public meeting in Graham's Town, a strong memorial to
the Queen against the proposed abandonment of the
Orange River settlement had been adopted.

The dates from Sydney are to the 13th of October.
The Legislative Council has passed a very important act
for the regulation of the gold fields. By this act the
license fee to be paid for liberty to mine and dig for gold
is reduced from 30s. to 10s. a month. The amount of
royalty to be restored in cases where leases or licenses
shall be granted on the terms of paying a royalty in lieu
of fees is fixed at 3 per cent. on the gross value of the
gold procured, in place of 10 per cent., as previously
exacted. The fees and royalties in cases in which
licenses or leases are granted for mining or digging for
gold on private lands are fixed at one-half the reduced
amounts to be paid in respect of licenses and leases
affecting crown lands. The sections of the former
act which directly or impliedly restricted its
provisions to British subjects only are repealed; and,
until further order, all subjects and citizens of foreign
states are to be allowed the like privileges of working
the gold mines and gold fields of New South Wales,
and of employing themselves thereon, as now are
enjoyed by British subjects. Clergymen, officers in the
public service, sick persons, and domestic servants,
residing upon a gold field, all of whom by the former
act were required to pay licenses in respect of residence,
are now exempt. Upon the conviction of runaway
servants or apprentices, who may have obtained licenses
or leases, they shall be deemed to have forfeited the
same. It further provides that persons convicted of
having upon any gold field committed any offence
under the Vagrant Act shall be prohibited from
remaining at, or returning to, such gold field, and from
coming to or being at any other gold field for twelve
months. Facilities are provided for the establishment
and control of licensed public houses on the gold fields.
The Legislative Council had awarded a further sum of
£1000 to Mr. Hargreaves as the first practical discoverer
of gold in the colony, and also £1000 to be divided
equally between Messrs. William Tom, junior, James
Tom, and John Lister, in consideration of their
instrumentality, in a subordinate degree, in the discovery of
gold in this colony, in the year 1851. The sum of £1000
has also been voted by the Council as a gratuity to the
Rev. W. B. Clarke, on the completion of his geological
exploration.

Advices from Melbourne have been received by the
ship Francis Henty, which sailed on the 13th of October.
This vessel was laden with wool and tallow, and brings
home 66,800 ounces of gold, besides a quantity in the
hands of her passengers. Gold was £3 16s. 9d. to £3 17s.
per ounce. The passengers express the greatest
confidence in the gold fields, all of them bringing to
England substantial evidence of success. No passenger by
this ship has brought home less than £1,000. One of
them has 3,000 ounces of gold. Another belonged to
the party of eight who dug in the hole at Ballarat called
the "jeweller's shop." Each of the eight men had for
his share 40lbs. 8oz. of gold. One of them then sold
his interest in the excavation for £50, after which the
remaining seven had made £300 each, and were still at it.
The population at Melbourne and the neighbourhood
was again beginning to move for the summer diggings
campaign, and this movement had caused an increased
demand for commodities; but there appeared no chance
and no expectation that the excitement, speculation,
and high prices of former years would be again
experienced. The labour market was very active, there
being a great demand for all kinds of labour at increased
wages. Seamen for the coast were abundant, but for
home few offering, as most men seem unwilling to leave
the colony. Another instance of the universal dispersion
of gold throughout the colony of Victoria had
occurred at Flemington. A party fencing in some
ground, in course of digging the post-holes, came upon
a rock, which, on being broken, was found to be quartz,
intermixed with gold. At Bendigo the diggers were
persevering, and well rewarded. At Ballarat the yield
is still large, and the diggers contented and happy with
the result of their labours. Forest Creek is attracting
increased attention. Some experienced hands had
started for that field, giving it the preference to all the
others. The scarcity of water had prevented the
Goulburn diggings from being thoroughly tested, still a fair
quantity of gold was weekly sent down, for the number
of diggers actually at work. In the week ending Oct. 8,
1,760 persons had arrived in the colony. Within the
same period 39,984 ounces of gold had been brought
down from the diggings. The value of the gold shipped
from Victoria in 1853, including that by the Francis
Henty, was £7,152,615.

The Melbourne papers give accounts of a Series of
Atrocities committed by two convicts named Bradley
and O'Connor, said to be from Norfolk Island. They
had both got into employment in Van Diemen's Land,
and were receiving high wages. On the 14th of
September they suddenly left their employment, and went
in the night to the house of Mr. Staines, a farmer in
the bush. After tying Mr. Staines and another man
together, they compelled a servant to accompany them,
saying they were going to Mr. John House's, the adjoining
farm. On arriving there a little boy, son of Mr
House, opened the door, when the ruffians threatened
to shoot him. This brought out of his bedroom Mr.
Alfred Phillips, a relative of Mr. House. The runaways
demanded Mr. House, and to be shown into his bedroom.
They tied Mr. Phillips and the man servant together
by the legs, necks, and hands, and forced them into the
bedroom of the daughters. Mr. House on hearing what
was going on, escaped out of the window, and ran off to
the next farm for assistance. Bradley ran round and
fired two shots, which fortunately neither took effect.
Bradley came back again, saying, the fellow had got off.
O'Connor then replied that they would not be
disappointed, and immediately discharged both barrels at
Mr. Phillips through the neck, causing instant death;
this dreadful deed they perpetrated in the bedroom, and
in the presence of Mr. House's daughters. Immediately
on the murder being known, a large party of the
inhabitants set off in pursuit; and, although they left
four of their party at Table Cape River, the ruffians
managed to take the schooner Sophia, which vessel was
loaded for Melbourne, and escaped. The inhabitants
offered a reward of £100 for their capture, and
despatches were sent to the authorities at Melbourne, in
the hope of catching the criminals on their arrival
there. Accordingly, the bushrangers, on arriving at
Melbourne, were traced from place to place, till it was
found that they had been in the house of a Mr. Cain, the
inmates of which they had surprised and bound. The
police broke into the house, when a shot was heard,
and it was announced that the bushrangers were
approaching. The two villains accordingly made their
appearance fully armed. At this moment it was
ascertained that one of them had shot Cadet Thompson
in a hut or sort of tent close by, the ball entering his
breast, coming out at his back, and then penetrating the
partition. The robbers had double-barrelled guns and
pistols. Several shots were fired by the police and the
others, when the constables' horses broke loose, and in
the confusion one of the robbers jumped upon one of
them, and with his companion in guilt rode away,
pursued by the others for some miles, when they were
overtaken at the out-station of a Mr. Cairns, and then a
sort of pitched-battle ensued. Several shots were
discharged on both sides, without any loss of life; and
after all their ammunition had been used, the bush-
rangers were taken. On one of them were found four
pistols; and on their way to Kilmore they confessed to
a dark catalogue of horrible crimes. They declared that
they had murdered six persons in Van Diemen's Land,
and beat off a whole detachment of police who
attempted to capture them, where the Sophia went on
shore, on the Tasmanian coast. After their arrival in
Victoria, they admitted having robbed no less than
28 men, one of whom they shot.

Three of the ringleaders of the daring gang of
mounted highwaymen who stopped the M'lvor gold
escort, and plundered it of nearly £10,000 of treasure,
were hanged at Melbourne on the 4th of October. They
were notorious London thieves, who had been sent out
under sentence of transportation, and were known by
the names of George Melville, George Wilson, and
William Atkins. They were mainly convicted through