VICTORIA. [From the Sydney Morning Herald,] Melbourne, Monday, May 16.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 826, 2 July 1853, Page 3

VICTORIA. [From the Sydney Morning Herald,] Melbourne, Monday, May 16.

As I have -just arrived in this city from the Mount, I date my communication from the capital of Victoria. I hasten to inform .you'^ ofsome most important matters which have just taken place at Mount Alexander. You have lengthy accounts from me of the proceedings of ibe sly-grogiellers on these mines, and the Government of Victoria hare made a dash at

some of ,the t principal establishments at Castlemaine, Forest Creek, and Bendigo, but with their usual bungling they have broken the law in their attempts to enforce it. On Saturday morning fortnight they seized and destroyed the largest grog-shop on Yorest Creek, viz., f ' The Adelaide Mountain Hut," kept by a person of the name of Heury. The whole of Jhe extensive premises were pulled down, and parted away by, the police authorities before the man was tried or propeHy convicted. The Commissioners followed up ibis resentment by seizing on Mrs. Finches' bouse, on the Creek, and four others close lo the Camp at Castleraaine. In some of the establishments forty or fifty lodgers were turned out, and among them a number of women, in the dead of the night, to seek shelter where they could. This so aroused the people, that all classes without the camp have united against the Government, and the latter now find that they have disturbed a nest of hornets, as ministers of religion, several highly respectable members of the medical <profession,the auctioneers, .eh masse ; in fact men of every grade have met and protested, and promise to do something more. One of the parties whose property was seized, — .whose name if Adams, is a member of the Baptist community, and the whole movoment is led by the ministers of that church at Castlemaine. The Rev Mr. Jackson (for such is bis name) is highly popular, is a man of great energy, and undisputed ability. The organization promises to be effective, for although the leaders are not men of high mental capacity, many of them are much respected, and they supply the, sinews of war freely. No sooner had the Commissioners commenced their batteau on the sly grog shops, than the whole of the people cried " *bame." In truth, the proceedings of the Government officials have been wantonly mischievous, ill-advised, and carried out with a spirit tbat the severe law against sly grog selling would not even justify. Henry's case passed over without any public manifestation, or much sympathy on bis behalf ; but Adams, with three or four others, brought matters to an issue. The police authorities (would you believe it ?) destroyed the whole of the offender's property before the trials. After doing this, the grogsellers were formally tried before the magistrates at Castlemaine; the chief of them, one M'Mahon, was acquitted — the informer havingperjured himself, and was found to be a convict of the worst character. Here is a pickle for our rulers to be placed in ! they now find that they have destroyed a large amount of property, and who will pay the damages ? On M'Mahon's trial the court was crowded to excess, and among the audience were some of the most respectable men in the district, whose sympathy for the accused was " loud and deep," 'f ve'n as exhibited in court ; but when the defendant -was declared " not guilty," one , loud shout of triumph arose from the assembled crowd w'thin and without the court. This was only a beginning of the end. Immediately on this point being gained, the unfortunate positiou of the Government was too evident — they were totally at the meicy of the victors. Angry placards found their way on the trees about Casilemaine (within the camp), and all along the Creek. Here is a specimen :—: — M«nr#f~Castlenrain«==Meet-thTS-afternoon upon the hill behind the Baptist Chapel, to discuss matters relative to the Governmental proceedings of Saturday last. The chair will be taken at 4 p.m. The Deputy Sheriff will attend. This was mild md orderly ; but it was accompanied by others not quite of tbat pacific character, for example : — Down with the trooper Christian, and shoot him ! Down with oppression and the tyrant Berkley 1 Diggers, avenge your wrongs, and demand 'your i rights, or otherwise you will live and die all slaves ! J Down with the camp ! ! Up with Christian I Cry no quarter, and show no mercy ! Christian was the leader of the police in the destruction of the grog shops, or eating houses, for they are a compound of both. He conducted, himself as a bravado ; instead of quietly doing his duty, if it was his duty, he stimulated the police, many of whom had evidently been somewhere in an atmosphere of grog, by " that's right men, do your duty ; this is glorious fun." Captain Berkley .is a paid magistrate, and was lately the Superintendent of Police at Castlemaine. Pursuant to notice the meeting took place - and there were about 1200 people present. The Rev: Mr. Jackson was in the chair. The deputy sheriff attended, it is supposed for the purpose of watching the proceedings on the part of tbe Go- • vernment. Tbe speakers were Messrs..Hitchcock, Mrs. Gill and Preshaw, Mr. McEwen (of the Bank of New, South Wales), Dr. Soutbee, and Mr Aberdeen, storekeeper. Resolutions of the^strongest and most intemperate character were passed, and three commissioners were appointed from among the meeting to carry on the war against the Government. Tbe Rev. Mr. Jackson, Mr. Hitchcock (auctioneer), and Dr. Gill, are the gentlemen to whom this trust is confided. Large subscriptions were made.; Pohl and Simon da gave 200 guineas ; Casperson aud Mason, £100; Mr. Hitchcock, £50; and Dr. Preshaw, £50. The morning after the meeting the Government began to make concessions, reparation -was offered to the injured patties ; the bridge demanded to be built across the creek, separating the camp from the township — the people's commissioners .could have built and the Government would pay { "From the sublime to the ridiculous there is ' but one step," it it said. The officials at Castlemaine are tbe true type of the Government o Victoria ; weak and faithless, they are unsettling ■ every thing and securing no friends ; true to no ' party their friends of to-day, are foes of to-morrow. This is only a beginning of the war ; Bendigo will be the next theatre of events. Tbe sympathy is not for the sly grog sellers, but for tbe imbecile manner in which " tbe powers that be " have trampled on the law — condemning a man before his trial and confiscating hii property, is not, I trow, in accordance with British justice. I fear that " the winter of our discontent" it close at hand/ Tbe roads are again becoming impassable. Snow has fallen in the neighbourhood of the diggings of tbe Mount ; in the mean time new gold fields are open at the M'lvor, and the direction of the gold is still northward. From these fields tbe news is generally favourable, tbe M'lvor stands first, the Sandy Creek and Mount Korong are variable in their yields. Ballarat is losing character. Friar's Creek- is desejted. Forest Creek and Barker's Creek have still their friends. The Great Bendigo, with its 60,000 inhabitants, will yield largely for the winter, the

