23 t0,14. Afurtheiamendment to make tlie rate £6 per head, proposed by Mr. Piddington, was also negatived. The motion to make the rate £10 per head was then put, and carried by a majority of 20 to 15.

.-. Thelastnumber of;the 'Bulletin dcs Lois' contains a decree by the Emperor Napoleon in reference; to the colonisation of New, Caledonia. This country has become, as our readers are aware, a French penal settlement. The decree grants to Messrs. Brown and Byrne, of Newcastle, New South Wales, 40,000 hectares (about 110,000 English acres) of land in the most fertile part of the island, under the condition to introduce into it 1000 free immigrants, one-third of whom must be white people, who are to receive 20 hectares of land; the, other Immigrants may be South Sea Islanders, Indiamen, or - Chinese. Messrs. Browne and Byrne, for the fulfilment of their i agreement, are bound to lodge in the hands of the French Government a deposit of ,£IO.OOO. The grant of land extends from one shore to the other of New Caledonia, to the westward of the line of communication between the Bay of Kanala and port St. Vincent. Messrs. Brown i and Byrne having accepted the above conditions, are bound to pay an indemnity to the natives for their land, if required. They will have to protect and defend their settlement and their immigrants themselves, against the natives. Leave may be given to them to employ prisoners of a , certain class ; but they will have no title to any particular favour, either in grant of prisoners or 1 in works to be executed by Government. They must also introduce at their own expense, and settle on the land grantee! to them, 1000 adult immigrants, one-third of which must belong to the white race, engaged for five years at least, and for ten at most.

A Goulbourn paper says,—" We learn that a project i 3 now on. foot for the erection of a bishopric for the southern districts, the diocese to be named Goulburn, and the seat to be fixed in this town. The Bishop of Sydney, we understand, has expressed his willingness to yield all his interest in this part of his present diocese, provided that the necessary funds can be raised for the erection of a separate bishopric. The sum required for this purpose is .£1000"per annum. Towards this amount, we are informed an endowment of £320 a-year has been promised by three members of the Episcopalian Church in Sydney. It is calculated that by the sale of some of the church lands in Goulburn, sufficient could be raised to make this amount .£SOO a-year. Assistance would no doubt be given by the Colonial Bishopric's Fund, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. The residue required would be raised by contributions from the members of the church resident in the proposed diocese. The scheme, as placed before us, seems feasible enough; and a strong case has been made out for the necessity of such a step. We trust the project will be pressed to a successful issue." A public meeting was held in Sydney on the Bth ult • JVIr. J. Black, M.P., in the chair,—in order to take steps for. the erection of a Presbyterian College within the University of Sydney; Dr Lang explained the course of action as to collecting the £10,000 required by Government to be subscribed before the like amount could be asked from the Assembly; and concluded by proposing, conjunctively, three resolutions, approving of the proceedings of committee appointed to see and effect a compromise; reeom-

mending the formation of a' Presbyterian^aca- j demy or grammar school, for training students for the college and university; arid recommending that the institution known as the Australian College, which had been sixteen ■ years in abeyance, might be resuscitated for that purpose. The resolutions haying been duly seconded by the Rev. Mr. Reid, co-pastor of Dr. Lang, were put from the chair and carried unanimously. The 'Empire,' of the 10th ult., writes as follows, on the prospects of the gold fields:—- 5 _ A visible increase has taken place in the yield Beyond the addition of a large number of Chinamen to our mining population, it is not more numerous than hitherto, therefore the gold returns show clearly that the yield must have increased. In former months the escort have brought down weekly from two to four thousand ounces of gold, but it will be seen during this month the reeeips have been as follows-.—On the 14th May,7809 ozs. 15 dwts. 11 grs.; on the 21st' May, 2243 ozs. 9 dwts. 15 grs.; on the 28th May, [ 6750 ozs. 15 dwts. 17 grs.; and on the 4th. June, ! 2553 ozs. 9 dwts. 21 grs.; making a total of 19, 356 ozs. 18 dwts. 16 grs. These figures demonstate clearly the fact that so far from our gold fields^ being exhausted, they merely require a sufficient mining population to disclose their actual richnessj The desideratum is not likely to be obtained until a falling off in the yield of i the mines of the neighbouring colony of Victoria, or something of that kind shall cause practical | miners of that colony to turn their attention to our gold fields. Our yield per man per day, is at present undeniably more than that in Victoria, the large amount of gold discovered there being divided amongst a large population.