Page 4 Advertisements Column 1

Manawatu Times, Volume V, Issue 115, 9 February 1881, Page 4

-*-"■■ ■^■■.^-" OUR MIBmON LETTER. BY COSMOPOLITAN. A Victotuan Christmas— The Wine — THAT '-(iIiADOSSETH — ST. HUBERT'S "ViSKYARDa — White Hermitage— Special Awak-us— Thb Yictokta Irov Roi<w>*a Compant — Thk •• Colt* Tklbt*' — Lilydale Marbt,k — Carbara Maxtlepiecbs— " Mahble Halls' — l'he '>reat Organ. Chrisfuiis at the antipodes is an unmitigated imposture ! Churle* Dickens, though not. (..iten to cynical remarks has left on record hi* prime belief that Christinas was ■ --a humbug! But the high spirit* of the genial hearted were then losing tbeiv effer- ' resoent sparkle. What however, can be said m defence of Christmas m the under■world? Christinas means something n>ov than another notch on the wbittle-stick of Time;, and with the thermometer registering 145.2 m the sun. Christmas must nev<i9B'trily be but tbe limpest of spectren, the shadow of a shade, of its rightful individuality. What is Christmas without the yule lqsr; the bin zing fire, the wassail-bowl, the Chr stnas " waits," the Christmas enrol— • . . " Clod rest ye, merry gentleman," the blue snap-dragons, the red holly berries, the cushion (Hnre, the girls, the mistletoe, i and tl)p brisk wilk l:o ne throng.: the crisp Bnow, with mevry voices ringing clearly oui on the frosty night air ? Ah, what, indeed ! {Tne sap wpn't rise merely because the c:.lendar murks off anolher" point m Time's log We marched straight I o the picture galleries of the Exhibition on that day, to look again at AbsolomV beautiful Christma?y water color drawing—" Sir Roger de Coverley "— all aglow with ruddy light slied over old and young, hoary locks, lithe form 3, and fresh young faces. The bright scene exhales an aroma of the true old English feeling ; then came to us something like the perfume of dead leaves, tbe odour of pale perished flowers, and then a film gnthered across our vision, arid we looked no more. If the trustees of the Public Library ,and Picture QalUjry do not. purchase 'that wpfk, to keep green old memories, let * them be anathema. ; .;;.-■ '"When 1 Christmas comes, it brings good i cheer," is the last line of the old world distich ; and for the matter of that, good •wine dan i -really now be had m Victoria „,;~-yrb.ich'is one thing to console the absentee : ,from tlfe wine-growing countries of Europe T-and .what is more, the management and ,; conditions of success involved m wine growing are becoming daily more and more un- ''- Vderstppii, so that the time is approaching •'^hen Australian wine will take the high place it is capable of doing.. The St Hubert's' vineyards are becoming celebrated even m Europe.: The Duke of 'Manchester ? Iws given the best proof of his judgment about them by. qrdei in* a large quantity to \ be ?e>it home, and Professor Eeauleank, ns w ' aßhmelahder, spmk-i of them— and drinks them— with ehthnsiasin. There are so 6 iftiny^asflec'i m wh eh the pr d icti. n of good" light wines assimilating 1o those, o Bordeius -ancUbther ; wine-growing centres g i^ay Jjesregajrdfcd^ that it is a matter for the oincerest conffratulatio^.yf.hetlier materially or comrnSrciaTly'consfdere'J, as aggrandising tbe cfolbnjj and* socially, as tending to improve&'health and a higher type of social ?» enjoyment. . We have quaffed the classic Frtlerriianjin its sunny home, have drunk > Mpnt,epu'.ciano, and by Lake Thrasimene's sliore, ..Clos Yogeot m Burgundy, the wines beneath their o«n tressilled * viriea ; and it is no small matter after some perilous 'experimentalising to be able, I through the wines of St Hubert, to reverse V: a too hasty generalisation, and to know that wine whifih gladdeneth the heart of man may be obtained m Victoria. You may, like Thackeray, love to remember the frieuds *°t •■■.'