VICTORIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 30, 19 December 1861, Page 4

VICTORIA.

(From, our own Correspondent.) Melbourne, Saturday, Dec. 7, 1861. The most interesting- feature of the week has been the viva voce examination of the explorer King, before the Royal Commission. He gave his evidence with "Teat clearness, and contributed much interesting information about the hitherto unknown interior. Whilst it is certain the Burke and Wills expedition reached within the tidal influence of the gulf, it is by no means clear how far they were from the sea; itself. King describes the rise and fall of the tide as j from six to eight inches at the point where he and I Gray camped, but did not hear either Burke or Wills say how much it rose and fell eighteen miles lower down. The country through which they travelled abounded with emus and kangaroos, and the creeks were frequented by great numbers of aucks and pelicans. He gives as a reason why they did not secure a constant supply of fresh meat from these sources, that they were travelling fast, and had only time to take occasional shots, chiefly at crows and iinwks. which appear to have been plentiful. Some wry iar^e wtiteriioxes abounded i:i fi?k. There t>v-

peared to have been no lack of good feed for the camels and the horses, and water was obtained at

. convenient stages. i After hearing all these favourable facts, one cannot help thinking that it was a great pity that Burke had pushed through the country so rapidly as not to have halted now and then to give both man and beast a spell ; and that, supplied as he was with rifles and I ammunition, he did not use those spare days in projviding a haunch of kangaroo or roast duck for himself and party. His impetuosity, however could not brook delay, and he appeared to keep uppermost in his mind his determination to "push through, although he hadn't a shirt to his back." Howitt, the leader of the contingent party, who rescued King, lias been to town, and the committee have engaged him, at a salary of £500 per annum, to proceed at once to Cooper's Creek, to further explore jthe country in that neighbourhood, leave provisions 'at the depot for any of the other parties in search of Burke who might visit the creek, and to bring down the remains of the ill-fated explorers on his return journey. Many of your readers are aware of the lengthy debates in our Assembly about the legality of the occupation licenses, and that a case has for some time been pending in the Supreme Court to test their legality. It'came' on for hearing yesterday. Mr. Wood,' in a very able argument, showed the illegality of the licenses, whilst Mr. Parsons took the opposite view. The Court unanimously decided the occupation licenses were illegal. It is now very difficult to say what effect this will have on the state of politics, but it would seem to lead to another great agitation, as the Upper House, finding the licenses illegal, will not be so likely to accede to the supposed liberal Land Bill of the present Government. As the House meets on the 17th inst., we shall soon be in a position to speak more positively. Very little, however, except a row, is expected before the Christmas recess is over, which will be towards the end of January. The great Champion Race -in Tasmania has been decided "in favour of Victoria. The other colonial cracks, Kyogle, Talleyrand. &c, appear to have been rather over-estimated, as they made but a sorry figure in the race ; whilst the winner (Mormon) was considered by many to be too lame or too short of work. The ground was very heavy and the time slow (6 mm. 14 sec.) The following is the order in which the horses were placed:— Mr. Henderson's ns b h Mormon, by the Premier — Delaware Girl, 6 yrs 9st 21b '. . (Simpson) . 1 Mr. S. BlackwelPs' b h Shillelah, by VanishMatilda, aged, 9st 51b (Dallon) 2 Mr. S. BlackwelPs b h Panic (imported,) by Alar, dam by Melbourne, 4 yrs, Ist 61b (Wellon) 3 Mr. J. Tait's eh g Talleyrand, by Cossack, 5 yrs Bstß lb ..." ' (Ashworth) 4 The great Cricket Match with the All-England Eleven is fixed for the 9th, 10th, and 11th of n.ex; month. The All-England Eleven will afterwards make a tour through the Colony, and prior to their departure will engage with the United Eleven of Sydney and Victoria. Commodore Seymour is expected here at the end of the month. His intention is to make this his head quarters. Phillip Curran, a porter at the Spencer-street station, was killed yesterday whilst shunting two carriages for the Geelong train. The rush to your shores has greatly increased towards the end of the week, and you may expect a much larger addition to your population than was anticipated a few days ago. The markets have closed satisfactorily. Flour is a little firmer ; the Adelaide farmers are' holding back in anticipation of better prices.