Mr. Gavan Daffy, the Prime Minister of Victoria, delivered at
a banquet at Castlemaine on the 20th of March one of those spirited speeches which raise colonial questions into a higher- level of political life. He gave a sketch of the policy of the Government for the coming Session :—The rent of mining: land was to be reduced one-half ; the Bale of country land by auction was to cease, and to be reserved for settlers at a cost of a pound an acre ; three great lines of steamers were to be provided between Melbourne and the Old World, one by way of Galle to meet the English mail, one by way of New Zealand to- San Francisco, and one round the Cape for the purposes of emi- grants. Cheap lines of railway were to be pushed on, and local efforts for waterworks were to be aided by the Government ; and further, Mr. Duffy expressly said that he looked forward to federa- tion as coming on rapidly, if not quite immediately. He ignores, of course, the protective policy in which he has acquiesced for the present, as Parliament insists on it, and passes by also the vexed question of denominational and secular education, which there, as- here, is ever stirring; but the effect of his speech, which, consider- ing its rather dry subjects, was a wonderful effort of real oratory enthusiastically received, will certainly be to give a great impulse- to his party, and to begin the session with eclat. His old rival, Sir James M'Culloch, has retired for a season from public life, —driven, it is said, by ill-health, and not a little, perhaps, by political disappointment, to seek the refreshment of a visit home.
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