Our Contributors.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 523, 19 July 1881, Page 3

Our Contributors.

ECHOES OF MELBOURNE

[from our own correspondent.]

The Third Bervy Ministry has fallen, and during the week the city has been in a ferment of excitement —at least political circles—about the formation of the new Cabinet The reasons which led to the downfall of the Berry Administration arc many, but two or three explain their fate. When Mr Berry wr.s returned by the country in July last be was given an Assembly almost equally divided, the balance being ):eld by offi co-seekers of the purest water. To maintain his hold on this wretched Hou.-jc he attempted to temporise with it. The result was that embalmed in the proverb about the gent'einan who Ml between the two stools. Mr Berry tried to conciliate the Radicals, and the Moderates fell out with him ; he tried to go with the Moderates and to make friends of the Opposition, and the Rads became furious. The office-seekers, those gentlemen who sceut what pays the best, and then go into it baldheaded, and who have no principle except to get place and pay, saw their opportunity, and making a stand, succeeded in getting Mr Berry out. The counsels of the Ministry seem to have been very divided ; at all events they made such «i series of blunders that they made the triumph of their enemies very easy. What is to follow is not very clear. Possibly as the Opposition, including the Corner renegades or officeseekers, have 45 or 46 steady voters, an endeavor will bo made to keep that circle intact, with what success remains to be seen, though an ultimate coalition between the Opposition and a large section cf the present Ministerial following is not an unlikely event should Sir Bryan O'Loghlen and Mr Murray Smith fail to hit it. However, it is little use to anticipate in the present jumble into which Victorian politics have ' fallen, where the scci.o changes with kaleidoscopic rapidity. One effect of the shameless conduct of members in tinning their wsits aud throwing pinciple to the wind is to disgint and dishearten all honest men who have a sincere political belief, and to lower Parliament in the eyes of the people. Seldom in an English Legislature has there been such an exhibition of the vilest political, profligacy as we have witnessed in our Legislative Assembly, without making any distinction. The visit ot the detached equadron (called so becaus • the vessels which compose it drop off where required,) having on board the lloyal Princes and a host of scions of nubility, has made Melbourne society very pleasant this winter. I am glad to say that the people have behaved exceptionally well ; it being - understood that the Princes were here unofficially, and were not to be treated as we treated the Duke of Edinburgh. The young chaps have been allowed every freedom and have had little restraint put upon them. They have been all over the city, at the gardens, at balls, in the streets, at the photographers and tit other places, and have been inundated by demonstrations. The female section ot the community cf course could not restrain themselves, and were offensively cuiious when the Princes appeared in public; but the males showed no undue curiosity or ilunkeyism. The Princes have thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and speak of M'cUourne. mkl its people in high terais. Replying to

a magnificently illuminated address presented to them by the City Council. Prince Albert Victor stated, his father had desired him to express his regret to the people of Australia that ho had been unable to visit our shores. Those who -were at the grand ball given by the Mayor, at which 2000 people attended, say it was amusing to see Prince George, a fine-mode little follow, as merry as a grig., dancing with one of the fattest women in the city. A wag remarked, "It would take the two Princes to dance with her ; their hands would just reach round." The fleet is underlined to leave here on Friday, and carries our best wishes. Earl Clauwilliam and his officers have marie, themselves deservedly popular by their gentlemanliness and desire to please, not only, the upper classes, but the people.

The mystery of the murder of the Chinese half-caste boy near Ballarat has not yot been cleared up, and many persons who are well acquainted with the Hall family state that the younger boy, William, who is aged only ten, was made to confess himself the murderer (o save his brother James, who is fifteen years of age, the idea being that nothing enn be dono to William on-* account-of Ins youth, while James could be hiingeu. or at least severely punished.

One of the sights of Melbourne, and which invariably attracts visitors who wish to have a-little fun, is the street preaching on the wharf on Sunday. All the crazed enthusiasts of the city gather there to propound their doctrine to the multitude, from those who believe in an orthodox hell, with sulphur and brimstone and other cheerful things, to those who have no faith whatever, and who look upon the devil as a scarecrow got up by interested " shepherds." The larrikins, who of course like a cheap bit of fun, congregate in large numbers, and of course the proceedings sometimes become rough. How it is the elderly enthusiasts escape being ducked in the river has always been a wonder to me. Old Peter Virtue, whom all old Australians must remember, is ever on the spot, travelling seven miles, but he is rarely listened to. A Mr Egau, a wealthy man, who was once a great politician and the supporter of Mr J. G. Francis in Richmond, has developed a craze to preach to infidel sailors, and he is ever at his post, and braves the storm of carrots, potatoes, etc , pitched up from the cargoes, in a way quite martyr-like. Anything more uuiqua or amusing than this Sunday preaching at the Queen's Wharf cannot be imagined.

A woman is now in the Geelong Gaol, who, if her account is true, has shown remarkable endurance. Some, time since a report was spread that a half-witted and half-starved woman was wandering in the Otway lianges,a thickly timbered region on the coast. She was hunted down and brought before the Colac Bench, who sent her to the gaol to recover. The woman stated, when she recovered a little, that her husband had deserted her in Melbourne, and she went off after him. on foot to Beeclworth, which is 170 miles from the cit;.. There she learned he was in the western district, and she walked to Lome, over 300 miles from Beechworth by the route she took. Not finding the truant, she became a little out of her mind, and travelled in the forest, sleeping in trees and eating roots or whatever chance sent her way.

Theatrical enterprise does not flourish just now, a number of managers having recently gone insolvent. The firm of Hiscocks & Hayman, who have been before the Australian public for a good while, have gone the way of all flesh ; liabilities, individually and severally, several thousands ; assets small enough to be carried in silver in one's fob. But the gayest of all was our old friend the Fakir of Oolu, who let everybody in with a happiness that only his skilfulness in legerdemain can account for.

The now noted Dixon's gas has been patented. It seems the basis of the process is kerosene, mixed with which, to compress or to evolve n new lighting material, are a number of metals, the kerosene being as 8 to 2. Our gas company has bought the patent, and we will soon see vhat tho new wonder is. Taking the shares at the present price the value uf the patent is over £300,000.

There are likely to be still greater changes in our judicial Bench. Mr Williams, son of the late Justice Williams, and our best Common Law nian, has been raised to the Bench by the late Ministry, mainly to prevent the position falling to Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, who has schemed for it since he entered political life. Judge Molesworth, the greatest Equity lawyer in the Southern Hemisphere—it is said m the British dominions —has broken down at last ; he is well on for eighty, and is to have two years' leave ; while County Court Judge Hackett is also willing to go. There are fine pickings for the i-ew Ministry, who, through tl:e silliness of Mr Berry, will have at command six or seven splendid billets wherewith to placate the unruly.

There is nothing new at our theatres, at least of sufficient interest for the general public. Preparations are, however, being made at the Royal to pro duce " The World," a new fast life drama that has had a big run in England. The . want of a.v■? Italian Opera Company is greatly felt in these colonies ; people are weary of the trashy music of opera boufi'e, and long to hear thiit of tho great masters once more interpreted by .good artists. But Eluui. j f t ujaccii—yA\WL will we haro another William raurin Lystcr \<ho will catar for the taste,:; of the musical andrefined ?