Our Contributors.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 521, 12 July 1881, Page 2

Our Contributors.

ECHOES OF MELBOURNE.

[from our own correspondent.]

The Berry Government, which has • with a sh 3rt interval ruled Victoria for four years, is on its last legs, and will probably Jiave gone "the way of all Ministries before this has appeared in print. This history of Berryism in Victoria has attracted such general attention throughout the colonies, and has clearly marked an epoch in Australian politics, that I think a resume of its career will be interesting, at all events to politicians, and who is not a politician

In these colonies ? .The fate of Berryism is that of ail parties. When in 1875, Sir J. arnes McCullocli, who had led the Liberals in this colony since 1865, veered round to the moderates, and formed a coalition Ministry, Mr Berry took the lead of an ultra-Liberal and succeeded in working up the electors to return him to power upon •an extreme platform in 1877, with an immense majority at his back. Mr Berry's programme was too extreme to ba carried when we had an ultra-Tory Council, consequently as his party disintegrated, he has lost hold of Parliament and the country, and he is now tottering to his fall. The last straw, was his acceptance of a reform that creates a powerful and irresponsible Council, representing only one-half the people. ■ There are three parties at present in the Assembly struggling for power. The Ministry hold to. their seats like limpets, prolonging the debate on the want of confidence motion, in the hope that the two other parties will fall out amongst themselves over the division of the spoil. The Opposition, the most powerful and united, of the three parties, are playing to get the Ministry out, feeling confident that once that is achieved the. Liberal party will scatter, and, the flock being without a shepherd, they can at least.run one. half into the Conservative fold and form

a powerful coalition Ministry, they feeling confident that either the.Corner will ' he unable to form a Ministry *or that" if they do it wi!i not last six weeks. The third party, the Corner, is playing a more desperate and perilous game. Perfectly conscious that the Opposition are trying to use them as the monkey in the fable used the cat to snatch the chestnut 3 out of the fire, they are of opinion that it is they who can play the role of the monkey, and that they will be able to make the Opposition the cat. They think that if they once get into office they can put forth a programme that will take with the country, ospe-

cielly in regard to the land question, and that even if they are driven out by a combination between Mr Berry, and Mr Murray Smith, they can repeat Mr, Berry's coup in 1875, when, after he had been used by Sir James M'Cullbch as a catspaw to throw out the Service Ministry, he was driven out of office, but, having while in power obtained the car of the people, regained it, and was able to rule for four years. Thus parties stand at present. The faU of the Ministry is certain. Their aioi just now is to get into recess at all hazards, in order to fill up all the appointments, some of which are very valuable, and to leward all their friends, so as to die in good odour. As for politics they died with the Reform Bill; there is nothing left now but personal struggles for power. Over all hangs the shadow of an impending dissplutien. Should he be defeated, Mr Berry will endeavor to get a dissolution, as this is not his House; but it is questionable if the Marquis of Normanby. who is an ultraTory, will grant him his request. Should lie get a dissolution he will bo defeated by the Catholic, vote. .

Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, who lias 'oeon put forward to move the want of confidence motion, is a characteristic Victo • rian politician, aiming only at aggrandising himself—a true .'" patriot." Jn 1878 he was returned for West Melbourne as an ultra-Liberal, and " Down with the oligarchs " was his rallying cry. He was at the same time elected for Clare, in Ireland, in. his brother's stead, as a Home Ruler, but preferred to stop in Victoria and enjoy the " sugar." To him the wrongs ot Ireland were dear —at a distance. He had fixed his eye uion a judgeship and £3500 a year. He was ruler of the colony during Mr Berry's absence on the famous Embassy, and a nice muddle he got the party and the colony into. It was then he issued the laughable Gazette notice warning the people not to credit what the Argus said. During all this time he out-Berried Mr Berry, and went in for the wildest democratic ideas. When that Parliament was dissolved, Sir Bryan insisted that he should not go out for re-election, but should be made a judge, though he had only been two years in politics. His colleagues demurred, according to one account, and the Governor would not have it, according to another; however, out he had to go, and was defeated. The Liberals of West Bourke paid his expenses at the next election, when Mr Berry was victorious, but he would not take office unless Mr Berry would recognise the Catholic claims, and the Premier shunted him. Hereupon Sir Bryan went into Opposition and joined the men who had called him all the names they could, and he has become their catspaw in or 7 er to get that judgeship. I have written this to show young politicians how utterly selfish public men are, and it would be well for them to take the lesson to heart.

