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54 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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AUSTUAL1A. At l(, 'ii^ l,h the Australia...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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American Reply To The Staffordhouse Memo...
and respect as one of the most eminent divines m that city , stated in a public speech not long since , that in three wynds , constituting but a portion of his parish , there were , in a population of 3 , 232 , only 83 church sittings , or little more than an average of 2 £ - to 100 ; and that in the whole locality there were only 117 Bibles . ' Certain it is , ' he exclaims , ' that nothing short of a levy en 7 nasse of whatever there is of living Christianity in the city , in all the branches of the Church of Christ , will suffice to make head against the augmenting ignorance , and ungodliness , and infidelity with which wo have to deal . If we do not destroy the evil it will destroy us . ' Out of 10 , 4 ( 51 burials in that city in 1850 no less than 2 , 381 , or nearly a fourth , were at the public expense . Glasgow , in these particulars , is but a specimen of your manufacturing towns generally . So , too , of jour country population . A
very large number of your agricultural population live in filthy and crowded cottages , where the sexes are in close and perilous contact night and day , where decency is difficult and comfort impossible ; the effect of which is to break down the barriers of morality , to obliterate all the sweet and saving attractions of a home , to weaken and desecrate all domestic ties , and to brutalize the manners and debase every natural feeling . The cottage accommodation of your villages is little or no better ; and the low tone of morality which this , in conjunction with other unfavourable influences , has caused , may be inferred from the following sad statement made last May in the N ~ orlJi , British Meviciv : — ' There are few things more remarkable in the sight of observant residents in many country villages than the small number of marriages solemnized in the course of the year . Among these few things , we are afraid , must be mentioned the number of illegitimate children that are
born into the world . In some villages , indeed , these events are of such frequent occurrence as to excite neither surprise nor indignation There is something in this kind of insensibility which is very chilling and disheartening . This obtuseness of the moral senses , this deadness to shame , makes one almost despair over it . When the standard of public opinion is so low , there is little hope of practical improvement . ' " But , sisters , we have said enough ; and we now appeal to you very seriously to reflect , and to ask counsel of God how far such a state of things is in accordance with His Holy Word , the inalienable rights of immortal souls , and the pure and merciful spirit of the Christian religion . How are you discharging your duties—your peculiar duties as
women of education and influence ? As one of your own writers has told you , to distressed individuals of every description , and of all ranks , you owe tender compassion and charitable aid ; while to your lower orders , as such , you owe , not charity , but justice—not so much the open purse aa the equal measure ; advice , as far as they will receive it ; guidance , as far as they will submit to it ; education of the best quality and to the utmost extent that your unhappy sectarian jealousies will permit you to bestow . You owe them fair play in every thing ; justice of the most evenhanded sort—full , unquestioned , and overflowing ; the removal of every external impediment which prevents them from doing and being whatever other classes can do and be . You owe it to them to employ your superior capacities , your
richer opportunities , your maturer wisdom in . cheering their toil , smoothing their difficulties , directing their often misguided and suicidal energies . You owe to them every facility with which you can surround their conflict amid the obstacles of life —facility to obtain land , to obtain employment , or obtain colonization—facility to acquire temperate habits , to accumulate savings , to employ them wisely , to invest them well—facility , above all , to aequiro that which is at once the key and crown of all , solid and comprehensive instruction in all the things which belong both to their earthly welfare and their future peace . How you have performed these duties may bo learned from the following short paragraph in a work published last year ,
by Willimn Johnston , barrisfer-at-law , entitled , Kntjluud us it . ' Is— ' The separation between rich and poor ----the disfiyinpafhy and isolation of classes--is the great social evil of the lime , instil utions for . scientific and literary teaching by lecturers , at-the cheapest possible rates , are established ; parks , for the reereat ion of I he lower orders are established ; even dubs upon something likes ( Iks aristocratic model , where conveniences and luxuries urn supplied at lower prices ; but all this seems unsuccessful . What one wants to see— -a mutual and heart y recognition of the difference , of civilization , a k inel and conliul combination on the one hand , and an equally cordial , but still re-Hjxurtful devotedness on the other ¦ ¦ appears to make no
progress . ' This is tho common complaint among all your philanthropists . " JNnw , sisters , avo do not shut our eves to the . difficulties that might , beset the sudden elevation of your degraded population to the rights and the dignity of manhood . 'Hut ., nevertheless , we cannot be Kile-tit , on those systems ol your society which , in direct contravention of ( joel ' sown law , deny in effect to tho poor labourer the sanctity of marriage , with all its joys , rights , and obligations ; nor can we be silent on that awful policy which , either by law , or by the absence of law , precludes any race of men , or uny portion of the human family , from ( bat . education which alone can enable them ( o understand the truths of
tho ( i'osj ) cl and the ordinances of Christianity . We appeal to you as sinters , hh wives , ami as mothers , to raise your voices to your fellow-citizens , and your prayers to < Joel , for the . removal of Knglnnd ' s shame ! from the Christian world . "
54 The Leader. [Saturday,
54 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
Austual1a. At L(, 'Ii^ L,H The Australia...
