A SKETCH OF BALLARAT.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1075, 27 May 1873, Page 3

A SKETCH OF BALLARAT.

There is something painful in meeting with an old friend in a rr.gged, untidy dress, whom you had known when he had worn the best, and 3ported' diamond rings and a heavy gold albert; but the effect is still'more depressing' when you find a city which you left flourishing, wearing, as it were, seamless garments. "How is the city desolate,which was filled with people!" You remember the days ' when Ballarat was the centre of attraction throughout the colony, when you would find at Craig's Hotel, Melbourne, Syduey, and Adelaide men, when engine after engine was being erected on the famous Golden Point Lead, when magnificent shops, banks, and warehouses were going up like fairy' edifices, erected by'the wave of the wand'.of gold, the' enchanter ; and looking down on the now almost Gelongese' city y6u cannot but cry, " Oh ! what a falling-off is here !" Eui where you will notice the change'most is in the great mart,'the Corner, Tjere is no Corner now. A fow ill-dressed men, listless and wary, in appearance, lounge 'round the 'Unicorn Hotel. Time evidently hangs heavily on t ieir hinds. f Once indeed, and not so long ago,:thero was little time for standing 'round there. You could only see faces' flushed' with success, men who could hardly speak to you for a minute, so precioUs 'was time to them, men who hurried hither and thither, made note 3 as fast as a shorthand writer, ' «{f *ink brandy, and could draw cheques fcr four figures, and what is more, have them honoured —there is plenty 'of drawing cheques now, I am told, ' but the difficulty is to get them cashed. To one who had been on Ballarat when the "Corner was in full swing, the sight of the Corner now would make him take up his valise and fly. It has been deserted for the Beehive, almost all the leading brokers have fled to Sandhurst, and the smaller fry have followed in their wake. But even still further the quondam Ballaratian could pursue the contrast, and be surprised. Night falls on dull, unfrequented streets. Amusements there are ' none; people hurry home and 'heed no more the glare of the lights, the music of the theatre. Anonyma, 'who'in the brisk times haunted these streets, has disappeared ; the gay bloods who smoked cigars in , the vestibule of the theatre have vani. bed, and Ballarat, once the abode of what is generally known as tho frenzy called u life," is as dull as the once-laughediat "Pivot." perhaps it is for the best. The fever'is over—the golden days have 1 fled —and With thern many who 'made fortunes-; and Ballarat wakes Jrom'its dream to find its alluvial all worked out, "and its quartz undeveloped/with a large population to feed, magnificent shops to support, and the stern enquiry facing the awakened sleeper, "How is it to bo'done?"— " Town and Country."