VICTORIA.

Southland Times, Issue 544, 20 August 1866, Page 2

VICTORIA.

I By the arrival of the Alhambra we are J in possession of Australian news to the s 31st July. A great ministerial change fc has taken place ; several of the most proi minent members of the M'Culloch cabi- . net have resigned. The wreck of the fc Netherby has created great excitement, i- and the Victorian Government and the 1 Melbourne people have acted nobly. The - following are the items of immediate inteJ rest to our readers — shipping and com--1 mercial will be found in other columns. ) The following are extracted from the 1 Argus and the Herald of the latest dates. i The Argus, 22th July, says: — 5 Important changes, scarcely heralded * by gossip rumors, have occurred in the , Ministry. The Minister of Justice (Mr s Michie), who was described by Mr , Ohilders as the real head of the *Govern- . ment, has resigned his portfolio, and re- . tired to the practice of his profession. . Me is succeeded by Mr Bin don, one of } the members for Castlemaine, a County l Court pleader of no reputation or stand- . ing at the bar. Mr Sullivan, who is said * to contemplate an early but short visit to I America, has been replaced as Minister . of Mines by Mr Macgregor, an attorney, l member for Eodney, but Mr Sullivan still retains a seat in the Executive. Mr ; Henry Miller, M.L.C., has accepted the office of Commissioner of Railways ; and the place vacated by Mr Harvey as Com- > missioner of Public Works has been filled up by the appointment of Mr Vale, one of the members for Ballarat "West, and who, before his late entry on Parliamentary life, was an obscure' bookseller. Mr Francis desires to retire from the Comniissionership of Customs, to attend to his private business : but Mr Balfour is obstinate in his refusal of that office, and the Commissioner of Customs, • not having as yet found a successor after his | own heart, still remains to guide the' affairs of the department. Writs have beeu issued for tiie elections of the newMinisters, aud some opposition is likely to be made to their return to Parliament. Mr J. F. Strachan opposes Mr Miller in the Western Province. Mr Henry Cuthbert, solicitor, is talked of as likely to contest Ballarat West with Mr Vale. At Castlemaine Mr Biudon may be met by Mr Zeal ; but Mr Macgregor will probably walk over the course in Eoduey. The causes which have led to the retirement of Mr Michie and Mr Suliivan have not been explained. The former was always crotchetty, and when the M'Culloch Government was originally formed he re-entered political life with some reluctance. His position as a freetrader, associated with protectionist colleagues, and mainly supported in office by the disciples of a retrograde policy, must have been a constant wound to his personal feelings. For Mr Sullivan's retirement there is no better reason to be assigned than the determination of the Government to restrict (at least while the financial pressure exists) the scheme of water supply to which he had pledged the Government, and to the suppression, for all practical purposes, of the department which he had created for the carrying out of those works. For the choice of Messrs Bindon and A r aie thereis.no better excuse than poverty of talent in the ranks of the supporters of the Government.