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diff --git a/29609-8.txt b/29609-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c22c291 --- /dev/null +++ b/29609-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2579 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Six Letters From the Colonies, by Robert Seaton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Six Letters From the Colonies + +Author: Robert Seaton + +Release Date: August 4, 2009 [EBook #29609] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIX LETTERS FROM THE COLONIES *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Wall and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + [PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.] + + + SIX LETTERS FROM + THE COLONIES. + + + BY R. C. SEATON. + + + HULL: WILDRIDGE & CO. + + MDCCCLXXXVI. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I was absent from England eleven months, from November, 1884, to +October, 1885. The first three of these Letters are reprinted, with +slight alterations, from the _Eastern Morning News_. The last three +were written after my return to England. As I have not cared to keep +up the fiction of having written them from Australia, they may +contain some references to events subsequent to my return. It is +often objected, and truly enough, that travellers, who spend only so +short a time as I have in fresh countries, are not justified in +expressing deliberate opinions about them; but this does not apply +where a writer gives his impressions as such, and not as matured +opinions, or where he expresses the opinions of other people who, by +long residence or otherwise in a particular country, have had every +opportunity of forming them. I think it will not be found that I +have offended in this particular. + +LONDON, + +October, 1886. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE + + I.--VOYAGE OF THE HAMPSHIRE 7 + + II.--MELBOURNE 19 + + III.--VICTORIA 33 + + IV.--SOUTH AUSTRALIA 47 + + V.--TASMANIA 60 + + VI.--AUCKLAND AND SYDNEY 75 + + + + +I. + +The Voyage of the Hampshire. + + +A Voyage to Australia has in these days become so ordinary an affair +that it may seem to require an apology to attempt to describe one, +but a voyage in a sailing ship is so different from that in a +steamer that it may interest some people. It is, as a rule, only +those who go abroad for their health who prefer a sailing ship, on +account of the great length of the voyage, in allusion to which +steam people call sailing ships "wind jammers," while the sailors +retort on steamers by dubbing them "iron tanks" and "old coffins." +There is no doubt that the picturesqueness of a sea voyage is quite +destroyed by a steamer. There are no, or very few, regular sailors +on board; so much of the work is now done by steam. There are no +"chanties" or sailors' songs, which help the work to go easily. In a +steamer there is no interest in noting the course--they go straight +on, and the distance covered does not vary, or only slightly, from +day to day. The movement of a sailing ship through the water at 12 +knots per hour is quite exhilarating; the ship hurries on by "leaps +and bounds." Contrast with this the labouring plunges of a +screw-steamer at the same rate. In short, romance is perishing from +the sea with the universal invasion of steam. Could the poet have +thus written of the Pirate-- + + "O'er the glad waters of the deep blue sea, + Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free," + +if the Pirate was master of a steamer? I think not. However, I do +not deny that a steamer has many and great advantages over a ship. +The chief advantage, and the only one to which I need allude, is the +prosaic but not unimportant one of better food, and this with many +people would decide in favour of a steamer. Perhaps we were +exceptionally unfortunate in this respect. The Hampshire is a barque +of 1,100 tons, and belonging to Captain Hosack, of Liverpool. She is +most commodious; the cabins are much larger than is usual in a +vessel of this size. Mine was not a large one, but it measured 8ft. +by 10ft. 6in. There is, too, a poop deck 70ft. long, which is +scarcely ever touched, even by a heavy sea. When people are +constantly in each other's society for so long they gradually throw +off many of the artificial restraints of society, and exhibit +themselves as they would in their own homes. The result is curious. +A constant process of natural selection goes on, by which like seeks +like, and the estimation in which a particular person is held by +his fellow-passengers is often very different at the close of the +voyage from what it was at the beginning. Taking all things into +consideration, however, I think the saloon passengers on the +Hampshire must be considered to have borne the ordeal very well. We +were 24 in number--rather too many for comfort--all (with two +exceptions) young men, going out to the colonies for various +reasons--some for health, some for business. The two exceptions were +a Canon of the Church of England and his wife, and another gentleman +who was travelling with his nephew. The Canoness was the only lady +on board, the result of which probably was that, though the +civilising influence imparted by the presence of ladies was lost, +yet many jealousies, that might have been thereby occasioned, were +avoided. + +The Hampshire left the East India Dock early on Thursday morning, +the 27th November, commanded by Captain John Mathias. She was towed +as far as Beachy Head, but laid up at Deal during the night. At St. +Alban's Head we parted with the pilot. On the Monday we left the +Lizard behind. The next ten days were the most unpleasant of the +whole voyage. We were tossed about in the Bay of Biscay, making +scarcely any progress. One day we even made 16 miles leeway. It was, +perhaps, well that this happened so early on, as all seasickness was +thus comfortably got over. Since that time the weather may be +shortly dismissed. Captain Mathias, the officers, and crew all +declare they have never had so fine a voyage to Australia. For days +and days the sea was only slightly ruffled, and hardly any motion +could be felt. Of course, one result has been that we had a long +passage. We were exactly 100 days from dock to dock, or 96 days from +the Lizard to Cape Otway. The longest run in the 24 hours was in the +Southern Ocean--254 knots. During the latter part of the voyage we +usually made over 200. During the week ending February 15th the +distance covered was 1,408 knots; that ending February 22nd only 945 +knots, the wind having fallen light; the following week, however, it +was 1,503 knots. About 16th December Madeira was passed about 30 +miles on our left-hand. On the 26th we passed San Antonio, the most +westerly of the Cape Verde Islands, at a distance of about 40 miles. +The line was crossed on the 7th January, about 5-30 p.m. All through +the tropics the heat was not so great as I had anticipated. It was +never more than 87 degs. in the shade and 105 degs. in the sun. The +temperature remained about the same night and day. The sea was about +6 degs. cooler than the air. The daily routine was about somewhat as +follows:--About six the hose was used for cleaning the deck, and +then such of the passengers as chose came on deck and submitted +themselves to it--others meantime pumping for them. Those who had +the hose thereby acquired a right to porridge, which was distributed +about a quarter to seven, but, when the weather was colder, even the +porridge was not sufficient attraction to keep up the number of +"hosees." Breakfast was at 8-45, lunch at 1, dinner at 6. The +captain, chief officer, and doctor occupied the chief seats at the +tables. They changed their seats from time to time to prevent +jealousy, as the captain's company was much in request. Indeed, any +inconveniences we had to put up with were so much alleviated by the +kindness and consideration of Captain Mathias, that he will ever be +gratefully remembered by the passengers on this voyage. The address +of thanks to him at the end of the voyage was no mere lip-service, +but the genuine expression of our sincerest thanks. On all occasions +he managed to combine the courtesy of a gentleman with the frankness +of a sailor. After passing the equator we had to sail very much to +the west, to catch the south-east trades, and were within 100 miles +of the coast of Brazil. On the 60th day out the meridian of +Greenwich was crossed in lat. 38 degs. south. "The meridian of the +Cape of Good Hope," says the captain's log, "was crossed on the 65th +day out, in lat. 35-1/2 degs. south, and the longitude was run down +in the parallel of 42 degs. south. Light winds stuck to the barque +persistently, and as an illustration of the tedious weather, it may +be mentioned that not a topgallant sail was taken in from Biscay to +St. Paul's, and the average running in crossing the Southern Ocean +was only 161 miles per day." The last land sighted was the Island of +Trinidad--an uninhabited rock--in lat. 20°45' south, long. 29°48' +west. This was on the 16th January and for seven "solid" weeks from +then we were out of sight of land. This time was redeemed from +monotony by tournaments of chess and whist, which filled up the +evenings. There were frequent small quarrels, with reconciliations +more or less sincere, which also afforded distraction. After one the +captain let off a rocket, also one of Holmes's patent "flare-ups." +This is a contrivance for saving life during the dark. It consists +of a box filled with potassium, which is pierced at both ends and +thrown into the sea fastened to a life-buoy. In contact with the +water the metal ignites, and for about half-an-hour sheds a radiance +for a long way. It is visible for miles off. If a man falls +overboard he knows then where to look out for the life-buoy. + +The Canon was an adept at shorthand, and a class was formed on +board of 12 of the saloon passengers, who prosecuted it most +vigorously, and really made much progress. An examination was +held at the end of the course of lessons, and prizes awarded. +Several entertainments--musical and dramatic--were given, nearly +all of which proved successful, the very causes of failure on +land being often at sea the cause of success. The prompter was, I +remember, on one occasion much more audible than the actor. +Another time the stage (the main deck) was flooded with sea +water, which increased rather than diminished with every roll. A +chorus of youths and maidens endeavouring to sing and keep their +balance is amusing if not æsthetic. Everything, in fact, suffers +a "sea change," if not into something "rich and strange," often +into something expensive. The first time a passenger ventures on +the forecastle or up the rigging--the peculiar realms of the +sailor--Jack chalks him, which means that he must pay his +footing, by sending a bottle of whisky for'ard. It is seldom that +a stranger long escapes "spotting" under these circumstances. As +a curiosity I may mention that one passenger paid 8s. for a few +things being washed; this was at the moderate price of 6d. each +article, no matter whether it was a collar or a shirt. I should +strongly advise anyone going a long voyage to take a spirit lamp, +as it is often difficult to get hot water unless the thirst of +the cook is constantly allayed. Deck shoes are very convenient, +more especially in the tropics, where one leads a lotus-eating +existence. This is the most delightful part of the voyage in my +opinion, though some prefer the more bracing air of the Southern +Ocean. Without being malicious, however, it is difficult not to +fancy that the pleasure of finding midsummer weather in January +is heightened by the contrast with London fogs and frost, which +we know those at home are suffering from. The greatest resource +of all is reading, and some of us get through a good deal of it, +but it is too tempting, and often interferes with taking regular +exercise, which, though irksome, is almost essential to good +health at sea. + +Christmas Day seemed strange enough. The orthodox fare--turkey and +plum-pudding--were on the table, but ice would have been an +agreeable addition. The toasts drunk were "The Queen," "The +Captain," and "Absent Friends." The next day, as we had then been a +month at sea, the sailors "buried the dead horse." As they receive a +month's wages in advance, they do not begin to earn anything until +they have been a month at sea. During this period they are said to +be "working off the dead horse." A barrel covered with matting +formed the body, and appendages for the requisite number of legs and +the tail were put on. The animal was then dragged round the deck to +the accompaniment of a melancholy song--the refrain of which is +"poor old horse." The horse is next put up for sale, and on the +present occasion was knocked down to one of the saloon passengers +for 16s. The money was not really paid, but a collection was made +which came to more than the sum bid. Next, amid the lamentations of +the sailors and the glare of blue lights, the animal was hoisted up +to the main-yard with a sailor on its back, who, dexterously +disengaging himself, let the beast fall with a dull thud into the +water. The sea was so calm that some apprehension was expressed lest +the carcass should be seen the next morning not far to leeward, but +this anti-climax was averted. We have all read of the coming on +board of Neptune at the time of crossing the line, but on our voyage +no notice was taken of it, the reason being, as was supposed, that +the sailors were dissatisfied with the result of the sale of the +dead horse. Well, though it might have been amusing, it was +doubtless more their loss than ours, because when the thing is +analysed, all sailors' doings fundamentally resolve themselves into +an appeal for subscriptions from good-natured passengers. About 15th +January we crossed the sun, which for a short time was vertical at +noon. Peter Schlemihl could then have walked about without +detection, for no one had a shadow. + +On our journey we met several ships and steamers, and as the captain +never missed an opportunity of signalling, the course of our voyage +was known from various quarters. First, the number of the Hampshire, +JNBV, is displayed by the flags, each flag representing a letter. A +complete code of arbitrary signals is in use, by which almost any +intelligence can be interchanged. We then told the port we sailed +from, London, and our destination, Melbourne. From one barque, the +County of Anglesea, on her way from Cardiff to Rangoon, which we +fell in with early on the voyage, the captain came on board the +Hampshire to lunch, and afterwards several of our passengers +returned the visit. One of them brought back a small cur, which made +the fourth dog on board--rather too many, as they were always in the +way. Their number was soon reduced 50 per cent. One day what was +known as the "sailor's dog" mysteriously disappeared. Some thought +it had been thrown overboard, but it probably fell over +accidentally, as the dog was universally held to be the least +objectionable. Another, the strange dog, had to be poisoned. On the +10th January we met a German ship bound for Barbadoes from Buenos +Ayres. Here an opportunity for sending letters was gratefully +embraced. The captain promised to hand them over to the British +Consul at Barbadoes. One day, during a calm, the boats were lowered, +and several of us rowed about to look at the Hampshire from a +little distance, while some bathed in a tropical sea. There was no +danger of sharks, which keep away when several bathe together, or +even one, if he splashes about enough. The boatswain caught a +turtle, from which we had some capital soup. Turtles are very +tenacious of life. A knife was thrust into its throat, and its +jugular vein severed, but if it had not been cut up soon after it +would have lived many hours. Indeed, the heart alone kept beating +long after it was severed from the body. + +I must say we were badly treated by the "monsters of the deep." They +never came out when wanted. We all expected to catch a shark some +day, but only once was one even seen, and then it was some distance +off, with its knife-like fin just showing above the water. It was +Sunday, too, when no fishing was allowed--a fact of which he was +evidently aware. These fellows are proverbially stupid, and will go +at a bait again and again, even though they must know it to be a +lure. Only once, too, did we catch an albatross, _the_ bird of the +Southern Ocean. That was by a line baited with a small piece of +pork. This was fastened to a round ring of iron, in which the hooked +beak of the bird caught, and so it was dragged on board. The captain +knocked it on the head, and it was then cut up. It measured 13 feet +across