MELBOURNE ITEMS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2882, 3 January 1891, Page 4

MELBOURNE ITEMS.

(n:o.M out own o>iim;sp;.>:;i)i;NT.'l | Mi;i,not.UNi:, Decembers. IV Mr Mr,urn desires to en joy the dignity ' is well a; the sweets of cilice lor any length of time, he will have to alter the tactics of I'.st week. He crossed the floor of the House with an imposing majority at hi.sb.ii:);, Kofar as nu;nhers arc concerned. Hut til" different p:ir,s of tho structure hid ho cohesion. It resembled more than anything else a rubble w ill built without mortar, a thin? 1,1ie.!, a slight push will topple over. In one respect his compact with the third party in the House bears some resemblance to that made between Mr Gladstone and Mr Parncll, which will always be known to posterity as the " Kitmainhamt reaty,''and we see ivhat that has led to. 1 should bo sorry to compare Mr Mnoro with Mr (Hailstone, because the compari.-on would be unjust to both ; for, whil.t tie- (,'iand Old Humbug is an in'.ell. et u:il giant, the Premier is of the ordinary standard, still tho latter may safely be accept' il as the honcster roliliei.m of th ' two. Neither can Sir Prvan II lOe'lilen be mentioned in any

s-'nse a< the equal of the Irish trader. As well mb-'ht uo [dace strong ale by the side of small b.'er and expect a connoisseur to bo indill'ei.'lit as to which he drank. .Still, the reMTublancu between parties iu tho House of Commons, and in our own Assembly holds good thus far : —Mr Paruell anil his followers can make or mar a government when any question short, of Home- Rule diciiles the House, amllSir Bryan can do as much here. However, we shall see what we shall see." ft is perhaps as well that the session ia drawing to a close, and that the recess will atforil Ministers time to mature something deserving the name of a policy.

It is notified that tho Antarctic Fund Ball, to be hold on a large scale in the Exhibition Building, has been postponed from December 12th to December 17th. as it would otherwise have clashed with other important social functions. The tickets are selling freely, and from what is already known of tho characters to be assumed, it will bo found that tho gentlemen favour largely the representation of famed explorers both by sea mid land, while the ladies, iti the ratlin, have sought to emblematise Antarctic and Australian subjects. To ivoid tho long walk from tho Nicholson-street entrance to the main building, it has boon aiianged llj.il Lhu drives shall bo opened, so that guests may alight at the steps at the ,uulU entrance. The ferneries at the Acjiiaiiuui will bo uniijue, arrangements are In. in;:' made for opening the galleries of the Kxhibilion at .1 small fee to the general public.

Melbourne will soon become an unsatisfactory place to live iu unless the growing lawlessness of tho predatory tribes receive a check. One expects to hoar of a certain number of burubmes, and pickets in crowded places are accepted as ordinary occurrences. These incidents are regarded us penalties which people have to pay for being owners of property in tho midst of communities Mu which thieves exist. But the depredations I more particularly refer to, are those which come under tho head of garrotting and highway robbery iu broad daylight, is seems strange that a gentleman can be seized, robbed of u valuable gild watch and money, in the middle of the day, at the turnstile leading to the Exhibition building. Vet such a tiling did happen ono day List week. About, tho same date three men were drivitig in a buggy along a public stroet, iu broau daylight. Tile horse was pulled up i near a lndy; two men jumped out wrenched a bag from her hand, and drovo oft with it. And we know that large sums of money v.-cio trot oil' with during tho year in a precisely similar maimer. '

Now, with regard to garrotting, I am old enough to remember the time when that playful amusement, lirst became common in Loudon. The practice was carried on in crowded streets, and the incidents became so common, that the morning upon which the record of one or two such robberies did not find a placo in the newspapers was regarded as atl exceptional one. At last Parliament to«k the matter in hand and passed a short Hill, and a sharp one, that practically pnt down the scoundrels who lived by the profession. The remedy was imprisonment, with from two to three dozen "lashes with a cat-o'-nine-taiis, well laid on by an experienced hand upon the bare back of the scoundrel who was convicted. Men of the " kidney " are almost invariably cowardly rascals, who shrink from physical .suffering with as much abhorrence as they detest hard work. Hence, the results were most excellent. If our legislators will copy the English -ystem, and extend it to wife-beaters as well as garotters here, they will do society, and especially tho helpless wives of brutes, an infinite service. Tho (|iiestiou might also bo faiily mooted whether the same discipline ought not to be applied to the footpads and bags matchers who infest the streets of tho city aud -üburbs. It is monstrous that a woman cannot safely walk by daylight in the public streets without danger of being seized and robbed.

