TALE OF TWO CITIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 279, 15 February 1928, Page 13

TALE OF TWO CITIES

MELBOURNE VERSUS SYDNEY 11 VICTORIANS TOO SERIOUS : ■ THE DUNEDIN OF AUSTRALIA i (Special to THE SUN.) MELBOURNE, February S. j One has but to visit other, large centres of Australia, especially Melbourne, to realise that Sydney’s claim that she is Australia, must fail. Never- ] theless Sydney represents the spirit of t Australia to a greater degree than Melbourne does. In Sydney one becomes accustomed * to the continued jibe against the dullness of Melbourne. In Melbourne you will be told that there is no jealousy of Sydney, and the patronising air of toleration is almost deceiving, but the Mecca of most Melbournians on holiday, is Sydney. This attitude of toleration of Sydney is amusing and nowhere is it more evident than when the frivolities of the Northern city are reviewed. Referring to the goat races recently held there, a Melbourne paper says, “Anything with four legs which can run and can offer a good gamble is popular in Sydney.” Dunedin of Australia To a New Zealander Melbourne appears as the Dunedin of Australia. In many ways there are points of likeness between the two cities, and when it is recalled that they were in very close touch when Dunedin was booming,' it is easy of comprehension. The only place in Australia where I have seen ; gorse growing is Melbourne, while tiny j, cable cars add to the resemblance, j Moreover the. people take themselves j and their beautiful city more than seri- j ously—they almost succeed in being i funereal. If a visitor from another city visits a Sydney man’s office, he drops his work and takes him out A Melbourne man will ask him to wait till he finishes dictating a letter and then ask him to have lunch a couple of days later. “Sydney is a holiday city,” one man said to me. “Here we work.” At any rate they think they do, which is half the battle. The Pride of Cities In Sydney the visitor is asked. “What do you think of our harbour?” The Melbourne man asks, “Have you seen Flinders Street station? More passengers are handled there daily than in any other railway station in the world.” He should add that nowhere else in the world is there such a station. Flinders Street is situated right in the busiest part of the city, without any reserve of land, jammed between the tramlines and the river, and the marvel is that half the people using it are not run over. The excellent traffic control must be credited with this immunity from injury or death. But Melbourne has many things to be proud of. Her parks and her transportation, wonderful roads and beautiful river are among them; and. moreover, they have all been made or planned by man; there have been no gifts by Nature to this large and solemn city, as there have been to her gay northern sister. Sydney’s Traffic Tangles Seeing the methodical way in which j a Melbourne traffic jam is cleared reminds one that Sydney, with her narrow, crooked streets, is seriously trying to evolve an equally good scheme, though the Traffic Advisory Committee is regarded by some as too polite in its attitude to be thorough. Recently the witnesses before it were engaged in trying to prove whether busmen or tram guards were more polite, and the tram men won. Moreover the evidence goes to prove that the bus conductors are all sheiks, who fuss over the flappers and let the old people fend for themselves. The committee should visit Melbourne to learn how buses should be run. Since the Railway Commissioner put buses on the road, all the roughness noticeable in Sydney has vanished and the same decency and courtesy which the tram travellers enjoy is experienced by the bus traveller. This is far from being the case it. Sydney, speaking generally. Victoria’s Railway System One thing which Victoria may be proud of is her railway system and the men who administer the huge department concerned. At the same time it must be recognised that Victoria has few of the physical and running difficulties met with by New South Wales; in the latter State, the main lines cross hump-backed heights rising to heights up to 5,000 ft., and all the express running is done at night, necessitating heavy haulage sleepers. At the borders, in the morning, her neighbours, Victoria and Queensland, take over with 1 day-coach trains, and at night the proi cess is reversed. Still Victoria has her I railways in splendid order, and though i for the moment they are not paying, owing to greater competition, that is | a. condition common to p-11 countries. —■ y WILL LAWSON.