MELBOURNE GOSSIP.

Waikato Times, Volume 2611, Issue 2611, 6 April 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

MELBOURNE GOSSIP.

(mui Ol : R OWN'f'OIJRKSrON'IIKNT). I'oUTirs :ivn tolerably mixed just at present. Coalition may have obliterated party lines and done ninny other things to keep Mr I /lino:'.!! fillies and the other Uroinio, Air L)?akin, in otliee, but it has not faced individualism. The /»■ivmiin ! iu polities ift more especially exhibited in the Liberal Camp. Mr Deakiu is repudiated by Mr Muitro, yet both are champions of the Liberal caiMe. Mr Frank Stuart is a Libera! and a Protectionist, yet the Liberals prefer coddling Honest (leorgo Coppin, and the refined Kalst.atlian Zox. Colonel .Smith and Dr. (Juiek aro Liberals, yet they arc, like "Noah's dove, unable to find n resting plaeo for the soles of their feet. Surely a moi/us rivnt'fi should bo sought to give det'initeness to the rsal views and interests of sections sincerely anxious to work out the salvation of the colony, aiul free it from all possible recurrence of the blight that all but mined it a few years ago.

The Beau Nash of Conservatives. Mr Dcrham has been dreadfully upset by the attacks made upon him, owing to bis maladministration of the Post-eflieo. What disgusts him more than anything is that lie should be atimatised as..a sucking politician at a time when lie was posing as a statesman. He says lie saved the colony £40,000 by his negotiations for the purchase of the telephone exchange. Those who know more about the transaction say that Mr Derham was only a puppet in the hands of the Sunberts, the Markhams, and Springhalts, who prompted his action, and who have since been rewarded with good fat billets in his department. Mr Thomas Bent says chore should be a Minister for Health. Mr Bent is right, and there should also be a Parliamentary Inspector of Nuisances. Then Brighton might have a new member. Mr Bent likewise said at one of his late meetings, that "ho did not care for any of the newspapers, but he must be a person of some importance or they would not waste so much I:i*< over him." Mr Bent littie knows wh:i* a gr.dsend he and men of his sort are to ihe newspapers. When, in tl.e flat time, there :is nothing to write about, men like Mr Bent are invaluable. If they were to die, much fun would go out of this little community ot ours. What is a circus without a clown ?

There is a fruit-shop here in Melbourne around which ilouts an aroma of mystery and pi'lr/toiili. Info this shop the young lady who has been trapesing up and down the Block for hours with a bundle of books—Little Gerty's First Prayer on top, and two volumes by Ouida beneath it— under the pretence that she is just going to, or has just come out of, Mullen's Library, can enter and wet her nasturtium lips with a glass of brandy and water, just as jauntily as her brothers over the way. That is right. We want female freedom of this kind established all over Australia. We want our girls to smoke and swear and stay out late, and, in fact, to do everything they like. And when they sjet ad these claims conceded to them, we will go somewhere else to *ook for wives. A good deal of fuss is being made over the proposition of the Melbourne J [arbour Trust (Jo nmissioners to send to Glasgow for the construction of dredginjf apparatus, urgently required in the shipping interests of the port, and, it may be added, of the whole colony. immediately it became known that "such a direful olfence was contemplated the working man was up in arms and saw in it a deep and subtle design to deal a fatal blow at his welfare. It is evidently the opinion of the 'Trades' Hull people that everything in the colony exists for their side and special benefit. The Harbour Trust was not, it seems, established in order to improve the port, but to trive work to a few foundries and a number of labourers. These foundries, it in admitted, have more vwk than they ciiu got through, and a dredge which the Trust ordered locally, instead of being finished in eighteen months as promised, occupied two and a half years in construction. All this time, of course, the proper work of the Trust was delayed, to the inconvenience aud suffering of the slapping in the port. Three dredges can be constructed in Glasgow for the cost of two in Melbourne, and it is manifestly the policy of the Trust's who have tlie public's money to deal with to get their wants Mupplied in the cheapest and (juiykest market. St.. Patrick's Day this year falling on Sunday, the occasion was, by the Irish community in Molbourne, celebrated on Saturday with the customary procession of the Hibernian Societies and the sports helil at the Friendly Societies' Gardens. Fortunately the weather was delightful, ana the silken banners of green glinted aud sparkled in the rays of the sun set iu a perfectly cloudless sky. It was a day to make one joyous-hearted, and there is no wonder, therefore, if good-natured I'at, listen'!!*; to -tlie strains of "The Minstrel Hoy " and other well-known Irish melodies, and sporting his green sashes and rosettes, should have his patriotic feelings stirred to that pitch of enthusiasm and defiance which roaches the "tread on the tail of ray coat" climax. He may be excused, perhaps, for diowuiug his shamrock so effectively that on the morrow his head aches and bis clothes aro somewhat damaged, more particularly as the day was hot, and heat, like certain kinds of patriotism, induces thirst. However, 1 have not heard that the result of Saturday's rejoicings was in any way different to previous gatherings held iu 'honor of Ireland's Patron Saint. Black .Maria is always a conspicuous figure on the grounds; but she carried no mure away on this occasion than blio did on the last—probably less.