OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 3975, 20 November 1875, Page 2

OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

. . November 13. When wnting my last I was po.-sessed f < m the dally papers of one i>;ece of news to »hioh I did not allude. It was that Mr Berry had sta ed that the utmost obstruction would he offered to publi business while it is under the charge of .--be preseu-. Ministr —and that, in short, no business would be allowed to proceed

until a dissolution had ■ ccurred. I K)fee.j upon this as one of Cose spi fui inventions -whi.’.h spring from the lisation formerly tv?-mm-ked upo he n-.ml- of a tierce p,m T nght, on- '.heiefwe pas-.d ir by. Built is true} and wb.it is more, tii.nvellous vir Berry and hi» f'-iei .Is go nhmi the country proclai.ning i- u fi. so many word* and glorying m tae proclamation. _ Nothing less than ms own wort's woul'i liavu convinced me, but lam convinced Pwo of /he Ministers hate been defeated— ,'lr Joseph Jones at Ballarat by a local man nameu Fmcham, and Ur Madden in ‘-'e-t Boutke hy an old member, Mi L. Kinu. It wih n.«i make much differ nee to the Ministry, »vho have enough members to meet Parliament -Sir James M Culloch was

re urned at Warmambool by an immense majority, notwithstanding Mr Berry’s extraordinaty c ursc of action in going thither—far from ids own riistric-—for 4 ho avowed purpose of coutradictii.g the Pr* itii«T whenever possible* Besides this. the ta.-e Chid Secretary wr«sj* a letter to the electors—- muin.iliy rec mmeindin? Douglas, the Opposition candidate, to their notice, but really a mere outpouring of the pettiest insult on .dr James Tlikr, letter did his cause no good, and Mr B’lry’s extreme vexation at the result of the {tolling was not allayed by the knowledge of that fact. Concerning Joi and Madden’s defeat Some ridiculous incidents are told. Eg ... at

one of King’s meetings an elector got up to ask King whether it was not true that he (the candidate) hid actually to him (the questioner) condemned utterly the whole Llciry party and their Ministry a.- “the worst with Which the country had ever been cursed.” and bow he (King) r-c uici ed that fact with nis present supper of Bern ism. Whereto Ring could make no fuither reply than that bis querist “ had a remarkably good memory.”

Again, it seems pretty well established '.hat Mr Fiie bam, utter drinking at Smythesdale. Bcavsdale, or some such place, sundry aud divers “ wobblers,” went quietly “over the lulls not far away” to a place of Arcadian creduuty called Ross’s Or-ck, here it seems teerotalleis do Congregate, and won the he. its of all its inhabitants at, a stroke by declaring himself a total abstainer.

Due very unexpected and still more welcome occurrence marked ih -se elections. The Popish nart.y practically disfranchised themselves, ihe priests ordered that none should vote for any candidate who would not pleifge rimsel to an upset o’ the pres- nt balneation system No c.iu mate word.: so pl.dge himself', ho no luiest-ruied voters, wen* tll the nod. W.-uld that they would nhvay act in like manner. W course it is done witli .to an ulterior motive. When the time comes we shall have a tenible howl that they aiv taxed against their con-

sciences by a body in which they are not reprerented; but 100 m.tthnk the const ;'Ueiiciea will bother themselves much about such a cry. Suicide* secures scaut sympathy.