the wings, but many are larger than this. The beak was about +6 inches long, curved, and of great power. Sailors have no "ancient +mariner" sentiment as to killing the albatross--in fact, it would be +misplaced. The captain told us of a case he knew of where a man had +fallen overboard, when the albatrosses swooped down upon him, and +pecked out his eyes and brains. The sailors begged the captain to +shoot him and so end his sufferings. The quills of the albatross +make excellent pipe stems, and the skin of the webbed feet is used +for tobacco pouches. But the chief thing about the bird is, of +course, the snowy down on the breast, of which ladies' muffs are +made. The Zoological Society in Regent's Park offer a reward of £100 +for a live albatross or black cockatoo, but it has never been +earned, though the attempt to carry them to England has often been +made, for the albatross cannot live through the tropics. + +During the last fortnight of the voyage the weather became very +cold for the latitude we were in. The point reached furthest +south was 42°42' which is about the same as the north of Spain, +but the thermometer was 49 degrees all day. It is, however, well +known that for various reasons the same latitude is much colder +south of the equator. On the night of Monday, the 2nd of March, a +beautiful lunar rainbow, extending right across the sky, was +seen. This is not a common sight. By this time the benefits of +the voyage were visible in the faces of all the passengers. If it +had not been for some shortcomings in the provisions there would +have been no drawback. Cape Otway was sighted on the morning of +Saturday, the 7th March. At 4-30 p.m. we were off Port Philip +Roads, and here the pilot came on board. He brought papers, and +the first news we read was that of subscriptions for a statue to +General Gordon, of whose death we were thus informed; the second +news was the despatch of troops from Sydney to the Soudan, of +which everybody was then talking. At 10-30 p.m. the Hampshire was +anchored off Williamstown, but could not come alongside Sandridge +Pier, till Monday morning. It was rather hard getting up on a +Saturday night, as all were anxious to see their letters. Many of +us went to Melbourne on the Sunday, but in most cases returned to +the ship to sleep, as the luggage could not be landed till +Monday. On that day a general dispersion took place, and many who +will probably never see each other again will have their voyage +on the Hampshire to look back upon with pleasure. + + + + +II. + +Melbourne. + + +When I arrived in Melbourne early in March, everybody was +enthusiastic in praise of the New South Wales Government, who had +just despatched their contingent to the Soudan. Gradually this +feeling subsided, and it was afterwards said to be doubtful whether +the Victorian Government would renew their offer later on. The truth +is the Victorians are _plus royalistes que le roi_. Indeed I cannot +help thinking they would feel much less respect for the "British +Constitution" if they had a nearer view of some of the proceedings +at Westminster. But they are human and can scarcely submit with +patience to the repeated snubs they have had from the Home +Government. The inconceivable bungling about New Guinea especially +rankles in their breasts. No one is now so unpopular here as Mr. +Gladstone and Lord Derby. Moreover, as a late Minister in South +Australia said to me--Why should we send out our tradesmen, our +artisans, our clerks, as volunteers, while you send out regular +soldiers? We deplete the colony for what is in reality only a +handful of men, while it means much to us. If we wish to assist the +mother country we can do it better by taking care of our own +defences, and by subscribing money, if necessary, to send to +England. But this view, of course, leaves out of sight the immense +moral effect which has, in fact, been produced by this display of +attachment to the mother country. Such things will do more to bring +about Imperial federation than any number of articles in newspapers +and reviews discussing the merits of various schemes. If the true +spirit is there--the desire for federation--it will put itself into +practice in some form or other. The preliminary step is federation +among the colonies. This is at present much hindered by their mutual +jealousies. "The proper way," said to me a prominent statesman here +who has been twice a Minister of the Crown, "is for England to take +the initiative. Let her send out some leading man who would not be +regarded as the representative of a party--such as Lord +Dufferin--and let him make proposals to the various colonies in +which they might acquiesce, without one seeming to lead the others." +Anyhow here, "as at home" (as England is always called), there is a +widespread notion that federation in some form is a necessity for +the future, if England is to continue to hold her own by the side of +such immense states as Russia and the United States. Providence +seems now to be on the side of the "big nations." I am confident +that even now, people in England fail to realise the importance of +these homes beyond the sea. They enjoy a lovely climate, have +boundless capacities for expansion, and are inhabited by Englishmen +who differ from ourselves only in the fact that they live at a +distance. With the present means of communication, Melbourne is now +as near to London as the North of Scotland was to the South of +England less than a century ago. People look, perhaps, at the +present population of Victoria, which is rather under a million; and +then, observing that it is about the same as that of Liverpool and +Manchester together, they infer that it is of no greater importance. +There could not be a greater mistake. It is a commonplace to say +that their importance is in the future, yet even commonplaces +sometimes need repeating. There is no reason why, within the memory +of men now living, this colony should not be as populous as England +is now. At lunch, some few weeks ago--I remember it was at Dr. +Bromby's, the much-respected late head master of the Church of +England Grammar School--a clergyman narrated some of his experiences +while travelling in England a few years back:--"I was at the house +of a Yorkshire squire, who was speaking of Australia, and said 'Ah! +we used to have a few Australian sovereigns here, but now we see +very few.' I requested those present to examine the sovereigns they +had about them. If you find an 'M' under the Queen's head, it was +coined at Melbourne; if an 'S,' at Sydney. Singularly enough nearly +all the sovereigns they produced had the 'M' or the 'S.' I was +satisfied. It was a dangerous _coup_, but perfectly successful, and +gave the company a much greater idea of the importance of Australia +than anything I could say." In rapidity and at the same time +solidity, of growth there is no city of modern days, I believe, to +be placed beside Melbourne. Fifty years ago it did not exist. Now +with the suburbs the population is 300,000, and in such a liberal +manner have the streets and roads been laid out, that on the present +area there is at least room for a million. Since 1842 Melbourne has +had municipal institutions. In 1851, Victoria was separated from New +South Wales, with Melbourne for the seat of government. Such rapid +increase has been equalled only in America, but there is nothing +American about Melbourne. Many years ago there did come here a few +Americans of "advanced ideas," among others the notorious George +Francis Train, who bequeathed his "damages" against the British +Government--5,000,000 dols. for his arrest in Cork harbour--to the +Irish Republic. The legacy and the legatee have proved equally +unsubstantial. But these men have now died out, or become +respectable citizens. The colonials may be said to resemble the +Americans only in one point, in their aptitude for business. Some +people have come out here in the expectation of "taking in" the +guileless colonist, but the biter has been bit. I have heard of one +manufacturer of pills who soon found out his mistake. + +In fact, in face of the nonsense that is sometimes talked to +encourage those who fail in England to come here to make their +fortunes, it seems to me they are far more likely to lose what money +they have. As a rule the same qualities of mind and character that +bring a man success in England will make him successful here, and +for certain people it is better to stay in England. The class that +really suffer in Melbourne is that comprising the man of good +education, who has perhaps taken his degree at one of our +Universities, but who has not any fitness for any particular +calling. Numbers of this class are, I am told, in poverty, if not +actual want. There is here not the same demand for "culture." There +is no outlet for purely literary capacities. The life that is led +here, and which will be led for some time yet, is a somewhat hard +and fast life, and it is most difficult even for one who desires +ease to find it in this feverish atmosphere. The country has +scarcely yet settled down. Among the population there is little +beauty of face or grace of movement. The first settlers were, as a +rule, rough people who had to make their living, and little time to +think of anything beyond, but we are indebted to them, for they are +everywhere the necessary pioneers of civilisation--the mass whose +dead bodies form a bridge for their more fortunate successors. Then +the gold discoveries brought out a lower class. However, the second +generation is a great improvement on the first, and, no doubt, the +usual rule of amelioration of type will make itself felt in due +course. In what I have just been saying I speak in the most general +manner. There are many exceptions, of course, and brilliant ones. +Now to return to Melbourne itself. The streets are very broad, +usually 99 ft., and long and straight. One I know of is 100 yards +broad. Some are planted with trees, while in the streets where there +are shops, verandahs are almost universal along the pavement. The +gutters are very wide--sometimes 5 feet or 6 feet, which is +necessary to carry off the large amount of water coming down when it +rains. At such times the mud is almost impassable. Melbourne proper +is situated in the centre, and stands to the rest of the city +somewhat as the City of London does to the various vestries. In +Melbourne, however, each of the suburbs--15 in number--has a Mayor, +Corporation, and Town Clerk of its own. Any municipality with a +revenue of £25,000 or above, is styled a "city." There is, however, +no body here like the Metropolitan Board of Works, consequently no +united system of drainage and other works in which the whole +community is interested. This is a great defect, and the want of +some central authority is much felt. Each municipality manages its +own district only. I remember, on landing the first time at +Sandridge Pier, some of us drove from there into Melbourne. Someone +complaining of the badness of the road to the driver, "Yes," he said +pathetically, "they spend all the money in drainage." + +In public buildings Melbourne can compare well with any other city +of its size. The Public Library, the Law Courts, the Town Hall, the +Post Office, the Exhibition building, are all architectural +ornaments. In the streets there is a want of regularity in the size +of the houses, which will be corrected in the course of time, and +which is incidental to all new cities where people cannot at first +afford to erect lofty structures. Most of the city is on the north +side of the Yarra, which winds very much and empties itself into +Hobson's Bay, about six miles from Melbourne. The intercolonial and +local steamers start from wharves on the river, and passengers by +them have, therefore, to endure the bad smells which always prevail. +The Thames is bad enough sometimes, but the Yarra can only be +compared to the Clyde at Glasgow. A large piece of the river will be +cut off by a canal now in course of construction. Hobson's Bay is +the north-eastern part of Port Philip Harbour, a noble expanse of +water of 800 square miles, with a narrow entrance at the "Heads." +There are sharks in it, so that bathing is carried on in parts that +are fenced off. There used to be a reward offered by the Government +for every shark-skin above 2ft. long. There is a tale of an old +loafer round the Harbour called "Paddy Lynch," who having caught a +shark of 1 ft. 11 in., stretched its skin the required inch. He is +now commonly accosted by the question "Who stretched the shark?" The +Public Library is probably one of the largest and completest of its +kind to be found anywhere. It now contains about 120,000 volumes, +and is rapidly increasing. A new wing is being built to make more +room. The trustees have acted with a view to acquiring books of real +worth, and no book is selected unless it has made its reputation. +Consequently the amount of fiction is small. George Eliot's novels +have only just been admitted. The library is not supported by a +local rate, but by the Government. The same is the case with all the +public libraries throughout the country. However small a township +is, you will probably find a public library and a mechanics' +institution. In the same building with the library are the Picture +Gallery and the Museum. In the former are Miss Thompson's "Quatre +Bras," Long's "Esther," and "A Question of Propriety," the latter +bought off the easel, besides other good paintings. In the vestibule +are plaster casts of some of the aboringines, labelled, "Martha, +aged 14;" "Thames, aged 50;" and so on. They are all remarkably +ugly, but vary in degree, some being actually repulsive. There are +now only a few hundred natives in the whole of Victoria, and they +are miserable creatures, not to be compared, for instance, with +those in the north-west, where in some places the average height of +the natives is 6ft. The library is open daily (except Sunday) from +10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Some time ago the trustees did open the Library +and Picture Gallery on the Sunday, but after five Sundays Parliament +sat, and the Sabbatarians then immediately passed a vote prohibiting +it, although the measure had been very popular. In fact, nothing is +open on Sundays. Public-houses are shut, except to that remarkable +animal--the _bonâ fide_ traveller. A few weeks ago there was a +deputation to the Premier, urging him to stop all Sunday trains. +This was supported by some ministers who are themselves in the habit +of using trains on Sunday, but they did not find the time ripe for +such a change. + +I had an interesting conversation with the learned and accomplished +Town Clerk of Melbourne (Mr. Fitzgibbon) upon the condition of the +legal profession here. The two branches, barristers and solicitors, +are not amalgamated, but the tendency, as in England, is in that +direction. Indeed, in the last session of Parliament a bill to +amalgamate them, after passing the Legislative Assembly, was only +lost by one vote in the Upper House. Still, even in places where a +fusion has taken place, as in Tasmania, I found that, in fact, they +are kept distinct, that is to say one man will devote himself to +speaking in court, another to office-work. Barristers here have a +distinct grievance against the Inns of Court at home. Here an +English barrister can be at once called to the Victorian Bar merely +by being introduced, whereas in England a Victorian barrister has +to keep terms and pass an examination. Formerly he was in no better +position than any other student, but by the exertions of Mr. Webb, +Q.C., of Melbourne, the time of probation has been reduced from +three years to one year for colonial barristers, and the +examination has, I believe, been diminished also. There is a Chief +Justice (at present absent on leave) and four puisne judges. Lately +a paper controversy has been raging between one of the judges and +the Bishop. The judge wrote a pamphlet, entitled "Religion without +Superstition"--a crude _réchauffé_ of the usual sceptical arguments +which have been propounded a thousand times before and infinitely +better expressed. The Bishop has not found it difficult to reply, +but at best this contest between two dignitaries is an unseemly +spectacle. Meanwhile the newspapers sarcastically ask how it is +that the judges, who are said to be so overworked, have time for +such amusements. Religious feeling runs high in Melbourne. The +Presbyterian assembly has recently deposed Mr. Strong, the minister +of the Scotch church, on account of the breadth of his doctrines. +Mr. Strong has been publicly invited by the Unitarian minister to +join their communion. In the State schools there is no religious +instruction except at extra times, and by express desire. This