MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume XI, Issue 1690, 12 April 1886, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mr J. A. Fi-oude's new book, " Oeeaua or England and Her Colonies," has created a sensation, and is much talked alioat. As a typical specimen of the work, we extract Mr Froude's "First Impressions of Mel»>ourne." They read:— "We landed at our leisure at Williainstowu, from which a railway train was to take as to the city. We were iv no hurry, for the Hay was still early, aud wj had no plains save to find au hotel in the course of it. A •niger,' who must have weighed 20 stone wheeled om luggage to thf station in a hand-cart. As at Adelaide, I was impressed by the good English and the good manners of the railway officials. There was an American smartness about them, hat it was American with a difference. Something ought to bu doe to the climate. Manner* soften o f themselves when tempera are never ruffled by the cold. The line makes a wide circuit by th« shore ;we had te j miles to go. The fields were enclosed all the way by the Australian rails one hears riding nieu talk about— heavy timbtrc 4 feet and 5 feet high. Clusters of wooden houses vere sprinkled a boat growing th cL-er w we advanced, aud painted white to keep oft the suu. Gardens and flowers were, as usual universal. Melbourne stations am like all other metropolitan stations iv the world — vast, crowded, and uubeautiful. .... I was disappointed, after Adelaide, with the first appearance of the streets. Melbourne is twice as large, aud imny times more than twice as rich. As 13 well known the population of it is 800,000. who are as well off as any equal number of people in the world.. * But the city has grown hastily, and carries the signs of it on the smfaco. The streets are broad. There aresplendid single buildings, town half, university, parliament houses, pubtio offices), besides binks, exchanges, and a gaol, church's, Ac There are superb shops, too gorgeous as any in London or Paris. Bat side by side with tliese, you see houses little better than sheds. People have bouudless ambition and Silf confidence. They are proud of themselves and of what they have done, and will soon polish up their city when they can look about them at leisure.' — " Anglo New Zea* lander." Mr Froude writes as follows on Sydney Harboi :— " On the first evening we were left to ourselves. I walked up iv tae twilight to the esplanade at the gate of the pabtio garden, and I tbiuk I never in my life gazed on a scene so entirely beautiful. It was not for the trees) and flowers. They were lovely, and anywhere in E irope would lie celebrated as a wonder.. It is the stina< tion which gives *x> the Sydney garden so expnisite a charm. The ground slopes from the town to the sea with inclining lawns, flower hed^, and the endless variety of tite tropical fora. Within the compass of the garden the sea forms two det p hays, one of wiiioU is reserved for tha ships of the squadron. Five vessels lay at anchor, tb«>ir spars black against the evening sky, and the long per ants drooping at the mast head ; the Nelson sitting like a queen in the midst of them, the Admiral's white tiig hanging over the stern. Steam launches were gliding at half the po »er over tile glassy waters, which were pink with the reflection of the sunset Boats were bringing oS officers and men who had been at leave on shore; the old order, form, and discipline in the new land of liberty— -the shield behind which alone the vaunted liberty is possible. Behind the auchorage were rooky islands, with the deserted rains of ancient batteries, now useless and superseded by ampler fortifications within the bluffs. Merchant ships lay scattered over the outer harbour, acd a yacht or two lay drifting with idle sails. Crowded steam ferry-boats were carrying the workmen home from the oity to distant villages. On wooded upland or promontory shone the white palaces of the Syduey met chants, and beyond again were the green bills, softened by distance and the growing dnrk into purple, which encircle the great inlet of Port Jackson. As a mere pictn re, it was the loveliest I had ever looked upon. The bay at Bio, I am told, is equally fine, and indeed finer, being overhang by mountain* as Sydney. The Blue range is far off on the land side, and makes no part of th« harbour scenery. Sydney has the perfection of soft beauty, and one desires uo more," At a recent meeting of the Railway League in Chrislchurch, Mr Matsou suggested that the bank? shoud be waited upon for subso.ijjcious. No people, he said, wruld receive greater *lvant«g< r fc>m *>!>« East and Weft

Coast railway than the banks. He had noticed that at the general meeting of the New Zealand Trusted Loan Com M ,» in Lorido.. Sir Charles Clifford Wl qaid tint, despite the great "..flrease , n th^ property t**, despite the warn ,f tr-^« d-piWio» which was pussing over the whole world, d^pHe the low;,, price of wheat and the sudden drop m wool, they would still pay ito amwl dividend of 20 per cent, per annum. The writer of that information concluded with "Oh, let ns be joyful ; bnt if he (Mr Matron) *«;re Biahop of Chnstehnrch he. would add to the Litany : " Fi-om all octopn« companiM and all sorts and conditions of devil fish, good Lord deliver ns."-Lansthter.) In reply to Mr Howland, Mr Matson s<\id he'wouid W« g^at pleasure in »oing with the President to interview th* hanks, in ord**r tlm» they mi«»t v " the pleasure of subsiding or refusing to subscribe..