VICTORIA STATISTICS.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 242, 14 February 1860, Page 2

VICTORIA STATISTICS.

(From the Argus, Jan. 11.) The tables of revenue for the last quarter and the year,lßs9, which have just been published in the 'Government Gazette, are interesting at present, as showing to a certain extent the condition of the pe»ple, and how far the masses are affected by the great commercial depression, lately termed a crisis, which has so long prevailed. The true results ol returns such as those under notice can only be ascertained by comparison with those of previous years, and it must be borne in mind that 1858, as well as 1859, was a year of depression. We had then deficient rains, a decrease in the yield of gold, a rush of people from the colony, and a large amount of insolvency. In truth, it appeals that the colony during the past two years has been to a great degree in an unnatural condition, chiefly from the exhaustion ofthe alluvial gold-fields, the difficulty of finding employment for the miners thrown upon the labor market, and the extraordinary and unnatural increase of the trading, professional, aud other non-producing sections of the population. The ruinous tendency of this unnatural state of matters has been arrested, by the railway operations ahd other works of the Government, aud of private railway companies, by the formation of very numerous companies for washing gold in old workings, for working auriferous veins in quartz, and for crushing the quartz. These last have received a check, but legitimate gold compa-" nies are a healthy development, and they will, in the end, greatly promote the industrial progress and' the prosperity of the country. Iv the mean time, the ordeal is very severe, and it has not failed to produce a serious efivot upon the revenue. But there are not wanting features and facts which show great elasticity in our resources, and give good hope for the future. The accounts for the last quarter, as might he expected, are much more unfavorable thau those for the year. In the Customs the amount of duties for every article, except those of tobacco and j tea, is less than for the corresponding period ol 1858. The duties on spirits fell iv round numbers.-] from £185,000 ttfc ,£165,000 ; those on wine from £16,000 to i'l 1,000; on beer and cider from £20,000 to £16,000. The export duties on* gold also tell from £801,000 to £64,000; and the total Customs fell from £416,000 to £380,000. Anoher indication of straightened means is the decline in tinproceeds of land sales, which iv the last quarter of 1858 amounted to £276,976, and in the quarter just ended to £187,415. On the other hand, there appears to be no decline in the resources of revenue connected wirh the business, and cspechilly with the rural interests of the colony. Postage for the quarter rose from £23,000 to £25,000; fees of courts, from £15,000 to £16,000; licenses to" de pasture on public lands and assessment on stock, from £105,000 to £115,000. Business licenses remained without change. It is cheering to observe the progress of the revenue fioni the telegraph and the railway, in thelast quarter of 1858 the telegraph yielded £4,171; iv the last quarter of 1859 it yielded £7,456. In 1858 the amount from the telegraph was £14,000; in 1859, £25,000. It wili he observed that the rate of last quarter was very nearly £30,000 per annum. The railway shows equally encouraging progress. In 1858 the railway revenue as nil; in 1859 it was £66,000. and in the last quarter the revenue "was £20,584, or at the rate of £82,336 per annum. The comparison of.the years is more favorable than that of the quarters. Iv 1858 the revenue was less than that of 1857, and only exceeded that ! of 1856 by £93,000; the amounts being, for 1856, £2,946,459; in 1857, £3,175,888; 1858, £3,039,791; ahd the returns showed the remarkable fact that while the population increased by 150,000 souls, the consumption of dutiable articles rather declined. In 1859 the total revenue amounted to £3,257,724, showing a considerable increase on the past four years. There is still, however, a decrease to the extent of £45,000 in Customs. The principal falling off is in spirits, sugar, and in the export duty on gold. The atnouulof the latter fell from £320,000 to £286,000. Ou the other hand, there is an increase in beer, tphacco, cigars, and opium. From the details of the Customs we are inclined to think that there, lias been no great decline iii the purchasing capacity of the masses of "our population ; but we learn that laborers, especially on the railways, consume beer in preference to spirits, aud in larger proportion than formerly. On comparing the various sources of revenue, it is indeed remarkable how steadily on the whole the amounts havo been maintained. There is a total increase on the year of £217,932, and tlie items'of increase are chiefly as follow:—Proceeds of public Lands, £117,000; licenses, . £30,000; Chinese passenger rates, £24,000; electric telegraph, £11,000 ; railway income, £66,000;— in all, £248,000, which is reduced to the net'amount of increase, £217,000, almost entirely by the decrease in Customs.