.- --.'.••-.- ''Twenty years syne, "While clipping bis nose m the Gascon _wine," Or moralise with old Horace, and compare i ■ wine with life : . " Be sure the dregs are m the cup, v But- do not stir' the wine, f "Be happy while it apartles up, '*'■ *■' ■ •• And hope is yours aridmine." You may, tooj m the Sfc Hubert vineyards hear strange tongues to unaccustomed ears, "La -lingua Tbscana," : Fraricais, and Deutsch,:imngling with racy Anglo-Saxon, t for; many of t'he vignerons come from the land qjp thftjph'ye and.the vine m the older hemisphere.,' as [many as sixty people om--ployed during the vintage. '. The machinery comes from Bordeaux, one wine presß im- ." ported costing £300/ The' yield is much f; .larger per;. acre than m the old countries, and the cellars at St' Hubert will, when com- ., plet«d,,hold pome ; 200,000 .gallons. Prizes .for'the StHubert wines have been awarded J .'at Londdn^^Paris, .^ Vienna, Philadelphia, and '"Sydney. Sydney; to emphasize her opinion, gave also a special first prize to the Wliite 3 Hermitage 1 of St Hubert. iThe, " Riesling " also is a superb vintage. The " CaTbinet " .. is a wine that you might think, came from Trance.'-,.. "••■-■■*■ „;. ! ..--. '.- •;-■..■■■ - •■ <,• Some French jurorß at tbe, Vienna Exhi« ! bition'of 'lß73,'were so struck ; by the reßem- , blance of Australian Hermitage to French .-.Hermitage, that.they believed • they were .being imposed upon, arid that, the wine set jbef ore them; was really of French growth, '^and had, been matured -by .a voyage from "Europe to _ and back again. ftflerjbbttle proved equally good, and 'they tlien refused to proceed, with their labors until they had a distinct assurance from the agent m charge that tbe wines . were,, of. genuine, Australian. growth. Mr De ■Ca.steila (partner m the present St Hubeft'firm,p.f Castella and Rowan), fortunately had a^brother a'gerieral m the Australian the-Emperor, during one of his visits to the Exhibi ion, to taste tbe Hermitage, which be then informed him •was|grown;byjhis brother m Victoria. The"Emperor was pleased to express his unqualified approbation. of this exfcellent 'Australian ' prod vet. v: .:•> The Victoria Iron Rolling -'Company's, exhibits illustrates another; of man's achievements m copying the wise economy of Nature, by whom nothing is, lost. The leaves 'tiiat fall from the tree serve to enrich the soil for the coming year j the clouds, streamsj and -.rivers earry^on;a continual interchange, subservient to ulterior purposes. The 'Coupling shaffc." ''produced by the compShy W the -largesfc-for steamboat purposes everfinade;in'the"Bolony, ! and is made from hknlf amith/B.Bcrap-aron ; .i.c,, old horseshoes ami other sqraps,/Which were hardly worth "We 'expense' of cpUe'cting before this indus- ; try < "was"' started..' in Victoria. The new •^ Throw craae Bhaft," made m duplicate 'for the Victoria Sugar Company's steamer Florence, jfcaudu another of their achievements.' lim'n 'manufactures made from these afortime despised: ."old horseshoes," "old boilers/" etc., are strange to say,-, of 'incomprehensible 'strength,; strength standing the severe test. 1000 of these have been supplied to the "Victorian Q-overnment, and a yery Urge number to other railway contrac- j kjiors. 1 Tne' Victorian tjlron Rolling Company is not only thie one rolling mill wbrkiug^n, V^ctofjjai but supplies the other colonies,' 'omnibus companies, agricultural implement 'makers, and; various classes of manufacturers, witbV the unmanufactured