MELBOURNE GOSSIP.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2793, 7 June 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

MELBOURNE GOSSIP.

(i--no.M-oi [ n own , amuKsroNUBNT.) MtXHOUitNK, May 215. It will bu known by this time that ;i man lost hi.s lifo ou Saturday at Prince's Bridge railway station. He was " pushed " oil' the platform in front of an approaching engine , , and the huge machine ran over him. That's all. Some of the newspapers have taken advantage of the circumstance to draw attention to the want of accommodation at that, as well as at the other metropolitan stations. No doubt it is scandalous ; there is not nearly room enough for the trallic. But this man was pushed o(F the edge of the platform by people bliudly, rudely, rushing and pushing their way in and out. Some were leaving the train, others wcro pushing t.o get into it; and my experience is that if the platform in question had been half a mile wide there would have been the usual unseemly, illbred struggle, and tho man would have been pushed off all the same. I come into town myself every day of the week, and never by any chanco travel by train if I can avoid doing so. The tramcar ia dearer, slower and not so near my house, but it is immeasurably superior to the train in point of comfort. I met a lady the other day who resided in Melbourne seven years, and left it eighteen years ago. Upon her return after all those years of absence she hardly knew the place. The buildings had undergone grcaC change ; old ones pulled down and new ones run up ; new structures upon what had been vacant land ; thero were, she said, more than twice the number of people in the streets than she remembered in tho old time; the sunny blue sky had gone, and tho atmosphere was now filled with the smoke from countless factory chimneys. All this is true. The new buildings and the crowded streets are marks of progress, but I am afraid that we have little cause to be , proud of our smoky atmosphere. It j

might have been avoided—it is not yet too late to mend it. The "smoke nuisance" has at last attracted the attention of that supremely indifferent and dense-headed body, the Melbourne City Council. No one exactly knows how tho city fathers came to notice the smoke nuisance; but they have noticed it, and are now puzzling their thick heads how to suppress it They have been experimenting with a patent smoke consumer, and are really astonished to find that it is capable of consuming from 70 to 80 per cent, of tho smoke generated, aud that tho remainder escapes in a thin grey vapour. And what is still more remarkable, they have discovered that the more of tho smoke they consume tho less coal is roquired for the production of a given amount of heat.

Now, all this is really very fuuny. Tho results attained by the Council's experiments are facts which are known in the rest of the world. Furnaces, made to consume their own smoke, havo been in use for nearly 40 years in such email villages as London. It became intolerated ho have tho river steamers belching forth their smoke when steaming down the river, and going under the bridges, aud that nuisance was stopped in the fifties, tho same with the factories. Yet we have our dear, twaddling, city fathers " trying experiments " at the end of the century. However, let us be thankfnl for small favours. It is better to begin now than never.

Mr John Burns, the labour agitator, has mentioned to ono of his audiences that the working men of Australia were agitating for the adoption of seven hours instoad of eight as the working day. I have not yet heard of any serious movement iu that direction, but should not be the least bit surprised if a manifesto in that direction were issued to-morrow. Wo are not a labour loving people, taking us on tho whole ; and if our trade's societies do not soon demand a six hours' system, it will be because they have the sense to see that it will not do. The greatest wool-broking firm in Australasia have just held their eleventh annual meeting, and Alderman Moubray, who presided, was in the proud position of being able to tell the shareholders that tho result of the year's operations had been the best the company ever had. Tho not profits, including the balance brought forward, exceeded £50,000, out of which tho dividend of 10 per cont. for the year absorbed £3.5,000, leaving a balance of £15,000 to be carried forward to the current your. It was tho chairman's further pleasaut duty to anuonco that the prospects of tho approaching season were such as to warrant, tho most favourable anticipations, and next year's business would probably top the record. Ho believed that if tho existing policy of peace were udhored to, instead of the shares being quoted at 2.J51 or 20s, they would riso to about £3 before tho end of tbo year. I eue from tho figures placed before the shareholders that iu tho two years ending yiafc of Marsh last, Goldsborousjh, Mort & Co. sold and shipped from Melbourno and Sydney, the enormous number of 312,1;!:! bales ; and from this fact some idea may be gathered of the very groat inlluenco which this firm exercises in the com met ce of Australia. Tho great comedian, Toole, is now appearing at tbo Princess's in " Paul Pry," a character in -which every old theatre-goer in Melbourne has seen Mr George Coppin. And, of course, there is much criticism. Some like Coppin and soino like Toole. Both performances undoubtedly rauk very high, and, if I recollect rightly, the crent cumndian said at the welcome, which was extended to liim on bi.s arrival hern, that ha felt a littlu nervous about his appearance as " Prfnl Pry," brcune he had heard so much respecting Mr Coppin's performance in Urn Hdtno part. "Custe "is drawhi" crowded houses to the Bijou. The msu£ iigeinent of the Royal find it necessary to announce another change, and next Saturday is to witness a rovival of sennational drama, "After Dark." Tho Dainpior season is closing at tho Alexandra, and Messrs Thornton and Howard are to follow. The public flock to son Harmston's circus, which is a really good show. That tho Oyclovaina is a sourco of constant attraction may bo gathered from the f net that since its wondars wero firnt introduced here,close upon a year since, a quarter of a million of tho public have paid for admission, and tbo attendances are not decreasing. Tho panic people go over and over again to gaze upon the marvellously realistic representation of the Battle of Waterloo which is placed before them, and they never tire of dwelling upon the skill of the artists who produced thid stupendous picture of ouo of tho greatest events in modern history. The scene, which took place on that memorable Sunday, when tbo battle was lost and won, is reproduced with wonderful fidelity, and the spectator—l oaro not how accustomed ho may bo to tho effects produced by au artist's brush —is more than astonished when ho walks into tho Cyolorama for the first time. Hβ seems to stand on the battle-field, and to bo an eye-witness of what ia going on. Nothing so true to life has ever been soon in this city before, and no one should visit tho metropolis without makin" it a point to paes an. hour at the Cyolorama. Mi- W. l-orstor, who now occupies the position of mnnager and lecturer, gives an admirable discourse upon the great eceno presented to the spectators, and points out tbo special features in clear aad descriptive language. I must not omit to mention that tho Cyclorama Company are giving the whole of a day's receipts to the fund for the relief of tbo auffcrors by the Bourko floods.