MELBOURNE.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2017, 22 October 1869, Page 2

MELBOURNE.

The following description of the capital of Victoria is by a late resident in Otago j My Dear ' * * * * # * * I have seen the great City of Mel* bourne, that sitteth like a Queen amongst the cities of the south. I have seen the 1 wonders which Melbourne men are continually prating about. The Post-office, which they think there is nothing like in the world; the Parliament Houses, adorning the top of Bourke street, like an unfinished gaol; that gorgeous building known as the Treasury, all face and no body ; the Public Library, befoie which at least, aud its chief deity, Judgj} Barry, the stranger is expected to bow don n in silent adoration; the gardens, public ard private, and the parks, and 1 have not been struck with that intense admiration expected of me. To tell you the truth, I think but poorly of the whole place, it is, without doubt, marvellous for its age, but not more so than a score of American towns, with many of which it could not compare, yet, to hear these people talk, one would imagine there were no other towns in the world except Melbourne and London. The latter, indeed, is recognised simply became it buys the gold an 1 wool, the people of Victoria are so good as to send it. The principal amusement for the stranger and the well-dressed idler in this great city is to perform daily that weary pilgrimage known aj “ Doing Collins street.” This is the Mecca towards which, with longing eyes, the fashionable ladies flock every evening between two and five. They come in carriages, per train, and on foot, until at four o’clock, the show is considered complete. There can be no question as to the good looks of Victorian girls, and equally no dispute as to their being arranged in the very height of the fashion; but this' continuous appeal for admiration defeats itself. The face and figure are forgotten in comparison with that maze of midinery to which they seem of secondary importance—no matter for that, I stroll down the street; it is four o’clock, and now the pavement is—- “ Swept by proud beauties in their whistling and down the long line of carriages the studedt of beauty way find ample materials for study. See Araminta as she leans out of her carriage window in all the charms of her youth and beauty, and farther down the street, in that open carriage with the pair of greys, Belliuda, with her classic face and glorious golden hair, which sheds a Instro round her like a sunbeam. And so on through. all the list of beauties, dark and fair, anl fashionable by a thousand frivolities. The street looks like a parti-colored flower bed, stirred gently by the breeze, so gorgeous are the ladies’ dresses. Most of the ladies you meet arc good looking, and, occasionally, I have seen one of those faces, with small and regulawfeaturea, nose almost straight, dark eyes aud hair, clear skin, and finely shaped mouth and chin, a figure seen as in a dream—

“A sylph-like form from a diviner world.” There being nothing to my taste at the the theatres, and being determined to see everything supposed to be worth seeing, I cross the street and enter that shady place of amusement, “The Varieties.” The entrance is up a flight of stairs and into a large hall, capable of holding a thousand people. On one side are two bars for refreshments, at the upper end is the stags, and on thfl right of it,' partitioned off from' the' mkid room, is a sort of loose bqk, with’ a bar ilsq for refreshing its patrons. It is after ten o’clock at jiight, the entrance fee is Is, and the house is well filled. There are several light fleecy clouds of tobacco smoke hovering overhead midway to the roof on their way to the outer air for all the patrons of this place who smoke, consider it to bo their duty to smoke now or never more. There is a general din of conversation, for it is not supposed that you are to nay attention to the performance on the stage except you like. A glance round tells you the sort of people that are present. There are a large sprinkling of the “ orny anded ’’ in the centre of the room and in the gallery, whilst round the bars and seats adjoining muster the cheap swells, the regular swells, and the fast young men by whose pro*

oence the place is honored. Here may be see excellent samples of the fast youth on a very small salary, who, if not brought to see the error of his ways, generally ends by bolting with his employer’s money. So also may be seen groups of young men from the country, sons of squatters, colonial experience men, and supers or overseers of stations taking a “ turn in town.” These fellows arc strong, young, and with enough money for a spree, and now excited by the drinks, dazzled by the lights, dazed by the buffooneries on the stage, and lured by the smiles of artificial beauty, no wonder they think life is worth having, and that this is a paradise, to which their longing anticipations never reached. Alas, that there should be an awakening from this bliss ; ask one of these pleasure-seekers in a month—nay, not so long, a fortnight hence—what is his opinion of the business of “ seeing life,” and he will tell you that it is something even worse than vanity and vexation of spirit. I have never seen any people so easily elated or depressed as the citizens of Melbourne. As for the merchants, should any article rise in price, they lub their hands and chuckle at the fortune by which they are to be rewarded j but let prices fall* and a gloom overshadows them like a moonless night. Hence it is that because wool has fallen a penny a pound, those who have advanced on that staple think that wool is about to be worthless, while it must, at least for this generation, be one of the most indispensable of the world’s wants. The more one sees and knows of these colonial kings of trade, the more does his previous estimate of them vanish. The old proverb *>f familiarity producing contempt never had a better illustration. Tho ancient merchants of this city are celebrated for the shake of their beads, for their pure lives, and their strong desire to cheat no roan if they can possibly avoid it. A customer may bo pounced on occasionally, and sold up in a hurry—but what of that, are thsy_ not honorable men, with sleek and Christian faces, and snow-white waistcoats, covering a heart undisturbed by the misfortunes of others. Perhaps the greatest commercial boa constrictors in this city, have been the stock and station agents, as they are called here, who have been, and, I am told, are still famous for the feat of swallowing an unfortunate squatter, horses, cattle, sheep and all, with as little ceremony as they would a brandy and soda before breakfast, but the avenging Nemesis of misfortune has been amongst them these last few seasons, and it is to bo hoped the lesson has done them good. I was amused at ,tho carriages which are to he seen drawn up in line opposite the drapers’ shops, jaont of them without style or appearance, save that they were drawn by a pair of horses. As for the coachmen, it is enough to say they generally suit the other features of the turn-out; still, much may be said in their defence, for, like many of the English clergy, they held a plurality of livings—they not unfrenucntly combine their profession of John with that of gardener and ploughman, until at last it is difficult to tell to which of the three pursuits they belong.