THIS HOUSELESS AT MELBOURNE.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 685, 6 November 1852, Page 3

THIS HOUSELESS AT MELBOURNE.

Fiom the "Milbouiuu Argus," Oct. IG. We have had considerable difficulty in arriving at u correct estimate of the movement in Melbourne for providing hi use accommodation for newly-ar-rived adventurer- 1 . There has been displayed such an amount of pure benevolence, mixed with so much selfishness and ignorance, I hat it is hard to say which is the predominant characteristic of the scheme. The effect of the movement will be that newly-arrived adventurers will be detained in Melbourne until their money shall be spent, and tliis obvious result a lib id a clue to the motives of many of the Mib&oribcrs. It is known to the majority of the piomofcei' 1 * of this scheme that the remote districts of the Colony, Portland, Belfast, "Warnambool, and Albcrlon, arc nearly depopulated ; and that there arc homes and employment cnou»h for all the houseless population of Melbourne in these towns, and throughout the interior. .These material facts are kept in the background, the ignorant are kept ignorance, and the benevolent (never very clearsighted) are hoodwinked as to the real tendrnry o (> the movement. The arrival of thouiands of houMilc s immigrants is evidently watched with intense satisfaction by these philanthropist", else why do they not strike at the evil at its root, by endeavouring to pi event the influx complained of? Why do limy not forward to the neighbouring colonies, at least, a true statement of the condition of Melbourne, sanatory and no civil? Oh! Instead of that they watch with envy the ! arrival of an immigrant ship at Portland, and giumhie because its load is not thrown into the great metiopolitan hecatomb. The acts of the Government, th? doings of the Legislature, and the public movements of the metropolitans, are all or" a tendency to uncolouizc the colony. Fhsl the regulations affecting ftold-digging are framed so as to draw men away from tlioir settled occupations, and at the same time to prevent them from bottling down to the now branch of industry. Next, the shipping interest is unfuirly .stimulated, and the difficulties of the local producer w> much increased as to render the colony dependent upon foreign supplies. The next step is to make Melbourne a huge caravanserai for pilgrims on their way to the great temple of Mammon. Whatever may be the case with privdti«individual->, it is eloor enough that the editors of the Melbourne newspapers are influenced as much by the local considerations as by benevolent yearnings. Hurrah I five thousand arrivals this week ! Let us keep them together till they buy their outfits and spend their money; then off with th'^in to tho Mount (not a, word about Eureka) ! and by and by we .shall have them clown with their gold. Hurrah for the houseless ! give us more of them. Let Melbourne flourish, and tho rest of the Colony revert "au diablc." It is very benevolent of' the Melbourne people to provide lodgings for those who arrive "with resources ;" but it i.s very like the bonevohmco of the spider to the fly. Those who, " with honest intentions, are first taken in," may ere long find themselves p'tupeis in reality, when the enthusiasm of the philanthropists having abated, the thy husk of the victims of benevolence, extortion, and disease, will bo pushed over tho edge of the great cobweb, and finds a tomb in the dust of forgctfuluess. — (Jedontj Adnatiscr. (Oh! what a potty and debasing thing is local jealousy. It is perfectly notorious that Melbourne has long been crammed to excess, the .shipping lists .show that incomers are frequently poured upon this crowd at the nlto of thousands in a day, but they must be allowed to wander houseless through our streets, at tho risk of such imputations ns tho abos'c being heaped upon us. Shame! bhamel hhumc! — Km. A.)

An advertisement in another column informs us thnt Messrs. Pohlman, Grimes, Jlu&dcn, and Sturt, have been appointed by tlio Government to act will) the portion of the Committee for providing accommodation for the houseless, selected at the public meeting. The Government lias also agreed to give double the amount subscribed by the community, and sites of land for the buildings. As large funds are now available, wo trust Unit immediate measures will be adopted to com men uo building operations. To &ho\v the urgency of the want which the long list of subscriptions which we havopublishcd is intended to supply, we annex: the following letter. It is from Captain Chisholm, the fame of whoso benevolent name naturally leads many of the newly-arrived and houseless wandorcis to seek him 'out in their affliction. And we imvy remark thnt the impressions of the exigency of tho case, formed by the Avoithy Captain from actual observation may surely bo looked upon us somewhat more correct thaa those of tho rich merchant who retires before sun-down to his <oun<iy house, or those of the squatter, who only looks upon a canvas > sbolter to a stranger, as one of mi in numerable series of plots to deprive him ofth.it dearest object of his ambition, a cheap hlu'pluTU.