Gateliouie again I His last official act was to 8 iub liistori. She offered to play for the charities, and lie told her that wo could sup port our own charities without help from her. leather comical, after the fuss he made to set Di Alurska to sing in their aid. But th- whole thing is easily enough understood when we rtmemiier th? t Hi •■tori would not play on Sunday, so she offered no opportunity to iusuk. • 'hristians. ’lhe Di Murska concert did, to this was eagerly seized upon while that was rudely rejected. Nevertheless, Gatehouse was returned —though by only a small majority —over iff‘Caw, the respectable candidate. lu part this was owing to the lateness of M‘Oaw’s consent to stand —less vhan a week before the polling—in part to the great number of Jews living in that ward, but mod of all to the indiscretion of some othis leading opponents, who waited on him to see the famous “ Beanybanquet” letter and gave Gatehouse the opportunity to put paragraphs into the dailies about them These pan graphs, however, though colored so as to be quite unlike truth, would have done no harm it it had not been for the shallow impertinence of one of them. This “ gentleman” a peteon of sufficient intelligence, social standing, and religious prominence to know how to behave himself (at least, one would think so) had the brazen impudence to ask the Mayor, in his own room, without any provocation, and whilst being treated with marked courtesy, whether he (the Mayor) ever was drunk ?, Gatehouse’s failings are no secret ; but this was really too much, and I must say that the questioner and his companions deserved ad they got;—and rumor says that that was not a trifle. A. K. smith, the new Mayor, at his installation, made several pointed allusions in his speech to the ! ouncil, giving his idea of his Mayoral duties, shiwing that he intends to pursue a line of conduct- very different from his predecessor’s. I hope I have now done with Gate muse for ever. Let him go, mounted on that celebrated saveloy machine and blowing its whistle to hj“ loud«s\ inro that ob?eurity whence he never shall emerge, and whence not even the strident echoes of his midnight amusement shall again • affl ct our ears. Do you want to know the allusion? This is it. One night the Mayor was going home very late indeed, and had some friend with him. They took a car, and | ad p ocef'd.d but a very short distance when , they bumf! themselves sadly in need of some amus* ment. This they found in a very vociferous cursing, directed at no less a person 1 than his Holiness the Pope. Such, at least, is the cabman’s version. Gatehouse cleuks the outright cursing, but admits many sayings iu derogation of the dignitary Now, cabby was a sincere Komah'st, and feared that so heretical a cargo would provoke ceDsti 1 ang-r, so having regard to his horse ami his axletree he ordered id? passengers to get down at once, for he wou'd not carry them at any price. D -wn thee got accordingly, but they >eeiri to have found some means of conveyance. other than walking, essential to -their gf-ti.ing home. No cab was to be bad, so very late wa? the hj ur, so they gave a saveloy man a pound to take them home on his engine, the wh stl ■ where f vas even more delightful to lhei> ears than their former recreation. The m i jiboi bond through which they passed did not dune that opinion I h-d almost forgotten to mention how glorious a result has accrued to the charities from the Sunday afternoon performances, which were two in number. The gross receipts were L 226 9s. The Town Hall was granted for both free, and the leading professionals at the first gave their assistance gratis. The nett balance is Lll 13s 10d. Hardly worth the trruble of Sunday breaking, one would think, even to the most eager desecrant. Melbourne has been crowded with people. The races always bring an immense inflex f;om the country and from other Colonies. It is said that 80,000 were present when the Gap wa - run for. On that occasion some most extravagant toilettes were displayed—one is reputed to have cost L7OO, : This season is always uncomfortable during such rushes The country folks lounge about in everybody’s way, group on the footbridges, persistently walk on the wrong side of the stieet. gather open-mouthed by hundreds round a woo. leu Highlander at a to' acconist’s, round the waxwork’s window, at coach offices, at drapers’ shops, anywhere and everywhere where they are most of an obstruction. A grand agricultural show has been going on simultaneously with the racing saturnalia, but 1 I did not go t > it. If I had done so I could not have given your readers any information except such as would have made ' hem die of laughter at my blunders. And why should 1 do that? The convict Weechurch has committed another outrage on a warder. His object was evident—not to kill, but to get indicted for the attempt and have another public display in Court, when he intends to defend himself. The scoundrdis too cowardly to commit suicide, end too cunning to attempt escape, which wou’d lead to the same happy consequences as befell a villain of y< uis the other day ; so mr community pays the pe.ialty of one blunder {i.e. not hanging him for the crime hat did t chnic dly deserve it) by having to keep him and ter suffer the annual loss of an honest roan and a good servant at his fiendish will. How true it is that you never can dn wrong (even refrain from hanging a nmr erer) but your sin chines back upon you ! The worst of it is that iu th s case so many innocent individuals have to suffer as well a* ihe public pvme,