The Royal Princes have arrived at last, and their progress through Victoria to the capital was a kind of triumphal march The Princes stopped a night at Hamilton, a pretty squatting town in the richest district of Australia, where they were warmly received. The railway arrangements were creditable to "Victoria, the Princes and suite being accommodated in the royal carriages built when Mr Woods was in office for the Prince of Wales, who was expected Tiere to open the Exhibition, at which the carriages were shown, and must have been seen by some of your people. A pilot engine ran before all the way, and the time made waa good, the 54 miles from Ballarat to Geelong being accomplished in one hour and five minutes. At Ararat and Ballarat the school children assembled on the platform and sang the National Anthem. This pleased the younger, Prince George, very much, and

he twice asked Major Smith to convey his thanks to the young Australians. I have been favored with a conversation — a brief one—with the two young gentlemen. Prince Albert is tall and slight and reserved, while .Prince George is shorter, stouter; aixd'more volatile, in *factquitea taking youth. I am told that on board the : Bacchante the heir to the Throne is looked upon as dull and that he is slow to learn, while Prince George picks, up everything quickly. We are not to judge, however, by this oi their quality, for your slow, dull, and silent boy often turns out clever when he Becomes a man.. I noticed particularly that the Danish blood of the beautiful Princess Alexandrina has tended to soften these boys' features, the heavy jowl of the House of Hanover being, pearly absent. In Prince George's face particularly the sprightly beauty of his mother is reproduced. During some chats 1 had with some of the officers I learned that they laugh at people gushing over the boys, and further, that the, jfoyaL middies make great fun on board by mimicking the pompous mayors and their addresses. ■ However, tney have not all the fun to themselves, for those who take part ia the demonstrations will be supplied with a reason for self-adula-tion for life; " I saw the King when, a boy, he passed through Gumtree Flat," the spectator will tell his children, and the latter will look down upon their playmates whose fathers were not so highly privileged. " I presented the haddress to 'is Majesty," the past mayor will say, aad his grey-bearded companions will have to take a back seat. So you see the universal law of compensations will right everybody.

Our capitalists are greatly excited at present over a new discovery or invention, the shares in which—Dixon's Gas , Company—rose from £l to £3 7s 6d when news came out that the patents we're being obtained all over the world The origin of the company is remarkable. Dixon, a plumber, discovered what he thought a great secret in the . manufacture of a new material which would supply light and heat. . He confided it to some extent to a very wealthy man, Mr Stanford, agent for Singefte sewing machine*, brother of Lelnnd. Stanford, the Californian Railway. King, and that gentleman, having consulted the spiritshe is an ardent spiritualist —and receiving a favorable answer, advanced a very large sum of money to test the discovery, and afterwards to enable Dixon to go to Europe and America to patent it. A ; company was also"formed, in 100,000 shares of £1 each. The Melbourne (xas Company are already in treaty for the patent, which, if we may believe the shareholders, is to revolutionise the industries of the-world. Light, heat, and motive power are'to be as cheap almost as water, and sufficient can be generated in a spsico that would be filled by a large safe to propel the Orient. What is the secret ? From everything I have heard it is simply a cheap process of dissolving the union of hydrogen and oxygen which constitutes water, and the utilisation of the hydrogen for the purposes of light, heat, and motive power. This has been the dream of chemistry students for years. One man, many years ago, declared he would divide the gases and set the Thames on fire, but he never succeeded —hence the phrase. I read once an odd-American yarn about all inventor who had discovered the process, and offered it to certain senators and capitalists. They accompanied him to a lake in New York State, and he showed that he had made the discovery. The pi ice he demanded was so immense, and the ruin his invention would bring upon the businesses in which the men he had taken into his confidence were engaged would be so disastrous, that, says the veracious narrative, they killed him 1 If Dixon has at all approached to the solution of this great problem, coal fields and timber will become valueless ; wherever there is water our fuel, heat, light, and motive power can be had cheaply. The possibilities are so vast that if I were to dilate upon them people I would think I was talking bunkum. Let us wait for developments.

The only new piece at the theatres is " Quilp " at the Bijou, an adaptation of Dickens's " Old Curiosity Shop." The linglish public know that work almost by heart, and have shuddered at the horrible dwarf drawn by the great master hand. The feature of the production is the extraordinary manner in which that gifted actor. Mr Marshall, fits the character of " Quilp ; " in face, form, walk, and voice he is the little demon risen from the grave, with all his terrible wickedness, his diabolical gcotesquerie, and his demon humor. You laugh and shudder at the same time. The part is one of exceptional difficulty, and it is only once in a generation that an actor appears who can fulfil all the requirements, such as-Mr Marshall. " Antony and Cleopatra " has been withdrawn at the Koyal, not having been a success, and we are being treated to an ad interim piece, Boucicanlt's French adaptation, " Led Astray," prior to the production of the great London drama by the authors of "New Babylon," "The World," a delineation of fast life in great cities.

In conclusion, I may state that although a want of confidence motion is about to be tabled by Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, the general opinicn is that the Ministry will be allowed to close up the financial year, and will be overthrown on the Budget in July.