VICTORIA.

Marlborough Press, Volume I, Issue 10, 9 March 1860, Page 4

VICTORIA.

The Victorian Parliament has voted £50,000 for reservoirs at the gold fields, and £30,000 for the purpose of prospecting. The Government opposed both votes. Mr. Nicholson stated in the Assembly,

on the 31st January, that highly favourable reports had been received from the Warden >f the new gold field at the Upper Aan a. The diggings were described aswell-watered and highly auriferous. The i ter-colonial telegraph lines are working badly. The Tasmanian line, after resumption for a brief period,. has again , stopped. The Adelaide telegraph was silent 1 for two davs, but was again resumed. The weather was very hot during the 4th and sth February, being three degrees hotter than Black Thursday. Ice was in great request. The thermometer stood at 111 in the shade on the 6th February. In the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Nicholson stated that the Government did not intend to purchase the six camels, recently imported. Mr. O’fehanassy s motion foi a grant of ,£50,000 for female immigration was opposed by the Government, and nega-

tived. On the 16th January the Melbourne Herald reported as follows :—“At this moment we find that every, or nearly e\ eiy, imported article is held in inordinate quantities, and that sellers are willing to realise on terms which, in many instances, lcaie a direct loss. Goods arc passed about fiom hand to hand, and a spurious excitement is occasionally engendered by the proceedings of a few reckless or credulous buyers; but the fact still remains, notwithstanding, that no healthy t ade is being carried on, and that business is gradually becoming less remunerative to all who are engaged in it. The remedy for this gloomy state of things seems to be unattainable at present, for. the number of insane exporters from the United Kingdom is evidently increasing rather than diminishing, to judge from the. latest reports whi -h have reached us. It is saie to predict that these persons will suffer very severe losses, and, if the mischief rested here, we should not complain. Unfortunately, however, it affects our own importers in a material degree, and, furtheimore, arrests the course of business in this direction to an extent which is calculated to produce much well-grounded alarm. The Melbourne correspondent of the Empire says:—“ The house has shown a disposition for retrenchment, and several items of expenditure have been reduced, notwithstanding the st/ong opposition to such reduction both by the members of the late and the present ministry. A large part of the population of there colonies has always been in the habit of imitating and copying the extravagancies and absurdities of the old country, because these extravagancies and absurdities were supposed to be genteel and aristocratic. It never entered into the heads of these people to inquire whether the offices and ceremonies they wished to introduce were right or wrong, whether they were necessary or superfluous—all they cared to know was that they were sanctioned and maintained by the higher classes in Britain, and that those who objected to them were low radicals, who were anxious to turn the world upside down.”

ADELAIDE. Flour is quoted at £l7 to £l7 10s. per ton, but is very scarce. Wheat, 7s. per bushel. On the 4th and sth February last, in the morning the heat was terrific ; thermometer 117 in the shade; 158 in the sun. A change took place without rain, on the sth, at noon. Grapes and other fruit have been much damaged by the excessive heat. There have been seven deaths from sunstroke.