AUSTUAL 1 A . At l ( , 'ii ^ l , h the Australian 1 i : i . h arrived : hIh ; made ) l'lymnutli on Tuesday . Her liomewnrd course had been retarded by two Hi ^ nilie-unt , facts l . lio wnnf . of men and tho luck of coals . Conjointly operating with these wiih tho weather , which , on the other side ! of the < ! upe , seems to have alternated between strong he-ad- winds and dead culms . ( She muled from Sydney on tho 20 th of
September , touching at Port Philip and Adelaide , arriving there on the 1 st of Octobei * , and sailing thence on the 5 th . The Australian was detained at King George's Sound nearly eight days , on account of the weather and the deficiency of labour . She was thirty-two days from King George ' s Sound to the Mauritius , experiencing nothing but calms , and went fruitlessly . out of her course to seek the south-east trades ; it is said that she put into the Mauritius in consequence of breaking the eccentric rod of one of her engines , while others state that slie had coal but for two or three days ; she shipped 650 tons there . After leaving the Mauritius , she encountered contrary south-west winds and sprung her maintop-mast , which was unshipped and replaced
by a new one , during a calm , after leaving the Cape . Fine weather prevailed from the Cape to St . Vincent ' s , and thence to the Channel ; three days before reaching Plymouth , she had strong fair winds . The commander , officers , boatswain , and boys , went out and returned in the Australian , but all the seamen and all the firemen ( 14 or 15 ) , except one , ran from her . At Sydney , she received six men from Her Majesty ' s ship Fantome , but left short-handed . None joined her at Melbourne or Adelaide , but at King George's Sound she engaged two Frenchmen , who landed at the Cape ; at the Mauritius four Englishmen entered ; at the Cape , five men and a boy ; and , at St . Vincent ' s , three men . Wages from Sydney were \ 0 l . per month ; Mauritius , 31 . She is ei < rht or ten short now . All hands behaved
exceedingly well on the passage home . The Australian brought , as a present to Her Majesty the Queen , the valuable nugget of gold from the Bendigo diggings , weighing over 281 b . It was purchased at auction by the Government authorities at Melbourne , with money raised by the sale of licenses . The gold frei ght of the Australian weighs eigli £ and a half tons , or 222 , 293 oz ., worth upwards of 800 , 000 ? . In addition to the gold-dust on the ship ' s manifest , the passengers have considerable quantities . The Anstralian shipped gold-dust , wool , and tallow at Sydney . From Melbourne she brings only gold-dust ; at Adelaide she took in gold-dust and copper ore ; and at the Mauritius 100 tons of suirar .
At the gold mines , twenty-eight miles from Adelaide , about 400 people were at work , gathering , it is said , from 2 oz . to 3 oz . per day each . The deposit is of a similar quality , and realizes the same price as at Melbourne . Itents at Adelaide have not risen , the run being still for the established gold fields , especially Bendigo ; but trade and commerce are greatly improving . Flour is 38 / . to 40 Z . per ton ; beef < k ? . per lb . ; pork , Gd . ; mutton , 4 r ? . The following important statement appeared in the City Article of the Times on Thursday : —
" It is understood that despatches were sent Ivy the Adelaide steamer to the Governor-General of Mow South Wales and tho Ijieutenant-Governor of Victoria , authorizing the Legislative Councils in both those colonies to form themselves each into a Parliament of an Upper and a Lower House , it being at the same time intimated that so soon as this arrangement shall have been brought into operation the Crown will concede to them the management of their own affairs , including the entiro receipts from the public lands , so as to assimilate their position to that of Canada . These- despatches are said likewise , to have contained an assurance that transportation shall positively reuse within a short period , which will be named as soon as tho necessary plans for a different disposal of tho convicts can be ) completed . "
1 he South Australian legislative council was busy revising the constitution . The following resolutions had been offered by Mr . Francis Duttoii : —* " 1 . That it is expedient during tho present session to amend act No . 1 of IKfil , entitled ' An act to establish tho Legislative Council of South Australia , and to provide for the election ( if members to serve ; in tho same . ' " ' 2 . That it . is expedient to introduce into tho amended act tho following alterations : " (( . To extend the franchise to every inalo inhabitant of this colony of ' 21 years of age who shall not bo legally disqualified , and w ^ io shall bo registered for six months in the electoral district for which be seeks to exercise his vote , previous to the dny of such election takinf place .
" It . That votes for the election of members of Council be taken by ballot . u r . That . the qualification of members elected to nerve in the Legislative Council lie abolished . " . That the time for which members of I ho Lngislul ivo Council are elected be limited to three years . " . " { . That an address bo presented to " his Kxoellency tho l ; ieutenant ( ioveni <) r , requesting that ho will instruct tho law ollicers of Iliei Crown to prepare a bill during tho present session introducing the above amendments . "
The first resolution was uflinned b y u majority of nine . Sixteen members , including tin- Colonial Secretary and the Advocate-General , voted for the motion , and nine ngu ' innf it . Wo learn flint tho agents of the Australian Auriferous Ore Reduction Company had met with no many difficulties after landing ut Melbourne , that they bad come to the conclusion of tho utter impracticability of carrying on opemtioiiM of gold-vviiHlung by a public
company , and had abandoned the enterprise . Their reasons are manifold . The enormous expense of transporting men and machinery to tho gold regions , the certainty that the men would desert when they saw others earning so much more by independent labour , the impossibility of obtaining a licence to work a large piece of land exclusively , and the necessity of taking out separate licences for every person employed , are among these . The Governor was anxious to help them ,, but " he cozdd not go against the mass . " Moreover , the great expense of maintaining and lodging the men at Melbourne led the agents at once to give up , in , order to save the remaining property of the company . It is clear , therefore , that in the present state of things gold mining by companies is a hopeless project in Australasia .
