VICTORIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 736, 26 November 1859, Page 3

VICTORIA.

By way. of Sydney we have received Melbourne papers to the 6th inst. The Correspondent of the 'Sydney Morning Herald* says under date October 27.:— A ' .'■. .

• TheCiv.ote of want of confidence having been carried:!after three days debate by 56 to 17, the Nicholson administration is formed, and the members of it are about to appeal to their constituencies and declare their policy. I repeat the list:— Chief Secretary, Mr. William Nicholson; Treasurer, Mr.. James M'Culloch; AttorneyGeneral, Mr. S. D. Wood; Commissioner of Lands and Survey, Mr. James Service; Commissioner of Public Works, Mr. J ; C. King; Commissioner of Trade and Customs, Mr. Vincent. Pyke; Post-master-General, Mr. Bailey; Leader in the Legislative Council, Mr. Thomas Fellows; SolicitorGeneral, Mr. Travers Adamson. If'this is not so strong a Cabinet as could be wished, it is at any rate a respectable one. Mr. Fellows will lead in the Upper House, without office or emolument, and will be supported by Mr. Stfachan as an independent member. Mr.. Michie and. Mr. Ebden will lend their aid and support in the Lower House, as will also a fair working majority. Mr. Duffy, with Mr. J. 11. Brook, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Hood, will attempt to force themselves into the position of leaders of the opposition. They are now coquetting with the Convention, which latter body is represented in the House of Mr. Loader, Mr. Everard, Mr. Barton, Mr. Don; and. Mr. O'Hea. What the result will be, the beginning of December will tell. The Assembly now stands adjourned until the 29th of November. -: The city people would have been glad to have welcomed a stronger Cabinet, but they are on the whole satisfied. If some of the names are weak ones, their owners compare not unfavourably with their predecessors in office. Service made a capital common councillor on Emerald Hill; he may improve his fame in his new and more responsible position. Bailey and Pike are both men of ability, and the world is before them. Adamson is a useful man anywhere but in the House; that, all sides are willing to admit. ,The impetuosity of his temperament,cwhich led him to rush to the rescue of something whenever honourable members were excited, was the cause of his loss of weight in the former House.

The opposition will be broken up into three factions — the O'Shanassyites, the Duffy-Brookites, and the Convention. Only two of these factions can ever go into the lobby together; at least, so it seems now.- Duffy can never come into power. The public would sooner forgive O'Shanassy in the matter' of the telegrams, than accept Duffy with his Sepoy mutilation sympathies unexplained. If he be innocent, and too proud to appear so, he will perish a private; not a public, martyr to the cause. Some great change is to be made in the law officers of the Crown—but the precise nature of this remains to be explained. . The sporting world of Melbourne was stunned' this morning by the appearance of the following paragraph and letter in the ' Argus :'— Plying Buck and the Dijieby.—The question of the running of the My ing Buck for the Jockey Club Derby, raised by our reporter's account of the race, had, we supposed, dropped out of public interest and notice. We performed our duty, and had* supposed that the subject would not comebefore us again; especially we feel it necessary to state to our readers that we had made no further inquiries of any ; sort into the matter, and had sought for no further evidence on one other side of the disputed question. Under these circumstances, we have been surprised-at receiving a voluntary testimony of a very remarkable and important character, 'in the form of a witnessed written declaration, under the hand of the jockey who rode Flying Buck at this questioned race. It has been forwarded to us by a person who sends us'his name and address. ■It is. attested by a gentleman whose personal character is known to us, and is a perfect guarantee that the signature ofi the declarant.is authentic; and from whom information has come to us that the declaration was signed by the boy with a free will, and with the air, conduct, and manners # of g declarant of the truth. The statement is, in itself,

vory difficult of belief, and wo publish it only under pressure of the strongest feeling of duty to the public and ourselves.

The following is the declaration referred to :— . "Argus"Hotel, Melbourne, Oct. 20,1859. "I, the undersigned, Thomas Coyne, hereby, of my own accord and free will, declare that my orders from Mr. Yuillc, when about to start for the Jockey- Club Derby, 1859, in the Saddling Paddock, when I was mounted, were, not to win the race; or if I did, he would cut my throat—to keep behind, and to make a. show >t: the finish; adding, • £150 if you do it right;' and that I acted according,to his orders, and had great difficulty inpreventing the Buck from winning.

"Thomas Coyne!

