MELBOURNE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 670, 9 April 1859, Page 6

MELBOURNE.

(Prom the Correspondent of the " Sydney Morning Herald.") Monday Morning, March. 14th.—Tke Corporation of the City of Melbourne has been true to itself. It has maintained its character for impudent ,pre.sumption aad consummate ignorance. The collective "-wisdom" of the corporate body has been called together, at the requisition of eight members whose names do not appear, to pass a vote of censure upon the British Government, because John Thomas Smith, the five times .mayor of Melbourne, was not knighted on the occasion of the .presentation by him to Her Most Gracious Majesty of an address of congratulation on the marriage of the Princess Royal of England to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. The story of the mission, of John Thomas.Smith is well known. He was sent !home (by a sudden movement amongst a .clique •numerically strong in the Coimcil) ostensibly to ■congratulate Her Majesty, but really that the Queen might obey the behest of the civic dignitaries of Melbourne, by admitting to knightly rank the man whom they 'had delighted to honour. The mayor went home,*was feted by the Colonial Secretary, fenced at Birmingham and Edinburgh, ■claimed as a long/lost son by Mrs.' Hall, boxed on the ears by her pretty grand-daughters, whom he tried to " kips"—received at Windsor, and at last returned from the same place John Thomas Smith, ex-Mayor, who had sailed away as Mayor some ten month's previously. He stopt for a month in ■iC^ypt to prepare the Common Council for the Jblow, and iiere he bought a donkey. When.he did arrive 'by tin next mail, he and his donkey, came ; •f| uietly into Mcl bourne. There were no processions, ;iio-tmiinphal arches. Smith came up By^rail and the donkey by the common road, and little or.nothing has been heard of either since What the feelings of the ex-Mayor may have been, on return-in"-an unsuccessful man to his adopted country, ■thuv were as closely concealed as were those of the animal who : first set foot on it under a process of adoption generally known as that of Hobson'a choice. _ „ tit A t lenHh, howevefjhe.pent-up feelings exploded: ■i^U loyal councillors affiied their signatures .to a-

dponment ca.Uhigj-uppn ; the Mayor to cull a meeting; to discuss the following resolution :— : " That*asdutiiul and loving subjects of hevMost Gracious -Majesty, and' as one of the Municipal Corporations,olv the British Eittpire, this Council deeply regrets that upon its having had the honour of expressing,' by its personal representative, its dpvoted and loyal congratulation?!,to ller Majesty, on the occasion of the. marriage, of' Hoi' Royal Highness the Princess FredovicltWiJliam of Prussia, .the. usual custom should have been departed from by the .Eight Honorable the Minister-of- State for the Colonies.", .,■ ; ■ ■ : " • •

. i The meeting took place on Friday, but the proposed resolution was too much'even for a Melbourne Corporation, and, after a long and jocose conversation, in; which "dodging" was defended ,by. the .Smith party but of compliment to their opponents,, who, they contended, were "', tarred with -the same' ,brush," the following singularly mild l-ebuke was passed:-1- . .- ■■?-

„ ! "That this Council regrets that, for want-rof ..precedent,,it ,was .not in the power of the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies to advise the.present usual practice, and that the: Mayor be_ requested in person to present this resolution to His Excellency the Governor." • The idea that a Right'; Honorable Secretary of Statefor the Colonies was not able, '"for the want of precedent" to advise, the "usual practice," does seem to me rather an incongruous, one. . Last year was an eventful'year.in, British history.. India was formally "annexed" to the British Empire. The-first-quarter of the current year is not over, and the ■" rowdiest" Corporation in the world (always-excepting some few good men who have joined it for t-lie purpose of -securing reform from within) has thought tit to speak a.bit of its mind- to the Queen, on thVquostion of knight- ■ hood., Is there any portent inJihose events ? : v The' Geelong Daily New*,1 In denying that the colony-is.to .be dragged -into the mire, taken the most sensible view of this ukoreditable business, in an article, part of which lain tempted, to subjoin:— "We have said, however, that we 1 are glad that the Corporation has taken the step it took yesterday. • When John Thomas ' Smith was being paraded about England as a Victorian Representative Mair—-when he got a clergyman of the Established Church to accept the ignominious, position which'Mr. Perks occupied, as chaplain to the late landlord of St. John's tavern-r-there was a.general and natural feeling that our ; poor colony was being libelled to-the British public. John Thomas had, indeed, been five times elected Mayor of Melbourne;' and it was not unnatural for people to suppose that he was the kind of hero we worship out here, and hence to draw those inferences as to the character of the worshipper which we "felt would be so unjust to the community. •'From such misconstruction the Corporation has generously stepped forward to relieve us^ By placing themselves .before the world in as contemptible a light as they could well get into—by making.it appear that the Corporation of Melbourne is, what it. is, they have furnished an explanation of how it has come to pass ;that John .Smith -was "elected ; Mayor five times. They have' skipped John Thomas's five times' repeated triumph of that significance, so slanderous to the communit} 7, which it before,appeared to possess, and have explained the whole affair in a way that -will relieve Victoria of all odium.: "We it is," they.say in effect —"we, it-is that have, elected him, and. you see what we iare—as imbecile • a little lotof defeated schemers as :ever the sun ■ shone upon." It was not to have been expected that the Corporation Jwould have taken such a Curitius leap into the :gulf of folly.; but we owe them .some thanks for having been at the pains to explain away a circumstance; which, unexplained, wasvcalculated to establish in the British mind certain very unfavourable impressions concerning -this.community." ":, ;■ • ■■■ ■ ; ■; Notwithstanding that Mr.. .Ebden somewhat hastily. and-,prematurely announced in the Assembly, a short time before the prorogation, that the new stone which .has recently, been discovered at Darley would in: thef opinion of-the Building Stone Com- ■ raittee satisfy, the present wants of the' colony, so far as the erection of public ; edifices is concerned, grave doubts of the correctness of this opinion are entertained by those whose judgment'in this matter; is most to be relied on. The quarry has now been opened to a considerable depth, and, while the stone itself is found, of course, to become harder and stronger, the: colour is by no means so pleasing or regular as it was nearer the surface of the earth. Unless an improvement in this respect takes place the Darley stone will scarcely be available for use in the; construction of the outer portion of the Houses of Parliament, or of. other buildings of note. This vexed question cannot i therefore be looked upon as settled, and the colony may. still have to be^ indebted to oneot its neighbours,-or to, Europe, for the building 1 material-of -its architectural c#<?/s d'^we. [By Electric Teldigeaph/] Marchl6, 6.30 p.m. The city was astonished this morning by the announcement that Mr. Duffy had resigned. The alleged cause is personal not political differences, and incompatibility of temper. It is said that Mr. Marker will follow—not from the same reason, but that he is desirous of retiring into private -life for a time. ■ . Regan is committed for the Cheltenham murder. The evidence is most revolting and cruel! The particulars lasting over a whole night. . - Markets quiet. ' . Barrel flour brought up to-day on speculation at 38s. -required for mixing by bakers . '.... ' [Since the above was in type we have received later news from Melbourne by the Armenian, for •which, however, we have no room to-day.]