Captain Clrisliolm says :—: — To tho Editor ol the Auous. Sm,— Nothing but tho foico of circumstances would havo induced me to address you at tho presont tune, lor I fear that I have trcspnssed too much lately upon your columns j but suffering humanity bo stron»ly appeals, 1 view so much of human misery, f sco so ninny friendless, helpless, almost pennylcfs families landing on our shores, that I feol it would be culpable m me to conceal fads which como to my notice, and the disclosure of which may lead to some alleviation. You are, sir, pretty well aware of the rather peculiar office I hold. I sepru to have some unknown friends or acquaintances at the wharfs of Melbourne ; family alter family are by some humane person or other directed to come tv my office ; 1 have opportunities there of seeing more of the sufferings ol these strangers than perhaps any other person in town, but all I can do is to direct and advise them. Lato iliis evening, at 5 p.m,, some halfdozen families called upon mo, mostly young couples, and stated they could find no lodgings whatever ; that they had just landed without baggage or bedding. The Colonial Secretary, Captain Lonsdalo* was so considerate aa to give me about a month ago, and on a similar occasion, an admission order upon theperaon in charge of tho new Government Barracks, South Yarra, to admit such persons aa I might send. I therefore embraced this privilege and gave them passes. I afterwards walked over to see it the party vi charge was enabled to admit them, and on my way I overtook a young pair on the south side of the bridge; I found only tho wife of tho foreman of the works present who could give any direction", and she did her best. She managed to accommodate those I had pieviously sent, but for this young couplo she bad only one unfinished room vacant, without door or glass window. 'J he poor creature.", simple Nottingham people, had not so much as a blanket with them — every thing they had, they told mo was locked up in the lighter, and they could not get them out until Monday. Hero was a painful pause ; the poor hapless strangers wore in a manner paialysed with their wretel ed condition, until the good foreman's wifp, Mrs. Drewory said, " Well, I will give the poor young woman a share of my bed for the night, and my husband can sleep somowhere else." This charitable impulse of this goodI hearted Christian woman instantly recovered the drooping spuits of the young man, who said, "Ob, I can stow rr>ysolf away anywhere." As I was returning, I met, at theend of the bridge, three other families from the same ship, the Waimla, in moro wretched Bpirits thnn tho former ones. There is something humbling and distressing to n man's feelings to see another man weep, but on this occasion it was more painful than humbling, to observe two of these men almost unable to speak — silent tears running down their cheeks, wrung from them by the agony of their minds ; and one of the women was perfectly speechless, her sobs suppressed her utterance. She had a sick infant in her arms, and two little ones, hungry and cold, clinging to her gown. Not a bedding nor a blanket had they — landed in this manner ! In fact, men, women, and children were crying. I could only trust to the benevolent feelings of the foreman's good wife. I wrote to her with a pencil on the back of ono of the circulais of the society, to ask if she could somehow manage to give the poor people shelter for the night, to place the women in one room, tho men in another. I hope, Mr. Editor, you will consider these painful facts a sufficient justification for my addressing you these huiried lineß. If I thus detail some of the sufferings of the people, it is with a view to try and suggest some remedy that may in some degree alleviate the evil. I have for ono been delighted to see tho late move that has been made in endeavouring to meet the wants of the people, with regard to house-shelter. Much has been done, but more is required. I felt perfectly convinced from the first, that the crisis was too great; that the approaching inundation of tho thousands upon thou«andB that we may expect shortly, that will he literally overflowing this city, is far beyond the means of the benevolent to meet. The Committee of the Family Colonisatioa Loan Society have erected an Immigrants' Home, by the aid of the Government. Tho Wesleyan body are fast completing theirs. The Government also have built largely of late ; but, if we view them all, we can easily see how soon they can he filled. By one of your papers of this wpek I counted about 1400 persons having arrived in one day at Melbourne, from sea. Capital only then can in any way cope with the present crisis ; but Government should give its liberal aid to entitle itself to bo called parental. Private benevolence, however, will prove a valuable adjunct, and all these resources, united with private onterprUe, may do much to meet the present unprecedented pressure. In a letter which I addressed early last month to the Herald, and ventured to moot this question, and stated that a gentleman whose attention I called to the subject, and whom I invited to visit with me tho abattoirs, that he might see how miserably families were there huddled together, and that something might be devibed, suggested, and he is well conversant with the organisation of such, that a Joint Stock Company or Association should bo formed, and there is every loason to hope the public mind will be directed shortly to this necessary course,and that a good working Committee will be formed connooted therewith . This committee ought to take steps to see that bodies of immigrants arriving from Europe, like those I have referred to, should not *o allowed to land on our crowded wharfs, and late \u evening, as they were, without one or two of the Committee being prosent to advise and direct them to the different barracks, lodging places, &c. This committee should place themselves in communication with tho agents of ships, and ask them to give the secretary due notice when such immigrants would laud, and this officer would bo required to send information to two members of tho committee, they taking this duty in rotation. Some such arrangement as this might be mado. Householders and others having lodgings to let ought to be invited to send memoranda of such to the secietary'a office, so that poor families need not be uecenaituted to search all over the town for quarters, and finding none, come to our door 3 late in the evening in hopeless despair. There is one feature in tins work which appears to have been, overlooked, and that is, the ulmost absolute necessity of foiming branch committees in the different districts, and establishing temporary homes for immigrants. Govornment ought to give the amplest co-opetation in this system of dispersion. Employors should be solicited to send to the office the number and description of people they require and the wages they would Thus a great portion of the surplus population would bo drained off from the town by a wholesome channel, which, would be beneficial to the employers, the colony, and the people at large. Yours, faithfully, Ancuo. CmsaoLM, Melbourne, October 9, 1052.