is +due to the action of the Catholics, who naturally object to their +children being taught the Bible by Protestants. About Melbourne +there is nothing provincial, and, although in point of size far +inferior to London or Paris it is almost as cosmopolitan. At night, +Bourke-street is as crowded as the Strand or Regent-street. The +chief hotels are Menzies's, Scott's, the Oriental, and the Grand. +The two first are at the business end of the town, the west end, +and they charge about 12s. per day. The Oriental is at the east end +of Collins-street, exactly opposite the Melbourne club. The charge +there is 10s. per day, and at present it is extremely well managed +by the proprietor in person. The only objection is that it is much +frequented by betting-men, whose shop talk is, I think, more +wearisome and less instructive than that of any other persons. The +Adelaide Jockey Club have just been holding their annual meeting at +Melbourne on account of an attempt by the South Australian +Legislature to abolish betting! On the whole the prices of things +in Melbourne may be said to be about the same as in London. Some +things are much dearer, and not so good, as for instance, cloth +clothes, boots and shoes. Again, house-rent is excessive. I can +give two examples--one, a cottage of one story and four rooms, +which lets for 22s. 6d. per week; another, what is called a +seven-roomed house, but it really has only four rooms, the other +three being merely of the size of dressing-rooms; this is in not at +all a fashionable part, and the rent was lately £98. It has now +been raised to £108. Every house, however, has a bath-room, and the +old houses in which there is no bath have to be fitted with that +convenience before they can be let. On the other hand, food, +especially meat, is much cheaper, but the meat is not so good as at +home, at least in my opinion, but I can scarcely expect this +opinion to be accepted without objection. A fish called "garfish" +is about the best fish here. It is something like a whiting, but +has more taste. Another fish called "trevalli" is not particularly +good. There is no sole or turbot or salmon. The colonial wine is, +upon the whole, very good and wholesome, and is much drunk. At +Geelong lately the heroic measure of destroying the vines has +been taken to prevent the spread of phylloxera. There are several +good clubs in Melbourne--the principal are the Australian at the +west end of the town, and the Melbourne at the east end of +Collins-street. On the introduction of a member (approved by the +committee), strangers are admitted as honorary members for a +month: then for the second month they pay £1, or £6 for six +months; but strangers cannot be taken in casually by a member as +is the case in many London clubs. Most of the clubs have bedrooms +attached, which are much used by travellers in the colonies. They +are, therefore, not merely more comfortable, but usually cheaper +than hotels, because meals are paid for as taken, while at nearly +all hotels the American system of so much a day prevails. + +One day I accompanied a friend to the University to be present at +the "annual commencement," when the degrees are conferred. The +"commencement" here occurs about the middle of the term. With us at +Cambridge it is at the end. The ceremony took place in the "Wilson +Hall," which is used as a Senate House, and for other public +functions in connection with the University. The ceremony itself was +almost identical with that at one of our Universities, and it was +similarly interrupted by noisy Undergraduates, whose humour +consisted in rendering the proceedings inaudible without +contributing anything amusing of their own. One lady who took a +degree was much cheered. The Bishop of Melbourne (Dr. Moorhouse) is +the Chancellor, and delivered an address to the "fractious +children," and he then called on the Governor of the colony, who +with Lady Loch was present, for a speech on the subject then +foremost in every one's mind--"Our Defences." This seemed rather +strange at a peaceful academical performance, but the Governor +acquitted himself in a truly diplomatic style, by telling us nothing +we did not know before. On another day I was shown over part of the +University by a young gentleman who had taken his degree in law on +the previous occasion. There are at present two colleges--Trinity +and Ormond--at each of which about 35 Undergraduates are in +residence, while there are about the same number at each +non-resident. The bulk of the students, however, are unattached. +There are 350 altogether, and their number is annually increasing. +There is no University discipline outside of the Colleges, and in +them the students take their meals together. The sitting-rooms are +separate from the bedrooms, and more resemble studies at a public +school than rooms at a University, being usually shared between two +and furnished by the College. There are no fellowships at the +University. At Sydney University on the other hand four fellowships +of £400 a year each have been recently given to the University for +the encouragement of scientific research--a munificent gift which +should lead to much. + +To strangers, the climate of Melbourne is trying at first. Suddenly, +in the summer the wind will turn to the north, and in a short time +the thermometer registers 100 degs. in the shade. The heat and dust +are then almost insupportable. The dust rises like a cloud obscuring +even the opposite side of the street. Then the wind will as suddenly +veer to the south. In an hour the temperature falls 40 or 50 degs., +and the air is cleared by a "southerly buster." In the winter the +north wind is a cold wind. In spite of the climate, the Botanical +Gardens are an admirable specimen of what may be effected by the +skill of man. These gardens are on the south side of the river +Yarra. On a hill in the centre of them is built the Government +House. There are seen many varieties of trees and plants all +carefully labelled. The fern tree bower is very ingenious. You see +here the elk or staghorn fern, which grows as a parasite on the palm +or the petosperum of New Zealand. The grass is kept beautifully +fresh and green, and is a favourite resort. I have no further room +to continue this letter, but, in my next, hope to say something of +the government and the aspect of politics in Victoria. + + + + +III. + +Victoria. + + +The Government of Victoria is nearly a pure democracy. Both Houses +are elected by the people, the Legislative Council as well as the +Legislative Assembly. To vote for the former a slight property +qualification is necessary, viz., £10 freehold, or £25 leasehold. +The Assembly is practically elected by universal manhood suffrage, +the only restriction being that a voter must have resided twelve +months in the colony prior to the 1st January or 1st July in any +year. Of course, there is a smouldering agitation for female +suffrage, but it has not yet attained the dimensions of the similar +agitation in England. + +It is to me unintelligible how it is that so many people can be +enthusiastic about the prospects of Democracy. As Sir James Stephen +says, "We may be drifting down the stream, but that is no reason we +should sing Hallelujah." There is no magic in the word. It is +simply a form of government, just as monarchy or aristocracy are +forms of government. Nor is it a new form of government. It has been +tried over and over again, more than 2000 years ago, nor has it ever +been a particularly successful or a long-continued form. People +often talk as if liberty were more attainable under a Democracy than +under any other government. Now, putting aside the question whether +liberty is good or bad--for it is entirely a question of time, +place, and circumstance--the opinion is unfounded, because the +tyranny of a majority is just as galling, and usually less +intelligent, than other tyrannies. It has rather cynically been said +that governments are of two kinds--bamboo and bamboozle. A Democracy +combines these two kinds. When political power is so minutely +divided as it is among the voters of England, say, it is not worth +having; and power, as a rule, resides in the hands of demagogues, +instead of the hands of statesmen. + +In Victoria, there is government by party, but there are no real +lines of demarcation between them, and it is now merely a struggle +for office between the ins and outs. Each party must be prepared +with a programme to interest the masses, and to be able to go to the +electors with a list of measures to be passed. If a measure is bad, +the Government may be turned out. But the ministers are saddled with +no responsibility in consequence. They simply wait their turn till +the other side makes a mistake. This course has led to legislation +which unduly interferes with liberty. There is now before +Parliament a new Licensing Bill, the principle of which is Local +Option. It is also intended to put down barmaids. Those who at +present exist are to be allowed to remain, 346 in number, but no +fresh ones are to come forward. The publicans are ranged on one +side, some religious bodies on the other. Each side interpret facts +in their own way. But every one knows that the fate of the bill will +depend on the strength of the parties in the House, and not on +argument. Again, the eight hours movement many years ago became law +in Victoria. On the 21st of April in each year its anniversary is +celebrated with a procession and flags and banners. This year the +Governor took part in it, which was thought to be rather undignified +on his part. It is a Socialistic measure, which reduces the good +workman to the level of the ordinary one. All members of the +Assembly receive £300 a year. Hence there are many professed +politicians whose chief object appears to be to keep their seat. +Lately there was an attempt in the House to vote a pension to a +member whose circumstances had been reduced, but the proposal was +defeated. Perhaps the time is not quite ripe for that yet. The +present Ministry is the result of a coalition between Mr. Service +and Mr. Berry. The former was at one time a schoolmaster up the +country, but by his talents and energy has raised himself to the +position of Premier. Mr. Berry is a well-known Radical politician. +It is about six years ago since, in one day, he dismissed the +greater number of the Civil servants in consequence of a +disagreement between the two Houses. Most of them had to be quickly +restored to their places, but public confidence was so much shaken +by this arbitrary act that a large amount of capital was transferred +to New South Wales--five or six millions, I believe--and even yet +the country has not recovered from the shock. This period is known +as the Berry-blight. The present Ministry seems likely to continue +in power so long as they can provide sufficient sensational +legislation. + +In Victoria the railways all now belong to the State, and are well +managed, but to stations beyond the suburban lines return tickets +are not issued except on Saturdays, and except to such places as +have a competing steam service, such as Warrnambool or Belfast. The +speed is not high, and to our notions there are very few trains, but +probably enough for the present traffic. Whenever the inhabitants of +any particular district think they would like a railway, they get +their representative to vote for it, and if he can persuade a +sufficient number of other representatives to vote for it, the +railway is made. For some time past the people of the small town of +Buninyong thought they would like a line from Ballarat, from which +it is distant seven miles. As it is not really required, in +consequence of a good service of public conveyances between the two +places, they did not succeed for some time. At length, during the +last session, their representative managed to get 35 others to vote +for it, and the line is now to be made. Each of these 35 may in +their turn require the vote of the member for Buninyong on some +similar occasion. But the actual management of the railways and of +the Civil Service has been put beyond the reach of political +influence by the appointment of Railway and Civil Service +Commissioners, who are permanent officials. When a line is to be +made the Railway Commissioners go over the ground and fix the spots +for stations &c. Every porter has to pass on examination before he +can be appointed. There are only first and second classes. On the +suburban lines the first class are about as good as our second. As a +fact, a number of second class carriages sent out from England are +here used as first, the words "second class" being ingeniously +concealed by a narrow strip of wood. Members of Parliament have a +free pass over all lines. In Victoria the gauge is 5ft. 3in. In New +South Wales it is the same as ours, viz., 4ft. 8-1/2in. Consequently +travellers between Melbourne and Sydney have to change trains at the +border. + +In Victoria there is intense opposition to Free Trade. The people +would rather make bad boots and shoes for themselves than import +cheap and good ones from England. Of course I use Free Trade in the +sense of the opposite of protection of native industries. Advocates +of Protection appear to me to confound the end with the means, as if +manufacturers existed for their own sake and not in order to +produce. I have seen the commercial competition between various +countries compared with a horse race. Just as some horses are +handicapped, so customs duties must be levied on the productions of +certain countries to give the others a fair chance! The comparison +would be relevant if the object of a handicap were that the best +horse should win, but the race itself is the object. Bastiat has +reduced this view of commerce to an absurdity in his famous +petition. It is a petition supposed to be presented by the dealers +in oil, tallow, lamps, &c., in Paris, who request that all shutters, +windows, and other apertures for light may be closed against the +sun, which spoils their business by shining so brightly during the +day. If wheat rained from heaven some people would tax it to protect +the farmers. But Free Trade may be made an object of worship in +itself, and can then do nothing but harm. It may be made a rule of +life, not merely a rule of trade. The satisfaction of material needs +is most necessary, and lies at the bottom of civilization, but it is +not therefore the most important, and it is quite conceivable that +the moral advantages to be derived by a community through reliance +on their own energies, may more than compensate for the higher price +of particular articles. It has been found not to be good for the +human race to have things made too pleasant. The West Indian +negroes, "who toil not, neither do they spin," but pick the fruits +of the earth ready to their hands, are not the most exalted +specimens of mankind. It may be a good thing for a man _not_ to have +things too cheaply, if owing to this he is stirred up to work, and +can get money enough to live. Free Traders argue that free trade +will prevent war, by making evident the inconveniences thereby +occasioned to commerce, yet history has never shown that such +considerations have been of much weight when strong national +feelings are aroused. Nor is it, in my opinion, a desirable thing +that they should have a decisive effect. With this class of +arguments Free Traders are powerless to deal. + +The absence of caste is a noticeable feature in Australian life. Any +man, whatever his original position, can rise to the highest +offices, and, as a matter of fact, the ministers are frequently +tradesmen. None the worse for that, of course; but it was amusingly +illustrated in the Assembly the other day, when one of the +members--a "chartered libertine," in regard to speech, and they do +speak very plainly--boasted that he was a member of a club to which +none of the ministers could belong. "They are decent people," he +said, "but not professional men, and the membership is limited to +them." Domestic servants are particularly independent as a class, +and many people do without them altogether rather than submit to pay +very high wages for little work. An ordinary cook will receive about +£1 a week. They rarely say "sir," but usually plain "mister," which +is to most people not a pleasant way of being addressed. They seem +to take a pride in addressing their employer (I must not say master +or mistress) by their surname, as Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So, as often as +possible. What Emerson calls the "fury of expectoration" is very +rife throughout the colonies. If a floor or carpet is particularly +clean the temptation to spit upon it is too great to be resisted. +In the Court-house at Adelaide is a special notice requesting people +not to