NOTES ON A TRIP TO VICTORIA.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 19 January 1881, Page 2

NOTES ON A TRIP TO VICTORIA.

+■ No. IV. liesving Newcastle on Saturday even* ng, bur only anxiety was as to whether re should reach Melbourne in time to ritness the running for the Melbourne Vu\>, which event was fixed for the follows ing Tuesday. The Hero is a grand old tea goer, and having on'y a month or so previously had about £15,000 expended upon her machinery, is by no means a slow coach to travel in. She was built originally as a steam yatch for TJernadotte jtine of. Sweeden, but- forsorne reason or another she whs never delivered ov"er. but being one of the finest boats of her tiUNV'was fengaged *NLrUn the blockade during th»s American war, and made two guccessfuf trips, in the first of which* she cleared herself. Her saloon is epncious, and handsomely fitted up. On the panelling of each side of the saloon are four high«class oil paintings, copied from nature and representing prominent Swedish scenes, while at the further end are almost life size portraits of Oscar, the King of Sweden, and his rojal spouse. For 20 years the Hero has been running in Australian waters, the great part of the time between Sydney and Audk* land. Cap' am Logan, her present com» mander, has had charge of her daring the whole of that time, and a more careful, courteous, and competent officer is probably not to be found afloat on blue water. For twenty years the Hero lies been running withbut d penny of insurance, and during the whole of that timp. not a sihglte mishap has befallen her. She is not such a swell passenger boat as either the Ehotomana or tho Te Aoaii, in regard to interior fittings, but as a comfortable, steely sea boat, she has nb superior. Mr Clayton, tlie chi^f officer Mr C, Hudson, the purser, and Mr Anderson, the chief engineer, are all old attaches of the steanfer, having ploughed the deep in her for periods ranging from seventeen years downwards, and a more obliging and attentive staff it would be impossible to find. Sunday, the day after leaving Newcastle, found us well on our journey, but 'still within sight of land, the view of which is indeed not lost all the way round to Melbourne, thus affording those desirous a good opportunity of polishing up their geographical knowledge, fbe weather was still gloriously fine, and the passengers were disposed about the deck engaged in meditation, pious or otherwise, as the disposi* tion or the occasion most prompted. The 'long-sleeved' hats and spruce attire of the preceding day had all disappeared, and the soft, crumpled hats and seedy looking garb donned in its place, and which is the correct thing for steam* boat travelling, gave to all hands something of ibe appearance of the original Forty Thieves, or FalstafTs ragged regiment. The stock of literature available was of the encyclopediacal character usually to be found on shortnvoyage ships. It comprised a grpaßy*lboking pookery-book, the remains of an ancient | Misceilnby, and a couple of Maine Reid's novels, with every third chapter missing. But it was not so bad after all, because nobody coul.l get through Bt a sitting more ti»an one dish of the cookery-book, or one chapter of the novel, without beinc disturbed by sompbodv who fancied lie saw a whale, or something very like n whale, and these ex«-i(«ni; little intorlu.lus qii'e dispensed with the r q'lisite fur nny*

