MELBOURNE TOWN TALK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1869, 16 June 1888, Page 3

MELBOURNE TOWN TALK.

(f»01f OUB OWN 003BESPONDBNT.) The Speaker of one Lower House, the Hod, M. H, Davles, has again come to the front with a generous gift of £1000 towards tbe Consumptive Hospital. His magnificent charity of £10,000 In honor of Her Majesty's Jabllee is still fresh fn tbe publlo Kind, and this seoond Instalment Is a fitting sequel. The Speaker ie a very satisfactory man from a colonial point of view. He has made himself a millionaire m Melbourne, and here he ■pends his* money freely and wel', m ■trlking contrast to other oolonlals, who grab all they can here ani then spend it elsewhere, or else save it np until thry hare reluctantly to leave it. Mr Daviea la popularly supposed to have made somewhere about a couple of millions out o! laod during the past few years. J bear privately that that well- known bloolr known as " Monty Levy's corner," a£ the Intersection o( Collins and Elisabeth streets, has been sold at over £2000 a foot. It is the very best site fn Melbourn^, which will account for the marvel* loae price It fetched. Tbe history of one of its formor owners many years ago Is one of the moat curloua outside the pages of romance, and Is so very extraordinary that it !■ worth relating. This man's nime wii Thomai, and for many years ha remained poor and straggling. His only son ran away from home, and subsequently when after some years the father found himself a rioh man, he set to work to find and roololra his errant but ■till loved son and heir. Ho travelled •bout m this quest from country to country for years, finding a oluo then losing It. Eventually he discovered the young man, but to his horror found him a raving maniac m a lunaUo BBvlnm. Th's proved oaoh a shook to tbe father, tbat he returned to Melbourno, built a solitary house half-way between Frankston •nd Boapper Point, and abut himself up Id it to the exclusion of the world. Ho took to astronomy as a mode of recreation, and hid an observatory built on to the house. In this retreat he passed most of his time, solitary and brokenhearted. One day he was taken ill and confined to his bed, but a week's confine- - n»ents*w him recovered and eager to rename his astronomical observations . His breakfast wes brought him, and he determined to get out of bed and dress after eating it. In bis eagerness he leant towards the )ittle table on which it had been placed, fell 'oat of bed «ad broke his back- He died on the spot, jnd all bis possessions paiiad to the Grown. A.s a curious Biitory t" think thfs Is quite unique In Australian annals, ' : life shall be particularly wall-off for theatrical entertainments during Exhibition time I think the principal attraction wil} be! Ejlaionsen's Opera Qompany, for aNjcbrdJngf to what he writes from home hfe if jangeglng a particularly str6ng JVoppe 'of artUtf, j he.jrd from him privately ye«tprday. He writ pa that he h« engaged Slgnora Medora Ijiblaohe (daughter of the great L^blaohe,) a iptendid contralto and a great London •tar. Ha has also engaged a company known as "The Spanish Students," whoie particular r6h is ringing and dancing, These be Intends taking all over ■he colonies, so my country readers will have an opportunity soon of seeing some real ." bolero " dancing and twauging of tjlt gay guitar,