"Witness—W. L. Kelly." . We cull the following from our files :— Captain Moran, of the ship Harmonides,* was summoned to the Sandridge Police Court, to answer a charge of having served out provisions to the passengers deficient in quantity and bad in quality. The charge was preferred by upwards of 100 passengers. The, Immigration Agent, in prosecuting, said the Harmonides was the third vessel arriving at this port, within a recent period, and chartered by the Black Ball Line, against the.captains of which complaints had been made as to the provisions. It was denied by the defendant that ■the Harmonides did belong to the Black Ball Line; she was chartered by the owners of the Eagle line. But, on the other hand, it was admitted that the agent for both classes of vessels, were the sameMessrs. Baines and Co., of Liverpool, and Messrs. W. P. White and Co., of Melbourne—and that the contract tickets for both were identical. It was not easy to perceive what the defendant, or rather the agents, expected to gain by this nice distinction, which simply went to show that the Eagle Line of ships were as imperfectly victualled as the Black Ball Line. It was proved that the allowance of peas for 155 passengers was 1511b. per week short, the potatoes 27| lbs., and the rice 30| lbs., while the defendant admitted that the flour was bad for two-thirds of the voyage. A line of £2 10s., with ss. costs, was inflicted in each case, a moiety of the fine and the costs to go. to each passenger. The total amount of the penalty will he from £220 to £250.

The trial of Thomas Pellatt, late, inspector,of Dead Letters at the General Post Office, for stealing £3 from a.letter addressed to " Messrs. Collyns and Co., merchants, Melbourne," took place at the Criminal Sessions of the Supreme Court. The evidence differed little from that given at the Police Court investigations, except that the peculiar character of the "prisoner's duties were more fully elicited. In answer to Mr. Dawson, Mr. Turner, the Secretary of the Post Office department, admitted that the provisions of the Act respecting the period unclaimed letters were, to be kept before they were opened had been virtually overridden by an'order given by the Executive Council. At the conclusion, of the case for the Crown, counsel for the prisoner contended that the so called letter was not proved to be a letter at all, or to be a mail letter, or one that was to be sent by post. The Judge reserved these points, and the prisoner being found guilty upon one of the eight jcounts which originally, formed the indictment, sentence was deferred until decision upon the objections could be given* Pending this decision, the. prisoner,;who throughout the day appeared much dejected, was.- admitted to bail. The case was subsequently ordered to stand over until next Sessions!

The District Coroner held an inquest last Friday, 'at Kichinond, on the body of Henry O'Neil White, thirty-one years of age, who, according to a'written1 statement found upon the Body, was ; ;the grand nephew of the late Lord Blakeney; and second son of the; late Henry White, of Giceen Hall, county Tipperary, Ireland. The .deceqsed deliberately committed suicide by swallowingViprussic acid. A short time only previous to his decease, he indited a detailed account of his pedigree,1 and at the same time stated that his reasons for-tailing his life were a refusal to an offer of j marriage, and the heavy losses he had met with by betting freely on the Champion Race. He said that he had ridden upwards of 150.steeple-chases in England, and Ireland, and had had both his ariiis and legs broken on different occasions whilst racing. The deceased, who was well known on the turf, was much respected among a, large circle of acquaintances with whom he was intimately associated in Melbourne. The jury returned a verdict to the effect, that the deceased died by his own hand, having taken prussic acid whilst in a state of temporary insanity.

The City Coroner held an inquest on Saturday on the body of .Joseph. William Koche, who early that morning had committed suicide in his bedroom, byhanging himself with his necktie to a curtain rod at the top of the bed. From the evidence, it appears that the deceased-—who, eight or nine months ago, obtained some notoriety by winning a game of billiards with Mr.jCattebeni, played for £100 a-'side—was lately landlord of the Garrick's Head, in Swanston street, and previously had kept the Kainbow Inn, at Sydney. He was a noted billiard player, but of late was frightfully addicted to intemperance. He had been what is termed a "hard drinker" for eight years, but during the last nine or ten days he gave himself up to a continual state of intoxication, never quitting his room, where he drank alljlay long. The jury returned a verdict to. the effect, that the deceased committed suicide by hanging himself, whilst labouring under a fit of delirium tremens. The baths, and washhouses now in the course of erection at the triangular corrier of the gaol reserve ml Swanston street are rapidly approaching completion. „ A galvanised iron roof is being put over the swimming bath, which is by far the most spacious and commodious"thit the colony possesses. The private baths will not, from what can be judged of them by a' cursory inspection be on a corresponding scale of magnitude^'' At the same time, a great desideratum will have-been supplied vyhen the establishment is opened./ This event from all appearances will take place in about a month from the present date. The portion set apart for females washing and bathing, has teen carefully separated from the rest of the building. •. , . One of the most violent and. longest continued thunderstorm of the ;year broke over Melbourne last Friday afternoon. All the day the sky was mustering its forces, and finally the rain came down with a vengeance. As usual, the various channels for the escape, of storm water; were filled in a few minutes to overflowing, and not a few. cabmen in Swanston and Elizabeth^ streets picked, up in a short time more than the fares to their normal destinations would have given them': by carrying belated passengers across the roaring stream. The cries of "over, over," came more frequently than at a cricket match, and the score wsjs decidedly greater. , The ' Geelong.Advertiser' spates that some miscreant had fcta inhumanity to sever one of the leading tendons of the near hind leg of a horse which belonged to Mr. Baldock", of _ Mooraboolstreet, and was in his stables at the time. There can be no doubt but that tbis diabolical act of cruelty or revenge was wilful, as the animal's leg was nearly severed in two, and the incision bore signs of having been made by a sharp instrument, such as an axe. The horse had to bo shot to be relieved from pain.

