"AN ENGLAND WITHOUT A PAST."

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10974, 25 May 1901, Page 6

"AN ENGLAND WITHOUT A PAST."

_ The Australian daily papers deserve well of m their country for the manner in whioh they d- put before -their readers from day to day a the wonderful passing __how provided by tlie it recent festivities in Melbourne. To many, _f however, the most interesting article that ie has appeared in their pages is the "open _t letter" written by an officer of the escort, it which appeared in the Melbourne "Argus."' •c It dealt with much felicity of expression is with the impressions made by the events of g the first week on one who, with a wide d acquaintance of men a_ad cities in many is parts of tho world, "'had■'■■hitherto been a c stranger to Australia. One would perhaps t- hardly look in such a letter for any severe .. criticisms of colonial mamaer- and customs, n and there is nothing of Max O'ReH's witty s sarcasms about this writer. He takes it-that ? what he says is the only expression of feeln ing that can reach the people of Melbourne r from their visitors outside of the Royal (_, circle. "You have overwhelmed us," he t says, "with civic hospitality; you Have as- . tonished us with gala and festival and feast; s you have a® individuals spared no trouble I and no expense to mate us welcome; and _ we can make no return. But we understand, j we are grateful, and we shall not forget," I and he promises that their private letters _ sent Home from Melbourne will •do more f than public announcements "tb foster mutual , understanding and union of heart 3." j The impression made upon the visitors t by. their first experience of Melbourne was . that Australia was "an England without a , past." The broad, roads, the cable trams , or trains running down close to a pier such as none of the English dockyards possess, convinced the observer, perhaps rather too ready to judge of the whole by a part,, that Australian ports and cities and public works haid grown up, not haphazard, but by set and definite purpose, and that Australians "had merely to refuse the evil and to choose tbe good." But while he speaks of Melbourne as "a city without a past" he admits that Englishman would not barter for any wealth their legacies of the past. "Whatever the old country is," declares, "it is by virtue of its past as well as in spite of it," but he can still congratulate Australians upon having shared the inheritance of the Englishmen while yet they are free of all restraints laid upon the Englishmen "ths entailed heirs." Of the Melbourne people themselves this kindly critic has nothing but good to say. The unbounded hospitality .__:■__ the good will with which it was off-crcd disarn__d all desire to J criticise if such h;.d <-*•._.■:• existed. The crowds were British, with the family , resemblance of a distant cousin, but they were quieter than Jiaglish crowds would < have been under similar circumstances. "The * men were of a stainer type, more squarely 1 cut, heavier in limb and; feature than ours. Tba women, .too, were of a larger mould, t of a freer carriage, and of mora independent \ mien than one commonly sees in England, c And—to your honour be it said—young' * girls could wa_k in couples or alone with- s out fearing or finding any molestation." The general impression received was that j the women of Australia had developed less c difference than the men, but that they had <3 gained in independence, though this did not s imply scorn of fashion. "Every woman," a remarks this most observing officer, "appears te be 'biem c-haussSe, Wen in b style, almost Parisian in elegance." t_ There is no need to follow him in-detail C throughout his impressions. He notes ?* that compared with English crowds there U . seemed to be in Melbourne at first a dis- g1 tinct nervousness as to what was the right n thing to do—the self-consciousness of the _ r debutante contrasted with the self-confi- {U dence of the lady of many seasons and -triumphs. This wore off in time, until „ the growing frequency of spontaneous _ cheers and individual outbursts of feel- si ing showed- that the people were letting <■•-■ their natural impulses get the better of their nervousness. R_ was struck by the • ™ •'in fact that at the great evening State receptions, given on a scale far larger than could et

have. besn' organist : in uniforms were to ba • afktffisSlHH jackets and ladies flanked by others .h_.biouses.aa4 jffiSsß* The lesson this unwonted npon him was' that in "tha conventions'of -society «_„-« sBIU tiala, and all the proprieties may exiat •#|lp ? their usual outward sign, m That ib not one of th. least useful #3 that-the new world can teach tlLe-bftJ*! the old will but learn. '.J? v