VICTORIA.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 53, 30 January 1884, Page 3

VICTORIA.

(FROM OVB SPECIAL COBBESTONDEST.) Melbohbte, Jan. 14, 1884. The Ar/ju. having dropped pretty heavy on the coms of the Australian team of cricketers, his rofined the ire of their admirers, who are availing themselves largely of the columns of the Press, town and country, in vindication of their performances. The gist of the argument pursued by the gryue is in exact accord with an opinion which is gaining ground daily, namely, that the line, upon which cricket is now-a-dsy. travelling impart to it a professional character, and seriously detract from the fwtige which the same gentlemen have previously achieved as amateurs. It is held, and with a good show of reason, that when the same individuals continue, year after year, for the purpose of organising Engagements of a public character, to open ’ up •• shows ” for which gate-money is charged, '■ and make the proceeds their means of living, they cease to be amateurs in the ordinary sense of the word; and, although they may be too aristocratic to associate, except in play, with acknowledged professionals, they occupy a position which has a distinction with httle difference. Hence it is suggested thkt they play to prolong the games, and “ stonewall ” less with the brilliant adroitness of gentlemen who play for pleasure than with the scientific reserve of professionals who are paid for their services. Viewing the game of cricket as an exhibition of skill and muscular agility, pure and simple, I don’t know but that this distinction is too subtle to affect the interest we all feel in it. The real question is. Why are men who, like Murdoch, can hold their own at the stumps for ten hours and walk out with their bat; and pile up over 600 runs, termed amateurs? And, again, why should not the saxpe men ( who receive public money as the pre-condition bf their performance, be termea professionals ? According to recent opinion these teams play not for glory and honor, but for money, and, of necessity, subordinate the nobler attributes of cricket to the sole consideration of profit. As a natural oarollary they are not free lances, but must use such means as will be most calculated to bring about the end desired—an ample division of the exchequer at the end of the tour. In Sydney just now there is much dissatisfaction at only two of their men being chosen in the Australian Eleven, end on all hands the existing nominations are denounced i while the trip to England is regarded purely as a “ spec,” quite irrespective of the ostensibly representative character it is said to partake. Apropos of cricket, you might like to know that a letter has been received here from Lillywhite, in which he says that another English team will come to Australia “ next season,” made up of no less than nine professionals, so that my previous remarks have some force.

The new year holidays now being fairly over the " silly season ” has returned, and business people are settling to earnest work, though it will be some time before the effects of the last three weeks’ dissipation are entirely removed. There is nothing agitating the public mind, either in trade or politics. The Government are safe, and while the coalition craze exists they may look to a pretty long existence. As we judge of men and Governments by their actions, the Service-Berry may be credited with having flKapolitical serenity behind them such as Victoria has not known for some years. Conservatives and Liberals have agreed to differ, and nothing is heard now-a-days of “ party,” beyond an occasional growl from the Age, followed by a victorious roar from the Argus. Coalition Governments are generally held to be inconsonant with the true spirit of the British Constitution, and Parliaments ; but whatever good party warfare may effect in an old country like England, in the Colonies, to my mind, it is the reverse of beneficial to the general well-being of communities and circumstances that are placed in a veiy different Eosition towards each other. I am erne out in this opinion by the Legislative results of last session; for, as the outcome of a coalition of parties, such as they were, we have placed on our Statute-book several enactments that must not only prove of immense benefit to the Colony, but which, had the fusion not taken place, would not have passed into law. Notably amongst them is the Postal Act, which, inter alia, increases in weight the 2d. letter from soz. to loz., and reduces the postage, both in and out of the Colony, from Id. to |d. We have the advantage of you in these, but still it is thought that the penny postage of letters, within municipalities should become law, and that newspaper exchanges should go free in the Colony. There being no postal uniformity amongst the Colonies, the Melbourne printing and publishing trade is greatly exercised at business people sending their orders to Sydney, Tasmania, and elsewhere, whence the postage is free, and posted from there; so that we see the anomaly of Victorian journals, whose despatch is not of immediate necessity, being

