SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 657, 23 February 1859, Page 3

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

; We have advicesTfra'riV Adelaide to the 19th ult. A woman named .Bridget Kilmarton had been committed for.-trial on) the coroner's warrant, for 'the ; wilfulmur.dete of her infant. 'V Asubscription;was .being raised for the purpose of defraying the expense off thoroughly prospecting the.; Hansdorf vgold ; field., About £30 had been raised. The last report relative to these diggings runs thus :— ' " Messrs. Chiles and Macklin's party, consisting of five.jnen.allof them old Victorian gold diggers, jhave at present sunk:ld the depth;of: about fifty feet upon the hm behind. Herberger's washing place. The first twenty feetfwa3 through; ?white porcelain :clay, and the rest" of the distance through a mixture of sandstone, slate, quartz, and burnt-ironstone. The earth is now ass'uiriing a very yellow colour, and the quartz is much honeycombed. It is rather .singular that small.roots are showing themselves at the distance of fifty.feet,, some of them green and full of sap..- In order to meet their current j experi ses, -t wo ■. and sometimes. three of the party have, alspbeen working in the gulley at: the-foot of the hill.^where, at about ten, feet,they have taken ;during..jthe last/fortnight between four arid five ounces/of; gold, i, They brought in: a portion of this J>n;Monday,and: exliibited it at; tth'e Exchange. It ■is.of, a very large Tough, lumpy kind, arid for the tnost part angular, with, the appearance, of having fteeri forced :upwardsinto the crevices of the quartz, With/regard: to; their, main {work, the deep sinking, they anticipate.having: to go down as much as from; 100 to 150 feet, which will bring theni to the levels of the bottoriis in the gulley.":, ? The election of a Mayor of Adelaide, in the room !of Mr.,Sabberi, who hasiaeen committed for trial on :a chargeof forgery, was to take: place on the 24th ultimo;.1 ' • :

The ' Register' has. the following relative to the fire/which took place at Port Adelaide on the night of the I.4th:— . :■.;■ s

"The fire did;not, in consequence of several fortunate causes, do a great deal of injury. It was, however,: more than usually; marked with :■ those lucky characteristics which show that the escape .from a more disastrous conflagration was the result of accident, and not in the least the consequence of ; management or'forethought.' It was proved^by what took place at this fire that the Port, even with the .assistance of the electric telegraphy cannot depend upon Adelaide for assistance in any case of theiind.;; The.engine from town did mot arrive at the scene of: the disaster until; about :an hour after the fire was over, arid two. hours and a-ihalf after it; commenced, so that it .was': quite useless. But it iappears.that;the,en'gines.belongirig to the'Pqrt were also,:to atgreat:.extent; in;ithe same ;position, from want; of,- everythirig like' preparation. The: Port police, engine, we ; read, had not a hose long enough to reach the water, at the wharfs, arid all the water that couldibe .for sonte ,tirae brought to the engine ; was the,paftial contents of a wfater-butt—a quantity; ; insufficient ,tQ: be' of the, slightest use. Then' there were two.:other engines ; whose hoses were long ! enough to: reach: from [the wharf to the fire; but they were allowed to stand idle the whole of thetime from the want of someone in authority to order their .being brought into use.: The statements made on some of these 'points': are Really quite unaccountable. ; How the ; police.engine at the Port should have. been'without hose long enough to ;be of service, and how thepersonsiih charge of the idle engines'should: have allowed: them to remain unused from the outbreak of the fire to the end, we are at a loss to understand. - ■''■'■.--

This disaster, like its predecessors, shows that there must be some one with authority to act in cases of fire, before the public will be able to feel the slightest security/against the results of such accidents when they occur. There was no lack of means to arrest the flatries at the conflagration in question; but the" engines with' the long hoses were not brought into use, and the engine with the; short hose cojild not be applied at so great a distance from the water.' Under; this'state of things, it was a mere accident, arising but of the direction of the wind,; that preyeritedl a 'great portion of the port: from' being consumed. And so it will be'irv every case, so, long-as/there is no 'ohfr responsible for whatis:required to-be done. We'Jiaveurged this matter upon'the' attention of the Government and the citizens repeatedly without effect; but we are satisfied that a better' systertf—if riot adopted; 'frbiri other causes—will some day be made imperative by a; more'tlian usually disastrous conflagration; Thb , ABORitdt^ES.-^Thursday's ''Gazette,' says the ' Regjstciv' contain? [a 'sliOrt report; ;frbtn Mr. Mason, protector of Aborigines at Wellington, upori! the condition of Aborigines under his charge. It is'highly satisfactory sqfar as their physical state is concerned. The'follq\ting are the contents of the' letter:— ,•■■■■■•'•■■■ ■-..-.■■■■■• ■■ ..