accumulation of vrasbing stuff being immense. Rain has fallen there in large quantities, and the operation of washing has commenced with great activity. i Low Fever and rhenmitism are. plentiful on the various fields, and many " lose the number of their mess" who little expect it. Those who are doing it all well in your mines had better stay there than trust tbemseWes to the tender mercies of a Victorian winter, with a hundred thousand competitors, at the mines. Carriage is up, to £70 and £80 per, ton to Bendigo. The demand for draught horses is ?ery grgat. The first class go at £150, and even £175, in Melbourne ; and the good people of this city are laying it on strangers with the usual amount of Pltv>P Itv> The political atmosphere is swarming with candidates. One of these embryo Chathams proraises a Prince of the Blood as Governor-Ge-neral for all the Australias. Mr. M'Kinnon will succeed Mr. Westgarth for the capital ; this is pretty certain. The other seats are uncertain as to their occupants. My next communication will be from Bendigo I trust. Could I hold out a hope that things would end amicably between the Government and the mining population I should be glad to do so. Misrule aud incapacity have gone on too long, I fear. There. is not a sufficient modicum of good seuse in the minds of the officials at the gold fields to redeem past oravoid future errors. Resolutely wrong, and irresolutely right, they are continually stumbling. If their acts affected them only, the evil would be but partial ; but the British name and character share in the odium. It is from a conviction that an evil feeling against the supreme Government is thus fast springing up in this colony, and brought about by the pusillanimity of the local powers, that makes me trust a pretty good sweeping of officials may soon be made, ere the evil becomes too great to be remedied by pacific means. Melbourne, May 19, 18.53. — Further information of a reliable character ha 3 just reached me of the late unfortunate proceedings of the Government at the Mount. Finding themselves so grossly in the wrong they have frankly confessed their error, and have absolutely rebnilt the premises which they so wantonly pulled down. In a private individual such an admission of error might be overlooked, but in a ruling power, already too weak in the affection and respect of the people the effect cannot be otherwise than disastrous. The official authors of this affair are now at variance among themselves. The officer in command of the police (Mr. Christian) states that he acted under the orders of Captain Berkeley, his superior, but the latter absolutely denies the fact. One thing appears clear, that j for this serious inroad on the liberty of the sub- ( ject, there was no warrant or official document ' issued. The " People's Commissioners " elected at the late public meeting, have sent in their report to the Government, and they claim on behalf of the injured parties the sum of £1,900 as damages ; this the Government authorities have refused to pay, so the war continues. There is, therefore, a pretty little quarrel, as it stands. Compensation may be made, and must be made, .buLwhatjLburniliating state for a Government bearing the British name ? Of course there will be one or two scapegoats in the business. Mr. Christian, like Mr. Commissioner Meyers, may be cashiered ; but all this will only make the people more clamorous. Already are the latter intoxicated at the victory, and they will of course increase their demand in proportion as the Government concedes. What makes matters worse, and the feeliDg against the ruling powers stronger, is the fact that the wife of Mr. Adams (one of the persons whose house was destroyed by the police) was supposed to be on her death-bed at the moment when Mr. Christian's police unroofed the house, and the Rev. Mr. Jackson was about to administer the last rites of the Church to the sick woman. On the minister reasoning with Mr. Christian he was assailed with the coanest abuse, such as " damn the — , lock him up. Nothing can convey an idea of the excitement at the Mount. For several days and nights the whole of the police and the few troopers (men of the 40th Regiment) were kept under arms, but on the Deputy Sheriff informing the men -of the 40th that it was possible their services would be required, as he was about to read the Riot Act, the soldier-troopers declared that if called on to fire it must be on the police, as they would not shoot the people. In the meantime the diggers are drilling, and there can be no doubt that if the Castlemaine authorities had not thrown themselves prostrate at the feet of the mining population, the camp would have been destroyed, and great loss of life would have followed. Twenty-four hours would have brought 10,000 armed men from Bendigo, burning under the idea of their own wrongs, in fact, the mines of Victoria, like a powder magazine, want but a match to set them in a blaze. Ido not say that all the complaints are well- founded, I do not' for one moment justify the violent language used ; towards the Government at the late public meeting tt the Mount, but for the deep-Tooted preju"dice against some of the Government officers at i the mines, in the miuds of the gold mining peoi pie there is too good a plea. The law is a compound of civil and martial law, without the jus- , ' tice of either. The commissioners, or at least many of them, strut about in gold lace and other fineries, totally unsuited to their callings, the consequence is, that they engender a deep-rooted contempt for the power which they represent. We want plain, straightforward, sober men, to rule the gold fields of this colony. The day is gone by, even on the gold fields, for " orna- . mental bodies to possess power of any kind, unless those bodies have a fair share of useful- , ness." Where will this end 1 The Government of Victoria has no power to coerce. The police force is chiefly composed of emancipated convicts | aud idle characters too lazy to work. They are not formidable in numbers, and they can have no prestige. Our rulers, must, therefore seek reI fuge in their weakness — by prostrating themselves before the elated gold miners ; they may for a 1 while gain dishonourable peace, until some folly ' on the part of some. foolish government embroils ' it in iiesh troubles.

