JOTTINGS FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A GOLD SEEKER. No. III. RIDES AND RAMBLES IN AND ABOUT MELBOURNE. September 28, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 757, 3 November 1852, Page 3

JOTTINGS FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A GOLD SEEKER. No. 111. RIDES AND RAMBLES IN AND ABOUT MELBOURNE. September 28, 1852.

I Although the scenery in the neighbourhood of the capital of Victoria can lay claim to but little pretension of what Dr. Syntax left his home in search of, still there are many pleasant spots in its vicinity where one given to rambling may spend a quiet afternoon, and where "ye manuers and ye customs of ye people" may be learned as clearly as if you mingled in all their everyday avocations. I do not remember who it was that said a London shopkeeper was only to be properly known when he got rid of the smoke on a Sunday ; and verily I believe the remark applies with great truthfulness to the shopocracy of Melbourne, as well as to those of the insignificant village on the banks of the Thames. Amongst the popular of these places of resort, or as they are facetiously styled by some, Sabbath recreation, are St. fcilda and Liardel's Beach, both situated on the v margin of the noble bay, nearly opposite Williams Town. Although Melbourne possesses a tolerably fair steaiufleet, in the shape of various tug boats, belonging chiefly to Captain Cole, not one of these vessels are allowed to ply on Sunday ; and hence, as may be supposed there is upon one day in the week at least a very great demand for horseflesh. In fact, the horse market, 1 mean the bazaars and livery stables, upon a Sunday morning present quite an animated spectacle, for here almost every masculine biped of the genus homo considers it his peculiar privilege to mount a horse on Sunday, without, be it remembered, the smallest reference to the fact as to whether he can ride or not ; and permit me to say that sundry jokes have been cracked at sailors on horseback, but were the perpetrators of these puns to see a lot of diggers and shopmen "in Melbourne mounted on their' Sunday Rozinantes, henceforth they would hold their peccj. Scenes the most laughable occur, and yet all seems to be in good part. The fellows have come ©ut to enjoy themselves, and are not to be put out of humour by trifles. St. Kilda lies about three miles from Melbourne, on the south side of the Yarra, and as there is no highway except the usual bush ruts, after the Prince's Bridge is crossed, the walk or ride, which you please, is very pleasant. Arrived at the village, you are somewhat surprised at the appearance of rapid growth which everything indicates. Houses (wooden, of course) are in course of construction, some neaily finished, others but commenced ; and yet so eager are the people for house accommodation, that the shingles are scarcely on the roofs before they are tenanted. At St. Kilda there is a very fine hotel, at which 1 can assure you they charge very fine prices ; but then, Lord bless you, in the go-ahead city, as Melbourne is now called, who cares for a handful of silver. I was much pleat c 1 to observe here a taste more generally diffused for the cultivation of flowers than is to be found generally about Melbourne. I like to see those pretty little plots of ground in front of dwelling-houses neatly and carefully cultivated, as to my mind it gives stronger evidence of the comfort of the •' people within," than almost any other circumstance, barrin' a balance at your banker's, which can be named. The ramble from St. Kilda to Liardet's Beach, by the margin of the wide and noble bay, a distance of about two miles, is both healthful and agreeable — not that the scenery of the bay is of such a description as to call forth many encomiums from the tourist, for beyond the broad expanse of water, dotted, nay closely studded with shipping at anchor, there is nothing to relieve the dull monotony of the place. At Liardet's, however, the scene changes, and from the solitude of the shore and your own reflections (that is, if you be like the parson's horse, of a reflective turn of mind) you are once more aroused by the din of human voices. Here they are again — shopkeepers, shopmen, diggers, ladies, diggers wives ; horses, hackney carriages, shandys, gigs, and almost every possible and sometimes every questionable mode of conveyance, all congregated on the sand. Pedestrians wandering, promenading, flirting, drinking, laughing, talking on the pier and in the shade of the cool verandahs, pic-nics in the scrub, mirth and merriment everywhere ; boatmen lustily bawling for passengers, and waiters for more drink at the bar of the hotel. Tents are pitched upon all the ground surrounding this house of entei tainment, wherein many a new chum for the first time indulges in a 'glass of ale, and when he has paid sixpence and swallowed his swankey,\ declared upon his honour and soul that "it is not half so good as Burton or Alton." A good deal of novelty is added to this scene by the constant transit to and from a large ship, the Duke of Bedford, which is here moored off the pier, and turned into a model lodging-house. "Bed and board, sir," said our conductors on board the other day, " for two pounds a week ; delightful marine residence and boatage found iaio the bargain," Decidedly the accommodations are excellent, and the worthy pfourietor, I wan informed, keeps a good table. I need scarcely say thai his apartir.ents are full ; and it would be well it' a few more of the dozens upon dozens

