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VICTORIA.

In the .-.-absence-of papers we are;indebted to the Otago ' Colonist' for the following summary from , its own Correspondent. Melbourne, Jan. 15th, 1859. There is very little political news stirring, the Christmas holidays having interrupted the sitting of Parliament. Prior to the recess his Excellency the Governor gave the royd assent to the Reform Bill, which increases the number of members,in the Assembly .from 60 to 78,.and redistributes the electoral districts upon the basis of population. Another measure, to shorten the duration of Parliaments by substituting three for five years, was reserved for her Majesty's pleasure. The ministry .-appear to be losing ground in public estimation, and whether they will succeed in regaining it or. not will greatly depend upon the nature of the Land Bill which they intend to bring forward in the new Parliament. Mr. O'Shanassy has pledged himself to declare the principles upon which it is to be -based, before the dissolution, which is expected to - take place early next month. This pledge, I should ■ mention, was extorted from him by the Assembly, which by an adverse vote refused to grant the esti- ■. mates for the survey department until the House was made acquainted with the system proposed to be -adopted in disposing of the Crown Lands. 1 Meanwhilel the daily onslaughts upon the Ministry by the ' Age' are weakening the position and destroying the popularity of the Government, which only receives a sort of tolerating patronage from the,' Argus,' and a feeble support from the ' Herald.' According to all appearance the approaching, general election will be a period of fierce political excitement. There is not only the land question to., foment/discord, hut men's minds will he inflamed by religious animosities; for the compact organization of the Roman Catholic /party in this colony, its secret and subtle tactics/its, absorption of-Govern-ment patronage, and the fact of :Roman Catholic candidates having been already designated for every' electoral district iri which there is a shadow of a chanceof the " Catholic vote'" turriing-the scale in 'favour, have led to a-counter-movement on the ; part of the Protestants, numbering four-fifths of ■jthe. eommumty, and an organization has been 'tforinea," includingmen of aU shades of political opinion, entitled the "Constitutional Association," and a large sum of money subscribed to secure the return of the men pledged to resist the aggressive /policy of the, Roman Catholics. It is much to be -regretted that these dissentions should have arisen, hutf.»the^aetion taken by the- Protestants is purely a defensive*onej and-has-beenentered upou with reluc•tance. The first section of the railway which is to connect Melbourne with the River Murray was opened on Thursday last at Sunbury, a distance of twenty- - three.miles, the completion of which has only occu-. piedsix months. -The day. was observedas a general holiday, and Messrs. Cornish arid Bruce, the contractors, invited about 1500 persons, including the -Governor, the'1 Executive, the members of both ; Houses of Parliament, and the elite of Melbourne society, to a trip as far as Sunbury, where -a most sumptuous dejeuner <was.prepared, while the work-' men on the line, were also regaled with a substantial repast. The weather was most-propitious.; everything passed off admirably, and not a.single accidentoccurred to mar the festivities. . Last night the conrtraetors invited the Governor and a company of = two thousand to. a ball at the Exhibition building, - and- the magnificence of the supper and the perfec-tion-of-all the arrangements were the theme of .general eulogy. The works on the-\Ballaarat-and Geelong line are 'being expeditiously proceeded> with. A short line is in course of completion from St. Kilda to Brighton, andanother is just finished from Melbourne to. Rich-, moud; while railway communication is-now openbet ween Melbourne and-Geelong throughout. An agitation among the working niasoris and,. • other operatives connected with the building, trades,, in this city has "been excited in consequence of a .proposition to import a hundred thousand pounds' worth of marble from Italy wherewith to face the new Houses of Parliament. It is urged that such -„a step would be impolitic and extravagant, insomuch as we have quarries of excellent freestone in the colony, as well as excellent granite; while a report hasreeently reachedusof the discovery of a mount-ain-of pure whiteraarble on the/Fitzroy river,'N.S.W. 1 believe the Government, deferring to public feeling,. bave abandoned their original intention of sending to the quarries of Carrarafor marble. Trade continues very dull,.and the failure of Mr.. David Masterton, whose liabilities amount to between £80;000 and £100.000 Ivbs not improved it. At the meeting of creditors, Mr. A. R. Cruikshank avowed himself responsible to tlie creditors, .and gave his acceptances at 4 and 6 months for the amount. ' There has been a great falling off in the yield of •gold, and a corresponding diminution in our exports for 1858. Our revenue for 1858 amounted to £3,339,791, being a decrease of £136.097 on that of 1857. There was an "increase, however, of £56,583 on the quarter's revenue. Groat preparations are being made for the worthy ■celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the ■ birth-day of Robert-Burns onthe 25th instant. A new ocean postal project:is on foot. Mr. Sewell, formerly Colonial Secretary of New Zealand, re- ■ cen-tiy arrived in the colony by the Royal Charter, -has had frequent with his Excellency .Sir.Henry .Darkly on the sulyect of the establishment of a second postal service to the Australian .colonies, by way of Panama. Without-being actually employed by the Imperial Government, Mr. Sewell is understood to be acting as their mouth-piece in ;the matter; at least, he brings with him confidential communications from Sir Bulwer Lytton, the seeretiiry for the Colonies, containing the views of the Derby Ministry. • Mr. Sewell has likewise been furnished "by the i leads of the Treasury department at home with -very.elaborate statistics which have never yet been ; put". in print, illustrating the proportionate interest of the different colonies in the .actual postal service •lietween Australia and England. Mr. -SewelPs .•scheme^ we understand, would involve us in something like a subsidy of £100,000 per annum. On Tuesday last Mr. Sewell had an interview with the

