A HOLIDAY TRIP TO MELBOURNE, 1894.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2652, 28 April 1894, Page 3

A HOLIDAY TRIP TO MELBOURNE, 1894.

By "Cushion Tyre". (Continvcd.) The Princess Theatre, recently built, is recognised as the cosiest, and best equipped of its kind in Australia, and here appear nearly all the best plays staged in Melbourne. The building is very lofty, and fitted up with every convenience, both for players and play goers. In the Melbourne theatres—especially during the summer months—the heat is very trying, but in this theatre they have an ingenious contrivance by which the roof is opened up and a current of cool air is admitted. On either side above the private boxes are miniature caves and waterfalls, which add to the beauty of the interior, aud cool the air also. In the Princess everything is put before the public in a very taking style, no expense being spared in dresses or scenery. In fact nothing so complete and gorgeous is ever presented to the playgoers of New Zealand, as the expenses of the undertaking would more than equal the receipts. I had the pleasure of listening to " Tne Gondoliers " and "Dorothy," and hearing such performers as Miss Nellie Stewart, Miss Florence Young, Miss Violet Varley, and Messrs Tapley, Ryley, and Lauri. Of course there are many other theatres in the city, such as The;Alexandra, The Royal, Bijou, and the Gaiety, but they are not to be compared to the Princess. To give one an idea of the love of the Melbournite for sport and amusement, I estimate that at the theatres and concert-halls iu full swing at that time in Melbourne, there could Dot be an attendance of less than 10,000 people. Take this as a nightly attendauce, it gives say, 60,000 a week, or *bout 3,000,000 a year, attending the places of amusement. Put this down at Is a head, which gives a sum of £150,000, and who says after this there is no money in Melbourne ? The waxworks in Bourke street are worthy of a visit, and contain figures of all the leading figures of the world, and the figures also of the notorious characters of Australia, from the earliest days to the present time. In this sanguinary collection may be seen Deeming, his shovel, specimens (alleged) of his handwriting, and models of the rooms in which he despatched his victims. Here also, with all its gruesome surroundings, may be seen the terrible Carcoar tragedy, with Bertie Glasson, a mere youth in appearance, in the act of tomahawking Mrs Philips. 1 was very glad to get out of such a chamber of horrors, and thought the attendant—a female—who explained everything, had a most unenviable position. So often had she explained the various "horrors" that she had them all committed to memory, and rung them off with a rapidity equalled only by an American salesman. The Cycloramas are another of Melbourne's wonders, and seem to have come "to stay." At present they are " Jerusalem," and " The Seige of Paris." The latter one I visited, and was wonderfully impressed by its graudeur and monstrous dimensions. The picture, as the name implies, is presented to the visitor in the form of a great circular panorama. This gives a view of the whole surroundings, and so well executed is the work that one fancies the view presented stretches for miles all round. The entrance to the Cyclorama is by Bourke street, and one passes along a long ascending passage, up a flight of steps, and finally emerges on the top of a great balcony overlooking the whole view. For 3d a guide book and map of the surroundings may be obtained —an interesting lecture, in which the various places of interest are described aud indicated, is given daily by an expert employed by the authorities. Anyone visiting Melbourne and not seeing either of the Cycloramas, misses one of the most wonderful and instructive inventions of our time. Any account of Melbourne which omitted description of Cole's Great Book Arcade would be incomplete, as the arcade is acknowledged everywhere as Melbourne's great novelty. This arcade is a great lounging place for idlers, an indispensable promenade for ladies out shopping, and a moving mass of all kinds aud conditions of human nature. The building is three-storeyed, and the interior fitted up to represent galleries with an uninterrupted floor-space on the lower level. The building runs.right through the full depth of the street from Bourke str9et to Little Collins street. On the ground floor are seven or eight enquiry desks with attendants, and arranged on right and left are books suitably set off in different classes. The whole of the second gallery is devoted to the sale of secondhand books, of which there are countless thousands. On this floor there is a stand for the orchestra which discourses free music every afternoon from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., when the building is packed. On the top storey is the palace of glassware and fancy ornaments, which is alone worth seeing. Costly china, beautifully worked, aud coloured glassware, and exquisite models of birds and animals in chaiuaware adorn the numerous shelves. There are seats on each tier, and many people with no other means of employment spend most of the day sitting down perusing some book. If the book be not finished one day they return the next and continue the story. Notwithstanding the great crowd of people who pass through the arcade, and the facility with which goods and books could be stolen, cases of pilfering are very rare. Wheu in Melbourne I, iu company with an old Temuka boy, visited the Melbourne Gaol and Pentridge Stockade. The gaol is in the city, but Pentridge is situated at Cuburg, a place about five or six miles out of the city, and may be reached either by tram or by rail, The warder who showed us round said there were 700 prisoners in the gaol and about 600 more out at Pentridge. Once inside the gaol walls one is struck with the difficulty of escape, for there are high walls all round topped by sharp spikes and broken bottles cemented on, and on each corner a towsr or look-out station with an armed sentry on duty. (lo he wntinutyl.)