VICTORIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1560, 5 August 1873, Page 3

VICTORIA.

A recent visitor to . Victoria says :—" I saw but little change in Melbourne, the streets were as sloppy and busy as ever, but I noted a great change in the views and feelings of the people. Two years ago, the man who dared venture to assert that Victoria was not the richest, the most progressive and liberal colony in the whole British Empire, with, a future before it which would altogether eclipse the glory of its past, would have been despised as a harmless imbecile, or scouted as an impertinent fool. Thepoliticianairedhis oratory by describing its future greatness as the capital of the vast Australian Empire ; the merchant had risions of crowded ports and unlimited consignments ; and the farmer spoke of California's wheat area as a mere garden plot compared with' what Victoria would produce in the good time coming. But now these pleasant anticipations seem to have received a sudden check. Now New South Wales is gradually creeping up to her younger and more prosperous neighbor, and, with vast resources as yet undeveloped,, is shaking off the lethargy of fifty years, and adopting New Zealand's motto of • Progress,' is already treading on the heels of Victoria with the certainty of beating her by long ere another ten years have passed away.. She is a vigorous giant newly aroused from slumber, with . a vast estate full of magnificent resources; whilst Victoria has only a limited area to operate upon, which has already been developed, and worked out to a far greater extent than is the case over the border. The success ot the sister colony riles the Victorians considerably, and it is not unnaturalthat it should do -so. To find a poor relation that one has patronised for years suddenly becoming ©ne's rival in, wealth and prosperity, with the prospect of his beating you hollow ere long, is certainly humiliating and unbearable. Hence a general depression of spirits and uneasiness in the public mind, and squabbles with New South Wales whenever the shadow of a ground for squabble ; qih be found. If they were independent ; vates, they would go to war, said a ijueensland gentleman to me. He had . been in Sydney lately, and so I gathered that the dislike was mutual. To a stranger! 'the fact ; is very noticeable, and laughable! or pitiable,! as bis proclivities may be, but; 'the Victorians, take the matter to heart,,' 'and have already lost a great deal of that! bumptiousness for which they were once; so celebrated.