spit on the floor. I suppose this habit is connected with +smoking, and smoking with drinking. All day long the hotel bars are +besieged by crowds of men demanding "nobblers," like flies round a +pot of honey, and I have heard that a hotel proprietor does not care +to see his customers go beyond the bar, as so large a proportion of +his profit is derived from it. In a debate in the Assembly, on the +new Licensing Bill, one orator referred contemptuously to "miserable +tea drinkers." "We do not want," he said, "to be Chinafied; the more +men drink the better they are." He would find many outside the House +of the same opinion. _Per contra_ it was urged that total abstinence +produced strength because "Samson was a teetotaller!" + +Considering the comparatively small size of Victoria, it is much +more thickly populated than any other colony. Its population is very +nearly a million, on an area about as large as Great Britain, giving +about 10 persons to the square mile. The chief towns after Melbourne +are Ballarat, East and West, with a population of 37,000, and +Sandhurst, with 28,000. Next comes Geelong, which, with its suburbs, +has 21,000. For purposes of representation, the country is divided +into 14 provinces, from each of which three members are returned to +the Legislative Council. It is divided into 55 electoral districts, +which return 86 members to the Legislative Assembly. The country is +also divided into 37 counties, but what purpose this division +serves I have not been able to ascertain. I have made two visits +into the country, one to the neighbourhood of Ballarat to the +north-west of Melbourne, the other into Gipp's Land, which is to the +east. I went to Gipp's Land to pay a visit to a gentleman well known +to the racing world, who has a large estate in the neighbourhood of +Sale. Victorians are nothing if not fond of sport. We have a good +many races at home, but I think they are exceeded in number by those +in Victoria. My host had been engaged in horse-racing more than +forty years, and in these circles he is much respected; because he +always, as they say, runs his horses to win, and the high character +he has thus deservedly acquired has done much to raise the morality +of the turf in Australia. He told me that he was the second squatter +in Gipp's Land. When he first went there in 1841, it took him +eighteen days to return to Melbourne through the bush. For six days +they had provisions, but for the rest of the time they subsisted on +native bears--_i.e._, sloths. Now he owns about 20,000 acres of the +best part of Gipp's Land. Gipp's Land is a large district about +twice the size of Wales, which begins at a place called Bunyip, +about fifty miles to the east of Melbourne. The train to Sale, the +capital--there are two a day--takes about six hours, and the +distance is 127 miles. As there are no engineering difficulties, the +line did not cost more than £6000 a mile. In many places the +gradients are very steep to avoid cuttings. By leaving Melbourne at +6-50 a.m. Sale is reached about 1, and a very tedious and dusty +journey it is. Near Bunyip we pass the borders of an enormous swamp +of 90,000 acres, called Koo-Wee-Rup, which is about to be drained, +and will then form rich agricultural land. The ride soon becomes +monotonous, by reason of the interminable gum trees. They look very +peculiar, being all dead, and stripped of their leaves and bark, and +in the moonlight show perfectly white. Most of them have been +"ringed" near the bottom to kill them, but others have been killed +by caterpillars. They stand so for a long time. At length they +either fall or are burnt in a bush fire. The flames get inside the +tree, run through it, and come out at the top, as if from a tall +chimney. There are none of great height along the line, but some +trees near Lilydale, about 30 miles north-east of Melbourne, are +supposed to be the highest in the world, and are above 440 feet in +height. In several places are seen groups of tree ferns some 20 feet +high, which form a pleasant oasis. Gipp's Land did not look its best +at the time of my visit. There had been a drought, more or less, for +three years, and everything was dried up. The cattle appeared +parched, with hard dry skins. Since then, however, there has been a +good deal of rain. Sale itself is an uninteresting town of 3,000 +inhabitants, with streets at right angles, and the usual Public +Library and Mechanics' Institute. It also has an artesian well, +which is not usual. Although it was late in the autumn the heat in +the middle of the day was great. In the afternoon it is tempered by +a steady sea breeze. The nights are cool. Along the roads are posts +of about four feet high, painted red and white. These are to mark +the road in case of a flood, which is not uncommon. From the +verandah of my friend's house could be seen a vast extent of rolling +upland, dotted pretty thickly with dead gum trees. Fifty years ago +it was a dense forest. What may it be fifty years hence, with the +increase of population? On the morning after my arrival I was taken +a drive over part of the "cattle run." It is only a small run +compared to some. The cattle, nearly all bullocks, have about 16,000 +acres to wander over. Everywhere the want of water was apparent. I +also saw the stables, where were several racehorses, but the best +were in the stables at Flemington, near Melbourne. At the end of the +week were the Sale races, but I was unable to stay for them, having +already made arrangements for a trip to Tasmania. + +About six weeks later I went to stay with some friends in the +neighbourhood of Ballarat, between that town and Buninyong. I +have previously referred to Ballarat as the next largest town to +Melbourne. By rail it is 100 miles from Melbourne, though not +more than 60 in a direct line. At present the rail goes round by +Geelong. Between Geelong and Ballarat the line is double, and +admirably constructed, at a cost of £32,000 per mile. It is as +well made as any line in England, and the carriages run as +smoothly. My friend's house is called "Moramana," a native name, +signifying, I am told, "picking up sticks." Buninyong and +Ballarat are both native names. It is a matter for discussion +whether Ararat, a town some distance to the N.W. of Ballarat, is +a native name, too, or whether it has any connection with the +ark. I paid a visit to Buninyong, and two visits to Ballarat. +Buninyong is properly the name of the mountain there, an extinct +volcano, which forms a prominent object in the landscape. The +small town takes the same name. It is remarkable chiefly for the +fertility of the land in the immediate neighbourhood. It is older +than Ballarat, which previous to the discovery of the gold there +in 1851 did not exist. There are gold mines, too, at Buninyong, +both alluvial and quartz, but chiefly the latter. The Salvation +Army flourishes at Buninyong as well as at most places in the +Colonies. I have since read in a paper that General Booth has +given out that the Salvation Army is likely to become the State +church of Victoria, and that Parliament will make it an annual +grant of £1,000; or, if not, that Mr. Service will probably do so +himself! + +Ballarat is a busy town, and here Victorian energy is seen to its +best advantage. It is, too, the centre of a large and fertile +agricultural district. Gold mining is not now what it once was +there. On all sides are the ruins of abandoned "claims," which give +a most desolate appearance to the immediate neighbourhood. There is +now more gold found at Sandhurst, further north. During the gold +fever of 1851, and before there was a line from Geelong, as much as +£70 per ton was paid for carriage from that town. The distance is +about 60 miles, and the transit occupied ten days for heavy goods. +"Until last year," said my friend, "there was a man walking the +streets of Ballarat who was known by no other name than Jimmy. He +would never beg and never lie down twice in the same spot to sleep +if others got to know of it. People gave him food at the door, or, +if not, he went to the Asylum for it. I used to see him taking a +zig-zag path about the same time each day. When spoken to he would +never reply. He had been in this condition since thirty years ago. +Then he was a prosperous digger, but some others drugged him, and +took away all his money. The drug spared his life, but took away his +brains; and so he wandered about, always looking for something, he +did not know what." There must be many similar tales of violence +perpetrated during that wild time. Ballarat contains the widest +street in the Colonies--one of the widest in the world--viz., +Sturt-street, which is three chains wide, but its width is rather +concealed by a line of trees in the middle. There are some fair +buildings in it too. Lake Wendouree, formerly a swamp, now forms a +pleasant resort for the people of Ballarat for boating, and being +only four feet in depth, there is no danger of drowning. The drive +round it too, of about five miles, is pretty. Of course Ballarat +cannot do without an art gallery, but to that much praise cannot be +given. Some of the pictures by local artists may be interesting as +specimens, but the prices attached to them are purely imaginative. +To commemorate the Duke of Edinburgh's visit a public hall was to be +built, to which honour both East and West Ballarat--which are +separate municipalities--laid claim. The difficulty was solved by +building the hall over a small creek which separates the two towns, +so that each has one end. As Ballarat is 1,400 feet above Melbourne, +the temperature is much lower--10 degrees on an average. When I was +there in May the weather was decidedly cold. In winter snow is +frequent, while in Melbourne it is the rarest thing. From Ballarat I +went to Adelaide, but that must be the subject of another letter. + + + + +IV. + +SOUTH AUSTRALIA. + + +It is some months since I last wrote about Australia, but it is a +question whether something is not gained by a delay in putting +together notes of travel. If much is lost in vividness and +particularity, yet the whole and its parts are thrown into better +proportion, slight incidents that at first seemed of much interest, +are relegated to a more humble position, and really salient points +have a better chance of receiving their due share of attention. + +On the 20th May, I went to Adelaide from Melbourne by the steamer +Adelaide, and, among the fine steamers of the Southern Hemisphere, +there is none better appointed than this, in respect of food, +ventilation, and general comfort. Like many others, it is fitted +with the electric light. The captain is a well-known character. Some +time before, he had been to blame in a collision with another +steamer on the river Yarra. The Marine Board at Melbourne suspended +his certificate for six months, but his employers, I was told, held +him in such esteem that during that time he went on his own ship as +purser, until he could resume command. I was confined in the cabin +with a gentleman, who kindly informed me, beforehand, that he +undertook this voyage in order to be seasick, on account of his +health, and so he kept me in a continual state of expectation, like +one who, in the night, every moment expects a cock to crow. At the +end of the voyage he expressed his regret that he had not been ill, +which I could scarcely share. The journey, by sea, takes about 48 +hours; that is, from Port Philip Heads (the entrance to Melbourne +Harbour) to Port Adelaide, and the steamers run twice a-week from +each end. Soon there will be direct railway communication between +Melbourne and Adelaide, but at present the land journey takes three +days, and is much more expensive, as a good deal of it has to be +done by coaching. The large mail steamers from Europe of the P. & O. +and Orient lines stop for a few hours off Glenelg (about seven miles +from Adelaide), to land the mails and cargo; but the intercolonial +and other steamers come up, by a long detour, to Port Adelaide, +which is also about seven miles from the city; but here they come +alongside the wharf. Some of the other colonies have been utilized +as penal settlements, or rather begun as such. South Australia was +founded consciously and deliberately in 1836. No convict is allowed +to land, and a tax of £10 is imposed on every Chinese. The site of +Adelaide was chosen for that of the capital. From Port Adelaide to +Adelaide the rail runs through a level tract, and the city itself is +placed in the centre of a plain, bounded by hills on the north and +east at about six miles distance. South Australia appears to be +named on the _lucus a non lucendo_ principle, because, as a fact, +almost the whole of South Australia is to the north of Victoria; +and, since 1863, it stretches right across the continent to the +north coast of Australia, which is far away into the tropics. +Indeed, this northern territory seems to be tacked on to South +Australia, because it is not yet of sufficient importance to have a +government of its own, and it is difficult to know what to do with +it. It is separated by an enormous tract of country, and has nothing +in common with South Australia proper. The Bishop told me he +supposed he should have to make a visitation through it. If in time +this district of the north becomes more populous, it is probable it +will set up for itself, just as there have long been agitations for +separating Northern Queensland from the Southern portion, and the +Riverina from New South Wales, on the ground that their particular +interests are not sufficiently represented at Brisbane and Sydney +respectively. + +The population of the whole of South Australia is now about 318,000, +that of Adelaide and its suburbs being about 70,000. Adelaide is not +only by far the largest town, but almost the only town of any size. +The city is laid out with a regularity that is almost painful. It +stands on a square mile of ground. At each side is a terrace, +called respectively North, South, East, and West Terrace. There are +squares laid out at regular intervals. As is usual in Australian +towns, the streets are all at right angles, and generally of the +same length and width. The Adelaide people claim to have the finest +street in the Colonies, the finest post office, and the best hotel. +King William Street is two chains wide--the widest streets in +Melbourne are 1-1/2 chains--is a mile long, and contains the +principal public buildings, the Town Hall, Post Office, Courts of +Justice, &c. The Post Office is a handsome building, with a lofty +tower, from which various signs are displayed notifying the arrival +and departure of mails. At night the electric light from the top can +be seen from a great distance. From King William Street start the +various lines of tramway in every direction from the city. They run +out to the various suburbs--Magill, Burnside, Kensington, Norwood, +Stepney, &c., some of which names sound very familiar. The tramcars +are as universally used as in Glasgow, and nowhere have I seen a +better service than in Adelaide. It is a pleasant way to spend an +afternoon, to ride outside a tramcar in the bright atmosphere, to +some suburb, and return after a ramble in the country. From beyond +the North Terrace is a capital view over the city. Perhaps the best +is from the house of Mr. Way, the Chief Justice. His villa, at which +I had the pleasure of visiting him, is one of the most complete I +have seen. Nothing is omitted that the arts of civilization can +supply. His library contains the choicest modern works. His garden +is delicious with cool grottos and fountains. In his aviaries is a +collection of the rare birds of the country, all of which he knows. +In a separate cage are two fine eagles. Among the flowers I noticed +the "Sturt Desert Pea," just then in blossom, the loveliest wild +flower of Australia. I have seen houses larger and finer, no doubt, +and better collections of particular objects, but never any place so +perfect of its kind. Some lines from the "Palace of Art" +involuntarily occurred to me, but to no man does the moral of +Tennyson's poem less apply than to the Chief Justice, for he is one +of the most sympathetic and kind-hearted of men. I had intended +staying at the Adelaide Club, and was provided with an introduction, +but found on arrival that all the bedrooms were occupied. Besides, +visitors are liable to give up their bedrooms to members, and as at +this time some races were going on, and the rooms consequently +likely to continue occupied, it was better at once to put up at a +hotel. This was the "York," which was a comfortable house, and not +particularly dear. It is a favourite with visitors by the mail +steamers, who often run up from Glenelg for the few hours the +steamer calls there. + +Like all the other Australian