Australian Town and Country Journal at KellyGang 1/1/1876 (2)

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The municipalities are all well off, and they pay great attention to the state of their roads, and such lands ns belong to them. The consequence is that the country near the city is gradually assuming a lovely appearance. Wherever the public resort to care is taken to make the spot sightly, and I doubt whether the people of London have such zealous caterers as are to be found in Melbourne. In one place on the St. Kilda road somebody, either corporate or private, has made, a fine lagoon out of a dirty swamp, and sailing matches take place on it.

Wherever there is a chance up goes a fountain or a statute, or something to aesthetic and pretty, for your Melbourner is Parisian in its tastes. Of course I have only received these impressions from casual trips round about, but a very little acquaintance with al fresco and suburban Melbourne will reveal many beauties which show out by contrast with other places. The people of Melbourne and indeed Victoria stood much in need of civilising and elevating influences, for they are developing characteristics that auger ill for the country, unless their tendencies are rightly directed. The Victorian is shrewd, busy, smart, inordinately fond of pleasure, given to boasting, and inclined to exert diplomacy rather than hard work.

In his tastes he resembles the Parisian and American, being a sort of combination of the two, though the strong Anglo Saxon feeling pervading his nature, helps to steady him. When, however, the leaven of British blood and feeling is subordinated he is inclined to American rowdiness and reckless gaiety. Ruffianism is almost an institution in this colony. Fortunately the police and the magistracy have, adopted active measures to crush out this alarming evil, which was more than incipient; as very-day acts of premeditated violence showed, while it is notorious that there is a bond of larrikin union prevailing amongst hundreds of young boys, who aim at becoming noteworthy ruffians and boast of their ill deeds. Considerable alarm has been occasioned lately by repeated attempts to throw trains off the lines by placing obstruction on the rails. This diabolical practice has been perused so often that the forthcoming excursions by rail are likely to be interfered with, and it in proposed to run pilot engines before the trains. By this it would seem that the spirit of lawlessness and rowdyism is not confined to the city.

But for the strenuous exertions or the Sabcatanan party Melbourne would soon see Parisian Sundays. As it is, the day is seized upon as one for jaunts and excursions, and at night the city is crowded with a busy restless throng. The theatres and concert rooms are most of them open for free thought lectures or revivalists services; large shops, hotels, bakeries, and oyster saloons are in full swing in Bourke-street, and but for the absence of illuminations no one would know the day was one of rest.

The suicide of the unfortunate man Manker witch, and the subsequent proceedings in the Coroner's court have directed public attention to the existence of low brothels and assignation houses off the principal streets which are allowed to flourish undisturbed by the police. The coroner, a practical man, remarked that it seemed to be a recognized principle with landlords that the highest price should be obtained for properties. He said that the Dean of Westminster owns lots of brothel property which let at a rental it could not realise if used for any other purpose. There may be a spasmodic raid on some noted offenders, but the great social evil will be undisturbed. The demi monde is a vast institution in Melbourne, and the ladies of it are more splendidly attired, more flaunting, and, seemingly, more prosperous than their sisters of Sydney. They swarm in the theatre stalls and vestibule at night, elegantly dressed, insolent, defiant, "daughters of shame" in the truest sense of the word.

Coming by easy degrees to oyster saloons, it is a noteworthy fact that the bivalves got here are much better than those sold in Sydney, from which place they are imported. This is owing, I suppose, to the some cause that enables one to get the better tea the further he goes from China. It is to be feared that our oystermen send their best wares abroad. Certainly nothing more delicious could be had than the Sydney native in the land of his adoption rather than birth, but it may be that he is improved by travel. The Manning River is a great source of supply. The beef, too, is superior to that of New South Wales, owing, the butchers say, to the splendid country between Victoria and Queensland, the great source from which this country draws its meat.

Scarlet fever continues its ravages and attacks suburb after suburb - the healthiest of them too. The theory that the disease seizes those who live uncleanly is entirely upset, for those stricken down by it are the cleanlier, well-nourished, while the denizens of the foul lanes about Little Bourke-street go unscathed.

A great institution in Melbourne is Paddy's, or the Eastern Market, a large open but covered space between Bourke and Collins-street. It belongs to the Corporation and lets at from £8,000 to £10,000 a year. The lessee has to be a smart man and must watch the markets narrowly so as to buy and sell to advantage. He has also to look sharply after stall-keepers, hawkers, &c, and altogether, though he may make money, he has a lively time of it.

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