VICTORIA.

Colonist, Issue 97, 24 September 1858, Page 3

VICTORIA.

A* a meeting of the Executive, it was arranged that Parliament should meet on Thursday, 7th Octoher, for " the despatch of business."

Mr. Duffy's health has been so far restored by his stay at St. Kilda, as to be enabled to resume attention to the labors of his department.

The re-consecration of the Synagogue in Bourke-streer, in consequence of the repairs and redecoration which it has undergone since it was closed, took place on the 2nd instant; and the ceremony evoked considerable enthusiasm amongst the* Jewish community, and went off with great eclat, although the Governor was not present, as it was expected he would be. The officiating minister was the Rev. E. M. Myers; and Mr. S. Phillips, the secretary, acted as reader. The offertory amounted to above .£SOO, one gentleman giving a donation of £50. The declaration -of the land policy by the present Government (says the Age) has shaken the confidence of some of their hitherto most strenuous supporters. The monster sales contemplated are so manifestly designed simply for purposes of revenue, and are so thoroughly alien to any plan of popular settlement, that "the warmest friends of our pseudo-liberal Ministry begin to suspect that they are the victims of misplaced confidence. For example, the Bendigo Mercury, in an apologetic article, tries to make the best of the scheme, but, after all, cannot reconcile the wholesale alienation of public lands now projected, with its previously high anticipations of the policy of the "People's Ministry." "If the Government," says our contemporary, "are throwing land into the market unnecessarily, upon the supposition that the mere quantity will deter speculation, they are not only making a grave experiment, but a grave mistake. The revenue must, of course, be maintained, but the public lands must not be disposed of in any larger quantities than may be necessary for that purpose. If the Government choose to experimentalise and anticipate the action of a reformed parliament, and sacrifice unnecessarily any large portion of the public land to a crotchet of their own, they will be incurring a very heavy responsibility."

A monument of rare beauty of design and workmanship, to the memory of Sir Charles Hotham, is now nearly completed in the New Cemetery. It consists of a column, the base ■and-shaft of which are of Peterhead granite, the shaft being highly polished. Above the capital of the column, which is of Portland stone, elaborately carved, is rich tabernacle work in the same beautiful material, with canopies and figures emblematioal of Justice, Mercy, Wisdom, and Fortitude. The whole is surmounted by a cross, which is richly carved. The base of the column bears the following inscription :—

To the Memory of Sir Charles Hotham, Captain in the Koyal Navy, And one of her Majesty's Naval Aides-de-Camp ; Knight of the Moat Honorable Military Order of the Bath; and the

First Captain-General and Cominander-in-Chief of Victoria.

Voted by the Legislative Council, January 10, 1856,

The last line of the inscription is, we believe, only partially correct, inasmuch as more than two-thirds of the expense of constructing and erecting the monument has been defrayed by Lady Hotbam. The total cost will approach £3000. At the foot of the column, and on the east side of it, is a massive tomb of Peterhead granite, on the top slab of which a cross is carved. One side of the tomb bears a sword, and the other this simple x*ecord: —

Here rests the body of Charles Hotham, He died December 31, 1856, aged .49.

Few cemeteries number among their monuments a work of art so beautiful as this in memory of the late Governor of Victoria. The monument was designed by Mr. Gilbert Scott, who ranks among the first authorities of the present day on ecclesiastical architecture; and the idea of the architect has been worthily carried out by Mr. Philip, of London.— Argus.