Committee of the 'Chamber, when he laid before ,1 thetn the following documents, furnished to him by ' the HomcOovernnient-:—

" AUSTRALIAN POSTAL -SERVICE. "Tlks distance from Southampton to Melbourne via Suez and the Mauritius, calculated from data supplied to me, partly by the captain of the Royal / | Charter, and partly from a chart, corrected by the i Hydrographer-«General,"is as follows:-— ! > Nautical .Miles. ; Southampton to Gibraltar ... „. 1,300 Gibraltar to Malta 1,050 . „ Alexandria ... 1,116 Suez to Aden ... 1,500 „ Mauritius 2,200 „ King George's Sound 3,330 „ Kangaroo Island ... ... 1,020 .„ Melbourne ... 450 11,966 Add distance from Alexandria to Suez, say 134 Total to Melbourne, say ... ... ... ... 12,109 To Sydney, say ..',.... 600 12,700 " The distance from Southampton to Sydney, via Panama, Tahiti, and the Bay of Islands (New Zealand), according to calculations corrected by the Hydrpgrapher-General, may be taken as follows:— Nautical Miles. Southampton to St. Thomas's 3.587 „ Chagres ... 1,025 Panama to Tahiti ... . .. ... 4,488 „ Bay of Islands ... 2,285 „ Sydney ... 1,335 12,720 Add distance from Chagres to Panama, say .Total distance ... 12;«00 " Assuming the route to be by way of Cook's Straits, and -the mails to be carried by a branch steamer from thence to Melbourne direct, I do not consider that that would make any appreciable difference of distance. I assume the total distance from Southampton to Melbourne, via Panama and Wellington, to be about 12/800 miles. j "The difference of distance via Suez is 700 miles less/equal to about thr.ee ordinary days' sailing. "lassume that the average voyage by way! of Suez will be to Melbourne 55, and to Sydney 58 days ; and by way of Panama/both to Melbourne, and Sydney, 58 days, the mails brought to Melbourne -by branch steamer direct. "This will give an average both ways of about rather more than nine knots per hour, including stoppages. Stoppages by the Suez line would be rather more frequent than by Panama. " Upon the foregoing assumptions, I -would suggest.the following time-table :— "ODT-WAUD FROM ENGLAND. " Via Suez.—Mail to leave Southampton each month on the 12th, reaching Melbourne the month following next but one, on the 7th, and Sydney on the 10th. " Via Panama.—Mails to leave Southampton each month on the 24th, reaching Sydney the month following next but one, on the 22nd, and Melbourne on the 22nd.

'' HOMEWARDS TO ENGLAND,

" Via Suez.—Mail to leave Sydney each month on the 15th, and Melbourne on the 18th, reaching Southampton the month following next but one, on the 13th.

"-Via Panama.—Mail to leave Melbourne each month on the Ist, and Sydney on the Ist, reaching Southamptonl the next month but one on the 29th.

M The practical benefit to Melbourne would be, that letters leaving England by way of Panama 12 days later than the Suez- feail would reach Melbourne 15 days earlier: than the following Suez mail — -exf., letters.from England of the 12th;January will reach: Melbourne by way of Suez oh the 7th March. Letters from England of the 24th January will reach Melbourne on the 22nd March.

"Letters-leaving Melbourne the 18th January will by way of Suez Teach" 'England on the 15th March, but which cannot be answered byway of Suez till the 12th April, reaching Melbourne on the 7th $une, whereas, by theadditional Panama line, they may be'answered by the 24th March, reaching Melbourne on the 22nd May. "Letters from Melbourne on the lst^ebruary will reach England, by way of Panama, on the 29th March, and maybe answered by way of Sue* "on the 12th April, reaching Melbourne 7th June.

"A statement showing the total number of letters conveyed by the Australian packets between this country and Australia, and the estimated amount of sea postage derived by the Imperial Post Office, from the outward correspondence books, and papers, in the year 1857-:—

Letters Outwards. Victoria 399,145 .. N.S. Wales... 159,522 .. S. Australia . 63,250 .. New Zealand. 45,109 .. Tasmania.... 31,079 .. -W. Australia 7,049 ..

Letters Total No. Inwards, of Letters. .. 398,946 .... 798,091 .. 151,912.... 311,434 .. 36,167.... 99,417 .. 32,781.... 77,890 .. 37,818.... 68,897 .. 5,423 12,472 -

;Total .705,154 .663,047 1,368,201 "Per-centage of correspondence -:—Victoria, 58 5-16ths: New South Wales, 22|:: South Australia, 7£; New Zealand, 5 11-16ths; Tasmania, 5 1-16 th; Western Australia, 15-16ths.

"Estimated amount of sea-postage derived by the Imperial Post Office from the outward correspondence, letters, books, and papers, £26,000. (Signed) "Frank James Sccdamore. "October 11."

Permanent link to this item
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18590202.2.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 651, 2 February 1859, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,707

VICTORIA. Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 651, 2 February 1859, Page 4

VICTORIA. Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 651, 2 February 1859, Page 4

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