A HOLIDAY TRIP TO MELBOURNE, 1894.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2647, 17 April 1894, Page 3

A HOLIDAY TRIP TO MELBOURNE, 1894.

Bv “Cushion Tyee”, Having both read and heard a great deal of the wonderful sights of “ Marvellous Melbourne”, I resolved to take advantago of tlio reuout holidays and have a ° trip across. Accordingly, on February Ist X took out a return ticket from Port Chalmers for Melbourne, via the Bluff and Hobart, in the U.S.S. Co, s fine steamer Mauapouri. There were a great many passengers on board, as many were returning to Australia and England after having seen some of the beauties of New Zealand, including the West Coast Sounds. The steamer cast off from the wharf at Port Chalmers, amid much cheering and waving of handkerchiefs. _ A pitiable sight was witnessed by the passengers on board a few minutes prior to tho boat casting off. A detective came on board, •went “ for’ard ” into the steerage, and brought out two young men, well dressed and seemingly respecatble. They had their passages taken out for Australia, and were put back on shore. It seemed very sad, and cast a gloom over the passengers ; but we were destined to see more realistic sights thau that, of which more anon. The wind that evening was cold, and the sea rough and choppy, so the passage down to the Bluff was hot a very pleasant one. When a few miles outside the Heads, steaming past Sc. Clair and Ocean Beach, dinner was announced. Of course, tho old and hardy sailors made way down stairs to enjoy a good meal. Not so those who were beginning to feel the up-and-down motion of the vessel, and, as Mark Twain says, they wore shortly troubled with the “Oh, rrys-’, and sought their berths your correspondent among tho number. The Bluff was reached very early next morning, and the steamer remained in port until evening. The Bluff is a cold, unsheltered, and bare-lookiog township, and a day spent there is a dull one. There are largo freezing works about II miles along tho Invercargill line, which give employment to many men. Hero I mot-an old Tomuka boy, in tho person of Mr I'. Thompson, who has a responsible position thorn. It was just tho beginning of the oyslor season, and at poi r . fisher men wore very busy loading up foi Dunedin and Christchurch markets. ■j'iio steamer, .having got all her pas aengers, mail*, and cargo on board, lef tlio'port for Hobart about 5 p.m., and made out through Foveaux Straits. TJih was on Friday evening, and wo were at until daybreak on iuwsuay, when

Hobart appeared. The steamer experienced very heavy weather across the Tasman Sea, with head winds, and the passage was unpleasant, decidedly, and very m motouous. The majority of the passengers, numbering nearly 120, were (town with that ever-present complaint of sea travelling —sea-sickness—your humble servant included. To those who h.ve not been at sea, and are unacquainted with the joys of this complaint, I can promise an eventful time. When one is sea-sick one loses all appetite for good, and all energy for work or recreation. When once a person takes up a position, no matter how odd or unsuitable, one wishes to remain in that position without hindrance until the vessel reaches the wharf ; or if it is to go down to “ Davy Jones ” one seems quite satisfied to go down with it—at least, “ them’s my sentiments.” However, when one is sick at sea one has the consolation of knowing others are in a like position. Mention must be made of the attention bestowed on sick passengers by the stewards on board, and their willingness to bring any delicacy a passenger may like. As I said before, Hobart was reached early on Tuesday morning, February 6th, and the passengers went ashore after breakfast and viewed the principal sights of this picturesque town. I must not omit to say that there is a beautiful sheer of water—a kind of estuary —formed at the mouth of the Derwent. Coming in early in the morning, as we did, we did not see it then, but we had a beautiful view of it on steaming out to Melbourne again in the evening. It is nearly 40 miles from the Heads, up the bay to Hobarf. The harbor is laud-locked, and forms an excellent place for boating and yachting. Hobart is a quiet, dreamy town, but exceedingly picturesque, having a calm sheet of water as a foreground, with mountains and bush to the west of it. It has a population of about 40,000 people, but its streets do not present the traffic and bustle of either Dunedin or Christchurch. There are several pretty suburbs and carriage-drives around the city, and, as the majority of the houses are irregular in shape, and covered with ivy, geranium, or honeysuckle, this gives it the appearance of an old English place. There are electric trams now in use at Hobart, and the majority of the passengers got on the tops of them, and had a very good view of the city and its surroundings. Newtown is a suburb to the north-west, with many fine orchards noticeable along the line. Another nice ride by tram is out to Sandy Bay, round the harbor. Here may be seen several tea-gardens for picnic parties—and many gentlemen’s private residences. Towering up at the back of Hobart are Mounts Wellington and Nelson, covered with bush and scrub to their summits On the top of Mount Nelson is the flagstaff and look-out station. We had not time to climb to the top, but had we done so, we were informed, we would have had an excellent view of the whole island. Around the bay in a northeasterly direction, is the Governor’s residence, charmingly situated on a height looking down on the city and the shipping. In close proximity to the vice regal residence the exhibition building is being built. The exhibition buildings are very spacious, and will cover a space of 13 acres.. The exhibition will be opened in November of this year. The public buildings of Hobart are not imposing, and they are, mo'reover, built of a yellowish kind of stone, which with age gives them a shabby appearance. A feature a visitor cannot fail to notice is that nearly all the houses have shingle roofs. Iron seems very scarce. Another thing which reveals itself is the great number of hotels —in fact, nearly every other house is licensed “ to trade in spirits.” They are not hotels in the sense we speak of licensed houses in New Zealand, but merely shops for the sale of liquor. There is much work for the prohibitionists to accomplish in Tasmania when they are done with New Zealand. The names of the houses struck me as being rather original, viz,, “ Doctor Syntax Hotel,” “ Royal Saxon,” “ Hit or Miss Hotel,” etc. Goods of all kinds are very cheap in Hobart, and, as is well known, Tasmania is a great garden of fruit—pears and plums especially being very cheap. The steamer, having completed her loading, swung off at 3.30 p.m., and steamed placidly down the beautiful sheet of water forming part of Hobart’s beauty. One of the passengers, who had delayed too long in the city, had a very narrow escape from being left on the quay as a spectator to our departure. The vessel had cast off aft, and was swinging round by the bows, when the unfortunate passenger came tearing down the wharf. Some of the deck-hands threw a rope to him on the wharf. To this he clung, and was promptly hauled up the vessel’s side. Another minute and he would have bean too late. The Australian squadron was at Hobart at this time, and as we passed by the ironclads lying at anchor the jolly “ bluejackets ” gave us three ringing British cheers. I'hc ocean was reached about 6 p m., and we steamed along the oast coast close in shore as night approached. Passing out at the Heads are peculiar cliffs, evidently of limestone formation, which have the happy name of “ The Organ Rocks.” The stratum is upheaved in a perpendicular line, and, with the sou’-westerly gales beating on the rocks, they have been worn round and thin, like the pipes of a large church organ. Some of the pipes are broken off short, others are pointed, and the whole shaped like an organ, with the culminating point in the centre. Indeed, it does not require a great stretch of imagination to see the organist seated at the instrument. The next day was spent at sea, in view of the Tasmanian coast and the adjacent islands, and when the passengers awoke at daylight the following morning they were surprised at the extreme steadiness of tho steamer—they were moored in the heart of the city of Melbourne, at Queen s wharf, alongside the magnificent block of buildings forming the New Fish Markets. The first impression one has of Melbourne, viewed from the river, is that of wonder at its mass of towering brick walls, veritable sky-scrapers eight and ten storeys high. It’s a city of brass-plates and colossal buildings. As the visitor si rolls along the various streets he if struck with wonder at the regularity will: which they are laid out, for they iutcrscca> right angles and have no blind ending:. 'Che city is exceedingly clean, the foot and wheeled traffic well regulated, ami the tiv.m service as near perfection a. possible. In tho early morning on coming off tho steamer tho visitor behold the city corf oration employees, bur-; cleaning tho streets fn m the accumulated dust of yesterday. The mod «.s ojwrond, is follows: —A circular broom, attached i i) wheels, is drawn by a horse. It h inch ;d to tho wheels at an angle of -lodug., and as it revolves it gathers up all the dus L . and rubbish into a long line: then follow drays, into which the d/brin I. shovelled by two men. To finish up with tho streets have tho hose put on them, and are thus rendered sweet a no clean. Again in the middle of tho daj men may bo observed along with t

