NOTES ON A TRIP TO VICTORIA.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 14 March 1881, Page 2

NOTES ON A TRIP TO VICTORIA.

No.XIV: Before closing my already undo'y extended record of our visit to Ballarat, I may leize the opportunity of referring back for a moment to a subject which I may possibly baye dismissed rather too cursorily ; I refer to the Ballarat School cf Mines. It is an institution of long standing, haying been established over ten years, and owes its existence in a great measure to Judge Boger*. It has since been liberally subsidised both by the Government and the corporations, and has been raised to a high state of efficiency. Courses of lectures of a qnasiaspientiflo character are regularly delivered, and examinations are conn ducted at stated periods in mining en* gineen'ng, mining surveying, metallurgy, chemistry as applied to mining, and theoretical and practical mining. It possesses an excellent library, and • museum well supplied with geological specimens, maps, and models of mining machinery and appliances, and so high does its curriculum rank that students are attracted thither frpm, all parts of the Colony. At Ballarat, no company will employ a manager who has not obtained the certificate of the School, and in this way mining there has been placed under thoroughly efficient control, and a feeling of confidence is felt in management generally, such as would be quite impossible under any other circumstances, aod as quartz mining in New Zealand is now coming to be recognised as one of the staple industries of the Colony, it oan hardly be too much to bope that the day is not far distant when we, too, may tikfl a leaf out of the same book, by establishing a similar institution; Tbe " corner " is now only the shadow of what it once was, "but it has still a local habitation and a name. At about 9 a.m. the crowd begin to collect in front of tbe Uunicoro Hotel, and by 11 a.m. the full muster reaches to about fifty ot sixty persons. These consist of, brokers, scrip-holders, jobbers, all having a particular axe to grind, and a nondescript class who have no real business to transact, but who bang about tbe precinots as a kind of make-believe, Disengaged mining managers and workmen also go to swell tbe assembly, for the "corner" ii a kind of depot where tbe engagements of companies are chiefly made. There was little or no excitement on at the lime, the mining industry being at tbe period in some sense under a cloud. There was, however, no lack of confidence in the field generally, the prevailing impression amongst those best able to judge being that the yield of gold during the next ten years would quite equal that of any similar period in the past. Large com panics, expensive plaur, and improved machinery and appliances, will be important factors in realising these hopeful anticipations, and summing up an hastily gathered knowledge of tbe facts upon which these expectations are based, I see ! no reason to quarrel with tbe conclusion. At 11 a.m. we took passage by tbe train for Stawell, The line passes by tbe old cemetry, and thence to the left of the race-course towards Lake Burrumbeet. The latter is distant about thirteen miles from Ballarat, and is a magnificent stretch of fresh water, nearly four miles in width, by about eight in length, and has an average depth of some ten feet. The country surrounding is very low lying, and being completely free from

timber or scrub it a very bleak place in i winter time. It is said tbat when Messrs j Yuille and Learmonth fir&t visited tbej locality in 1838, there was very little j water io the lake, and that little being in* I teosely salty, and that in the following | year the lake was quite dry, and for several seasons after was used ts a pasture ground. Since the golden em however, it has braved the longest; droughts, and has never been known to ' fall more than a foot or eighteen inches, throughout (he hottest of summers. Westward, the line proceeds, passes the magnificent estate of Brcildoun— one of, the most sumptuous country seats probably in the whole of Australia. The country thence to Firey Creek, or Beaufort as it is now called, is dedicated almost wholly to (he growth of wool, and the fattening of mutton. Wo saw it toadvantage, as it was spring time, and the waving, treeless landscape was laughing in verdure almost, as it seemed, down tothe very line of the horizon. This ii the great Woolopolis of the Western district* and the vast area stretching away to Port* land on the south and reaching (o the confines of New South Wales Jin thenorth, embracing nearly three parallels of latitude, comprises the home of theJ great pastoral interest of Victoria. Thebulk of the laud was taken up long prior to the Golden Era ; indeed many of the stations have been held in unbroken sue* cession by families for considerably over forty ysars. The present site of the Ballarat gold Geld was occupied in 1838 at a station by Messrs Yuille Brothers. But to proceed. Fiery Greek was the next port of call after leaving Burrum* beet. A pretty, but seemingly poor and still declining place. Unfortunately for the inhabitants it has no stand-by in 'the shape of quarts reefs, and as the shallow alluvial now refuses to yield even rice and sbsrk'oil to Chinamen, the place may be said to be in straitened circumstance*} Passing Middle Creek, and Buangor, two smalt, wayside stations for taking up wool, the next stage is Ararat, 68 miles from Ballarat. Ararat is in much the same predicament as Fiery Creek, and may be said (o have outlived the period of gold production, and like its neighbor is fast losing its old identity in a com* munity of small farms. The town on the Mount, however, still remains, and pos* sesses some handsome buildings, but they are merely as monuments of departed grandeur. The railway system branches here at a right ancle ; the line to the south proceeding to Portland, via Hamilton, and the western line to Stawell; the distance from Ararat to Port* land is 119 miles, and to Stawel 20 miles. A very short stay at Ararat being sufficient to satisfy our curiosity, and to mark the changes which nearly a quarter of a century had worked io the place, we up anchor and took course for Stawell. The only places of interest on this stage are the vinyards at the Great Western, but for the present I must defer reference to them. We were now approaching the out- skirts of (he Wimmera, and the beau* tifully blue Pyrenees and Grampians show their long, wavy crests. These are offshoots of the main Dividing Range— or 1 Australian Alps/ as Victorians delight to call the little terrace which dams the water of the Marray out of Victoria. The highest peak of the line hardly exceeds 6000 ft, and yet a passenger in the carriage—evidently a Victorian— looked in* dtgnant when one of my West Coast friends inquired whether anybody lived on top. The fact is Victoria is quite oat of mountains and although the Pyrenees, may appear very big in the eyes of Victorians, they would hardly rise above the denomination of bills in New Zealand*