An inquest was held at Sandhurst, on the 27nd instant, on the body of a widow named Mary Silvy. The evidence showed that she had been on the point of marriage with a nian named Taylor, but that from some reason or other the match was broken off. She then :went to live with the family of a digger,anddiedsuddenlyonWednesdaylast. Before her death she admitted that sheh'ad taken poison,

and the medical evidence showed that she wm enewnie A verdict was returned that deceased had died from the effects of asphyxia, caused by the ollects of a dose of strychnine. William Siddons, the wretched lad under sentence of death, for the attrocious outrage on a child, had been executed, confessing his crime According to the Fryer's Creek correspondent of the M. A Mail dipthonaia very prevalent in that locality. Ho states that " Dr. Mercer, of layers 1 own, has informed him that his time is almost wholly taken up attending children with incipient symptoms of diptheria, very few cases'of which, however, prove fatal. When the epidemic assumes. a fatal form in adults, the disease principally fastens on the lungs, whereas in younger persons, the chief seat of the disorder is 'the mucous membrane of the throat. Mr. James of the Junction Hotel, died of the prevailing disorder, alter an illness of only two or three days." The 'Melbourne Herald' says :—The announcement that a son of the great Macready was to appear at the Olympic on Saturday night, created no small amount of curiosity; and various were the doubts, and surmisings given expression to in theatrical circles, as well as by those thCTeanent who take an interest in the esoteric affan-sof the stage. Mr. Edward Macready, we are informed by those who appear to know most of him, was educated for the army, and having received a commission, served some time in India • the profession disagreeing with his health (or inclination), he sold out, and returned to England. He remained there for a brief period, and desirinosome other field for the display of his abilities, he followed the advice of his friends, and came to Australia. He has been in Victoria for some months, and first made himself known in colonial theatrical circles by performing on one or two occasions at Ballaarat, where the newspapers were rather favourably disposed towards his histrionic pretensions.' Me does not come out s as a professional—if his father's name and fame are of any value "to him well and good—he wishes to be regarded simply as an amateur; but at the same time, he is desirous to ' go into harness' and work for a position in the profession that made his progenitor so illustrious. As Captain Absolute, in Sheridan's comedy of " The Rivals,' Mr. Macready convinced us that with more mechanical acquaintance with the stage added to his other real abilities, he would be an actor of more than ordinary power. In the words of an old hero of the stage who looked not only without jealousy but with pleasure at the debut of one whose descent is almost sufficient to make him popular with an. audience, if not with his .brother .actors, it was ' a very acceptable performance.' Mr. Macready is of a presentable figure; he has an agreeable and sufficiently powerful voice; and he reads as none but a man of education can read; in this respect he formed a striking contrast to many well known actors of by no means small pretensions, and as a necessary result met with almost unanimous approbation. He did not always appear quite at ease—experiencing the difficulty common to all young actors, of an uneasiness as to the proper disposal of hit hands .and feet. Prom the little we have seen we are inclined to believe that if Mr. Macready had' verge enough,' he would soon prove himself to be an acquisition to the colonial stage.

The defendant Barnett Barnett, who was acquitted, owing to the inability of the jury to agree upon the bank robbery case, stands remanded until next sessions, on bail in two sureties of £300 "each. > The 'Argus' of the 24th' says:—Considering all things, the entries for the Turf Club Races, to be held on the 10th, 11th, and 12th of this month, made last night, were tolerably full. r The Derby and Oaks may be pronounced decided failures, to :say nothing of the Scurry—the three events in the aggregate not coaxing more than seven owners to enter horses. For the Free Handicap there are 11 nominations. The acceptances will be declared at 11 this morning. The Turf Club Handicap, to be run, as well as "The Free," on the first day, has 11 acceptances. For the Selling Stakes there are 14; for the Maiden Plate, 9; the Spring Stakes, 10; the Victoria Plate, 7; the Welter Handicap, 6; and for the Steeplechase and Hurdle Race, 8 and 10 respectively. Speculation was limited in quantity, and decidedly small in money value, on the different events—being confined almost exclusively to the Free Handicap. It was stated last night, on behalf of Mr. Yuille, by the Secretary of the Turf Club, that the Flying Buck and Buzzard would not meet during the present racing season.