Southern Whale Fishery Company.— At the annual meeting of the Southern Whale Fishery Company held this afternoon, the Earl

of Hordwicke in tbe chair, the report and accounts were adopted. A lengthened discussion took place with reference to the resignation of the Company's Commissioner, Mr. Charles Enderhy, and the report laid before the shareholders by Mr. Dundas, who was appointed with Mr. Preston to visit the Auckland Islands, and investigate the position of the Company's station, showed that his retirement was essentially necessary. His subsequent litigious conduct, the measures he took for annoying the special representatives of the directors, and the determination of tbe latter to abandon the station as one unfit for the operations of the Company, were the topics principally alluded to ; but it was nevertheless contended that, unfortunate as the result of the early proceedings had proved, there was yet every opportunity of prosecuting the fisheries from England with success. It was mentioned that of tbe £20,000 authorised to be raised by debentures, bearing 6 per cent, interest, to discharge existing liabilities, only £4,050 had at present been subscribed, but it was considered there would eventually be no difficulty in securing the whole amount. When the reelection of directors was brought forward, the question of tbe appointment of a second committee was gone into, and, after explanations, an amendment suggesting further inquiries, was put and negatived by a large majority. Votes of thanks were then carried to Mr. Dundas and Mr. Preston for the services they had rendered, and for the measures they had taken to protect the property of the company. Tbe annexed extract from the report in the Times, Feb. 25, exhibits the progress of operations :— "The number of ships employed has been seven, and the aggregate of the time these were at sea being 85 months, gives an average duration of each voyage a fraction above 12 months. The aggregate value of the produce of these vessels appears to be £17,885, showing an average earning per ship of £2555 in 12 months. The voyages were.in two cases total failures, and in two others tbe earnings would not leave any profit after charging all expenses and allowing for deterioration ; but nevertheless the average earnings so far exceed the estimated expenditure as to show a considerable surplus. Tbe average total charge against each ship for 12 months is £1760, and the profit which may therefore be estimated as realised is £795 per ship ou seven vessels, which during the past year are reported to the directors as returned from their whaling cruizes, the aggregate of which is £5565. — Colonial Times, June 2.