A lively picture of society at Melbourne , is supplied by the following extracts from the correspondence of a young emigrant , published in the Times . "Writing , in July , be says : — " Such a sum as 40 ? . is not thought much of here now , as gold-diggers think nothing frequently of giving oOl . or 60 L for a couple of two-horse flys to drive a wedding party about the town for two or three hours . There are one or two of these weddings here nearly every day ; the
party drive up one street and down another half the day , showing themselves off , and getting gradually drunk as the day advances . You would stare in London to see such a wedding , the whole party , excepting , perhaps , the brideand bridesmaids , smoking : and generally one , the drunkest of the party , leaning half over the back of the flyr black bottle in hand , inviting the public in general to have a ' nobbier . ' One of these weddings frequently costs fho ' happy bridegroom' 300 Z . to 400 Z . "
His letter , a month later , deals with graver subjects at first , but closes with more about those wonderful weddings : — " People are flocking in from all countries now , and there is not accommodation for a tenth of them . Some have to sleep in sheds , & c , who never knew anything but a feather-bed in England . We have had very heavy rains lately ; several people have been drowned on their way to and from the diggings in attempting to swim the creeks , as the Government does not think of putting any bridges where required ; indeed , the people are beginning to murmur against the abominable way in which our Government is carried on The people can , and will
soongovem themselves , if the authorities are not very soon ; altered , or change their mode of action—if such a word as ; ' action' may be used for their utter imbecility . You cannot walk the streets of tho city after dark without being armed . I never go out at night without having an open knife in my hand , llobberios are committed also in thoopen day with impunity , while the Legislative Council isdebating whether they shall give policemen 7 s . ( id . or 7 s . 9 d , per day , when no man now will work under l () s . at eveni road-scraping . I cannot have lost less than between 300 ? .
and 400 Z . by the mismanagement of the Post-office , letters being mislaid , missent , and lost altogether day after day . We want a Vigilance Committee here , as in California , and I would bo one of tho first to join it ; it saved California , and we shall have no safety until it is adopted hero . There are marriage parties driving about every day , as I described in my last . 1 was at the Hotanicalgurdens last Sunday , and there were diggers' wives promenading most splendidly dressed in silks , satins , velvets , feathers , and jewellery , who had been servants in situations a week before . ''
He gives , in September , a lively picture of the ( TocTcing-in of people ; " 1500 a-week , " then 4283 a-wcek . He describes how the diggers are cheated by the gold broker , who weighs and buys their gold at his " office . " "A digger goes into one of those o / lices with his bag of dust and nuggets , which the broker requests him to empty on a large sheet of whify -brown or other large paper ; ho then begins a vigorous ' rousing' with his fingers and a magnet to extract the iron-stone from among it , and , a good deal of blowing and shaking having been goner through in a cureless off-hand manner , he empties the lot into the scale . , ' Seven arid four is eight , eight mid threeis eleven , eleven and four is fourteen ; fourteen ounces , four pennyweights and a half , at ' M . 7 . v . an ounce ! , is 4-M . - there ! s a check , sir . ' Now , all this shaking , Ac , is to inako n portion of the gold puss through two nicks each in two
sheets of paper . When be takes it to put ( he gold into tho scale , be shifts the two sheets , so that the nicks are \ n \ longer over each other , and consequentl y cannot be seen , even if the seller has any suspicion . Sometimes , afler shaking and blowing the gold in the above manner , hooffers Js . per ounce ! less than the digger can get uiiywheru else , who of course ! declines selling , and goes away with an ounce or se > le-ss than be ! caino with . Some never buy ai » ounce , but have a pound or two to sell at the ! end of a we-e-k . Soniei scales have the beam divided unequally , no that it , takes a quarter oI ' iim ounce te > turn the ) sciile . ' ' If ono half of the ! Itenm is the Kith of an inch longer than the either it will take ! thin . The ! way to beat them at Huh work is to reverse the gold ami weights from ono wide ) te > tho other . The known weight of ge ) ld that has been sent from hero up te > tins elate ! is M , leius ; but this does not include thai , which parties take away of the \\ r own . "
Altogether life ut Melbourne must be exciting , novel , and hazurdoiiM . liul , IV . oni 1 ) ie > nbovo evidence them iippcurH to he little control exercised ovrr 1 . 11 <« people by the Government ; and Mint our risk of . lowing Australia will come from conduct tho reverse of that which lomfi to \\ h America—too little interference .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 15, 1853, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15011853/page/6/
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