From,the above,summary, it will-he .observed that the state of tbe revenue had continued comparatively satisfactory up to the beginning of the past quarter ; during that quarter there has been a decrease of* £88,000. But this is more than accounted for by the deficiency in proceeds of land sales, which, doubtles-*, has been caused by the diversion of capital into the gold-mining companies. Taken together, the returns appear to us to be surprisingly favorable, and, judging from them alone, we see no cause whatever for despondency, or even for serious alarm, in reference to the financial position ofthe colony.

Victorian Housks op Parltament.-*—Among' the imp ovements and additions which have been made to the Houses of Parliament during the recess we notice the introduction by Mr. Knight of a new system of ventilating the legislative Chamber. The apparatus may be thus briefly described :—An opening has been made in the roof of the building, immediately over the stair-

I case leading*to the-reporters' gallery; into thij. ! has been fitted ah oblong zinc air-pipe, 4 feet long by 1 foot wide, which decends to the basement story, and again ascends, in the form.of a syphon, to tbe floor of the chamber, where pipes branch off horizontally on either side of the room. Pipes from the Van Yean have been laid .on-to the roof of the house, to which is attached at the top of the air-pipe a small horizontal waterwheel (an improvement upon the common watei-wheel, for which-Messrs. Dodd and M'Kayc, who have undertaken the work, have obtained a patent)* which keeps a shower constantly descending tlie pipe and at the same time sets in.motion a fan corresponding in size with the mouth of the aperture, by which a continual supply of fresh air is forced in the same direction. The air thus acquires a degree of moisture wbich venders^t cool and refreshing. At the basement story the water is let off by means of a waste-pipe, and the current of air ascends with the continuation of the air-pipe. An ingenious method has been adopted for introducing air into the chamber." This is done by means of a number of small pipes, about 1^ inch by 1 inch, fitted in the interstices of the fluted columns which support the walls, and pamted the same color, so as to resemble what, are technically termed the " cablings" belonging io the style of decorative architecture which has been recognised in the interior of the Assembly. An additional effect in refrigerating the current of air is given by lining the main-pipe with flannel. The small pipes rise on either side of the wall to the height of 5 feet above the members' seat and the air thus introduced enters the room with sufficient force to expel the exhausted air through the different spaces which are left for that purpose in the ceiling. Should the refreshing element be found to descend in too vapoury a form upon the "grave ancl reverend seigneurs" who occupy the senatorial benches, the difficulty can be remedied- by moderating the supply of water. Mr. Knight, who is, we understand, the originator of tin's novel mode of hydraulic ventilation, deserves some ce-.lit for an invention which, while it furnifhes a fctipply of fresh air upon a large seale —always a difficult matter in public buildings—in no way detracts from the ornamental appearance of the .room, no additional apertures being distinguishable ; at the same time the old system of introducing air from the floor under the feet of hon.„inembers, objectionable as productive'of cold and rheumatism, is entirely superseded. The simplicity of the new scheme speaks well for the success of the experiment. Workmen were engaged during the whole of last night in the completion of the necessary apparatus.—Argus. Assaulting the Chinese.-—ln the Municipal Police Court yesterday (Tuesday), the Bench very _ propely sentenced a man named Patrick O'Brien to six weeks' imprisonment, for taking away a bottle of old torn from a Chinaman iv Bridge street the other day. There is little doubt but that the prisoner had no felonious intention in raking away the Chinaman's property, and that it was only done for the sake of " having a lark" with the poor unoffending Mongolian. Unfortunately the performances of these practical jokes on this class are getting to he of too frequent occurrence, and we . hofe the example made of O'Brien will have the effect, of deterring others.—ln Williamson-street yesterday several parties witnessed a similar act of wanton maliciousness by a cowardly fellow, who had slop- * ped a Chinaman carrying a live duck, and who was endeavouring either to kill or take possession ofthe bird from the sheer love of malice; poof John, in the meantime, vainly jabbering, and trying, to escape from his persecutor. Had there, been a constable present some one would have uiven the man in custody. We trust that the warning given yesterday at tlie police court will he the means of affording th. se poor Chinese that protection which they pay so dear for, but which, is yet, they have got so little of.