MELBOURNE TOWN TALK

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1842, 16 May 1888, Page 3

MELBOURNE TOWN TALK

[by our own correspondent.]

The Central figure of -his,* our groat OhiuGße enibrogllo is poor Captain Roy of the Afghan. Many und deep are the curses this unfortunate old salt has given vent tc, since his barque shot into Australian waters. I would not be In hia Bhcea for all the wealth of Broken Hill and Mount Morgan (this ia the modern Auatralinai'zsd parallel for "^ll the weal ; h of Ormrz aud of Tnd "). Threatened on she one hand by the Customs w!th the ; r £100 per Chinese pigtail five ; defendant m art aotlon for £700 bought by a firm of C( n dgne^s for dnmag dca 'go ; brov. -beaten by Government tiiioials, water- jolioe, Customs authorities, and healthcffioera ; m danger of a mutiny on the part of the despised Celeatials on board ; shorthanded and with disaffected sailors, badgered, and ballied on all hands— lt ia a wonder poor Roy has not oommltted suiolde long ere he got away from Port Phillip. And though It all, he' has not been the offendparty. He was but the accessory, and m no way responsible, his principals being a large firm of shippers m Hong Koog, who, it ia well known, made a good thing fom this emigration of Ouinesa. Poor Boy I I have met him several times — a woather-baateu greyish tar, bluff m speeoh and bluff m manner, but down-right and honest to the backbone 'and a sailor who has ploughed moat of the Bens of the Southern Hemisphere. He was dreadfully worried about »li this trouble, and before going away said to the writer, shaking bis bead gravely : " I hope I shall get baok to Hong Kong all right " — probably thinking of the trouble he was likely to have with the enraged Chinamen on board? I am informed by a Government House official (who ought to know if anybody does) that Lord Sheffield Intends paying the Colonies a visit very shortly m his yaoht the "Helolse." Lord Sheffield is the nobleman so well known In connection with Australian crioke'ers at Home, and who is kinder to them than any man m England, fete-log them, entertaining them, and bo on. In consequent of eorae disagreement Lord Sheffield has severed hia connection with the Sussex Cricket 0 üb, and thia is probably one of the reasons why he one of the moat ardent supporters of crfcKet iv England— wishes to get out of the country before the Reason beglts. All Au?tralia phonld give him a warm welcome. At laat the Soots' Ohutoh has succeeded m obtaining a minister permanently, who, from his first essay, should fill ail requ rjments. The Key Alexander Marshall is a modern John Knox, a mau terrrlbly m earnest, full of virill'y, strength and power. He is middle-aged, a family man, and at his prime — a man to direct, to lead, end to govern. His style of preaching ia simple but fluent and logioil, and hia appearance m the pulpit almost oommand* ing. The Scots' Church oould not have found a bettor man. lie will put a stop to their petty bickerings, aad rule them 06ly as Scotchmen should and oan be ruled — by an iron hand- lam told that m private life, be is sedate and almost außtere, but he intends to busy himßolf with general public affairs, and doubtless will soon be felt m the land. He should be a welcome addition to oar midst, if party spirit and party feeling does not mar hia usefulness I don't know if it will Interest my readers to know that we are to have another raoecourae m Melbourne shortly. There is a course at Brighton, known ci 'Hurlinghatn," which has bean usod mostly for pony racing. Well ;It seeniß that the lease of this explrea m Ootobjr, and it is to be cut up into allotments In place of it, an extenaive piece of ground Borne ten inilee from town has been chosen, and two courses will be laid down — one for the logitimate and one for pony raoiDg. The namo of the new course will etill be Harllugham. Poor Geordy Holmes ! I kn6w him well for years, and a cheerier, honestec lad I never met. It Is hard to be out off at such an »g?, hardly In the twenties, and through no fault of one's own either* Iroquois, the horse he rode at the Moidialloo races, 1b quiet enough and thoroughly understands hurdle raolng, and the boy was m touch with him from the firat. Say what the Press will, the accident was caused by the other horse, Footman swerving and so causing the cannon. Poor Geordie 1 he was a fine manly young Australian, and plucky to the backbone. He was elevon years with Mr M'Kenna, of Flemln>>ton, and had thoroughly won his employer's oonfideno«. He was, too, the broad winuer of his family, there being ten ohildren besides himself, and he will bo miesed — sorely missed by others than those who knew and reoognlßed his oheery faoe at Flemiington. Melbourne is all agog with soandals just now, and it is true enough that our social life is not what it quite should be. Life is fast m thin gay olty, and manners are faßt, and the Ideas of tho times aro fast. The greatest scandal Is In oonneotlon with the Women's Hoßpltal In Oarlton. It is a matter of ourrent talk, the rela« tiona existing between certain of the nurses and modloal students there, and so aroused is public attention, that a committee of gentlemen has been appointed to deal with the matters. If all particulars beooine known, some very scandalous revelations will come out. Another wretched affair just brought to light has leaked out from the M— — club. One of our gilded youths was found playing for high stakes with marked cards and was kicked out. Then there la the affiir of the engagement of a gentle man who oalla himself "The Champion Skater of the World," of which all Mcl- : bourne is talking. He was engaged to a rich yonng lady who made her engagement public wherever Bhe oould, She never put In an appearance nt church on the appointed wedding-day, but left a letter explaining that nhe had been befooling her lover out of revenge. Altogether the social utmosphero m Melbourne is somowhat murky. I waa preaont at the Gorman Club on Friday evening last, when the " Jungfrau Kapelle " troupe of Troleau singers gave an Initial' performance. It was a novel kind of entertainment In its way and olever, but not over and above nttrcotive. The troupe oondsts of 14 members, young and old, aud they play on no less than forty differont instruments. . The jo lei singing was good and will be quite new to most of us ; otherwise tho vocal powen of tho Company are simply wretched. The performers have tho heavy oast of features peculiar to most mountaineers, and have one and all light hair and are superbly ugly. Their national coatum > is quaint, but their appearanoo could hardy bo called artistic. The most surprising part of the performance is the way the prlnolpal artlßta play indiscriminately on nny nnmbor of Instruments. They ne&m to know them all and play equally well on onoh. Mr Jlukins, who has tho affilr m hand, informs me ho is going all through the colonies with the troapo, ro probably readers jwill hftvo an opportunity of judging for themselves. Speculation goes on m tho olty at the same abnormal rate, despite the fall In oilver ahacea and the sudden toppling down of tin. ( ' My kingdom for a horso," may have pried deformed Kiohard ; but nowadays m Melbourne oity it Is a kingdom for a house. Some idea of the magnitude of the business done m olty properties may be gathered from the statement made by a well. lnformed authority that within the last ten days the values represented on the selling basis ia over three quarters of a million sterling. It la almost incredible, but I hare seen the figures that represent these enormous fft'os,- and «s wo all know, and Mr Mirams. m particular, " Figgers can't Ito,"