Colonies (except Western Australia) +South Australia has a Constitutional Government, established in +1856, consisting of two Houses of Parliament and the Governor. For +the Lower House, which has 46 members, there is manhood suffrage. +They are not paid as in Victoria, but a Bill for paying them +narrowly escaped passing last session, and will probably be carried +soon. While I was there there happened to be an election to the +Legislative Council, the Upper House, the members of which retire in +rotation. The election address of one candidate is the shortest I +have ever seen. It was this: "Gentlemen,--My services are at your +disposal as a candidate for re-election to the Legislative Council." +Evidently his constituents were not troubled with burning questions. +The position of a Governor in the Colonies is not altogether an +enviable one. He has a high official and social position, but little +real power, because, practically, he has to consent to any Bill +passed by the two Houses. Any one can go to a Governor's reception, +and their entertainments are necessarily extremely catholic in their +nature. It is matter of common remark that people are seen there who +are not seen anywhere else. A Governor's salary is not at all large +for his position, and besides general entertaining, he is expected +to entertain anyone of the least distinction who may happen to +arrive. Adelaide is usually the first calling place for visitors to +Australia, and so the Governor of South Australia is peculiarly +liable to these calls upon his purse. Every law passed by the Colony +has to be ratified at home, so we have a free people at home +governing a free people abroad, which is an anomaly, and is daily +seen more and more to be so. + +South Australia exports wool, wheat, and copper, but the price of +copper has fallen more than 50 per cent.; wheat is also very cheap, +and has to compete with wheat from India; and in South Australia +farming operations are too often conducted by mere "earth +scratchers," who have no knowledge of agriculture. In 1851, +considerable emigration to Victoria took place in consequence of the +discovery of gold in that Colony. There was and is great depression +of trade in South Australia, and we have recently heard of the +failure of the "Commercial Bank of South Australia," but for all +that the amount of the deposits in the South Australian Savings Bank +is greater than in any other in proportion to the population. It is +nearly £5 per head. It is true some of this is the result of +compulsory savings under the provisions of the "Destitute Act." + +After a few days at the hotel, I went to stay with a young relative +of mine in the northern suburb, where, with one exception, I +remained the rest of my time. His wife kept no servant, not so much +on account of the expense as because, as she said, "They are more +bother than they're worth," and indeed this is a universal complaint +in the Colonies. I slept in a small room, and the last night but one +observed in a corner of the ceiling, above the bed, what seemed to +be a large spider. On mentioning this the next morning, I learnt +that it was a tarantula, and was of use in catching insects. "Oh, +but," I said, "doesn't it come down at night?" "Oh, no," said my +friend, "it never comes below _this_," marking a spot about a yard +above my head. This was not very reassuring, as there appeared +nothing to prevent the animal from transgressing the prescribed +limit, should it feel so disposed. It never troubled me however, but +I was afterwards told that it had once come down too far and been +killed. Such animals are unpleasant, and at times dangerous, but +they may be expected in countries where the heat is as great as it +is in Adelaide, which is considered to be one of the hottest places +in the globe inhabited by man. One evening we went to hear the +Bishop preach in the Cathedral. It is a very unpretending edifice, +and in fact is only half built. It is all choir and no nave. In +consequence of the great number of women who attend the services, or +of the politeness of the men, or both, the Bishop has been obliged +to set apart seats for men to protect them against the encroachment +of what Mr. Swinburne calls the "stronger sex." Another evening we +went to see a native dance or "corrobboree" as it is called. There +are not many natives now left in South Australia, and what there are +have become very degraded. The law forbids the sale to them of +intoxicating liquors. Spirits not merely make them drunk, but drive +them mad. As a sort of compensation they come down to Adelaide at +stated times for blankets, which are distributed to them by the +Government. On these occasions they are accustomed to exhibit +themselves in their native antics and dances for a little gain. At +this time was expected a large muster, and in order to accommodate +as many visitors as possible, the Adelaide Cricket Club had induced +the natives to hold their corrobboree on the cricket ground, of +course themselves looking for a large money return. Certainly their +anticipations must have been more than fulfilled, for there was a +crowd at the entrance resembling that outside a London theatre on +boxing night. Instead of 3,000 people, the number expected, there +were nearer 15,000. Seats in the grand stand were 1s., outside the +ring was 6d., but soon all distinction of place was lost. Presently +about 50 natives, hideously decorated, and stained with red to +represent gashes on the head and breast, filed into the enclosure in +a long line. Small bonfires were lighted at intervals, and on these +the performers leapt, one exactly following the steps of another. +Then they imitated the bounds of the Kangaroo when pursued, but of +dancing, or even posturing, in our sense of the word, there was +none. Meantime the "lubras" (native women) seated on the ground in +one mass, kept up a monotonous chant, varying their cadences with +the beat of tom-toms. The night was dark, and the figures were +indistinctly seen. Soon the vast crowd becoming impatient, burst +through the barriers, and scattered the burning brands. A great +scene of confusion ensued, and the performance came abruptly to an +end. One of the blacks remarked, not without reason, "Me tink dis +white fellows' corrobboree." It is a painful thing to see a race so +degenerate as to be willing to show themselves for money before +their supplanters, and to see the former "lords of the soil" begging +a copper from the passer-by. One cannot but desire that their +extinction in these parts, which is certain, may be also speedy. I +cannot easily imagine two more pitiable objects than those I +afterwards saw at Albany in Western Australia: a native man and +woman begging, standing with their shrunken limbs in rags that +barely covered them. The cricket ground is in the "reserve," a part +between the north terrace and the northern suburb, which belongs to +the community and cannot be built on. It is separated from the north +terrace by the river Torrens. Like many Australian rivers, the +Torrens starts up in various places and does not seem to have either +a beginning or an ending. It might be compared to the "sullen mole +that runneth underneath," between Letherhead and Dorking; but these +Australian rivers, when they do appear, are inclined to stagnate. +The municipality of Adelaide, however, have wisely dammed up the +river, and converted it into a lake of about one and a half miles +long, thus improving an eyesore into an ornament. It is spanned by a +handsome bridge. Near the north terrace, too, are the Botanical +Gardens, one of the best in Australia. The Zoological Gardens are +close by, where there is a black cockatoo and a white peacock. + +As I said before, Adelaide is the only town of any size. There are +others, however. One day I went with my friend by train to the small +town of Gawler, which is about 25 miles to the north. The train +takes about one and a half hours. There we were met by a gentleman +with a trap, who took us to see an ostrich farm about four miles +from Gawler. It belongs to a company at Adelaide and we had an order +from head quarters to be shown over it. Ostriches have been imported +into South Australia from the Cape of Good Hope, and thrive here +well enough. At length, seeing the risk of a sharp competition in +ostrich feathers, the Cape authorities have laid an embargo of £100 +on every ostrich exported, but this is locking the stable door when +the horse has escaped, for there are now in South Australia quite +sufficient birds to keep up the breed. The farm manager was a dry +old Scotchman of much humour, and had made himself accustomed to +their ways. The farm was about 170 acres in extent, and at this time +there were about 100 ostriches upon it, a number having recently +been sent away north to Port Augusta, where is another farm +belonging to the same Company. Some of the birds had committed +suicide on their way to the sea. They will run up against palings or +wire, get their long necks entangled, and sometimes cut their +throats in trying to extricate themselves. I noticed one that had +his throat bandaged up on this account. The birds are kept in +paddocks, three or four together, or more, if young and tame, but +some are very savage. We drove through all the paddocks, but the +manager kept a sharp look-out, lest any should "bounce" at us. An +ostrich, in attacking, kicks forward with his legs, which give +tremendous blows, and then, when he has kicked down his enemy, he +will probably sit upon him, and his weight is about two +hundredweight. An ostrich, therefore, cannot be considered a +generous foe. The old manager had been a good deal knocked about by +them himself. On one occasion a bird had kicked him twice, broken a +rib or two, and got him up fast against the palings. However, he +managed to seize hold of the bird's neck, and calling to some men on +the other side, he handed the neck to them over the palings, to hold +while he made his escape--which his ingenuity certainly deserved. I +asked him what he did when they ran away. "Well," he said, "I sit +down and wait till they stop; you can't catch them." The male takes +turn with the female in sitting on the eggs, and when an ostrich has +young ones she is very dangerous to approach. A good breeding couple +are worth £300. The feathers are not taken off at any particular +time of the year, but as they are ready, nor is cruelty exercised in +taking them. I saw several ovens which had been used for hatching +the eggs, but now they have enough birds to let them be hatched +naturally, which is the safer way. An ostrich at close quarters is +certainly an unpleasant looking beast; his neck, moving rapidly in +all directions, surmounted by a small head, with bright +wicked-looking eyes, reminds one of a snake. He has a fancy for +anything bright, and will make for a button on your coat if it +happens to gleam. I asked the age of ostriches, but could obtain no +information. They look wiry enough to live for ever. + +On our return to Gawler we called on the way to see an orange farm. +The oranges were being picked. The trees, laden with fruit, seemed +to have repaid the labour of the cultivator. Oranges require a great +deal of water. This grove was in a sheltered valley, and water was +supplied by a pump worked by wind. The man with us said you could +not tell exactly what sort of oranges would come, because the same +tree sometimes bears different kinds. Whether this is the case I do +not know. Paramatta, near Sydney, is the chief place for oranges in +Australia, but these of Gawler seemed to be as good as any we could +desire, to judge from the taste. At Gawler we had tea at a friend's +house. He said amongst other things--all interesting, but which I +have forgotten--that he always gave tramps a meal (which seems to be +the custom) and usually offered them work, but that none would work +for less than 4_s._ 6_d._ a day. They preferred to do nothing. The +Gawler Museum was close by. It contains native clubs, tom-toms, +skins of fishes, and a valuable book of engravings from Hogarth. The +last two or three days of my visit to South Australia I spent with +an old friend, who has been about six years a Professor at the +University. He lived about 20 miles to the east of Adelaide, beyond +the Mount Lofty range, and the scenery by rail thither, across the +mountains, is very striking. His comfortable house is about a mile +from the station, and here he spends his leisure time with his +family, in sensible pursuits. The University of Adelaide is yet in +its early youth, and only quite lately have any buildings been +erected for it, but the professorships are well endowed, and the +number of students annually increases. From Adelaide I returned by +steamer to Melbourne, and from there in a few days I went to +Tasmania. On my subsequent return to England I spent a day at +Adelaide, but then was in the company of friends the whole time. + + + + +V. + +Tasmania. + + +The island of Tasmania is about 200 miles direct South of Victoria. +Up to 1856 its name was Van Diemen's land. Then it was officially +changed to Tasmania, a name which is more euphonious and at the same +time more correct, for the island was discovered by the Dutch +navigator, Tasman, who called it after his father-in-law, Van +Diemen. The change of name does not seem at once to have been +appreciated in England, for it is related of the first Bishop of +Tasmania, Bishop Nixon that, having occasion to call at the Foreign +Office, he left his card "F. R. Tasmania," and received a reply +addressed to F. R. Tasmania, Esq.! This reminds one of the Duke of +Newcastle, who, when Prime Minister, expressed his astonishment that +Cape Breton was an island, and hurried off to tell the King. +Tasmania may be reached direct from England by the Steamers of the +Shaw Savill and Albion Line, which call at Hobart on their way to +New Zealand once a month. The Steamers of the New Zealand Shipping +Co. also call occasionally at Hobart for coal, but they are not to +be relied on for stopping. Tasmania is however usually reached from +Melbourne. Bass's Straits, the sea between Victoria and Tasmania is +usually stormy, and many passengers who have never been seasick all +the way from England have succumbed to Bass's Straits. What is more +remarkable however, is that some for whom Bass's Straits have had no +terrors, have been seasick on the narrow-gauge line from Launceston +to Hobart! There are two ways of going from Melbourne to Hobart, one +by Steamer to Launceston at the north of the Island, and 40 miles up +the river Tamar, which takes about 24 hours, and thence by express +train to Hobart which takes 5-3/4 hours, the other by Steamer all +the way. There are two lines of Steamers, the Tasmanian S.S. Co., +and the Union S.S. Co., of New Zealand, which calls at Hobart on the +way to New Zealand. The Steamers of the latter Company are built by +Messrs. Denny, of Dumbarton, and are fine, comfortable, and swift. +To travel by one of them is in my opinion far the pleasantest way of +reaching Hobart from Melbourne. Others to whom the shortest sea +passage is preferable, will naturally go by Launceston, and will +have a beautiful ride through the country, though they may be shaken +to pieces. + +Tasmania is about half the size of England, but its population is +only 120,000. There are only two towns of any size--Hobart in the +south and Launceston in the north. A great deal of the interior is +marshy, and there are lakes of some considerable size, which in the +winter are sometimes frozen. The north-west coast is very barren and +sparsely inhabited. The doctors and clergy in these parts have often +long journeys to make through the bush. In climate, Tasmania is +preferable to Australia. The temperature is much more equable, and +therefore not so trying to weak constitutions. Formerly, many +Anglo-Indians visited the north-west coast; but this has not been so +much the case latterly. Numbers of tourists come from Australia +during the summer months. Compared to the larger island, Tasmania is +well watered, and the rainfall is very much greater. The climate has +often been compared to that of England, without its damps and fogs, +but the lightness and clearness of the atmosphere rather resemble +that of the South of France or Italy, and supply that gentle +exhilaration to the spirits which can be so seldom known in England. +Mount Wellington, which rises 4,000 feet above Hobart, is often +covered with a wreath of mist, and in the winter with snow. Many +English fruits and trees have been introduced, and flourish well. +The sweet briar was brought in some years ago, and now in many parts +the hedges are of nothing else. The native foliage is, however, the +same as that of Australia. Everywhere the eucalyptus predominates, +and in