MELBOURNE GOSHIP.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2504, 28 July 1888, Page 6 (Supplement)

MELBOURNE GOSHIP.

FROM OUR OWN CORRK.SPOSDKNT. I

Some diffiu -inn is going on as to the desirability of gentlemen wearing dress suits at tho opening ceremony of the Exhibition. Never was greater foolishness heard of. Fancy a crowd of men in mid-day weariDg swallow-tails and white ties. Why, the idea is ridiculous. And yet many of our leading lights have expressed their determination to go as described. The Prince of Wales has been quoted as an example by tho frook.coat party, and authority has been given to show that ho wears simply a morning coat. Tho whole discussion is a frivolous one and not worth mentioning, but it is this humble scribe's duty, I take it, to dw.ll on and deal with topics of tho hour, hi.e it!ic Ittcrimw Householders are threatened with an increase in the price of beef, and possibly mutton, by the butchers. My own glib meat purveyor (which, as we all know, is the modern euphemism for the vulgar word "butcher") tells me there ia a great scarcity of prime cattle and sheep. Now, considering the millions that have been spent in railways, I am <»reatly surprised at the continual increase in the price of meat here. Almost the whole of settled Australia is now tapped, and cattle can be trucked from the interior at a quarter the expense of droving, and still "up goes the price of beef." A modern conundrum this, that wants CEdipus to solve it. It is the same with bread. Nobody can douht but that a greater area is under cultivation in Victoria now than formerly, aid yet the bakora do not come down in price, but, on the contrary, ask more for their bread. I consider myself that nothing is cheap in Melbourne, neither luxuries nor the necessities of life—the only thing wonderfully cheap at the price being the lucubrations of talented and discursive correspondents who write Melbourne letters, vi'lclkct, ego.

The valuable Crown Lands occupied by the Yarra Bend and Kew Asylums aie not likely much longer to be used for the purpose to which they have hitherto been devoted. And according to my mind, it is a good job too. The estates comprise about 800 acres within a stone'a-throw of town, and the estimated value is somewhere about a million. Of course there is no practical good in having the asylums so near town, and so the change will come quickly. I suppose the government will make a bad bargain for the land as usual, when it is freesell it too cheaply, as they did the Yarraville blocks. It is almost incredible but still true that land which the government sold six years ago at £2 an acre has since fetched £24,000. This ought to be sufficient warning for future transaotions. I was at the Athenwnm yesterday, when this question of removing the asylums was mooted. " But wlnt should we do with the lunatics in the meantime," said someone, '' if the land is to be cut up?" VVell, it's no good looking at me like that," retorted the sarcastic member for North Melbourne, " We can't do with them in Parliament ; we've got enough there already." We are to have some more celebrities out from home during Exhibition time, so lam told. First of all Mr Melton Prior, the special artist for the "Illustrated London News " is within a couple of days' sail of Melbourne now. Hei s going to do the Exhibition for the journal referred to, making a special supplement of " Centenaries " matter. Then a very famous novelist is coming, Mr Eoberb Louis Stephenson, of " Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde" fame. He is yachting it, and intends giving us some kind of imaginative worth re Australia. Then I hear that Toole the comedian is coming, to be followed by Wilson Barret, a celebrated tragedian End manager in London. Altogether, we may expect a very great number of notabilities within the next twelve months. A curious complication arose last week about some jewcllry stolen in Queensland, and surreptitiously brought over here. It is as funny a thing as I ever heard of, and lay between the Customs and the Police. It seems that the police seized the jewellry here, and according to law had to give notice to the Customs and hand it over to them after the trial. This was omitted to be done, and en revanche the Customs seized the goods. The police immediately " went for " their brother officials, informing them they were liable to arrest for " haying stolen property in their possession, knowing it to be stolen." The Customs would not give up possession, as they claimed legal rights, and so there waa a regular split in the camp. Tho Customs eay that they can prosecute the police for being in possession of goods on which duty has not beeu paid. Curioii3 complication, in it not ? Both in the right, and both liable to prosecution. I hear the affair has been amicably settled, fur as may be supposed it was nothing but jealousy between the two bodies.

The Exhibiton is to co3t the country a quarter of a million, so it was predicted last week in Parliament. An immense sum, is it not, to fritter away on a problematical benefit ? I only wish the money could have been bestowed on some enterprise of a more practically deserving or beneficial nature. Fortunately we are rich, and most likely will not feel the loss, but really wheu one thinks of it, it seems a great waste of good money. _ I suppose we do it because other countries do the same, and all I can hope is that we get an adequate return in some shape or other. It has already benefited many —board ing-house keepers and hotels, for instance are reaping a small harvest; contractors, artisans, and painters, an; buing employed by the hundreds, workmen and day laborers are engaged in crowds, and even you see poor pressmen like myself get appointmeuts to write " Exhibition " letters. As it is cm evidence though, let it be a success, say I ; and I cordially endorse the view, that it would be a good move for the Exhibition Commission to take over the the whole of the Carlton Gardens in portion of which it stands. The drawback to the last exhibition was the want

of ground for open-air concerts, alfresco reflection, and general perambnlation, so if they get this time the whole of the Carlton Gardens, the Executive will have done a famous stroke. Their receipts would be enormously increased if they succeed, for what could be bettor and more enjoyable on summer evenings (and of course the Show will be open during three of the hottest months of the year) than to sit in the open air listening to the pleasant strains of the band, enjoying an ice-cream or a Havannah, with lights and people and flowers all aronud. In all probability the Gardens will be ceded, and tho Exhibition will have gained its g'-ctitoat attraction ; in fact, it is almost nv.-tcrtit-j-jd now 'hat the Executive takes ti:;:in over . . the time the Show lasfr

Who Una not heard of the great" Leviathan," Joe Thompson, of bookmaking fame ? Well ; the colonies are to lose him and his betting operations, for he is selling off his goods aad chattels, preliminary to starting off to England. Having conquered Australia, he is anxious for a still wider field, and is going into the same line of business in London, where he intends settling down. We shall all be sorry to lose gonial Joe with his terrible voice, for despite all Don Juan House (his private residence) was a first-class place to go to. Then one met his charming daughter Leah, who sing? very prettily, and is a fascinating luvoly young thing altogether. Shu ought to cultivate her voice, and give the public a chance of hearing it on the operatic stage—a thing, I am told, not at all unlikely. Of course Joe has made a large fortune here, his properties alone bringing him £100,000, so that if he starts booUmaking in London (as he says ho will), it will be only on a very large and exclusive scale. '' Melbourne has asserted herself as tho metropolis of the Southern Hemisphere." These were the words of the Minister of Lands in the Legislative

Assembly. Mr Dow thinks there is a groat future in store for Melbourne, which stands in the same relation to Australia as London 'locs to England, Paris to France, New York to America. But the cry has been " Pity the poor farmers ; they are suffering ; they are, in the northern districts, on the verge of insolvency ; the prosperity of the city has been gained at the expense of the country." This view was controverted by Mr Dow, who claimed that the influx of population into Melbourne has not been so much from the country as from the adjacent colonies and abroad. The great backbone of agriculture," said the Minister, "isinn very satisfactory condition, with a permanent and prosperous ycomnnry settled on the land," A good lookout this, and I cordially and sincerely hope the words are true.