thing like sequence in the literature. In this manner, with agreeable intervals of dining and devotion, the day was passed. Nightfall brought a falling glass and premonitions of troubles to come, but there was balm in the night air till a late hour, and it was not»until the coming of the first faint whisperings of the approacding storm that the deck choir ceased to ' Hold the Fort,' and pay vocal homage to the memory of Old John Brown. Shortly before daylight Ventotius arrived and rocked us in the cradle of the deep. All kinds of portable articles had during the night drifted out of the cabins into the saloon, and at every lurch of the ship an avalanche! of valises, Wat-b^oses, boots and other baggage thundered from side to side, as an accompaniment to the ' music of the sphere.' We were in fact in on r first experiences of a storm at sea, and it was just one of those occasions when (he sailor pities ' llioae poor cotes on shore,' My eye, Bill While we beneath flic cfeck are suugly lying What bridks and tiles about their beads are flying. This was the first really bad weather we had encountered, find many of tbe pas* s°rigers who all along bad been flattering themselves upon having got their sea-leg? aboard now began to know something about woe. It was wonderful how soon they lost all interest in the Melbourne Cup, for the only Cup which they now thought of was an eartheware one of large capacity. By 4 p.m. we sighted Wilson's Promontory, the wind and rain still behaving in nmost disreputable manner. As we neared the land we could see several steamers dodging under the lee for shelter, being unable to face the gale, but the Hero dived her nose into the thick of it, and after a short struggle got abreast of the light-licuse, and then piped away merrily on her altered course. Encouraged by dor success several of tbe sheltering steamers essayed to follow, but all but orie had to give up the attempt. Nighc was now closing in, and a rising glass gave Us hope of reaching Melbourne heads by daylight. Daylight came, and -w : .th it sure enough the glad sight of the entrance. To many on bo;ird who had been away from Victoria for fifteen or twenty years it was like the gate-way to some cherished h^unt of childhood, and as each familiar landmark opened out Iff the thin »>zure light of ju t dawning day, there was in the eyes cf many a kind of feeling that their feet were upon their native heath, and their name was M'Gregor. But the 'native heath ' just thereabouts is rf rather uncertain naviga* tion, and the choppy character of the se<» renders patriotic sentiment rather inconsistent with a we"ak stomach. At the flag ship we met the magnificent Orient steamer Cotopaxi, outward bound with ihV !^neliA'|nail. At abont 6 a.m. we caught tbe first dim outline of Melbourne swatlifed at first in a thin gossamer of bine and again risin* in majes'ic pplandor in the glamour of the morning sun. Ercrv mothers son was on deck, and in the full pnjoyrflent of the scene. Passed the old Trainipg-Ship Nelson, passed that ungainly humbug in iron, the Cerberus, through a fleet of men-of-war of all na* tions, we beaded in for Sandridge pier. The bugle was just sounding in the war* snip's for the men to pile hammocks, the Rhotemana, and several other intercolon* ial steamers had only preceded us inwards a few minutes, and were still hissing in discordant concert. Tbe pier was crowded tlireb deep with steamers, and the extroardinary vitality manifested on all sides told of something of unusual moment about to take place. It was Cupmorning, and the interest, of the event apprared to animate everybody and everything. G-and Flaneur was in the mouth, figuratively, of everyone. The horse had won the Derby on the previs ous day, and his name was a household word. The*sailors of passing ships echoed the name to us; small boys screamed it to us from the pier ; captains annonnred it to our officers, and in fact everybody seemed to think we were burning up with anxiety to know the result of the racp. But we were not burning up a little bit. In fact many of the passengers didn't know what all the fuss was about. Indeed one of the passengers who was at a loss to understand the hubbub, was heard to tell a passing waterman that there was no one of that name on cur ship. At 9 o'clock we berthed, but unlike Sydney no gaping crowd lined the wharf. There was hardly a person to be seen, other than those engaged on the ships and wharf. We hurried up to the railway station, and to our surpnVs met coming from the platform thousands and thousands of people, chiefly young men and women, all in holiday dress, sn^ yet all going in a direction opposite to that of Fleming'ton. We saw other trains arrive from Melbourne, ench one adding t'jotisands more to the stream of people flowing to Sandridge pier. Inquiry soon elidited that their destination was Queehscliff and Serento, to take part in the annual pic-nic of the Manufacturers' and Trades Society. These gatherings were organised as a counter«attraction to the Cup, for there is a large cla?s in Melbourne who regnrd horse-rncing ond hII thnt pertains to it with Puritan abs horrenfp. ond by m^nns of free pic»nics succeed in aoinitllv keeping many thous* ands of young people, chiefly- factory and sliop n'r'.s fin*! young nipc'nn'c? from what tlipy r^ij' ir 'l as t^e Sa'aric;?! :pf!iering at F. m'-s^'em.

