OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 493, 5 April 1881, Page 2

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

[from our own correspondent.]

Sydney, March 17.

The drought still continues—with the single exception of one terrific storm, which I will presently again refer to. In spite of all cautions to the public to conserve the water supply as much as possible, the average consumption is about 4£ millions ot gallons daily, while the reservoirs receive, at most, 3£ millions of gallons per diem, and this supply must gradually diminish, unless a heavy and continuous downpour of rain occurs to replenish the sources of supply.

An intermittent service of aqua pura to the citizens ought to have been started a month ago, as all remonstrances have failed to prevent them from using the water as freely as though there were no end to it.

The storm on the Bth inst. was very short, but tremendous while it lasted, thunder and lightning enough to satisfy all the ghouls and vampires of the universe ; (assuming their existence outside of fairy tales,) the hail stones were lumps of ice, some of them as large as a bantam fowl's egg, and, naturally enough, glass was smashed,in all directions ; and the only cheerful faces next day, were those of the plumbers, who were completely masters of the situation, and doubtless supremely happy.

A very tragic event took place in one of the suburbs (between Redniyro and Homebush) on the 2_th February. A young Idy named Charlotte Fanny Bray, aged about 17, was found lying upon the railway line, cut in pieces; several trains having passed over her.

The engine driver of the 7.40 p.m train from Parramatta to Sydney, when in the locality above referred to, felt that the engine had passed over some object; but he continued the journey to Sydney, and afterwards noticed,.while oiling the locomotive bearings, that somo female hair and brains were splashed and scattered upon the wheels. He then, it appears, waited until his return journey, before, making telegraphic enquiries, and in the interim several other trains had mutilated the body, beyond all recognition, but for the identification of some portions of the dress.

This horrible fate, occuring to a lady of some position and undoubted respectability, caused the most profound excitement, and numberless conjectures, mostly of foul play, were aired in the papers, as the unfortunate girl was much further from home than usual, and there was no known reason for her being in the locality where the event occurred, at that time of day. However, evidence was given at the adjourned inquest, which satisfied the jury that the poor girl had committed suicide, she having nourished a sincere affection for a gentleman who was apparently quite unconscious of her state of feeling, and who had not spoken to her for t.\o or three years. A slight acquaintance had originated when the young lady used to go to school years ago, through the gentleman referred to being frequently in the same train, hut there was not the slightest evidence given that the gentleman had been in any way to blame for the unfortunate occurrence.

After this, are the cynics right, who state that there is no such thing as true love in this world?

Tho Australian Band still solace the public with ; sweet music ; but, as I stated in a former letter, they seem to fight very shy :of the compositions of Mendelsohn, Mozart, Handel, Verdi, Rossini, Auber, Douizetti. Meyerbeer, Beethoven, and Weber—and inflict upon the patient ears of the visitors, a flood, ad nauseam, of the superior productions of Strau.s, Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson, etc., etc.

No one objects to " Strauss," certainly, in any reasonable amount but we are Straussed to death, and could stand a little music by ■'" !>rcat masters for a change.

Kowalski has arrived ; he is a " piano thumper " of the first water—but why, oh why, do thes3 clever musicians think that their own " twopenny halfpenny " compositions are inspired gems of the highest magnitude, and torture the public by strumming incomprehensible airs, (only decent when pirated from others) to the almost total exclusion of „ the numberless compositions of acknowledged inspired musical genii. Kowalski's programmes may be judged of by the following sample, played on the 12th inst., at the Gaiety Theatre:— 1 Paraphrase sur Faust ... Kowalski 2 Tristesse Heller 3 Danse dcs Dryades Kowalski 4 Le Niagara Wollenhaupt 5 Meditation de Gounod sur le Prelude Bach 6 Lea Belles de Melbourne ... Koyjalski~ 7 Marche Hongroise ... Koumlsld 8 Paraphrase sur Martha ... Kowalski 9 Nocturne Chopin 10 La Marseillaise ... Rouget de Lisle 11 Dans les Bois Kotoalslci 12 Galop de Bravoure ... Kowalski The retiring, bashful modesty, so characteristic of professional musicians, is only equalled by their great affection for each other, as the following little, anecdote will illustrate. Henry Ketten had left Sydney, for good so far as playing was concerned ; but, no sooner was Kowalski heralded as the approaching star, than Kefcten wrote, or wired, to say, that upon passing through Sydney, en route for Ameiica, he would give a concert in aid of the N.S.W. Charitable Institutions. Kowalski soon arrived and selected the very same evening to give a rival "Charity Concert," thus spite, and charity (so called) got so mixed up that it seemed impossible to say where one ended and the other began. Of course people could not have the advantage of hearing the two concerts combined with the satisfaction of twice helping Charities upon one evening, thus the Institutions suffered, in this respect, from the contemptible jealousies, which seem to find a natural home in the breasts of many professionals connected with the sublime art of music.

A man from New Zealand, named Thomas Morton, aged 45, respectably dressed, attempted suicide by hanging ; money difficulties the cause; he is committed for trial

A girl named Annie Ardley w.s washed down the gutter, into a drain, and drowned on the Bth inst. during the great storm.

Within a few days cf each other, two men have been killed, while engaged in building the new R.C. Cathedral— which building, by the way, will be an imposing structure, when finished ; but at usual rate of progress, and a continuation of fatalties at frequent intervals, it would perhaps scarcely be inappropriate to dub it a " Mausoleum."

Adolph Bechet, merchant of Sydney, has been fully committed for trial, on the charge of wilfully burning down his warehouse, after recent, and heavy insurances had been effected by him. Mr William Forster, lately our AgentGeneral in London, arrived on the 12th inst., per P. and 0. Company's Bokhara. He was welcomed by some friends, who engaged a small steamer and met him at the entrance to the harbor.

The Australian Eleven seem to have put on " side " and put off cricket; they have had two good lickings by combined and Newcastle teams. Some say that their recent visit to Europe has caused some of our'Arries to be very 'aughty through familiar contact with Aearls and dooks while in the Old Country ; but doubtless this is said in spite.

Numbers of people from New Zealand are arriving in this colony in search of work, and their descriptions of the land they have left behind them are, as a rule, the reverse of flattering. New Zealand and Victoria seem just now to be in a terrible plight from the employe's point ot view.

The intrepid L'Es'range did the grand balloon business the other evening, with great excitement and grand spectacular effects, which may be briefly summarised as follow: —■ Attempted ascent; car too heavy ; therefore car was cut away, and up went L'Estrange without any other resting-place than the ropes of the balloon ; he was carried about half a mile, when balloon caught against a house while descending; escaping gas came into contact, somehow, with a spark; balloon blazed up like a kerosene barrel, half burnt a injured (by scorching) several persons, " and brought all the police and fire brigade of the city into fifty square yards, as quickly as one could say "Jack Robinson." The larrikins had a regular night of it. They spent the earlier portion of the time the tylloon was being prepared for its flight in hooting, fighting, and injuring inoffensive persons ; Chinamen, in particular, were victims, and were literally hunted out of the Domain, as though they had been wild beasts. The hour (10 p.m.) and locality favored the collection of roughs, and until the balloon flared up the police were not numerous enough to cope with the disorder.

The weather, latterly, has been warm, but not on the whole unplelasant, except between twelve aud three o'clock afternoons, when it has sometimes been rather trying. If the much-desired rainfall soon comes we shall not have so very much to grumble at.