Herein what a daily paper ha 3 to say up.ui the subject, but there is no suggestion as to a deterrent remedy :—" The attention of the police is now being specially directed to tho crime of garrotting, so prevalent at the present time,and while no spccial instructions have been issued, the constables understand that they are to exercise the greatest vigilance in connection with tho operations of those committing these dangerous robberies. Crimes of the nature indicated have been alarmingly on the increase since the Melbourne Cup race meeting, and one theory hold by the police is that, owing to the vigorous measures then adopted to reptcss the operations of unregistered bookruvkcris rind spielers, the scum of their class failed to reap the usual harvest, and now in their desperation they have entered upon a career of robbery and daylight assault. It has also been noticed by the police that many of this fraternity, whose presence in the city is an undoubted evil, ate visitors from another colony, and thu records at tlio city watch house show that a considerable number of the arrests made during the past four or fivo weeks arc of Sydney criminals, or at least men known to the police in New South Wales Wi'li the daylight garrotter tho ollicers of the law have a better chance, however, but, notwithstanding the extreme danger of their nefarious calling, these thieves have made themselves frequently known during the past month, and three cases in three days is their present record at the police station. Of these the two moat daring are the assault by two men on Mr Walter Ir ving as be was entering the Exhibition Gardens about mirlday on Friday. In this case t.hn victim was so roughly treated that he could not appear against his assailants at. the City Court on Saturday, but they were remanded to appear at, Carlton on Friday next." Mr Irving is the gentleinan I alluded to who was robbed of a watch worth £00, besides his purse. December !<">.

> Considerable interest has been evinced lately in the various experiments being > made in the directiou of carrying dead 1 meat long distances by rail in hot weather, says a contemporary, The ordinary deadmeat cars depend for coolness 011 the maintenance of a current of fresh air i through the oars, but in exceptionally hot weather this systen has failed. The cars lately builiby the Railway Department on Wick's patent, and now being tried with dairy produce, depend for coolness on the use of ice, and under this system it is contended that moisture is given off in considerable quantities, and in a long journey the meat would deteriorate. Messrs. Humble and Nicholson, of Geelong, in conjunction with Mr Taylor, the patentee of a cold-accumulator system, lifted up a deadmeat truck recently, which lias just returned after a trial to Adelaide, with a cargo of mutton. Messrs T. K. Bennett, W. Anderson, and other leading butchers, inspected the carcases on Saturday morning after tliey arrived at Spencer-street, and pronounced them in admirable condition, they being free from that humidity which is always present when the ice process is used. The car, which is simply an ordinary H truck, lilted with uninsido skin, between v.-hich and tho outer shell quantities of sawdust arc placed, is fitted at the end with Taylor's " cold accumulators/' which can be charged, closed, and sent on a three or four days' journey before being used without any appreciable loss of temperature. Fifty carcases of sheep, which Were killed last Tuesday week, were placed in the car at f.icelong on Friday, .Dtli December, and sent off to Adelaide in charge of Mr T. .S. Humble, tho temperature inside ibo car being 70 degrees Fahr. Oil leaving the station tho temperature decreased inside to •!:> degrees, being just half of that outside. At Ballarat the iDsido temperature had decreased to 40, whilst outside it was 120. on arrival at Adelaide the car when opened was found to have a temperature of 31! degrees, the outside temperature in tho shade being 90 degrees. On the journey across tho desert tho outside temperature of the car rose as liisfh as Kit, but insido never higher than JH, whilst the lowest temperature under tho ice system is said to be ■10 degrees. At, .Adelaide the car was opened on 10th inst.. in the presence of tho Premier, Mr Playford, the Railway Commissioners, and a number of members of Parliament and other gentlemen, including the loading bntchera of the town, all of whom expressed satisfaction with tho appearance and texture of the meat. Five sheep wero left in Adelaide, and the journey home commenced with the remainder. Two carcases were left at Serviceton, another couple at Geelong on Friday night, the car arriving at Spencer-street next morning, with the remaining fortyone carcases in magnificent order, after eight and a half days' travelling in hot weather. The system was, therefore, submitted to a most crucial test, and the result of the experiment must bo very gratifying to all concerned. The whole of the carcased brought back were taken by Mr T. K. Bennett, who pronounced them as being in the best possible condition for supplying to his best customers.