The Herald says—" The great subject of town talk at the present moment is horsetaming, and far more anxiety is felt as to the probability of civilising horses than was even manifested in regard to the aborigines. We have .now two pupils of Mr. Earey in Melbourne, both of them professing to break-in or tame the most vicious horse in the short space of three hours. Mr. S. Eumphreys, who first declared himself, we have not seen, but we yesterday, in company with about thirty other persons, had the pleasure of witnessing Mr. W. Ferguson's exhibition at the Hippodrome in Lonsdale-street. That the scheme might be fully and fairly tested, Mr. Ferguson in his advertisement, invited persons to send vicious korses to be operated upon ; and in compliance with this request, a horse five years old, bred oa Captain Hepburn's station, was forwarded as a subject. The animal was both vicious and sulky, and soon gays decided proof that he was a genuine raw recruit. It was stated by Captain Hepburn's son, who was present, that the horse had never been -handled, the attempt to put a bridle on him had always failed, and any effort to break him in was regarded as hopeless. The animal was led into the ring by a long halter, and he certainly wore a very ugly aspect. Mr. Ferguson could stroke him a little on the shoulders; but on any farther liberties being attempted he kicked out behind and before. To ,piit a saddle or indeed anything on him was of course out of the question. On this " fiery untamed steed," to quote from " Mazeppa," Mr. Ferguson commenced to operate at half-past one o'clock; by half-past three o'clock the horse was ridden slowly round the circus. This simple fact that the horse was broken-in in so short a time as two hours is in itself sufficient evidence of the genuineness aud efficacy of the scheme, and of Mr. Ferguson's ability as an operator. To subdue an animal of this description, in the method usually practised by farmers, would possibly occupy a month; while an experienced and skilful horse-breaker would probably not succeed under ten days. At the close of the experiment, when Mr. Ferguson quietly raised one of the horse's hind feet, and held it in his hand, he was greeted with a round of applause. The operator himself is a remark ably straightforward individual; there is not the slightest appearance of humbug abdut him. On BtepP/ag into the ring, without a word of introduction or explanation, he walked up to the animal he was to master, and having done his work. he. modestly stepped out agafa. At the request, however, of some of the! gentlemen present, Mr. Ferguson 'returned,' and explained the system more fully than could be understood from merely witnessiug it. He also described the treatment to^ be pursued, with buckjumpers, jibbers, &c, stating also that his system was equally- applicable -to cattle. To satisfy his audience also that the result of his system was permanent, he invited those present to <some on the following day for the purpose of seeing the horse he had operated on; and he trusted that «ome one would send him the wildest colt for a fresh subject. Bound as we arc-not to divulge

the principles of the system, we can only conclude by stating that the experiment yesterday was completely successful; and its introduction into these colonies cannot but be the cause of an immense saving of time and labor to our stockkeepers."

William Henry Alsop, an auctioneer, residing in Collingwood, has been committed to take his trial on two charges of forgery. It would appear that the defendant must have been so embarrassed in pecuniary difficulty that he could not know what he was about; for the forgeries committed were of such a character that there was not the slightest chance of their escaping detection.

The latest new arrival worthy of remark (writes the Age) is very like a "bunyip/'if our scraps of information respecting that singular animal can be at all relied upon. This creature is now exhibiting at Tilke's, and has already been visited by our most eminent naturalists, Dr. Macadam, Mr. Blandoweki, and others. These gentlemen are evidently unable to classify the illustrious stranger, and the only description given of it on the placard is comprised in the very indefinite designation "sea lioness." It might as well have been termed a " sea bear" or a " sea wolf," as it present?, to an unscientific eye at least, as little of the leoniue as of the lupine or ursiuine peculiarities. In fact we perceive in it no striking resemblance to any or all of these familiar quadrupeds. It may be a monster seal of a new species, but it can roar out, not " like any sucking dove," but with a loud and snorting dissonance, so terrific it is said that one of its captors actually fainted with affright. This animal was taken on the borders of a lagoon, somewhere in the west. When first disturbed it raised itself menacingly on its tail, and displayed an array of fangs and a capacity of jaw which terrified both man and horse. It was, however, captured, and has now been brought to town to be classified by our savans, and we may hope, provided with permanent quarters in our Zoological Gardens.

We ( The Ovens Advertiser) have long since despaired of ever finding an English journalist tolerably well acquainted with Australian geography. From the Times downward, nothing but the most absurd and really culpable ignorance is displayed when writing on Australian topics. Rivers are turned into towns; Bass's Straits are ignored, and Port Phillip connected with Tasmania by railway, via Adelaide ; Hobson's Bay is unceremoniously transferred to New Zealand, and Botany Bay placed in its stead; convicts make their escape from Norfolk Island early in the morning, and eat their damper and kangaroo steak on the top of Mount William before the sun sets ; the escorts bring gold down from Port Phillip to Victoria, and the Governors of the different colonies are pitched about here and there higgledy-piggledy in a style which must be peculiarly interesting to themselves and friends. It has been reserved for the Aihenceum however to bring this display of ignorance to a climax. According to a late number of that journal we find that Victoria is a " City !" and the writer sapiently institutes a comparison between it and Paris or Vienna. After this we shall not be surprised if the Spectator should tell us that South Australia is the name of a squatter's run, and Tasmania a roadside township. The following is the paragraph referred to—" If newspaper enterprise be a true test of prosperity in a new land, Victoria, in Australia, is a most prosperous city. There are now published in Victoria :—Daily papers, 8; By-Weekly, 8; Tri-Weekly, 3; Weekly, 21: total 40. We think more than in Paris; certaiuly more than in Vienna.