Tasmania grows to a great height. Some of the finest trees +may be seen in driving from Hobart along the Huon Road. + +Up to within the last five and thirty years, the history of Tasmania +was that of a penal settlement. Much has been written of the convict +life, which it is not necessary to repeat here. I have often heard +that Marcus Clarke's powerful but repulsive tale, "His Natural Life" +is strictly true, even in its most horrible details. To the evils +inherent in the system, others seem to have been deliberately added by +the authorities. The convicts were employed as servants, and it was +even permitted to a free woman to marry a convict, and then if he +displeased her, she might have him punished. The buildings of the +settlement at Port Arthur are still standing, but are fast falling +into ruin. On the ceiling of the chapel there are yet to be seen marks +of blood from the floggings there inflicted. The old doors and bolts +of cells are used by the people in their own houses. It was of +frequent occurrence that convicts effected an escape, but they were +usually compelled, through hunger, to give themselves up. In cases +where several escaped, they became bushrangers, and rendered +travelling in the interior unsafe, for, their lives being already +forfeited, they had no motive to abstain from pillage and murder. It +appears that one at least of the Governors of the convict +establishments, took a malicious pleasure in taunting those under his +care. At length he fell a victim to his own conduct. It may be a +question whether it would not have been better to hang a man at once +than to transport him to Van Dieman's Land; but there can be no +question whatever that to class one who had been guilty of some petty +theft, with the abandoned wretches that convicts speedily become, is a +deed of which the wickedness can hardly be exaggerated. The system, +too, had a bad effect upon the free inhabitants. While the convicts +were no better than slaves, in the masters were engendered some of the +autocratic habits of slave-owners. If a convict gave the slightest +offence to his master or mistress, nothing was easier than to send him +with a note to the nearest magistrate, requesting that the bearer +might receive fifty lashes. The spirit of caste would soon be +manifested. The free white population would despise the convicts, or +children of convicts--perhaps also the poor free whites. These +distinctions have long ceased, but the feelings associated with them +are not so easily eradicated. Even now the descendants of convicts are +sometimes secretly looked down upon, and a great many have, on that +account, left the island. Much public work has been done by convict +labour. If a road is particularly well made, it is a sure remark that +it was made by the "Government stroke," but as a monument of human +industry, slave labour does not impress the mind like free labour. One +does not contemplate the pyramids of Egypt with the same satisfaction +as St. Peter's or St. Paul's. An account of the present aborigines of +Tasmania may be given with the same brevity as that of the snakes in +Ireland--there are none. The last was an old woman who died about ten +years ago. They were gradually reduced in numbers, partly by the +invaders, partly by natural causes, and at last the remnant was +deported to one of the neighbouring islands. In 1854 there were only +16 left. In the museum at Hobart are portraits of a good many, with +unpronounceable names. By the Australians, Tasmania is sometimes +called "sleepy hollow," and certainly, compared with their neighbours +across the water, the Tasmanians do appear to be deficient in energy. +The revenue of the country is, indeed, increasing, though slowly. +There are now only about 400,000 acres under cultivation. A great many +sheep are imported from Victoria. The principal manufacture is jam, +but the customs duties of Victoria put difficulties in the way of a +large export. Lately, the tin mines of Mount Bischoff, in the N.W., +have been exceedingly productive, but there is an immense amount of +mineral wealth in Tasmania not yet tapped. With the exception of +Newfoundland, it is, I believe, the only Colony not represented at the +present Colonial and Indian Exhibition, and this must be matter of +regret to all wellwishers of the island, because it is certainly not +due to want of materials for exhibition. There might be shown the +varieties of the gum tree, the beautiful tree-ferns, the pretty shells +which are made into necklaces, the skin of the black opossum, of which +the finest opossum rugs are made (the black opossum has, however, +become very rare, and brown skins are sometimes dyed black). There is, +too, the Tasmanian devil, a small but formidable animal, something +like a badger, and the ornithorhynchus, or duck-billed platypus, which +figures on some of the postage stamps. This want of energy is a fact, +however it may be accounted for. Probably the emigration to Australia +of some of the convict families, as above mentioned, has withdrawn +some useful members of society. Again, in 1851, the discovery of gold +in Victoria attracted the most adventurous spirits from the other +Colonies, and from Tasmania among the rest. It is true that much of +the dangerous and criminal element in the population may thus have +been removed, but, at the same time, the young blood went with it, +and, as Pericles said, to take the young away from a city is like +taking the spring out of the year, and now many of the young men go to +Australia or elsewhere to seek their fortunes, a fact which may be +considered as much an effect of the present stagnation as a cause of +it. Throughout the island generally the usual proportion of the sexes +is maintained, but in Hobart the female sex appears to have a decided +preponderance. Tasmania, and especially Hobart, has had a reputation +for the beauty of the women; Anthony Trollope and other writers +mention it. Many men from Melbourne have brought their wives from +across the straits. I am bound to say that my own observation scarcely +bore out this tradition, but one must be very insensible not to admire +the fresh and clear complexions both of women and men; they have the +same complexions as we see in England, than which there cannot be +higher commendation. Although the total population of Tasmania is so +small, the machinery of government is large. There is a Governor, a +Legislative Council of 16 members, and a Legislative Assembly of 32 +members. Both houses are elective, though not with the same suffrage; +but as even the lower house is not elected by manhood suffrage, the +constitution is not so democratic as that of Victoria. During my visit +the chief political question was the defence of the island against +possible Russian attack. The artillery were daily practising at +Kangaroo Point, which commands the entrance to Hobart. The present +acting Chief Justice had been Premier and Attorney General for five +years previously, and had brought the finances into a satisfactory +state. Each minister has a salary of £700. The High Court of Justice +consists of a Chief Justice and a Puisne Judge. The result of this is +that there is virtually no appeal from the decision of a single judge; +because, if even on appeal the Court should be divided, the previous +judgment must necessarily be confirmed. The only appeal, therefore, is +to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, a proceeding which +would probably be attended with too much expense to be ever resorted +to. The two branches of the legal profession--Barristers and +Solicitors--are amalgamated, but in practice they are usually kept +distinct. A jury consists of seven, of whom a majority of five can +give a verdict. + +Education is well endowed in Tasmania. There is as yet no +University, though attempts have been made to found one, but the +Council of Education confers the degree of Associate of Arts, and +every year two scholarships, called the "Tasmanian Scholarships," +of the value of £200 per annum, each for four years, to be held at +any British university, are awarded if the candidates pass +satisfactorily the required examination. This is indeed a splendid +scholarship. There are various other scholarships for boys and +girls under the age of 12, and others for those under 15, so that +it is possible for a boy to rise "from the gutter to the +University." The recent success of girls has brought forward the +question whether they too should not be allowed to compete for the +Tasmanian Scholarship. Newspapers may be sent post free to Great +Britain or the other colonies, to promote, I presume, knowledge of +the country. The telephone is much more in use than in England, and +is frequently used in place of the telegraph. The cost of it is +only £6 per annum. Nor in railway communication is Tasmania behind. +I mean that there are enough railways to keep up with the +requirements of the country, but new lines are being made, and they +of course will create fresh requirements. The principal line is +that connecting Launceston with Hobart. It belongs to a private +company, but the Government guaranteed 5 per cent. on the cost of +construction up to £650,000. That sum was not sufficient, and +subsequently £100,000 and £50,000 had to be borrowed to complete +the line. The present income is about £70,000--a large amount for +the small population at each end and on the way. Therefore when the +chairman at the recent meeting of shareholders in London +anticipated an income of £150,000, he was rather in the clouds. The +line is 133 miles in length, and has a gauge of 3ft. 6in. It +passes through some beautiful scenery, especially towards the +Hobart end, and the numerous bends of the line give travellers an +excellent opportunity for seeing the country. To one not used to +it, however, the jolting is most unpleasant, and the pace kept up +round the curves is too great for safety. Indeed, there have lately +been some fatal accidents on that very account. Among the stations +are Jerusalem and Jericho, before which the line skirts the Lake of +Tiberias. Not far off is Bagdad--which also has its Caliph. There +is one express train a day each way, which keeps up an average +speed of 23 miles per hour. Launceston has about 15,000 +inhabitants, and is a more business-like town than Hobart. +Otherwise it is not particularly interesting. Hobart, which up to +1881 was called Hobart Town, has a most enchanting situation. The +scenery is of that ideal nature which, especially when the +afternoon sun gleams on the water and the hills, reminds the +spectator (if it is not contradictory to say so) of the "Light that +never was on sea or land." + +Hobart lies about seven miles from the sea, which here runs up into +the land like a Norwegian fiord, and at the mouth of the river +Derwent. It is built upon sloping ground, between the river and +Mount Wellington, a huge mass that dwarfs every other object. Each +side of this fiord are green hills, from any one of which are +charming views of sea and land. The town much resembles an English +country town. The streets are narrower than those of Australian +towns, and though mostly at right angles are not so painfully +regular. They are mostly named after past Governors, as Macquarie +Street, Davey Street, Collins Street, Franklin Square, etc. Over the +Town Hall a flag flies, with the proud motto "_Sic fortis Hobartia +crevit_," and the arms of the city, supported by a kangaroo and an +emu. Under this same roof is the Public Library, containing about +10,000 volumes. The chief English periodicals are taken here. I +remember reading here Froude's "Carlyle in London," which is a +biography worthy to stand beside Boswell. It is a real biography, +not a mere jumble of undigested letters and diary thrown before the +public, which is too much the modern notion of writing Somebody's +Life. Hobart has none of the cosmopolitanism of Melbourne. Its +habits are essentially provincial--what the Germans call +_Kleinstädtisch_. There is a small theatre at Hobart, to which +companies sometimes come from Melbourne. I saw the "Ticket-of-Leave +Man" here. The audience, which almost entirely consisted of the pit, +were still in that primitive stage of criticism in which the villain +(who was a good actor) was hooted, and the honest man (an +indifferent actor) vehemently applauded. I remember asking the way +to the theatre of a bearded individual, who turned out to be an +officer of the Salvation Army. "Ah, sir!" he said, "We don't believe +in theatres, we're booked for Heaven"--a most comfortable conviction +to carry through this life, whatever may be the ultimate issue. +Lying as it does in the midst of such beautiful scenery, Hobart is +a good centre from which to make excursions. A favourite place for +picnics is Brown's River, about 10 miles away, the road following +the water edge along "Sandy Bay." An Antipodean picnic is nothing +without tea. In fact the tea-pot is the centre round which +everything revolves. The first thing to be done is to collect wood +for a fire. The "billy" is then filled with water and set to boil. +Meantime those not connected with these preliminaries wander through +the woods or along the shore. At a picnic to Brown's River I saw the +famous cherries with the stones growing outside. It certainly is a +kind of fruit with the stone outside, but bears no resemblance +whatever to the cherry. Near Brown's River is the Blow Hole. This is +an opening at the bottom of a rock, through which at certain states +of the tide the water rushes, I presume, with much noise and +violence, but when I saw it all was quiet. For a two days excursion +from Hobart, none can be better than to take the coach along the +Huon Road to Victoria, at the head of the Huon River, sleep there, +and the next morning take the steamer from Victoria down the small +river, along the D'Entrecasteaux channel between the island of Bruni +and the mainland, and so back to Hobart. I had arranged for this +trip with a friend, and had gone so far as to consult the "Captain +of the Pinafore," (the tiny craft above alluded to), as to the time +of starting from Victoria, for she does not start every day, but an +accident at the last moment prevented us. Subsequently, however, I +had in a drive a good opportunity of seeing the best of the scenery +along the Huon Road. Along the Huon River I am told there are +hermits. At any rate there is one man who has not been seen for nine +years. He brings any fruit he has to sell to a certain spot and +lights a fire. This is seen, and in exchange for his commodities +food is left for him. + +Another beautiful trip from Hobart is a journey of 20 miles up the +river Derwent to New Norfolk. The steamer takes about three hours. +About halfway the river is crossed by the main line railway at +Bridgewater, and up to this point is of a considerable width. On the +North the river skirts the wooded sides of Mount Direction, on the +South Mount Wellington almost fills up the landscape. After passing +Bridgewater the river much narrows, and further on the woods descend +to the water's edge in some places, reminding the traveller of the +Dart between Dartmouth and Totnes. Just before reaching New Norfolk +a huge rock, called from its shape the Pulpit Rock, quite overhangs +the river. A branch line from Bridgewater to New Norfolk was being +made along the North side, close to the water's edge, and now the +Pulpit Rock has been removed, for though a picturesque object it +looked dangerous, and everything must, of course, give way to +railways. On landing at the wharf at New Norfolk, a boy came forward +and offered to drive me to the well-known salmon ponds, where, for a +good many years, attempts have been made to rear salmon from ova +brought from England, but it is doubtful whether they have met with +success. Small fish have certainly been raised, but the question is +whether they are salmon, and it is said none have attained a size +sufficiently large to solve the enigma. The distance is only a few +miles, and the drive is pretty, but ten shillings was too much for +the pleasure of a solitary journey, for there was no one else likely +to be a passenger in the winter time. New Norfolk lies pleasantly +situated in a valley on the South side of the Derwent. The soil is +favourable for hops, which have been introduced from England, and +grow well here. I have been told that the freight of hops from +Tasmania to England is less than the carriage from some parts of +Kent to London; but as the carriage, say from Maidstone to London, +is about one and sixpence per pocket, they could be carried at such +a rate from Tasmania only as a back freight, and when the owner +wants anything to fill up. For the night I put up at the "Bush," the +favourite and principal inn, but now I was the only guest. After +dark I started out to see the little township, but as the moon was +only in its first quarter, and there was no artificial light, not +much could be made out then. Launceston and Hobart are the only +towns that have gas, and while the moon is shining, or is due to +shine, even that is not lighted--a piece of economy that may be +excused where gas is about ten shillings per thousand. The next day +I returned by land to Hobart, travelling to Bridgewater by a +top-heavy coach, which at every turn sent my heart into my mouth, +but it was skilfully driven. + +Tasmania cannot be said to have progressed much of late years, yet +it does make progress, and is not now receding as it was when Sir C. +Dilke visited it about 20 years ago. I do not know that any land is +now allowed to go out of cultivation as was then the case. It has +not been entirely its own fault either. The protective duties of +Victoria have much checked the exportation of fruit and jam. The +question of Protection _versus_ Free Trade is a permanent subject of +controversy in the Colonies. At the present moment the Premier of +Victoria is a Free Trader, while the Chief Secretary is an ardent +Protectionist. If this difference of opinion exists in the most +advanced and populous colony, what certainty of policy can be looked +for in the others? The best solution would probably be an +intercolonial Zollverein, towards which events seem to be tending. +Whether eventually it will include Great Britain is a part of the +wider question of Federation. That Tasmania is a country with many +resources--especially mineral wealth--as yet undeveloped, is a +conclusion at which most people will arrive, even after a short +visit to the colony; but, how soon and in what way this development +will take place depends, of course, upon the character of the +inhabitants, and this character will, no doubt, improve as the +remembrances of the convict life, which has so blighted this +beautiful island, gradually recede into the dim distance of the +past. + + + + +VI. + +Auckland and Sydney. + + +I do not know that I have any right to say anything about New +Zealand, seeing that I was only three days upon the North +Island. I had indeed intended to have paid a proper visit. I had +intended seeing the famous pink and white terraces (now alas! +destroyed), and the rest of the lake district; and at various +places I had a good many introductions from friends. But the +force of circumstances--sometimes said to be another name for +weakness of will--intervened, and my fine schemes ended +ingloriously in a flying visit to Auckland, on a business +matter. + +I have before alluded to the excellent steamers of the Union S.S. +Co., of New Zealand. This Company appears to have a monopoly of the +trade between Australia and New Zealand, and if their steamers +continue as they now are there is not much reason to fear +competition. They start from Melbourne, call at Hobart, run across +to the South of the island of New Zealand, then, calling at the +principal ports along the whole length of the east coast of the two +islands till they reach Auckland, they steam straight across to +Sydney. The same journey is made back again from Sydney to +Melbourne. The route is sometimes varied, but this is the usual +course. The names of their steamers are from lakes in New Zealand, +Tarawera, Wairarapa, Te Anau, &c., while the steamers of the New +Zealand Shipping Co. are named from mountains, as Tongariro, +Aorangi, Rimutaka, &c. On the day that I had arranged to leave +Hobart by the Union line for New Zealand, it happened that one of +the New Zealand Co.'s steamers called in for coal, and as this +steamer--a fine vessel of 4,000 tons--was going direct to Auckland +it suited me much better. She had come round the Cape, thus avoiding +the heat of the Suez Canal. This is a monthly service direct to New +Zealand. The Shaw Savill and Albion Line also has a monthly service, +so that every fortnight there is a steamer direct from England +arriving in New Zealand. The sea was smooth, and consequently the +passage was quick. On the morning of the third day we passed the +Snares Rocks, to the south of Stewart's Island. On the fifth, the +snowy sides of the Kaikoura mountains were glittering in the morning +sun as we passed a few miles from shore, and about 4 o'clock on the +morning of the eighth day, we were alongside the wharf in the +spacious harbour of Auckland. Close by, my eye was caught by the +"Ohau," a small steamer, which, as it happened, I had seen launched +about nine months previously at Dumbarton--little expecting to see +it again. + +It is doubtful whether New Zealand belongs geographically to +Australia or to the Pacific Islands. It is said that some shocks of +earthquake in New Zealand have been felt in Tasmania. On the other +hand there is above a thousand miles of rough sea between Australia +and New Zealand, with no connecting islands between, and nature +presents quite a different aspect in the two countries. The gum tree +is the principal tree on the Australian continent, the Kauri pine in +New Zealand. In the latter country there are no kangaroos, no emus, +no snakes, in fact very few indigenous animals. The bones of a +gigantic bird, the moa, are to be found, but the bird itself has +long been extinct. Every variety of climate and scenery may be found +in New Zealand. The winter of the South Island is as rigorous as +that of England, while the North Island nearly reaches the tropics. +In the North Island are the famous hot lakes; in the South the very +lofty range of mountains known as the Southern Alps, which attains a +height of 13,000 feet in Mount Cook. The scenery on the South-west +coast, from Milford Sound downwards, where the sea runs up many +miles into the land, and the steamer passes through narrow straits +between perpendicular walls of rock, has often been compared to that +of the wilder fiords of Norway. It is little more than forty years +since New Zealand was colonized by Europeans, but already shoals of +books have been written about it. The Maoris, as is well known, are +not the original inhabitants. Their traditions relate--and they are +confirmed by independent investigations--that they came about 400 +years ago from the South Sea Islands, and drove out or exterminated +the natives. As a fact the Maoris are immeasurably superior to the +Australian natives. Captain Cook, in describing his landing in 1769, +says, "one of the natives raised his spear, as if to dart it at the +boat; the coxswain fired, and shot him dead,"--a melancholy omen of +the future relations between the natives and the strangers. The +Maori wars have cost us many lives, but, of course, have always had +the same ending. The natives have gradually been straitened in room, +and their numbers have steadily declined. It is true that the census +of 1881 shows a rather larger number of natives (44,000 odd) than in +1858, but in the latter year it was probably not so accurately made, +and there is little doubt that they are now rapidly diminishing. +They are nearly all in the North Island, in the neighbourhood of the +Hot Lake district. The portion specially alloted to them is called +the King Country, and no European may enter this without permission. +Thus they have prevented the ascent of Mount Tongariro, which is +_tapu_, or sacred. They are now much better treated than formerly, +and send four members to Parliament. In their language there is no +_s_ or _f_, vowels are very numerous, and every word ends with a +vowel. The sound of the words, therefore, is easy and flowing, and +the native names are far more euphonious than those of Australia. + +There is already a good deal of literature about the Maoris, their +habits and customs and religious ideas. No doubt they are of the +widely-spread Malay race, which has over-run the South Pacific. The +religious notions of the most different races in a certain stage of +civilization much resemble one another. We know, for instance, that +the Greeks of Homer's time (whatever that was) besides worshipping +the gods of Olympus, identified every ruin, mountain, or cape with +some superhuman person--whether demon, or hero, or nymph. So we read +(in Wakefield's adventures in New Zealand) that the chief Heu-Heu +appeals to his ancestor the great mountain Tongariro, "I am the +Heu-Heu, and rule over you all just as my ancestor, Tongariro, the +mountain of Snow, stands above all this land." Heu-Heu refused +permission to anyone to ascend the mountain, on the ground that it +was his _tipuna_ or ancestor,--"he constantly identified himself +with the mountain, and called it his sacred ancestor." The mountains +in New Zealand are accounted by the natives male and female. +Tarawera and Taranaki, two male mountains, once quarrelled about the +affections of a small volcanic female mountain in the neighbourhood. +A great deal about the transactions between the New Zealand +Government and the natives may be learnt from the recent interesting +libel action of _Bryce_ v. _Rusden_, in which the former, who has +been native minister in the Government, recovered £5000 damages +against the defendant, the author of a History of New Zealand. Up to +1876 the islands were divided into nine provinces, each of which had +a separate Council, subject to the central Government at Wellington, +but in that year the provincial Councils were abolished, and the +Government is now like that of the Australian Colonies, with a +governor and two houses of Parliament. The members of the Lower +House are paid. In "Greater Britain," Sir Charles Dilke, making a +contrast between New Zealand and Australia, suggests that New +Zealand is aristocratic and Australia democratic. To me they +appeared equally democratic. The payment of members is an advanced +step even in a democracy. + +Auckland is by far the largest town in the North Island, with its +suburbs, now containing nearly 50,000 inhabitants. Up to 1864 it was +also the seat of Government, but that was then moved to Wellington +as being a more central town. There is much rivalry between Auckland +and Dunedin, the largest town in the South Island. Dunedin is the +capital of the pro-provincial district of Otago, which is chiefly +inhabited by Scotch, or people of Scotch descent. The Scotch have +the great merit of sticking to their friends. If there is anything +to be done or gained, a Scotchman naturally gets the preference. I +heard an amusing illustration of this on the way to New Zealand. At +one of the ports in Otago a steamer required new boilers, and +tenders were asked for. One was much lower than the others, and was +accepted. The name of the contractor appeared to be Macpherson, but +when sent for he turned out to be a Chinaman. He had been shrewd +enough to see that he had no chance of getting the work in his own +name. The total population of New Zealand is a little over 500,000, +and the public debt is about £37,000,000. This seems to show that +taxation must be high. A good deal of this large amount has, it is +true, been expended on railways, which all belong to the State, and +therefore the burden, though heavy, is not quite so heavy as it +appears at first sight. A friend at Auckland told me that New +Zealand is a paradise for working-men and for men with capital, who +can safely lend it at a high rate of interest. It is probably, too, +a capital place for domestic servants, who everywhere in the +Colonies seem to have pretty much their own way. I have also heard +that dentists are much in request. A lady, living near Auckland, had +to drive twelve miles, and then put her name down in a book three +weeks beforehand, to see the dentist! But for people who want to +find something to do, and have no money and no manual skill, the +prospect is not so smiling. For instance, I should not imagine that +teaching is a lucrative pursuit--private teaching that is to say, +for in public teaching the supply is in excess of the demand, and, +no doubt, rightly so, in a young community. New Zealand annually +spends on education £500,000, or £1 per head of the population, a +higher proportion than is spent by any other country. Formerly there +was the University of Otago and the University of New Zealand, but +the former has now ceased to have the power of conferring degrees, +and has been virtually amalgamated with the University of New +Zealand. This University has affiliated colleges at Auckland, +Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, though the latter is still +styled the University of Otago. Each of these colleges has a staff +of highly-paid professors, with not much to do as yet in the strict +line of business, to judge by the number of students. But of course +the taste for advanced education has to be created before it can be +much in request. The salaries are large enough to tempt over some of +the best men from England, but a professor is expected to come out +as a public man much more here than at home. He is expected to +deliver a course of lectures in public, to entertain socially, and +to interest himself in local affairs. At Auckland they boasted that +on their School Board they had a Senior Classic and a Senior +Wrangler. + +Auckland is, as I said, the only town I actually visited in New +Zealand. Of the town itself there is not much to be said. It is not +particularly interesting, and the climate is rather relaxing; when +it rains the roads are almost impassable with mud. But its situation +is most charming from its beauty, and most advantageous for trade. +The harbour of Auckland is thought by some to rival that of Sydney +for beauty and commodiousness. From the summit of Mount Eden, an +extinct volcano, with a perfectly formed crater (its extinction, +however, does not appear so certain, after the recent experience of +Mount Tarawera, which was thought to be equally extinct), an +extensive view of Auckland and the two seas is to be obtained. For +at this point the North Island is so narrow, that Manukau harbour on +the west side comes close up to Auckland, and at one point the +distance across is only a mile and a half. There has been a project +mooted to cut through the narrow isthmus, and thus lessen the +journey to Sydney by about 300 miles, but all the harbours of New +Zealand lie towards the Pacific, not towards Australia, and there is +a formidable bar at the entrance to Manukau harbour, so that after +all the expense would probably be too great. Auckland is on the +direct track for steamers from San Francisco to Sydney, and up to +last year there was a regular service of three steamers, once a +month--I forget the name of the line. Many went by this route, as +the fare from Sydney to London this way is only £66, including the +rail across America, but there were many complaints of the +inferiority of the steamers. That line has now ceased, but the Union +Line of New Zealand now run their steamers along the same route, +and, I believe, have a subsidy from New Zealand and New South Wales +for the mail service to America. It was by one of the steamers of +the former line, the "Zealandia," that I left Auckland for Sydney on +the 28th June. The voyage took five days over a calm sea, and was +quite without incident. We were, however, enlivened by the presence +of Mr. Dion Boucicault, the well-known playwright and actor, with +his company, who were on their way to fulfil engagements in +Melbourne and Sydney, after some years stay in America; we had many +amusing, but highly-coloured anecdotes. Among them one alone, told +by an actor who died sadly and suddenly at Melbourne a few weeks +later, now remains in my memory. Some time previously he had been +acting at Ottawa, and the play was Richard III. He was Richmond, and +in reply to his speech the Duke of Norfolk says, "Your words are +fire, my lord, and warm our men." On this occasion the army +consisted of one man, one woman (dressed as a soldier) and a boy, +and the very conscientious duke replied, "Your words are fire, my +lord, and warm our _man_." I tell it as it was told me, but my +friend must have made some mistake. These words do not occur in +Shakespeare's Richard III. (though they may in the acting version) +and at any rate there is no conversation between Richmond and the +Duke of Norfolk. + +On arrival at Sydney I made no stay, but returned to Melbourne the +next day by steamer. However, I paid my visit of five weeks to +Sydney a short time afterwards. This time I left Melbourne by the +very fine steamer Buninyong, of 3000 tons, belonging to Howard, +Smith & Co., I believe the largest of the Inter-Colonial Steamers. +After passing Wilson's Promontory, the extreme South point of +Victoria, and indeed of Australia, the coast is in sight the whole +way. After about 54 hours we entered Sydney Heads. It was then +twilight, and quite dark before we came alongside the wharf. The +entrance to the Heads at Sydney is about a mile wide, but is +scarcely seen before it is entered. The Cliffs on each side are +several hundred feet high. The projecting points of the Cliff on the +North side, when seen at a certain angle, made a good imitation of +the Duke of Wellington's profile. A fast steamer from Melbourne +takes about 48 hours, but then fast steamers are sometimes +dangerous; most people have read of the terrible wrecks of the +Cahors and the Lyeemoon, within a few months of each other, the two +fastest steamers of the Australian Steam Navigation Co.; the latter +wreck caused the loss of 70 lives. Both were the result of steering +too close inland, to save an hour or two. To suspend or cancel a +captain's certificate, or even to prosecute him, is a small +consolation for such things as these. Moreover, when there is time +to use the boats, they are too often found to be unseaworthy. The +steamers themselves are inspected by the Marine Board, and +certificates granted for 6 months, but the boats, though included in +the certificate, are not separately examined. Being exposed to the +hot sun day after day, they become very dry, and consequently leak +when wanted for use. If the captain was bound to keep the boats +seaworthy as distinct from the ship, he would be more careful to +have them tested now and then. Mr. Wm. Smith, of Sydney, has +recently invented a life-boat, which, it has been proved, cannot be +upset. He has offered it freely to the Government, but owing to +differences with some officials of the Marine Board, it has never +received a fair trial at their hands. The recent loss of life at +sea will not have been entirely useless, if it directs public +attention to his most valuable invention. The harbour of Sydney has +been often described, and I will not attempt to do so, especially as +all descriptions of scenery are unsatisfactory. They seldom convey +any definite impression, and a good photograph is better than any +number of them. However, it disputes with that of Rio Janeiro, the +name of the "finest harbour in the world"--whatever that may mean +exactly. In shape it somewhat resembles a huge octopus, the +innumerable creeks and inlets branching out like so many feelers, +yet there can scarcely be said to be a centre from which they +radiate. Numberless steamers ply all day to various points, mostly +starting from the "Circular Quay," the principal wharf of the city. +Small steamers rush in everywhere up the smallest rivers, and have +to be of the lightest draught. In the summer many of the rivers are +dry. The captain of one, not to be outbid by his rival, advertised +to start "the next heavy dew." + +I spent many of my days in Sydney in exploring the harbour, by the +aid of steamers, but to see it adequately would require many weeks. +Watson's Bay is near the South Head. Close by is the "Gap," where +the City of Dunbar was wrecked on the 20th August, 1857. The +anniversary of the day is kept. The Captain, steering straight for +the entrance as he thought, ran upon the rocks. There was only one +survivor, who was thrown upon a ledge of rock, and was not found for +two days. The ship was full of colonists returning home, and the +calamity threw nearly all Sydney into mourning. There is now a +lighthouse near at hand, with a magnificent electric light, which +can be seen thirty miles away. At Manly Beach, near the North Head, +is a fine sandy tract; it is a favourite bathing-place, and round +about are many pretty villas. A young clergyman, recently come from +England as _locum tenens_ to an absent vicar, was then at Manly +Beach with his wife. I had known him in England, so we made up a +picnic to drive northward from Manly about 15 miles, to a place +called Pitwater. A charming drive it was. Now and then glimpses of +the sea on the right hand were seen. For several miles the road was +bordered with the lovely wild flowers which grow in profusion near +Sydney, so much so that in September the ladies of Manly get up a +wild-flower show. The varieties of the wattle are especially +beautiful. Pitwater consisted of one house, to which the road had +been made but a few months previously. It was at the edge of an +inlet from the sea, which here comes in some distance, but it looked +like an inland lake, so still and solemn were the surroundings. My +friend had the reputation of being one of the best, if not the best, +preachers in Sydney. He occupied one of the largest churches and +kept it full. His matter was excellent, but his reputation he owed +chiefly to his admirable elocution, in which art he had taken +lessons in London. If only more clergymen would have the sense to do +the same! It is very well to say that, as religion is so +all-important a subject, any sermon should compel attention. Perhaps +that should be so, but men are mortal, and sermons are not listened +to any more than any other utterances if they are tedious and badly +delivered. + +The area of New South Wales is over 300,000 square miles, or half as +large again as that of France. Its population is a little under a +million. Sydney, with 220,000, is the only large town; there is not +another above 15,000. There is little agriculture and no +manufactures to speak of. At Newcastle, about 60 miles north of +Sydney, coal is found in abundance, and from there most of Australia +is supplied, but much of it is of a dirty and smoky kind, more fit +for steamers than for domestic use. Coal has now been found in +Gippsland, in Victoria, and it is a question of carriage to bring it +into use at Melbourne. The New South Wales coal is about 21s. a ton +in Melbourne. The pastoral interest (sheep farming) is the +principal, almost the only interest in New South Wales, therefore +when one drought follows another the whole colony is of course +depressed. At these times the public offices in Sydney are besieged +by crowds of men out of work, and the Government will employ as many +as possible, sometimes uselessly. This is a dangerous thing, for men +speedily acquire the notion that if they do nothing for themselves +the Government is bound to provide for them. But a man out of work +in Sydney or Melbourne is a different animal from the same man in +England. If offered 4s. 6d. a day for stone breaking he will object +that it blisters his hands. He wants not merely work, but work that +he happens to like, and any politician who will provide him with +work of this kind will be sure of his vote at the next election. + +It is difficult to get at the truth about the state of the labour +market in New South Wales. The newspaper accounts are most +conflicting. One writer asserts that any man with honesty and +determination can make his living at any time; another speaks of the +numbers of skilled artisans who cannot get employment. But if some +of these latter have the fastidious tastes above mentioned, it will +be seen that the destitution is to a certain extent artificial. But +reasoning on these subjects speedily merges in the ocean of Free +Trade _v._ Protection, upon which I will not further touch. Sydney +is the oldest town in the Colonies, having been founded in 1788. It +has quite the air of an old established place--the abode of men for +generations. The principal streets run East and West the whole +length of the town down to the harbour, a distance of nearly four +miles. In the centre is Hyde Park, a prettily laid-out piece of 40 +acres, but the most beautiful spot is the Botanical Gardens, which +slope down to the water's edge. Especial pains have been taken to +render them an admirable specimen of horticulture. Nearly every tree +and shrub that will grow in this climate is here to be found. Near +them is the "National Gallery," where may be seen many paintings +that a few years ago graced the walls of Burlington House. The chief +attraction during my visit was a copy of Miss Thompson's, "Roll +Call," said to be by the artist herself. £4000 was to be given for +it on proof of its authenticity, but it did not require the eye of a +connoisseur to judge that such proof was not likely to be +forthcoming, and so it proved. It is evidently an inferior copy by +another hand. The principal residential street is Macquarie Street, +which faces the public gardens. Six years ago an Exhibition was held +in these gardens. The building was mysteriously burned down, no +doubt by incendiarism, but it was never found out, though it was +jokingly said it was the act of some inhabitant of Macquarie Street, +for the building quite obstructed their view. + +I have before said that rents in Melbourne are very high. In Sydney +they are much higher. The small house in which I boarded in +Macquarie Street was rented at £5 10s. a week, and the landlord +refused to make any repairs whatever, because, as he said, and truly +enough, he could any day get £6 a week. In a London suburb the rent +would be about £60 a year. Of course it was in the best situation in +Sydney. In the outskirts of the town there was much land +speculation. Land is sold at so much a foot, _i.e._ a strip of a +foot in breadth, and about 360 feet in length. There is in Sydney a +complete system of steam tramways, which run to the distance of six +or seven miles out of the town. Accidents to pedestrians are not +uncommon. Vehicles are hardly seen in the streets where the trams +run. One line goes out as far as Botany. I walked from there along +the famous bay which was so nearly having Sydney built upon its +shore. It lies about seven miles North of Sydney, and is almost as +quiet as when Captain Phillip landed a hundred years ago. + +In New South Wales there are two Houses of Parliament and a +Governor, as usual. The Lower House is elected by universal +suffrage, but the Legislative Council is nominated by the Governor. +The late Governor was certainly not popular, in spite of what the +guide books say. Whether rightly or wrongly, there was a widespread +impression that, being a comparatively poor man he had been sent +out, like a Roman proconsul, to increase his private means. It is +certain that a Governor of New South Wales cannot adequately +discharge his numerous functions on less than his official salary of +£7000 per annum, and any appearance of parsimony is naturally +resented. It is not exactly the most suitable post for an elderly +diplomatist accustomed to the pomps and inanities of European +courts. The Attorney General of New South Wales, Mr. (now, I think, +Sir William) Dalley, is by many people considered the foremost +statesman in Australia. It was he, who, during the illness of the +then Premier, despatched the contingent to the Soudan. He is, +undoubtedly, a remarkable speaker, and has recently been created a +Privy Councillor--the only colonial statesman hitherto raised to +that dignity. + +The Church of England flourishes in Sydney. There is the Cathedral +of St. Andrew, and many other churches. The Bishop (who is the +Metropolitan of Australia), Dr. Barry, the late well-known principal +of King's College, has done much by his broadness of view and +liberality of sentiment to lessen local religious differences. The +Roman Catholics have been building an enormous Cathedral, not yet +finished. They, too, are a numerous body. The memory of the late +Archbishop Vaughan, who died here in harness, is perfectly idolized +by them. The University of Sydney has an imposing building, on a +site overlooking the City, with a large hall and spacious lecture +rooms. The late Professor of Classics was Dr. Badham, the renowned +Greek scholar. The affiliated colleges are denominational, St. +Paul's, Church of England; St. John's, Roman Catholic; and St. +Andrew's, Presbyterian. There is, of course, a public library in +Sydney, but it cannot for a moment compete with that of Melbourne, +and, from a casual inspection, it did not appear to me that the +books were well selected. There is also a public lending library. In +Sydney there are a good many Chinese. Some of them are doctors. One +Chinese doctor professes to make a diagnosis of any disease by mere +inspection, and will then prescribe medicine to effect a cure in a +week, a month, or a year, according to the patient's wish, the less +the time the higher the price of the specific. I have heard that in +China people pay their doctors as long as they are in good health, +but when ill require their services for nothing. This appears a plan +worth trying elsewhere. Unfortunately I did not have an opportunity +of seeing more of New South Wales than Sydney and its immediate +neighbourhood. One of the favourite excursions from Sydney, is to go +by rail to Mount Victoria, about 80 miles, to pass over the +celebrated "Zig-zag," a specimen of engineering skill, where the +train climbs the mountain side, and at one point is so many hundred +feet exactly above a point it passed some time before. To judge by a +photograph it must resemble the line over the Brenner Pass in the +Tyrol, where, near the station of Gossensass, there is a similar +zig-zag. + +Some large stalactite caverns, called the "Fish River Caves," are +well worth a visit. Hitherto they have been nearly inaccessible to +the ordinary tourist, but lately the Government has appointed a man +to reside there, and the road has been made more practicable. From +Sydney I returned by rail to Melbourne. The distance is nearly 600 +miles, and the train takes 18 hours including stoppages, so that a +very good speed is maintained all the way. At the frontier, which is +reached about 6 a.m., the traveller must change trains, as the gauge +is wider in Victoria than on the New South Wales lines. After +entering Victoria, the line passes through what is called the "Kelly +Country," where the famous bushrangers, Kelly and his associates, +committed their outrages some years ago. In a very short time Sydney +will be connected by rail with Brisbane, and there will then be a +continuous line from Adelaide through Melbourne and Sydney to +Brisbane, a distance of not less than 1,600 miles. This will no +doubt much increase the importance of Adelaide, because many people +will be glad to land from a steamer as soon as possible. A few days +after arrival at Melbourne, I returned by P. and O. steamer to +England, and as I am not prepared to inflict on any one an account +of so hackneyed a voyage, I finish at this point. + +In ancient times colonists were sent out by Phoenicians or Greeks +(the Roman colonies were for military and political purposes) among +people who to them were barbarians (which, after all, only means +people speaking a foreign tongue) but who might be only a little +inferior to themselves in civilization. A Greek colony, for +instance, settled among the Egyptians, by whom the Greeks themselves +were accounted barbarians. The colonists to America from England two +and a half centuries ago, had to contend with somewhat similar +difficulties as the first colonists of Australia, but they had not +so many modern appliances. The Australian Colonies are particularly +interesting, because they exhibit people of an ancient civilization +and fixed customs thrown into contact with the elemental conditions +of life. They had to start at the very beginning, and that, too, +with an overplus of criminal population. Their success hitherto is a +testimony to the inherent vitality and tenacity of the English race, +and to sneer at them as if they were children, or to patronize them, +is not merely bad taste, but shows an utter ignorance of the facts. +In many things they have begun where we left off. They have had the +advantage of our experience, and in many things we may profitably +learn from them. For instance, when we hear much airy talk of the +nationalization of the land in England and other equally fundamental +questions for a country to have to consider, it would be well to +study the problem in Australia, where the greatest landlord is the +State. Amid the conflict of forces which make up the struggle of +life, it is not much use talking about rights and duties until the +actual forces at work are taken into calculation. Not at all that +might makes right, as Carlyle is often misrepresented to have said +(of which he pathetically complains), but right that in the long run +makes might; and the best social results are obtained by looking +from this point of view at the many difficulties of our present +existence. + + + + +M. HARLAND & SON, Printers, Phoenix Works, Manor Street, Hull. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Six Letters From the Colonies, by Robert Seaton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIX LETTERS FROM THE COLONIES *** + +***** This file should be named 29609-8.txt or 29609-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/0/29609/ + +Produced by Nick Wall and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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