FROM the subjoined address to the Presbyterians of Australia Felix, our readers will learn that his Excellency the Governor has refused to grant to the three Presbyterian clergymen recently arrived the allowance of £150, which it has hitherto been customary to allow to clergymen of all denominations during the first year of their residence in the colony, in order that they may be enabled to form congregations.

We are sorry that his Excellency should have commenced his retrenchments with the clergy of Australia Felix, for hitherto only three clergymen connected with this province have claimed this indulgence at his hands, while more than ten times that number have claimed and obtained it in the Sydney district.

It is particularly to be regretted also that the first clergyman of any denomination, who has settled in the important district of Portland Bay, should have been denied government aid in any shape. Sir George Gipps, however, was never particularly fond of Presbyterians; a liberal himself both in politics and religion, he is not yet sufficiently liberal to relish a system of government so thoroughly republican as the government of the Church of Scotland.

The following is the address:-

The New South Wales Government having refused to grant to the three Clergymen, recently sent to this Province by the Colonial Committee of the Church of Scotland, the allowance of £150 formerly made to Clergymen during the first year of their residence in the Colony, it is proposed to provide for their support under the fifth clause of the Church Act.

By this clause, it is enacted, "That whenever any sum, not less than £50, for any one year, shall be raised by private contributions towards the maintenance of a Minister of Religion in any part of the Colony, in which there shall be no Church or Chapel, at which persons of the creed of such Minister can be reasonably expected to attend, and there shall also appear reasonable cause for delaying the erection of a permanent Church or Chapel for the use of such persons, it shall be lawful for the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, to cause to be issued from the Colonial Treasury any sum not exceeding £100 which shall be equivalent to the sum raised by private contributions."

It is expected that, by the end of the current year, one if not all of the Ministers lately arrived will be entitled to permanent stipend under the Church Act, or be provided for by their particular flocks; but until that takes place it seems to be the duty of the whole Presbyterian community of Port Phillip to make common cause, and to combine for the promotion of an object of such importance. After every allowance is made, the sum of £250 appears the least which ought to be raised during 1842, and the least which would suffice for the object of the view. This, distributed among the gentlemen referred to, either according to the direction of the respective contributors, or at the discretion of the Sub-Committee, would secure them an equal amount from the Treasury.

From various considerations, it has been thought more advisable to solicit subscriptions through the private efforts of a body of collectors, than to establish a public association; but as soon as such an association can be formed with a reasonable prospect of success, it is proposed to attempt its organisation, with a view to the further extension of Churches and Schools through Port Phillip generally.

In the mean time the gentlemen under-named will act as a Sub-Committee to superintend the effort now to be made, and a body of Collectors is in the course of formation. It will be optional for subscribers to direct a particular appropriation of their contributions, or to leave the appropriation to the Sub-Committee: in either case they may rely on a conscientious application of their funds.

The Clergymen referred to have been stationed as follows, and are actively engaged in the discharge of their duties:-

REV. THOMAS MOWBRAY, on the Merri and Darebin Creeks, where he has received a call, and is forming a congregation.

REV. ALEXANDER LAURIE, at Portland Bay, forming the first Christian congregation in that important town and district.

REV. PETER GUNN, Gaelic Minister in Melbourne, forming a second congregation, English and Gaelic, in the Capital of Australia Felix.

Interim Sub-Committee.- Rev. James Forbes; Dr. David Patrick; David Ogilvy, Esq.; James Drummond, Esq.: William Montgomerie Bell, Esq., (Secretary and Treasurer), to whom all communications should be addressed.