of idle ships now lying in harbour were turned to an equally useful and profitable account to their owners. I was a good deal surprised to find amidst all the recreations of all classes and all kinds who visit the beach upon Sunday so little riot or intoxication. That an immense amount of liquor is drunk theie is no doubt ; but still, except upon the arrival of a lot of "new chums," with more money than sense, you will liardly observe any riot or drunkenness. Noise there is — Babel itself could not be worse, but still there is order. ' The road from the beach to town lies through a low marshy scrub, which presents not one single pleasing feature, except indeed we wero to diverge at the Emerald Hill and take a look in at the encampment. This encampment, it will be observed at a glance, consists but of the tents of old diggers in transitu to ihe Mount or elsewhere. You are scarcely on the hill till that fact becomes painfully apparent. There are the coverings erected by poor new-comers to shelter them from the heavens and to make a temporary but safe refuge for themselves, their luggage, and their families. And, oh ! such squalor, such misery, and such a ground for imbibing the seeds of diseases, which may never again be eradicated from the system ! It is pitiable to see welldressed and genteely reared females, young and tender infants as well as grown-up persons, crouching and squatting in those miserable wigwams, of which a North American Indian would he ashamed ? But what can the creatures do? I do not like to particularise, but a few days since 'I dropped upon an old friend, one who at home was wont to have and to enjoy the comforts of life and polished society, and never shall I forget the mute hut expressive look of abject desolation wilh which he brought me in to see Mrs. S. and the two children. " This is different from what the humbug lecturers and paid philanthropists at home led us to believe," said he. And so it was. I as>ked if he had got a situation. "Yes," said he, " I have ; but what of that ? I get £4 axveek, hut cannot get a two-roomed hovel to put them into (pointing with affection to his family) for less than £2 10s., and what with bread at 7|-d. per lb., beef at 6d. and 7d., wood at £3 10s., and water at God knows how much — do you think it possible we could subsist on the 30s. per week ?" I could remain no longer, so shaking my friend by the band, bade him be of good cheer and departed. The Botanic Garden is another favourite re-, sort for the Melboumites upon Suuday ; but its visitors are of a different class. This is the ground where half the " matches " which grace our churches daily are comracted ; and here it is that newly married husbands display to wondering swains their lovely (?) and loving (?) brides, at least during the honey moon it is so. The collection of flowers is not of the best description, being rather too gaudy and too common for such a place ; but if they be gaudy there is some excuse to be found for the curator, in the circumstance that he is naturally driven to compete wilh gardeners of the human flowers who perambulate his walks. Such a blaze of silk and satin, such bonnets, such feathers, flowers (artificial, of course,) and such ribbons — such finery of all kinds as is displayed on that little piece of ground on one single Sunday would set your brains a wool-gathering as to bow on earth Melbourne produced as many dress and bonnet makers as could rig out this mart of fashion. I •was particularly struck with the freshness and beauty of many of the charming belles who frequent the gardens, regular Baby Blakes in their way, contrasting strongly with the general sallow and somewhat acclimatized style of female beauty prevalent about Sydney. - They are generally handsome, and fresh in colour ; but then, if they should chance to open their lips, the delusion is at once dispelled, and the dimpled cheeks and laughing eyes wh'ch but a moment before you had been ardently admiring, is transformed into the roost unsophisticated lumps of barbarous ignorance that has ever been pitchforked into the world. " Oh, ladies," said a friend the other day, " if you could but hold your tongues'" Far different, however, are the scenes to be witnessed here sometimes ; and amongst the many strange vicissitudes of fortune which J. daily witness, none strikes me so painfully during my stay here, as the forlorn condition of the newly arrived passengers from Europe. The convict is cared for, tended, fed, boused, cloihed, and respectably treated in Van Diemen's Land upon his arrival. The free emigrant is more or Jess cared for; but the man — the man whose honest sense of independence, and whose manly pride has withheld him from placing his wife and himself under any eleemosynary obligations from his country, is permitted in this overflowing, glutted, immoral, misgoverned, and debauched town, to perish in the ditch side ; and happy for himself and his family if he get leave to do that in peace, and be not taxed for the luxury. In a country like this, with land illimitable, what think you of Government, and such an imbecile, spendthrift Government, charging ss. per week per teat to such creatures, and appointing a staff of officers to collect this impost, the one-half of whose salaries ♦the whole revenue from this source would not pay. Oh ! it is monstrous. Labour, give us labour, shouted the people of Victoria. Thousands, tens of thousands of sturdy artizans and labourers are poured upon her shores weekly, — her gold. revenue produces nearly £900,000 a year, independently of all other sources of income, and yet not a hovel, not a shed, not a free ient, -has been appropriated for the use even for a night •of those hardy adventurers, who have been wiled to her shores. Such a state of things will carry their own cure with them. Men will begin to speculate upon the expediency of retaining a Government which does nothing bnt batten on the vitals of the public, whose every act either betokens gross carelessness, gross ignorance, or what is still worse, gross favouritism, almost amounting to misappropriation of the public money. Men will ask, and the question must be answered, what has become of the revenues of the colony ? But perhaps the best illustration I can give you is to point out the charges to which poor, confiding passengers are subjected to before landing here from the Bay. These people take their passage at Liverpool or London on the faith that themselves and luggage will be delivered at Melbourne the same as at Sydney: but guess their astonishment w.hen they find that they have 4s. each to pay for steam- boat fare up, and 30s. per ton for their luggage, and when they get on the wharf, there are other dues which, as the wharves belong to private individuals, are fixed at such rates as the owners please.