Duty on the Expout or Gold. — The LioutenantGovernor of South Australia has laid before the Council a communication received from Ilia Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Victoria, on the aubject of a duty on the Export of Gold from Austiaha: — Colonial Secrotai-y's Office, Melbourne, 22nd September, 1852. Sin,— l have the honor, by direction of His Excellency Lieutenont-Governor La Trobe, to enclose for the information of Ilia Excellency Lieutenant-Governor Sir 11. Young, a copy of a Bill to levy a duty on the Export of Gold from this Colony, which his Excellency has introduced into the Legislative Council, to carryout a suggestion conveyed to him in a despatch recently received from the Right Honorable tho Secretary of. State, and which passed the second reading on the 17th instant, by a majority of 19 to 7. 2. The principal objecc which his Excellency has in view iv directing this communication to bo made to you, is to express his conviction that it would bp extremely deßirablo that a similar measure were introduced into the Legislatures of the neighboming Colonies ot South Australia and Now South Wales, as it must be evident that the public service of the colonies, in which such a law might exist, would be greatly facilitated, were those on its bordors subject to a similar enactment, as no inducement for smuggling would then, be held oat. 3. The Lieu tenant-Governor therefore trusts that Sir Henry Young may take the same view of the expediency of a measure of this kind, and aid him so far as ho consistently can, in carrying out the views of Sir John Pakington, by the introduction of a Bill of a similar nature into the Legislature of South Australia during the present session. , 4. The Bill ia to go into Committee on tho 2nd of November next, the Council having adjourned until the 26th of October, and I do not entertain any doubt of its being passed ; tho principal uncertainty oppeara to ho the amount of duty to he levied ; it is, however, not intended to propose a higher rate than two shillings and sixpence por ounce. 5. 1 am instructed to ncM that a similar communication lias been addrossed to His Excellency the GovernorGoucral. 1 have iho honor to be, S r, Your most obeedient servant, VV. LON'SDAIiC. To the Hon. the Colonial Secre ory of Adelaide, South Audtialin.