"Ihave much^ pleasure to report the peaceable disposition'pf; the natives generally,' and it also gives ■ me double pleasure 'to stare how exceedingly Indus-.' trious and useful many of them have become.; AsJ

an example,' Messrs. Cobke arid/ Mnciarlane, my immediate neighbours, prefer them generally to the white people, on account of the clean and neat manner of their sheaving, and in justice to these gentle*' moh I must say thai they pay'tho natives, and 'use them in allrespects;equal to the white people. "There ii one thing I have been trying to accomplish, 'namely,"using ; the money they, earn properly; biit on this score I am afraid I sliall have to contend Svith ' as they argue they earn' their money like? White' people, and have a right to spend it as s\i(ih. .'■ ' ; '• . ■ ■

• "As regards religious instructions, I am afraid not much/can'be done;, in fact.from what I know of the natives, afterlliving twenty years amongst them, I think industry 'will-advance their civilization more than'anything else..1 Nearly all the able-bodied natives have gone from here to harvest.; Only the sick, blind, and.lame, are still.at, this location. ! "The number of sick and infirm natives receiving rations averages twenty.; The goods sent for their use on the 29th July—flour, rice,'tea, sugar, tobacco, fishiftgrlinesi pots, spoons, tomahawks, etc;—have been of the greatest benefit to them, and have all been distributed.

"Births, eight—three males: and five females, Deathsj five—three males and two females."

i The following ; from ;the ' Register' of the 15th, indioates that the,fair ones of ithe colony had benefited, by the precepts of Georges Sand, and were about to1 disport; themselves like triieeleves of the liorine school:—' '

; We learn, from the letter of our Gawler correspondent dated the 12th instant, that preparations are being made in that thriving, town for a race meeting in March next. The.idea appears to have been taken up with considerable enthusiasm, and a very successful affair-'.is anticipated. All; this'is very proper; but,there, is a novel feature which it is proposed to introduce into the Gawler autumnal races, which, for the credit of South Australian womanhood, we trust will utterly fall. Closing the published arrangements for: the meeting,'we find the following race :--"Ladies' race—One guinea entrance; one mile; one event; to be' ridden by young ladies; side'saddlej bridle, and whip to be added'to the stakes; 'the;:second-horse to .say its stakel" In reference to" this novel " event," our correspondent supplies the following information:—"The arranging of the Ladies' Pace gave rise to some amusing discussions as tb whether the race was to be confined to unmarried ladies, whether the ladies were, to.be allowied to ride thoroughbreds, and whether' the fair jockeys were to be subjected to the"regulation of weights arid'scales. Ultimately it was decided to leave each' lady equestria'ri unfettered by any regulations of the above kinds! ■ The news of this novel and thoroughly colonial trial of equestrian prowess, for Avhiclv the daughters'of the land are deservedly celebrated, having got wind a fortnight ago, several horses and fair jocks were reported to be already in training; some as far off as Mount Barker, where it is understood there are some very formidable; horsewomen. Several entries were intimated from' tlie vicinity of Gawler, and; it is not improbable that this atiractiye contest may draw a larger jiumbef* of spectators5 than Gawler1 has: hitherto witnessed.on: any:previous occasion," ■ We do not doubt, the. attractiveness of the spectacle, if South Australian^" ladiesi" will degrade themselves to' furnisli the ! amusement. TJnques^' tionably: it will be' capital' sporf I for the gaping crowd to see a^umber of ladies careering along at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and' nothing will please the '? oi polloi" better than to witness the unhorsing of some of these unblushing damsels, with all the ludicrousconcomitants that may be expected' to occur. But we entertain ,a ( , strong-confidence that no: girl of.jany feeling, .haying, the slightest degree^, of self-respect, or cherishing the smallest; regard for the approbation of the virtuous and wise, will condescend tb! exhibit herself for'the; vulgar delectation. Thereds scarcely 'a more graceful sight under: the sun than a self-possessed and perfect' equestrienne. s Striking, indeed, will; be the contrast presented by the" ".(Ladies' Race "[ at the Gawler Town, should that eventyever'cbme1 off' Our i confidence in the: sex, however;, forbids1 us io cherish .-the,-fear- that the degrading .spectacle will be, witnessed, on ; a South Australian racecourse; Blit should -the; result prove.'tHat; our poiVfideqce is misplaced-i-should-the Tadies cbme^tq'tiie-scratcn^ —then we' trust that some very "nefcessar}' regulations may be enforced. Jockey costume must be insisted on., If the, ladies choose to unsex themselves by their act, let them'symbolise the abdication by unsexitig themselves iri dress also. The ordinary turf penalties on" ilt-gtdVn jockeys ought .to be im->' posed most rigorously; If a lady is too stout, shemust be:'sweated, down;' if she is too light she must imperil her chance of victory by, carrying ' dead weight!' ; Jostling and crossing will, of course; be prohibited; but with feminineiriders.the use of provocative language should always be made a punishable offence. In■; short, if, ladies will become turfites, they must expect no better treatment than the' male portion of ( the confraternity receive. By-and-by, then, we may perhaps read of some detected, 'lady' being horsewhipped off the ground for unsportswomanlike practices. Most earnestly do •we entreat our spirited .-young cpuntry ladies, splendid horseAyomeh as manybfthem^re^-tb reflect before they give their sanction to this indelicate proposal. „ Their,love: for equestrian exercises may lead them to overlook at first the true character of ;the* proposed exhibition, which, in their innocence, they may associate with a gallop in the bush with ; their brothers or cousins; but if they take time'to .consider," their feminine sense of propriety will injfallibly dictate the proper course. Theymay rest assured that if tliey wish to retain the esteem of any friend whose esteem" is worth having, they will ' abstain from'attempting to seek the applause of a' motley, throng: at'the. winningrpost. '