I may give you an insfance of the utter destitution which some of these people are thrown into ou their arrival here. When the Lady Head arrived here from Liverpool, the weather was most inclement, — wet pouring down in buckets full, and the dirt, slop and mud more than knee deep, nor only the thoroughfares but in every spot where it was possible for human being 10 set foot. In this state of affairs, I saw more than 400 poor people thrust upon our wharfs, without food or shelter, but what their scanty bedding supplied. In this state of affairs Mr. Cole allowed the poor sufferers the use of the sheds on his wharf; but which, from the traffic upon them previously, were Wet, dump, and muddy to an inconceivable degree under foot. Happening to be there in the early part of the night, 1 was informed, and subsequently ascertained for a fact, that a young woman, the wife of an intelligent Scotchman, gave birth to her first-born child. And, oh, such a plight ! such a situation for an anguished mother to he in ! Porters roaring, carters swearing, men, women, and children, clamouring and screaming, and none, no not one, but the faithful husband and partner of that poor afflicted woman to render either medical aid or to administer the slightest consolation under the circumstances. It is melancholy to reflect on the increased amount of human suffering which is patiently endured by 1 the new comers here. I give you this as a sample ; and further let me assure you that no night passes but persons the most respectable are compelled to sleep under such miserable coverings as they can get. The public buildings of Melbourne are of a most inferior description, both in point of architectural style and internal accommodation. The only building of note at all adequate to its requirements is the Mechanics' Institution ; and it has now to do the treble du;y of Concert Hall, Assembly Room, and Town Hall, including offices, &c, for ihe Town Clerk. The library attached to the Institution is very good indeed, and the rooms spacious and commodious, much better than your School of Arts. The Legislative Council sits now in St. Patrick's Hall, and that august body in its wisdom wishes to place an additional tax upon gold, without thinking of spending a few thousands upon the erection of Lentahl's " talking shop," as ihe Argus would say, for themselves. With all their boast and bragadocio you may rely upon it Sydney has but little to fear from the legislative sagacity of this body. I was present during the debate which affhmerl the principle of the Export Duty upon Gold Bill, and expected, you may be sure, to hear a bril'iant debate, but in this I was grievously disappointed, The initiation of the Bill was entrusted to the honorable the Attorney General, who to my mind is not just yet cut out for a Chancellor of the Exchequer. The debate was dull, prosy, and insipid in the extreme, having but one chaiacteristic, namely, that honorable members managed with a truly Viccorian facility to recant almost every one of their previously formed and expressed opinions, as readily as Sir Hudibras — Confute, change hands, and still confute, And certainly it was marvellous to see how each could furnish reasons as sound as were that most analytical gentleman's for their tergivereation. A few honorable exceptions, however, were to be 'made, but in the bulk all were alike. The state of the weather has improved considerably of late, and business is very brisk with us, as commercial men say has an upward tendency. Markets are decidedly getting mnch higher, whilst I question if wages are rising in proportion, notwithstanding that the exodus to the diggings continues unabated. The state of society consequent upon the increase of ouj population, the moral and sanitary pestilence which pervades this place, together with a ramble or two in the country must be left over till ray next letter. In the mean time I reiterate my advice to all new comers here, namely, let your purse | be your friend, for depend upon it, if you rely upou any other you will but realize the fable of the farmer and his friends — the lark and her young ones.