OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.
[FROM OUB OWN CORRESPONDENT, J
Melbourne, Deo. 23. It is just past noon, and youthful Melbourne is already in a state of incipient insanity. It is hardly possible to get an intelligent reply to an intelligible question put to anyone under the age of twenty, and the reason is that " Christmas is coming.” It is a good many hours off yet, and may not come at ail for some of us, But that makes no difference to unreflecting youth. Now, Christmas means this -—lt does not mean anything else to young Melbourne—it means unlimited football for those who care to play out of season ; plenty of cricket, cycling, ad lib ; hard work of all sorts under the name of holiday making, And quite right too, taken with reason. But there is nothing like reason to be got out of anybody in Melbourne during holiday time, But, as I have said already, people are becoming unsettled now, and are likely to remain so ten days at least. There will be picnics out of number, and now that the railway is open to Fern Tree Gully that locality will receive its share of attention. Mr Perrin, the Conservator of Forests, has already taken the alarm. He anticipates an irrnption of Goths and Vandals, and no end of damage to ferns and saplings at their hands, and perhaps he has good reason for his anxiety. Then there will be the interminable catalogue of litter which picnic parties invariably leave behind them —empty sardine-boxes, tins cleaned of salmon, biscut boxes, and whole regiments of “dead marines.” Certainly all these things are to be expected, but they will spoil the sylvan beauty of the acene. It is of no use for the authorities to appeal to the general public to protect its own pleasure ground, for the general public is a selfish animal and will do nothing of the kind. There is an appeal of that sort posted up in the Fitzroy Gardens. Ihe public is asked to take charge of its own pleasure ground, and the public —or the larrikin section thereof—responds by plucking the flowers, breaking the branches of trees, and mutilating the statues. Why, the larrikin element has even penetrated the quiet settlement of Milburd. The pride of that in future years will be Deakin Avenue, a magnificent thoroughfare several miles in length, planted with furrows of trees throughout, and as wide as half a score of ordinary streets. The trees are planted, and are protected by palings. Yet even some of these have been torn down.
Several of the large business houses have published notices to the effect that they close to-morrow evening, and will not re open until Monday morning. This information comes whilst I am writing, and only proves what I wrote a few minutes ago—that people mean to make holiday upon a large scale. It is Only we slaves of the press wfio ipust work on through all, The troubles of the premier Permanent Building Association culminated last Friday in the suspension ot cash payments, The Society’s books are in the hands of Colonel Templeton, and in the course of a month or so that gentleman will ba able to draw up a
report setting forth ths real position ot affairs. Four classes of liabilities are involved in the Suspension of cash payments. There are the shareholders* funds, which amount to about £250,000. The deposits are more than double that sum, and may be roughly stated at £600,000, There ia due to vendors ot property, and on account of mortgages, over £700,000; and last the advances made to the Society by ft; bankers, It is a fortunate circumstance for’ the Building Societies, and the Urge public interests bound up in them, that people have recognised for Some time past that ths transactions of the Premier have been ot an abnormal character, outside the legitimate business of a Building Society, involving great risks, and that a reverse was at any tinja possible, after " boom ” valuations ot property ceased to ba maintained. Nance, although the shook has cd'tfie, it has not coms upon us as a surprise, These considerations will enable the depositors in Other societies to view the stoppage which has oeourrad without any alarm tor the safety of their own mousy. And indeed there does not appear to be any occasion for uneasiness, When the business
of a Building Society is conducted upon sounc principles, it offers about as sate a term ol investment as can anywhere be found, As a borrower'of money upon a low rate of interest, and lending it a higher rate—the security being real property valued so as to leave a wide margin far contingencies—the earning of a fair profit is a thing that must happen, unless a business is grossly mismanaged. It should bs borne in mind that a considerable portion of Melbourne and suburbs has been built with the aid of these societies. I know of no other city in which so large a proportion of the wage earning classes live in their own houses—a circumstance entirely attributable to tfee operations of the Building Societies. The event that has just occurred is not. a sign of weakness amongst these associations. It is a sign that, in the hope of realising large profits, both shareholders and depositors were willing to incur greater risks ; and that what very often does happen in such cases has really happened in thia case. But that is no reason for the withdrawal of confidence from other societies, which follow their legitimate nu'slness; These will continue to luster thrift ou ills snt’Sl lines, anil rosy bu depended upon as an unquestionable sicurity for mveas, m«at,
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Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 400, 7 January 1890, Page 2
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949OUR MELBOURNE LETTER. Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 400, 7 January 1890, Page 2
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