COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 27, 10 September 1842, Page 108

COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE.

The Sydney Municipal Bill.— The bill to declare the town of Sydney to be a city, j and to incorporate the inhabitants, having become law, we congratulate the council and the citizens upon the passing of a measure which we firmly believe is calculated to be of immense benefit, and which is extremely creditable to the compilers and to the Council. As further opposition to the bill will be futile, we trust that those persons who have had objections to the power of the Council, now that those objections have been overruled, will aid those who have always supported it, in working the bill as efficiently as possible. The clauses relating to the market sheds were, we understand, considered sufficient to secure to the corpora* tion the rates, &c, so as to render any further clauses on the subject unnecessary. Now that the bill has become law, intrigues to secure the election of parties to the office of councillor will commence; but we hope that the electors will not pledge themselves to any one, but reserve their votes until they have all the candidates for municipal honours before them. It is not the first candidate, but the best man, that should have the preference. — Sydney Herald. The northern parts of New South Wales are suffering greatly for want of rain. Many thousand cattle have died from want of pasturage. The Flood. — During last week, owing to the very heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday, the Yarra has risen to a height altogether unknown to the oldest resident, and overflowed its banks, inundated the wharf, and substituted one sheet of water on the other side of the river for the green grassy fields which in that same locality have hitherto opened up to view ; even the new road from the beach to the bridge, which was supposed, from its elevation* to be free from inundation, was flooded in many parts. On Sunday crowds of inhabitants were to be seen promenading on the new wharf, looking with intense interest to the breakwater overflowing in rushing torrents, in humble imitation of the falls of Niagara. The damage to the brickmakers has been very great, all of them having been compelled to seek other habitations at a moment's notice, their houses being now flooded three feet deep. All the beautiful gardens on the banks, including those of Messrs. Orr, Curr, Welsh, the Hon. Mr. Murray, and Major St. John, &c, &c, are also completely under water, as well as those of Heidelberg. Captain ..Cole' 8 wharf, which has been raised several feet 'bythe earth cut out from the dock, presents the extraordinary appearance of a "disolute island 1 / being completely surrounded with :wate&-^Melbourne Times. ,T*BB Blacks. — We learn the blacks are : again becoming troublesome on the banks of the Hume and Murray, where they lately speared in one day twenty-two sheep. — Port MMip Herald. South Australia.— A gentleman, re.cently returned from a visit to South Australia, .gives us a very deplorable account of the state of things in Adelaide. Building, he says, has ilong been at a stand-still, and the number of empty house?, with broken windows and other marks of desolation which meet the eye of the traveller, in the street, create an impression such as might be occasioned by the appearance of a town partially depopulated by the plague. No business is doing in the mercantile circles, and there are scarcely half-a-dozen houses, either wholesale or retail, able to pay their way. Governor Grey does not give such general satisfaction to the colonists as was anticipated on his arrival in the colony. He is alleged to be too young and inexperienced for the important trust assigned to him, and though possessed of great talents, they are stated to De Hot exactly of the description suited to the management of the affairs of a colony like South Australia in times of difficulty and distress. His Excellency has contrived, it seems, to render his position still more difficult by embroiling himself with the, town council, the members of which, though they were silly enough to consent to receive a Municipal Corporation without endowment of any kind, 6eem, nevertheless, to be men of spirit, and not disposed to put up with any nonsense. It is consolatory, however, to know that while the town — we beg pardon, the city — is thus retrogading, the colony is advancing in the real elements of prosperity; the town is deserted, but the country is becoming populated; the community is composed of a larger number of buyers and a smaller number of sellers; agriculture is flourishing; in short, to any one practically acquainted wjth the real, principles of colonization, there are abundant evidences that, though Adelaide will not outstrip London for a century yet to come, South Australia is even now, in the day of its adversity, ja more eligible field for immigration than when in the zenith of its prosperity. — Port Phillip Patriot. Hobart Town Markets, July 29. — There has been little wheat coming to town during the last few dap| notwithstanding which prices have not experienced any alteration. Fine flour at the milte, £19; wheat, 7s 6d to 7s 9d; barley, English, 6s 6d to 7s, Cape ditto, 5s 6d to 6s; oats, 5s 6d to 6s. per bushel; hay (pressed), £8, ditto (loose), £6 10s to £7; straw, £3 10s to £4 per ton, delivered; Sydney coals, 40s per ton, ditto ; she oak, 13s to 14s per ton; gum wood, 8s to 9s per ton; Potatoes, £7 per ton; cabbages. Is 6d per doien; turnips, 2s per dozen, bunches; carrots, ,5s per cwt; cauliflowers, 4s per dozen; tur- - keys, 14s, geese, 10s* ducks, 6s, fowls, 4s per pair; eggs, Is 9d to 2s per dozen; fresh butter, 2s 3d to 2a 6d per lb; shingleß, 8s to 9s per thousand ; inch boarda, 9s per hundred feet ; posts and rails, 30s per hundred ; joists and quartering, 7s per hundred feet.