sent across the border in freight-bundles, and posted thence back to constituents in this colony free of charge, the authorities here having to deliver, also free, the same parcels they would charge for if posted within their own territory. The Railway Management Act will also prove a great boon, since it provides for a board popularly understood to be free from the fetters of political patronage, although the Government are accused, at the outset, nf wrangling amongst the Cabinet as to which of the aforetime party-supporters are to have sears thereat. Public impatience is being exhibited at the demoralized state of the Railway Department, and no security will be felt until Mr. Speight has organised an entirely new code. Official corruption will be largely lessened if the spirit as well as the letter of the Public Service Act is carried out, It affects to guarantee promotion to officers on the standard of merit and efficiency alone and that it will fie impossible for a youngster, with friends at Court, to “ jump the claim’’ of his grey-haired seniors, who happen to have none, but can Jay claim to necessary qualifications. But I fear it will become, in effect, as practically inoperative as the Civil Service Regulations of your own Colony, the first law of guaranteed promotion, if I remember rightly, having been passed by the Stafford Government in the session of 1867. At any rate, for a time, at least, it will dis perse the large army of martyrs, which was daily posted, in squadrons, round the several Government offices. The Public Health, Local Government, and other Acts of last session provide for many wants. Harvesting operations are now in full swing, and from all parts superior yields are reported. Rough approximations state that there are one million acres of wheat under crop in Victoria, which is expected to return fifteen million bushels. Not a very large one, after the magnificent crops you are accustomed to in your more-favored Colony. I do not care to bother you with statistical or I might sefid many that are interesting, but dry. With regard to mining, an inference may be drawn as to the moss product from the fact that at the Sandhurst mines alone, eight tons and a half of gold resulted from the year’s work. In close connection with the agricultural yield, and as a cause of lessening the sum total, may be mentioned the extensive range of bush fires which have been burning, without intermission) for several days—lndeed, before Christmas; Those ttho went through the horrors of “Black. Thursday,” pome years since, say that the present “visitation.” as it is called, is almost is terrible ih its ravages, Hundreds of square miles of country have been burned bare, while forests are stiU smouldering) and will continue to do so until rain descends, . As a. consequence, homesteads are made desolate, crops destroyed, houses and fences burnt, while the carcases of hundreds of thousands of sheep, cattle, and horses, which have been roasted alive, strew the ground in all directions. Individual suffering, as well as collective loss, is painful to read of. Numberless accounts reach us daily of dire misfortune, and it is a wonder that loss of human life—from which there have been many narrow escapes—has not added to the already terribly long list of calamity and woe, Two instances will serve as illustration. A strong wind drove the flakes of fire across a river into a field of field of grass. This igniting, soon connected with an adjoining field, carrying all before it, speedily consuming the sheaves of ten acres of wheat, besides buildings and fencing. The fire then spread to a neighboring field, destroying thirty-five acres of newly-reaped corn, houses, fencing, implements, and cattle alike falling a prey without the possibility of saving them. Doubtless the Almighty will be accused with being the cause of this “visitation;” but, without the slightest irreverence, it may be fairly argued that as the Almighty does not smoke, nor throw lighted matches on the long, dry grass in a gale of wind, with the thermometer at 125 deg. in the shade, the attribute of unkindness and cruelty on the Creator’s part towards His people is unfounded. As with the water supply, so it is with bush fires. It is purely a matter of self - protection. We hear on all sides that, owing to the unusual abundance of grass and undergrowth this year, farmers have been expecting extensive burnings of the country. Yet, strange and fatuous as it may appear, not a single instance is known of precaution being taken in anticipation of the coming of the dread visitor. What protective measures that are likely to avail against the progress of so powerful an enemy it is difficult to say, for, as has been shown, space and distance are no barriers. The ravages of fire are the effect of cause, and it is to that point intelligence should be directed. I have not heard of spontaneous combustion, although it has been said that the friction of trees, caused by the hot winds, in dry hot weather, with the addition of solar rays, has been known to ignite forests. But such instances must be rare. The causes of these devastating fires are, undoubtedly, the acts of carelessness, such as the thoughtless disposition of matches, sparks fr om fire engines—railway and others—and burning logs that are left, probably, many weeks previously to burn themselves out. Lightuing is also chargeable with occasional arson; but the supernatural acts of criminality bear no appreciable proportion to the natural or human. While I am writing (I am a few miles in the country at this moment),} the surroundings of Nature are almost fearful in their seared and superheated unattractiveness. Everything on the ground parched with a yellowy tinge, and even the perennial greenness of non-deciduous foliage has a sickly look. Old Sol is struggling, though unsuccessfully, to pierce the thick canopy of smoke which envelopes this portion of the surface of the earth. He has a jaundiced look, for his brightness has become heat intensified, and he destroys where he should cheer. The atmosphere is as thick as a London fog in November, and, of course, quite as calm. Not a leaf rustles, and so much the better, for a still heat is preferable to that that comes like a blast from the regions infernal; And when I say that my thermometer registers 136 in the sun—that it is now 96 deg, where I am trying to collect my ideas, and put them legibly on paper, and when I add that my good-natured old soul of a landlady (you will understand from this that I am one of the presently unattached) has just called me to partake of hot, baked meats (phew ! it makes me perspire to think of it) tor dinner, you will be able to form an idea of the difficulties and perplexities of my situation. Now, this is a conumdrum I can’t solve for the life of me. I cannot understand why English people will eat and drink the same articles of food under varying conditions of climate. The Equimaux of Lapland eat all kinds of fatty and other oleaginous matter; the Scot and others North of England take “ burgoo” as a rule of diet. These we can comprehend. I can also understand when a roast sirloan and Yorkshire pudding are acceptable, but for the life of me I fail to see why, because our grandmothers may have imbued us with the importance of properly such eggs, we should continue that exceptionally bilious experiment when nature plainly tells us that they are the worst things we can take. The principal cities on this continent abound with Americans and Germans, both of whom are credited with “knowing a little” of the gastronomic art; but it is a fact that, unless you wish to live expensively, and resort to specialities, the delightfully cool style of eating and drinking that we read of, cannot be obtained. For instance, I cannot make my aforesaid landlady (who is death on hot dinners) understand that it is just as cheap, and far more agreeable, to dine off cold meat rnd salad, fish, Ac., than corned beef and carrots, hot and reeding as the sun itself. But, thank goodness, there is an escape from all this, for Melbourne is as cheap a place to live in as any in this hemisphere. For a shilling a meal one can eat, drink, and be merry at the Coffee PalacesJ and have the choice of his own food. Oysters, too, are cheap, from 6d. to Is. 6d. a dozen, according to the places selected; but then you must dwell in them, or go from home to buy them, w’hich is done by large crowds daily. In our public places of resort one can obtain meat and drink suitable to his desires, but “at home” it is (what many of us often find in this life) the most comfortless, unattrhetive place under the sun. So with me. I often go abroad, and lunch on “cold ribs” and salad, lamb, chop, and tomato, to the great disgust of the a B ed P art J’ who lias been stew j ng herself as well as the haric o t and pre paring hot mutton and tu rnips for an Ull grateful but hungry lodger. (To be continued.)