MELBOURNE GUSSIP.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2677, 7 September 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

MELBOURNE GUSSIP.

(FROM OUR OWN CORKKSI'ONDENT, ] If Jupiter visited Prometheus with so heavy a penalty for stealing Olympian fire, what sentence shall the city " beak " pass upon the man who steals Melbourne gas? Prometheus, even when chained to the rock, could find comfort in the reflection that his theft had been committed for the benefit of mankind; but I fear that the man who was brought up the other day charged with stealing gas could plead nothing so praiseworthy in his own defence. To steal Jupiter's fire, and tring it down for the children of inen, to teach them how to build houses and till the earth —how to win for themselves food and clothing, was an act that might run counter to the rules and regulations of Olympus; but we at any rate have no cause to find fault with it. If Prometheus had not stolen and run away with the fire, we might, for aught I know, have been compelled to eat raw beef every day for dinner, and I think Jupiter was a brute to chain Prometheus to the rook, and otherwise ill treat the poor fellow for thousands of years as he did.

If anyono has even a remote cause to reproach Frometheus, it was the man who was carried before the magistrate the other day. He might plead that, if he — the giant—had not stolen the fire, he— the pigmy—conkl not have been accuscd of stealing the gas ; for before gas can be made people must have fire. At the same time, it was very wrong of him to take the company's gas on the sly—that is, if he did take the gas—and say nothing about it. The circumstaices told against him. The gaspipe in his yard had been tapped underground, another pipe nicely soldered on, and carried in a quiet way into the house, so that gas could be consumed tul lib. without passing through the meter. In that way it became much cheaper to cook with gas than with coal. People belonging to the same contemptible class have astonished the railway authorities by the adroitness with which they have "stolen the right" to travel on some of the suburban lines. This seems paradoxical, but it is true, and the astute persons who manage the, railways are just now puzzling their woolly brains how to put an end to the frauds which a good many well-dressed cads have for some time been practising with impunity. Those who are in the habit of moving about much in Melbourne may have noticed many gentlemen wearing an ornamental figure—3, 4, 5, 8, &c. —appended to their watch chains. These are yearly or half-yearly metal railway passes, paid for, of course, by the " contract ticket" holders who wear them. At least, until one day last week they were supposed to be paid for. These " passes " were issued, doubtless, with the view to save trouble. Victorian railway people never do give themselves more trouble than they can help, and it was much easier to issue a " metal pass," which could be dangled at the contract-holder's watch chain, and be seen by the station people as he passed in and out, than for the ticket porters to examine passengers' contract tickets as they ought to have done.

This laxity, begotten of laziness, has led to the very result that might have been expected, " Imitation passes " have been manufactured, just as base coin is manufactured, and have been used by a number of travellers. And now the railway people are holding up their hands, and exclaiming : Who would have thought it ? Well, it seems that a good number of people have thought it, too. A mechanic, who has been employed to manufacture large numbers of these spurious passes, having seen the error of his ways, and being impelled by a troubled conscience (or, shall we say by the hope of reward ?), has revealed to the Railway Commissioners the scurvy trick that has been put upon them. He cannot, or will not, speak as to names, but if this statement be true, there are greater numbers of pitiful swindlers travelling up and down the lines than their fellow-voyagsrs are aware of. But, unless one of them be actually caught travelling without a ticket, there is no help for it. It seems that I have a a perfect right to get one of these passes made and imitated to perfection, and I can dangle it at my watch chain in a first-class carriage as often as I choose, provided that I pay my fare in the ordinary way. Hence, the risk being so small, and the gain being so great, it is not very wonderful if people tlo these tilings without going to the expense of purchasing a railway ticket, either daily or by contract.