small shovel and a broom, and gathering up the rubbish, etc. I will now endeavor to give an account of the many sights and interesting places of Melbourne, and will begin with streets and buildings in the city. Crossing the Yarra, either by Queen’s bridge (the lower one) or by Princess bridge from the southern suburbs, one is in Fliudois street—the busiest street in the city for wheel traffic, as here and in the next street are the principal warehouses. Taking the streets running in the same direction, we have Flinders street, then Little Flinders—or, as it is bettor known amongst commercial men, Flinders Lane—Collins street, Little Collins, Bourke street and Little Bourke, Lonsdale and Little Lonsdale. Commencing at the southern end of the city the streets which cutthe before-mentioned ones at right angles are Spencer, Queen, Market, Elizabeth, Swanwm, and Spring. Collins street is the street in which the banks are built, and also contains the Stock Exchange and many large insurance offices. This is the street in which to see the brass plates in abundance—those of merchants at the lower end and of the leading medical men at the upper end. In Collins street may be seen several large blocks of buildings ten storeys high, and, as evidence of the depression and falling off in business since “ the boom ’ many of them are to let, with the exception of the ground floors, which are occupied as shops. At the corner of Collins and Elizabeth streets a magnificent building, of stone and Victorian granite, is in course of erection for one of the large insurance companies of New York. It is nine or ten storeys in height, and will be another to add to the many colossal buildings of the city. Bourke street is essentially the people’s street. Here is done most of the retail trade, and here is the crush the greatest. The principal building in this street is the G.P.O. —a truly magnificent building — which rears its clock tower far above the surrounding structures. It is situated at the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth streets. On this street are also Buckley & Nunn’s large drapery establishment, Fenton’s Crystal Palace, Cole’s renowned book arcades, and the Eastern Market. The next street —Little Bourke —is notorious, being infested with Chinese and persons about whose morality and honesty there are grave doubts. It, like Little Collins and Flinders Lane, is very narrow—probably half a chain in width. Once a person leaves Collins and Bourke streets the buildings are smaller and irregular in shape; so the remaining streets need no description. Of the interesting thorough - fares Spencer, Elizabeth, and Swanson are most important; the former on account of its railway station, which is a very old building that will soon be vacated by the authorities for new buildings. The railway offices in Spencer street are an ornament to that part of the city, and are, I think, among the best of the public buildings seen in the city. The architectural display is very appropriate. Life-sized figures stand in bold relief, each representing a branch of Australian wealth—one symbolical of mining pursuits, another of agricultural products, and a third of pastoral wealth.

(To he continued)