MELBOURNE TOWN TALK.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 259, 12 February 1889, Page 3

MELBOURNE TOWN TALK.

[fBOM OUB OWN COKBESPONDENT.]

There is not much use of being a Justice of the Peace if one cannot do as he likes. Evidently this is the view taken by Mr Walker, the ex Mayor of Collingwood, and who was summoned to the District Court the other day to answer a charge of insulting behaviour. Mr Walker, it seems, wanted to drive his trap down a street that had been closed for repairs; and a policeman, observing his intention, deliberately stopped him. The officer was informed by the driver who he was, whereupon the former replied that if he were the Chief Commissioner of Police himself, he would not let him pass. Then the ex-Mayor drew a long face and fairly exploded. He told the officious constable what he thought of him, in language more forcible than (polite, although the same is frequently indulged in at the Council table. To be called an impertinent puppy and an ass was, in the eyes of the “ bobby,” something not to be tolerated, even from a' Justice of the Peace, and consequently the little episode resulted in the proceedings referred to. It was of course a painful task for Mr Panton, P.M., to eit on a brother magistrate. The constable had, however, it was clear, been subjected to a good deal of bullying and the defendant was regretfully informed that his conduct in the affair bad not been of (the most exemplary order. He was, nevertheless, not punished with a fine, being told in effect that although, not guilty, he must not do it again. Anyone else would have been sternly reprimanded and fined into the bargain, but tit is different when a J.P. happens to be the culprit. The services of the Exhibition Orchestra, organised by Mr F. H. Cowen, are it seems to be retained for the benefit of the community and the cultivation of a taste for high-class music. These objects are, no doubt, laudable, and are fcarcely likely to meet with much opposition. I cannot, however, shut my eyes to the fact that throughout the whole negotiations there has been a lot of ridiculous affectation, not to say toadying, practised. It is idle to say that the colony does not already possess professional musicians who are quite capable of interpreting the works of the great masters, and in keeping the community up to a high musical standard. For tny part I don’t think the public cares a button about the great masters—the people want something they understand, not what is beyond them or what is not possible to educate them up to except by a life long study. The Exhibition concerts admittedly are well attended, but any impar tial observer could see that fully nine-tenths of the audience regarded them as a dreadful bore, and were glad to escape long before the programme was concluded. The {majority of people went in because it was the fashion, and considered to be the right thing—but as fares understanding or enjoyingithe music are concerned, that is a horse of a different color entirely. It will, however, not do any harm to have a permanent orchestra here, if it does not do much good, and if the Government will subsidise it and the public subscribe liberally for its maintenance, no one, I am lure, will have the bad taste to grumble. No one seriously regards the meetings of the Federal Council as having greater significance than furnishing an excuse for a visit of Cabinet Ministers to Hobart, during a season when a trip to Tasmania is to be most enjoyed. The Council is an irresponsible body, and as at present constituted, its deliberations and resolutions can carry no weight amongst the communities which it is supposed to severally represent. Hitherto representation at the sittings was confined to Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania. New South Wales and South Australis sternly held aloof from the meetings, and declined to recognise them in any way. Indeed the council as an institution teemed threatened with extinction until new interest was this year given to it by the determination of the South Australian Government to permit two of its members to take part in the proceedings. The prospects of the council, therefore, seem brightening, and all that is now wanting is for New South Wales to join the conclave. This will, in all probability, be an accomplished fact next year, especially if, as is not unlikely, a protectionist government will then be in power in the sister colony. The death of the Rev. Dr MacDonald removes from the scene a gentleman who for upwards of the past thirty years has been a prominent figure of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. The ranks of that denomination did not posses a more devoted or energetic member. He was in every respect a wise counsellor, and his kind and forbearing spirit, his tact for amicably arranging disputes or differences among his brethren, were features that endeared him to everyone, and earned for him respect and admiration on all sides. As a man of broad and liberal views, and possessed of a tender sympathy, he became invaluable at meetings cf either Assembly or Presbytery, and his great experience and largeness of heart enabled him to suggest conciliatory measures on many a troublous and trying occasion. Dr MacDonald was born in 18'20. He graduated at the Aberdeen University in 1841, and came to Victoria in 1852. In 1854 he was placed in charge of the Dorcas-street Presbyterian Church, South Melbourne, and continued . there until December, 1887, when he resigned on account of failing health. Although the foundation of the Gordon rtnemorial, which is to be erected in the Ljiuntain-reserve, Spring-street, near Parliament House, has for a considerable time past nlen complete, the statue itself has not as yet put in an appearance. The delay is, it is understood, due to an accident to the lofty and massive stone pedestal upon which the statue is to rest. A replica of the work, voted by the English Parliament to the memory of the “ Hero of Khartoum, ” and erected in Trafalgar Square—“ the finest site in Europe ” —was recently unveiled. The statue is of bronze, and of heroic proportions. Gordon is represented in a field-officer’s undress uniform; he stands with his left arm across his chest, holding a Bible, on which the right elbow rests, while the right hand supports the chin in a meditative attitude. The work is by Mr Hamo Thorneycroft, R.A., and is said to be a successful essay in what is, perhaps, oue of the sculptor’s most difficult tasks—viz, to make a satisfactory portrait of our modern faces and costumes,'