NEW SOUTH WALES. [From the Southern Cross, July 16.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 731, 4 August 1852, Page 3

NEW SOUTH WALES. [From the Southern Cross, July 16.]

" The Legislative Assembly of New South Wales was opened by the Governor on Tuesday, the Bth ultimo,- witli a lengthened speech, framed, as all such speeches tire, to profess much and promise little. Its congratulatory points are a good harvest and abundance of gold ; its soothering ones, a promised co-operation in facilitating immigration and improvement of roads. The Address in- reply was moved by Mr. Jeffreys and seconded by Mr. Cox. Mr. Wentworth had intimated his intention to move, upon the House beings moved into a Committee of Supply, to prefer the consideration of the Estimates uutil an answer shall be received to the Petition of Declaration and Remonstrance of the former Council, and affirmed with a slight modification by the present Assembly. The grievances, says the Herald of the 28th of June, declared and remonstrated against, are five in number, namely, — Ist, The Schedules ; 2nd, the Administration of the Waste Lands : 3rd, the Custom's Department; 4th, Ministerial Patronage ; sth, the Royal Veto in matters of Local Legislation. On "these heads the petition first expatiates at some length, and then; sums up, in the shape of five distinct propositions, the grounds of complaint with regard to each of them. The propositions are — Ist. — "That the Imperial Parliament has not, nor of right ought to have, any power to tax the people of this colony, or to appropriate any of the money levied by authority of the Colonial Legislature ; that this power can only be lawfully exercised by the Colonial Legislature ; and that the Imperial Parliament has solemnly disclaimed this power by the 18 Geo. 111., cap. 12, sec. 1, which Act remains unrepealed. 2nd. — "That the revenue arising from the public lands, derived as it is, mainly, from the value imparted to them by the labour and capital of the people of this colony, is as much their property as the Ordinary Revenue, and ought, therefore, to be subject only to like control and appropriation. 3rd. — "That the Custom and all* other departments should be subject to the- direct supervision and control of the Colonial Legislature ; which should have the appropriation of the gross revenues of the colony, from whatever source arising ; and, as a necessary incident to this" authority, the regulation of the salaries of all colonial officers^ 4th. — "That offices of trust and emolument should be conferred only on the settled inhabitants, the office of Governor alone excepted ; that this officer should be appointed and paid by the Crown ; and thbt the whole patronage of the colony shall be vested in him and the Executive Council, unfettered by instructions from the Minister for the Colonies. sth, — "That plenary powers of legislation should be conferred upon and exercised by the Colonial Legislature for the time being, and that no bills should be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure, unless they affect the prerogatives of the Crown, or the general interests of the empire.' ' These grievances, iterated and reiterated, have hitherto elicited neither reply nor redress. In fact, as mere Colonial complaints, they have experienced the wonted measure 'of Colonial office scorn and contempt. And yet, in the teeth of such injury and insult, the Herald councils patience ; — and " ventures to suggest for Mr. Wentworth's consideration, whether it would not be advisable to withdraw his motion for the present, and abide the course of events until the next session of the Council." " There is a point," says the poet, " when patience ceases to be a virtue." "Mr. Wentworth no doubt is fully equal to determine whether the grievances of New South Wales have attained or gone beyond, that point. Mr. Wentworth moved, on the 16th, the appointment of a Committee to prepare a Constitution adequate to the condition of the Colony. The motion, so far as the nomination by Mr. Wentworth of such a Committee, was negatived.. A Committee,- however, for the purpose in view, was elected by ballot. "The friends of Dr. Nicholson says the Herald have no doubt overrated the importance which the' colonist will attach to the confering by the Queen of the honour of Kinghthood on that gentleman. We feel, however, that we ought to appreciate the motives which actuate Lord Grey in consenting to advise Her Majesty to do so. It was intended to confer the Royal favor on one who was believed to be held in high esteem by the colonists, and is, so far, a mark of favour to the colonists generally. As a politician, " the worthy Speaker has never shone; but as an amiable gentleman of considerable scientific attainments, who has been long a resident among vs — whose interests are those of the colony— we beg to congratulate him on the honours he has received, and wish a long life and happiness to Sir Charles Nicholson." " Had it been intended as a special -manifestation of the Sovereign's regard to the colonists," says Bell's Life in Sydney, ".why, we ask, should it not have been conferred upon a man whose political greatness, legislative genius, independence of principle, and integrity of purpose and action have been for a lifetime assiduously and incessantly employed^ in developing the resources/fostering the energies, and advocating the interest of , his Native sorL — a man whose evening of life needs no such perishable setting to emblazon his brilliant career; but the recognition of whose talents and services by his Sovereign, would have been hailed with heartfelt enthusiasm by a discriminating and loyal people." We need not say the eminent Colonial Statesman thus pointedtyand praiseworthily alluded to, is William Charles Wentworth. Mr. Cowper, President of the Anti-Transportation League, had returned from his mission to Van Diemen's Land ; where he had been feted and received with the strongest assurances of co-operation and support. An immense Meeting, of upwards of 1,500 persons, —many of them ladies—took place in the Sydney Amphitheatre on the 29th of June. — No compromise was the motto of all the speakers ; and encouragement had been given to the ' persevere tmd conquer' principles of the

