VICTORIA.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 76, 26 February 1884, Page 2

VICTORIA.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) Melbourne, Feb. 11, 1884. It is a trite saying that one-half the people of the earth knows nothing of the way in which the other half lives. The same, in kind, may be said of newspaper correspondents, and that those who read what is written know nothing, and care less, of the circumstances under which they have to keep their engagements. For instance, what sympathy can be bestowed on me even after a labored explanation that I am inditing this letter under exceptionally long odds against equanimity of mind and correctness of production. It is Sunday morning; time 11-35. The good people I vegetate with are of that order of pious Christians that delight in cat-a-wauling all the dismal tunes they can rake out of Watt’s and Wesley’s hymns, for the delectation (I suppose they think) of all who are doomed to hear it. My bedroom, where I write, to escape other personal annoyances, adjoins the common sitting-room, in which is placed an harmonium of 5-octave compass, sadly out of tune, and, moreover, possessing the advantage of having two or three “ stop” keys—i.e., keys that are so stubborn as to refuse to come up again to time after being pressed down, ending in prolonged notes of a most discordant character; and when I add that the said room contains several “ young bloods,” some of whom are effectually murdering the “ old C,” and others, with marked ii reverences, recounting their nocturnal adventures of times gone by, you may guess how piously inclined I feel towards them, and how devotedly I wish them all in a place where they don’t shovel snow. The English Church is opposite, and if the brutes would but proclaim a well-mannered truce, and let me have the enjoyment (?) of one at a time, the persecution would be less severe. This, however, does not comprise the whole catalogue of my woes, for the sun sends the mercury up to an “ ever so hot” point; and the breeze is absolutely withering, to escape which one has to shut doors and windows, in the hope of reducing the evil as much as possible.

I was writing about “ correctness” just now. As I have detailed one or two of the difficulties of my position, you may be the more willing to excuse me asking of your comps, and readers not to needlessly (not to say carelessly) add to my embarrassment and discredit. In the copies of my letters as printed I am made to write words that I feel confident all the discordant sounds of pious revelry, nor with the thermo, at boiling heat, could not induce me to invent. I say “ invent,” for I am guiltless of a knowledge of such a word as “ untimrous,” when “ untimeous” is the only correlative that would make the sentence readable. “Beneficence” is spelt with a mis-placed vowel in the second syllable, a much more important error than placing a penultimate “u” vowel in the word “squalor.” “Pitted” becomes “ pe u ted,” and “ respected” is meaninglessly substituted for “expected.” I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sins are ever before me, but please stop the manufacture of them in your printing-office. You have made my letter in your issue of the 22nd January appear to have reached you and been printed in the extraordinary quick time of five days ; its date should have been the 7th, not the 17th. I shall not write on any long subject to-day, for I really am not equal to the occasion, for the reasons previously stated The revenue of the Colony for last month has sent a thrill of satisfaction through the commercial heart, being nearly £4,000 in excess of the Treasurer’s estimate. You will understand this feeling when I tell you that up to December the revenue fell off from the amount expected by over £BO,OOO. The months remaining between this and the end of the financial year are looked upon as bringing even the big figures on to the other side of the account. The Melbourne coffeepalaces and taverns are paying concerns, if we take the daily evidence of public patronage, together with the published statements of their affairs. Shares in the “ Victoria” are largely sought after, and maintain good quotations, owing chiefly to its admirable management. The “Melbourne,” a large palatial building of four storeys in Bourke Street, has just paid a dividend of 10 per cent., besides carrying a large balance forward. I wonder some enterprising speculator has not opened one of the “ palaces” in Gisborne, for there must be plenty of room there; many towns in Victoria not more largely populated make them a success. The Metropolitan and other gas companies are, it appears, not to have it all their own way, notwithstanding that the former has recently reduced its rates to 6s. 4Jd. per 1,000 feet, and the temporary failure of the electric light for street purposes. A Mr. Dixon patented a new gas, and formed a company some time since, and is engaged in perfecting arrangements for the commencement of operations. That gas is said to be made from that remarkably cheap commodity which is said to cost next to nothing ; and now we have another evidence of, at any rate, a new venture. This is called ‘‘ Bennie’s Patent”—a name not unfamiliar in connection with the early history of your Southern Cross Petroleum Company. The principal constituents of this new gas are air, tallow, and water. The process, briefly explained, is to heat the retort to a red heat, and drop in from the top melted fat and water, with forced air, the three meeting together, and instantly becoming a “fixed gas”—that’s what it is called, although it is afterwards passed into a gasometer. Experiments were made the other day on account of the Australasian Gas Company, and the gas is exhibited, and burns brightly in front of the Earl of Zetland Hotel, in Swanston street. At present, lam unable to give any idea of the cost. Now, generally, we are apt to regard a reduction in the price of an article of domestic and daily consumption as an advantage to the consuming community, but a journal the other day points out the significant fact that, following each reduction of the price of gas, the monthly accounts have increased; the indices of the meters are said to fly round with unwonted and unwarranted celerity, and in face of the fact that no increased consumption has taken place. Indeed it is observable that, although the last reduction was made in the middle of summer, the accounts immediately succeeding are in advance of the preceding winter months. The writer suggests that a petition of gas-consumers ought to be presented to the Companies, praying that no further reduction take place, or gas will become a luxury. This may be “ sarkasm,” but it tells a tale, any may be of interest to the Gisborne gasconsumers, when they get it to consume. Amongst the latest advices from Calcutta comes the cheering fact that Reuter’s monopoly of the cable to India is likely to end : the London Central News Agency is reported to be “ going in” for competition. Even this will’ be the insertion of the thin end of the wedge, and if the advance agent is accredited to include these Colonies in any arrangements he may be instructed to make, we may look for an amelioration of the heavy cost and curtailed news we get from other parts of the world. (To be continued.)