Says ' Bspier/ in the Sporting and Dra* matic News, some time ago I gave 6omo figures showing the amount of money that hod been given to be run for at various English meetings. The Saturday Review now publishes some interesting and carefully compiled statistics which agree with my correspondent's calculations as tar as his figures went, but go farther into the subject. Last year more than £233,000 was given to be run for at various meetings in Great Britain find Ireland, at least £3000 more than in 1878, Little, however, can be judged as to the state of the ttfrf by the increase or diminution of a frvr thousand pounds in the value of *hkcs. The writer continues : — * As regards the number of horses that have run daring the ye*r there has not been much difference for the last five years, the lowest number within that period which ran in one year having been 2054 and the highest 2113. Objectors to two«year*old racing may btf glad to Lear thit the nnmber of horses of that cge which took part in the races during 1879, was fewer by fwenty«.nine than that of the previus year Although the number of rane-horses aged or upwards *as higher in 1879 than ISfB, it is 1 very noticeable that during the last three years there have not been half as roinv horses aged five or upwards running in public as there were during a similar period ten years ago. Those who dislike short courses may not be pleased to know that last year a far larger sum of added money was given to races between five jfnd six 'furlongs in length than for fbose of any other distance. It was to selling races of five or six furlongs, too, that the largest bulk o f money was added. Beyond: that distance the money added to selling races diminished at wonderful ratio, dc creasing rapidly frnm £32,000 at 6co or six furlongs, to £205 at two miles and upwards. 1 Some of these last facts are by np means satisfactory in the opinions of those who do not regard the racecourse simply from the bettiflg ting point of view* The annexa'ion of Tahiti to France was solicited by the natives according \a the Economise Francaiso as a pro-' tection against German pretensions. The late bankrupt firm of Godefry of Hamburgh bed a branch in Tahiti but to escape customs dues bad its ware* booses at Eaiatea, a"tfd the Gemm corvette Bismarck hoisted the Gorman flag on Godfroy's establishment. The natives protested but the o'aptain invited the King on board and induced him after copious libations to sign a document sanctioning the act."One of the chiefs tore down the flag whereupon the captairt ordpred his arrest but he was released on the remonstrances of his fellow ch ; efo and of an English man of* war at Riiatr*, The French then sent the gunboat Chas« l*ur and the King end chiefs on the advice of a Presbyterian missionarr — Mr Pearce, to asferd for annexation to Franop* Ou : di\ undertakes in the Whitebait T"eview\ to express h<T views on what James Psyn in the NiiWeentb Century, called the Literary Oiling:. She does not wholly agree with Mr Payn in some of his conclusions. She writes t *Is there anything so desolate in the whole range of human inanities as forced or 6elf"consciou3 witticisms? And humor is not wit, though the English mind too often confuses the one with the other. True humor, such s^ is contained often h the cartoons o T^nniel and the social drawing? of Dv Maurier, is by no means wit, which is a thing moro subtle, more elegant and ; more incisive. T do not think that j the English public", as a 1 rule understand wit at all ; they like broad farce, and even of humifr there is little traco among the writers lov? ; n duH buffoonery. A Dickens-and •• water, are the too general substitute. For all the dreary things unier thp suh is that set clown's grin which the K glish mibd calls ' humor.' The American humor is rather the grin on the face of a corpse, it is real humor, though of a ghastly and grim sort.' The bequest of the Ute Jimps Lick, who left 700,000 dollars for the establishment of the most powerful telescope in the world at some point in California, is, after some preliminary difficulties, beginning to bear fruit The observatory is at Mount Hamilton in Santa Blara County. It is on ar approximately level space of aboui 400 ft long, and of width varying fronfl 40ft to 120 ft, is 420 ft above the eej level, and commands the entire couutrj " within forty miles round. To test the appropriateness of the sHe, Mi Burnham, of Chicago, romained oi the mountain for sixty days, and reports that Ibere were of firsfc*clasi forty » two. medium nights sevenß cloudy and foegv nights eleven. -A ppou'iarity of the vision on Mounß Hamilton is that the niijli^, if gooM at any part, ia gend throughout Th M quality of the vision during the dajß was inferior to this ;it was clear, bufl the images of stars, &c\, were ncl tranquil. Hence only certain obserß vations of the sun can be prosecuteß I with special advantage here. ThM iodications aro that in all obsefvatiooH of stars and planets this is a site bet» I fitted for a new and v:e!l-equ>ppeH I observatory thao any other m thfl | world. We look for excellent woM | from thi*, the litest oi' the greofl I astronomical institu'iops ■

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