THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 462, 24 December 1880, Page 2

THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

(By Garnet Walcii.)

W. S. Lyster—A dirge—Funeral thoughts —Cork ai chitecture — Ivories — Flags and foliage—Tantalus—A broad grin —A full set—Original remarks.

I commenced my last letter with a reference to a public loss in the death of Sir Eedmond Barry, and alas! here ia again the melancholy tolling of the passing bell breaking in upon our Exhibition, jollity. William Saurin Lyster! The name reminds us all of some of the happiest hours of our lives, made bright by the influence of song, merry by the glad mixture of pageantry and joyous music— and he, the genial host at whose command the rich harmonious feast was spread before us with a liberal hand, is dead at fifty-two! Making one on Sunday last, in the mournful procession which writhed its dark way from Hawthorn into Melbournp, "*'

and so on through Carlton to' the city of tli3 hundred thousand dead, sitting all alone in the hastily hired waggonette— for my notice of the funeral was very sudden—l had full leisure to ponder over the past, and, as every now and then the nodding plumes of the hearse crowned some rise in the distance, I remembered that that hearse carried the quiet form of one who was amongst the first men in this colony to give a certain struggling author a helping hand. God rest you William Lyster, and if the ocho of our earthly music ever reach your ear, it bears with it the gratitude of many, the kindly thoughts of all. > And why, by the way, did wo not havo some music at the .funeral*. There were those standing round the grave on Sunday last—to whom our dear dead friend has' been for many years the best, the kindest shall I say the most long-suffering:, of masters—whose voices might well have united in a simple hymn. There was no fi-ir of the ceremony degenerating intoj anything like a theatrical demonstration— for the public hardly knew of the demon-

stration— for the public hardly know of the funeral— There was no need for rehearsal —the whole affair might hnve been improvised in half-an-hour—why then were all silent, save the one paid official of the place ? Why had we to submit to tho dismal remnants of a ceremony shorn of all its soul-elevating attributes ? Did the sweet singers need a hint, did they want largesse, or were their throats too choked with sobs to make a passage! For the sake of human nature we will give them the benefit of the last named reason for their silence—and indeed, I saw big tears in many manly eyes that day, so that after all, although unsung, William Saurin Lyster went to his grave neither unwept nor unhonored.

Amongst other things that came to my mind as I sat in that crawling cab the thought that save in the case of very long distances, or invalid mourners, how much more truly people would show their reverent grief by the good old fashion of walking instead of being drawn in hired vehicles, piloted by necessarily callous drivers. But even a hired trap with mourners inside, is better tran that hideous piece of social mockery the sending of ona's five hundred guinea shell without a living kernel. Let me here record another funeral fancy, and I leave the subject. I should not like to dwell in Madeline street, jCarlton. Nine-tenths of the funerals bound for tho Melbourne Cemetery paas along that thoroughfare, and unless a man have the predilections of of a ghoul, or the obligations of aTrappist he can hardly feel gratified by residence in such a via dolorosa.

From grave, yes, all too literally, from grave to gay. Wandering round the Exhibition in search of food for my ink *■ powder, I came across a model of the Melbourne Town Hall, made, so the label stated, "from 9,G19 pieces of old bottle * corks, by J. E. Vivian, of Collingwood. Is this a reminiscence of «ra, when a certain little upper supper chamber used to be ablaze with light till two or three a.m., or is it a delicate hint to our present twice elected mayor or is it merely a satirical allusion to the " pop," froth etpraeterea adkil that characterises certain very common councillors ? Plain sailing directions, as our nautical «rti friends would say, are highly necessary at the Exhibition. Forgetting my pocket plan, I spent an hour tho ofher day in *- searching for the South African Court, and found it at last in a small corner close by tho fire brigade station, where even tho firemen in charge were ignorant of its locality. It is a tiny court, truly, but contains-at least one exhibit of interest to Victorians. This is a large glass case ■<* containing as per card, '' tusks and other • ivories from hippopotami shot in the Lake region of Central Africa by Messrs Andrew S. Chirnside, and Russell King ..-4% Hall." The size,and. variety of the tusks themselves, the splendid manner in which they ar<3 mounted, and the wonderful •< number of uses to which they are converted, make them, in my eyes at least, some of the most curious and interesting exhibits in the whole place. Near them is a suggestive collection of assegais and .other murderous weapons employed by our late South African foes, the Zulus.

There are two pleasant additions to the general appearance of tho Exhibition in the increased number of flags and bandispersed throughout tho building, and the more universal use of plants'as an extra ornament to exhibits. I think and Co., and the Austrians set the example in this respect, the one with various choice plants in front of their mirrors, the others with wreathing ferns amongst the delicate, prismatic beauties of their exquisite glassware. Now, as the Exhibition really approaches completion, you will sco flowers, ferns, and foliage on all sides.