League, by a .congratulatory address from the triumphant Anti-Convictists of the Cape. A scarcity of coals was causing a great deal of anxiety in Sydney. — H.M. Steam ships and the public offices could be with difficulty supplied. Want of labour, and an % unwillingness on the part of the miners to work at existing prices, are said to be the cause. Prices had risen from 12s. in February, to 50s. per ton at the last dates ; and.Newcastle harbour was full of home and foreign colliers to take their turn at the shoot. Floods on land, and gales on the coast, (which was strewn with wrecks) had been frightfully prevalent. The Hunter and the Hawkesbury had both overflowed. The Cowpasture Bridge had given way on the Cumberland shore. Farms were submerged ;■ and stock and produce swept away. At Victoria, especially, the rising of the waters had been lamentably disastrous. A Mr. Wedge and his friends had been made prisoners in their own house, which "was so completely inundated as ultimately to be swept away. Mr. Wedge, his wife, and daughter, perished miserably in thfc torrent ; his cook, and two or three ladies, -escaping by clambering from the roof of the house into an adjacent tree. The roads s were, both in N. S. Wales and Victoria, in an indescribable state — communication with the diggings was next to impossible, the tracks being ploughed up in every direction, full of -holes, and scarcely safe to.wajk on even in daylight. Flour at Mount Alexander was only from £12 to £14 per bag of 2001bs. At Bendigo from £21 to £25 for a like quantity. The stream of diggers recently setting so strongly from Sydney,' was flowing as- strongly back, — the Shamrock carrying 120 passengers last trip. The Melbourne market was completely gutted — Lucky diggers the exception — the unlucky ones the rule of the monstrous gold-hunting mania. Employment was not easily to be obtained ; misery and privation were far from unfamiliar sights ; so that ©ur fellow-colonists who have, had more than half a mind to try their luck, may .congratulate themselves as happy illustrations of the wise old saw :—: — " Belter rue sit, than rue flit." The fate of the unfortunate Leichardt, appears to be no longer doubtful. From a communication to the Maitland Mercury, he and his party appear to have been assassinated during the night, by the Macks of Bundarabella Creek. ' Steam communication is extending itself rapidly in New South Wales. A fine new boat, of 348 tons, called the Clarence, has just arrived from Liverpool, and been put into the Hunter's River trade. A new company has besides been organized at Maitland. It is to be called the Hunter River New Steam Navigation Company. It is to start with 4000 shares of £10 each. Three iron boats are to be immediately procured, and the maitagement and control of the Company is to be- carried on in the Hunter district, 600 shares were subscribed for.