MELBOURNE GOSSIP.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2754, 8 March 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

MELBOURNE GOSSIP.

(rilOM OUR OWN correspondent). Meldouhne, February 10. Ik we take into account the number of people who use, and have to do with gas, and consider the incautious manner in which they goto work, we shall be led to be grateful for the sheer good luck that prevents half the people being kilU'd, preserves countless houses from being burnt to the ground. Only three or four weeks ago Port Phillip Hotel was the scene of a te-riblo explosion that wrecked a room, and caused a man's death. And, while that circum-itanco was still fresh in mens' minds, we have another gas Hxplottion at Richmond, from exactly the same cause, wbpreby a bouse was nearly wrecked, a man half killed, and ; a boy actually shot up into the air. Thore was less excuse for this mishap because it was caused by an employe of the Gas Company, who presumably, ought to have known better. There was an escape of gas at a private house, and the pooplo seut to the local office of tho Gas Company to have it seeu to. . A plumber was despatched, and the first thing he looked to was the gasalier. He got a step ladder and ascended for the purpose of supplying water to it This is. ju-t what was done at the Port "Phillip Hotel. When the plumber had got well up towards the ceiling, where the specific gravity of the gas had caused it to collect, and condense, be did just what the man at the hotel did ; ho struck a match, with similar resusts. There was a loud explosion, the plumber was sent sprawling upon the floor. The room was instantly in flames, and the idiot who caused the disaster was very severely burnt about tho artr.s and tho head. The damage caused to the house was very much worse than that done to tho hotel, because the walls were not so strong; it would have been burned to the ground but for the timely appearance of the insurance brigade. A boy who was near the plumber was shot out upon the roof, though be escaped with comparatively light injuries. As for the mau, be was rescued from the flames with difficulty. Though badly ournt, there are hopes of his recovery. Church choirs are proverbially difficult to manage, and that of the Anglican ProOathedral at Mi'lbojrne is no exception to the rule. In fact, the choristers decline m> be managed at all. On the oontrary, t.hev want to manage tbe clergyman. It may bo tbat the rev. gentleman has no ear for mu-ic, or be may think that too much music curtails the time for making his own voice heard, or the music may be of too florid a character for his more -obered intellect Anyway, there is too much of it, and ho wants to hivo le-a. Besides, he seems to prefer hyin:i3 to •mthems, and he thinks that tbe " sentences " du ing the offertory would be bef.er rend than sung. Of course, opinious differ upon all those points. At any rate, thore is a wide divergence of opinion between the Rev. Mr Storey Chapman and the choir, and the latter did not assist in the services yesterday. The series of wool sale just closed again show a yearly increase in the quantity of ivool sold in the colonies, and fully justify t.he repeated comments by all London sec- • inns of the trade respecting tie rapid development of colonial sales The total, *vhiith last season exceeded tbat of 1887-8 d bv 25 per cent., shows thisyeara remarkable increaso, and the total supplies pur. chased here for home and continental consumption largely exceed any former figures. This rapid development of colonial wool sales is, in the minds of those who study the subject, an indication that the future wool markets of tho world will bo the places where wool ia produced; The production last year was larger than of 1888, yet the quantity offered in Loudon was If-ss. The whole of the increased growth was, therefore, sold in Australasia. vV'ith regard to Victoria, I see that, between Febrnarv 7th 1889, and February 6th, 1890, 308,352 bales wen off'.rad, and 272,7i3 bales, were sold. Of these, Messrs GoldsHrough, Mort and C o. Ltd. offered 83,411 bales, and sold 74,321. In Vlelbourne, 12i sales were held during the 12 months, of which Goldsbrougb and Co. conducted 30, or oue-fonrth. D.e sales in Melbourue wore 228,022 Oales, out of which 74,321 bales, as just <>r one third, were sold by them. It thus ippcars that tho house which inaugurated m i has fostered those local sales still leads the way. It is a curious feature of the British as vveil as the colonial bar that: when a man has doouned a wig and a gown he is privileged to act aud to speak in a court >f justice after a fashion which, if adopted in society would lead to unplea<ant results, the least of which, in all probability, would be a broken head. L'he system is one of the relics of baroarism which have come down to us from the times when men were less refiued ban they are now, and which every gentleman should endeavour to banish from the la\v .courts. Bluster and bullying, and unscrupulous attacks upon a witness's character, are expedients too commonly employed to hide the want of legal acumen, anil -\upply deficiency

of forensic eloquence. Dr. Madden is not,wanting in either of ..these qualifications ; yet he did not it beiieath him the other (lay'to goad, a witness almost b«yond endurance, and who, at last;-* told' him .that ho _was not d gentleman. ' Whcreapdn the lawyer said —" You are insolent, sir." Perhaps he ! was ; but Dr. Madden was insolent, too. .The bet ween- tho pair^--was that he could insult the witness with impunity. More's the pity.