OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4529, 25 September 1875, Page 3

OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

(prom our own correspondent.) Melbourne, September IG. The principal event in the political world at present is the Budget speech of cur new Treasure!’, Mr. Graham Berry, which waa delivered on the evening of Tuesday, the 14th inst. Mr. Berry accepts the Estimates of his predecessor as a whole, although it is now manifest that the deficit in our revenue is considerably more than the £200,000 set down under this head by Mr. Service. The most startling revelation, however, made by Mr. Berry in the course of his speech was that his Ministry had succeeded to an empty Treasury, and that on two occasions lately there was not sufficient money in the hands of the Government to remit to London the interest due on our debentures. Had it not been for the Californian Mail Service, the credit of the colony must have been most seriously jeopardised by the non-receipt, nonarrival of the money due to debentureholders in the old country, and as it was, the money only arrived in London the day before it became payable. The money raised by the late Government for the purpose of meeting the interest due, waa taken from reserved funis, from Government saving bank deposits, and from other sources of supply not legitimately available for the purpose,. Mr. Service denied in toto that' there was not enough cash in the Treasury to meet the demand in question, on which Mr Berry read a document compiled by the permanent heads of the Treasury Department, not only confirming all that he had advanced, but impugning the system by which the late Government continually obtained a revenue by misusing funds of other State departments, and setting them down as assets in their accounts. This state of affairs fully explains why the late Government rushed so much valuable land, both city and country blocks, to the auction mart, and it also explains the mysterious stoppages of public works which occasionally took place, to the surprise of the public. It is manifest that for a long time , the Kerferd Ministry must have been alive to the critical condition of our finances, owing to the unexampled draft upon them in inaugurating our new State system of education, which raised the estimates for this branch of the public service from £200,000 per annum to nearly one million and a quarter sterling. It is no less apparent that seeing the accumulated difficulties on this head by which they were surrounded, they were not reluctant to let Mr. Berry and his following try their hands at repairing our monetary prospects. Mr. Berry proposes to tax property in a manner which all sections of the community consider more wise and equitable than the scheme propounded by Mr.‘ Service, who proposed to tax land according to its extent, irrespective of its value. Mr. Berry’s proposition is to classify the lands, and tax according to valuation. A tax upon cornsacks and jute goods will be imposed, whilst some of the taxes which now press most heavily on the miner will be removed. Beyond this, the changes proposed in our existing tariff are trifling. In order to carry out public works to which the country is pledged, and to extend our railway system by the construction of an additional 200 miles, and to erect the schoolbuildings still needed, the cost of which will be another million at least, Mr. Berry proposes to borrow in London about £3,000,000. Mr. Berry pointed out that whilst our annual expenditure had been continually increasing for years, our revenue bad not kept pace with it, and that it had now become absolutely necessary to take vigorous steps to curtail the extravagant expenditure of the Civil Service of the colony. He estimated that by judicious retrenchment in this direction a saving of at least £IOO,OOO per annum could be safely effected. The debate upon the Budget speech will commence this afternoon, and there are many rumors as to the direction it will take and the result it may accomplish. A few warm supporters of the Government affect to believe that the Assembly will accept the proposals propounded, while a number of equally sanguine Oppositionists declare that the Government will be at once overthrown on theitem of cornsacks and jute goods. The fact is that parties are so divided at present, that no concerted action need be apprehended by Mr. Berry. Besides, few politicians, however greedy for office, care about facing the duty of governing, when their first act must bo to levy new taxes, and their next to carry out a number of disagreeable reductions in the public service, and so restore our financial condition to something approaching soundness. The Hon. John Kobertson, Premier of New South Wales, is now on a visit to us, and ad-

vantage is to be taken of bis presence to reconsider the vexatious question of the “border duties.’ 1 Mr. Eobertaon has been hospitably received on this his first visit, and the Government have placed a special train at his disposal for ‘ visiting our mining centres and outlying towns. : He is at present engaged in visiting the exhibition and the lions of the city. ■ Mdlle. de Murska left us for Adelaide last Tuesday. Her success here is without precedent, both in an artistic and a pecuniary sense. Her concerts partook more of the character of brilliant ovations than of musical festivals. ■ Her execution, taste, and artistic rendering of even familiar operatic passages is simply unparalleled and astounding.' On Monday evening she sang with : the Philharmonic Society, the piece performed being Haydn’s “ Creation.” It is not too much to say that such a rendering of this great composition.has never before been heard in Melbourne. The proceeds of He Murska’s concerts must be in every way satisfactory, as the takings have never been below £350, and in two instances they exceeded £6OO. In Adelaide, where she is to appear next, all the seats were engaged before the fair artist bade us adieu. She is, however, to return shortly, when she will appear in opera, her terms being £l5O per night and one-third of the net profits—rather a liberal allowance, but not begrudged to so charming a cantatrice. Madame Eistori, the legitimate successor of Eaohel, and probably the grandest tragedienne of her time, still continues at the Opera House, but; fails to draw the houses she so eminently deserves. There are many reasons to account for this. First, her prices are too high, the lowest being 3s. for the pit, and half-agninea for the dress circle. Then she and her company act in Italian, a language which only a small percentage of the audience understand, and some of her company are little better than “ walking gentlemen.” The pieces selected by her for representation are sensational enough—- “ Medea,” “Queen Elizabeth,” “Judith,” and “ Sister Theresa”—but when Eistori is off the stage the interest flags, and the audience experience the ennui which springs from not properly comprehending the incidents depicted. “The Lancashire Lass ” has been revived at the Eoyal, and is drawing good houses ; but the chief event looked forward to at this theatre is the advent of Madame Jananschek, who has been advertised for a long time in immense posters, but who has twice disappointed her patrons by remaining in Sydney when she should have been en route for Melbourne. Tasmania, for a small colony, has made a capital show of minerals and natural productions, that is'second only to that of Melbourne, but Japan furnishes the court of the exhibition that is really the most interesting to the general visitor. , ,