— B&nd'go Paper Austrian Tyranny.—A correspondent of the Daily News gives -the following instances of the cruel tyranny which is exercised in the Austrian dominion's'by the police :—-"Johann Pulkrabek, director of a printing-machine in Prague, and elder of the Moravia church in Berlin', said one lay when the* tax gatherers called on him in tiie presence of his fellow-workmen, that it was a shame that the Emperor having issued a depreciated paper, would not receive it in payment ofthe taxes it the rate of its depreciation. "-In two days he was seized and imprisoned. His starving wife and children are refused all knowledge of where he is, md his old friends in Berlin have been obliged to make a subscription for their support. —A Bohemian Roman Catholic priest was acquainted with i workman from Berlin who had a German bible, fhe priest called often to read il. Aether priest informed agninst him in the Ecclesiastic il Court; he was imprisoned in a convent, wbich places are rd ways used for such purposes. They have declared iiim mad, and refuse to tell his family where he is. This happened shortly before I was there." Tiie building of men-of-war is being carried on with unremjttiug activity at Pembroke Dockyard. Tlie most important vessel on the stocks is the Howe, a magnificent three-decker of 121 guris. She is over 4,000 tons in burden. This fine vessel is rapidly approaching completion, and could he got afloat at a very short notice. The Defiance, and Zealous, two of the new, class 91's. are building.- There are also three first-class frigates —viz., Immortalite, Aurora, and Tweed,-~each mounting 51 guns, in course of construction, of which the two first are far advanced. The smaller vessels are five in number some of which are progressing rapidly. Tir-RRiom Tragedy at TftiNinao.-— A terrible tragedy was enacted on the night, ofthe l-_th September, at the barracks of the 3rd West India Regiment, Lower Piime-e-street. It-appears that Serjeant During ordered Private James Howard to join the St. Ann's guard. Howard declared that it was not his roll, and became very noisy in the barrack room in-which many men had retired to rest. He was enjoined silence—he continued his noise. He was ordered in more peremptory terms to be so. During ordered an escort of two men, which he accompanied to take Howard to the guard room; Howard had by this time possessed himself of a knife, which must have been concealed under his great coat, when be appeared to be making ready to go to the guard room. In passing near During, Howard inflicted a mortal blow Howard was then seized, and taken towards the door by private, James Nichols, whom he dangerously wounded. During died on the same night on which the wound wai inflicted Nichols died two nights after.— Trinidad Press. Swimming,—Why is it not made a part of education for every child to learn early/ to swim ? asks Miss Martinean. Where is the diffituhy ? Where is the objection ? ■ Many years ago a boy was drowned in bathing in one of the great private schools of the dissenters. The usher was wj'th the party, but the boy got beyond his depth, and sank because he did not know how to keep himself up. Instead of taking measures to show every boy how to do that, the masters forbade bathing altogether; and a more awkward squad than ihe pupils of that, school could not well jje seen. They never learned the proper use of their limbs;.and they were consequently timid where wellrtraiued lads would haye beeri_ Without a thought of fear. A hoy who can swim like a fish is pretty sure to do other things well; to row, to bowl, to drive, to ride. Every child ought to swim like a fish. ■ See how this consideration again brings us back to the topic of mortality ! Is there ever a summer when we do not see'a succession oif paragraphs about persons drowned in bathing ? Is there ever a tourist season at, the Lakes in which every considerable lake has not its victim? A skiff is upset—a bather has got out of his depth—an angler has fallen overboard ; and as none of them can swim, they all go to the bottom, So we,go on, year after yeay. This year 1&59 has been mournfully distinguished by coroner s inquests on this kind of needless death, Oxford and Cambridge have offered up their victims, and seas and rivers have sent their bad news to swell the indignation and shame witli which we have to confess that we, a maritime nation noted for our manly sports, and have not yet learued to swim!— Once a Week,