Melbourne Notes.

Dunstan Times, 28 December 1900, Page 5

Melbourne Notes.

From Our Special Correspondent. Pakeha in Victoria. MINING, THEATRICAL, AND GENERAL. —o—' MELBOURNE, December 11 Marvellous Melbourne is just fairly lively now that all the excitement created by the great cup meeting, and the return of "Our Boys " from active service in South Africa, is all over. The people' seem to have settled down to ■" biz," in real earnest until Christmas time, when I suppose the majority will have a good time—if not .in Melbourne, at the Sydney functions, when a lot of " Smellbdurae " money will be left. Some of the dredging companies are giving a really good account of I themselves, and two or three of the dredges I have closely watched con- ' tinue to wash up very favorably. J The Oven's River dredge got ,8402 i in 13 days up to nth inst. This is the first clean-up of the dredge, I which was to have taken place on the 15th inst, hut owing to a slight mishap to the machinery the directors decided to have a ciean-up at once, and expect to have repairs effected and a start made again to-morrow. This company has a prosperous future before it, for from what I hear from New Zealand j experts in Victoria, it is one of the j best dredges here. The Sailor's j Creek dredge Auckland, which is almost an Auckland (N.Z.) concern, got 5002 for 9 da}'s and 16 hours work up .to the 10th inst. • The previous return was 5 ioz for a fortnight's work, and the yieid has been regular since the start, but those 1 who ought to know say the gold will give out in a little while, and what I don't like about the whole affair is the way shareholders cart the shares about at the ridiculously low and original value of 6s 3d. My report re this company appeared in a recent issue of the Dunstan Times. The Maori Queen dredge returned 185OZ for the week ended Bth December, and the returns are expected to improve considerably, now that better management is the order of the day. The directors made a fatal mistake in the first place in. not engaging a thoroughly practical consulting engineer to carry out the work as advised by Mr O. M. Murison, of Otago(N.Z-). However, personally I am dead against gold Mredging generally in Victoria, and don't mind saying it is not all " good " as a speculation. Theatrical matters here are very slow at present, and one gets little or no amusement in Melbourne just now, but Christmas will bring about a change of things. Our big Austral Wheel Race to-morrow is the event of the month, and being the final day this pakeha expects to have a good day's enjoyment with his best girl, but he is not going to back any rider, as bike riders are like dredging snares—" blue ducks " as a rule. Re the self-acting gravity wheel which has caused such a lot of comment in the Press : This wheel has never gone yet, and I'm just afraid it will all turn out as great a frost as 1 expected. The inventor not the following verse dedicated to him the other day : When the squares of any body arc multiplied by space You can judge the possibilities of motion. Let the body be your list;, and ' space your neighbor's face The resultant probably will want a lotion. I fancy the wheel will require a lot of lotion in the shape o( oil and grease to keep things going smoothly, but I believe if the inventor got hold of the scribe who wrote that verse on his. wheel he would make a mess of his face by erecting a shanty on his " smeller" which would require sonic lotion to take it down, for the ma'n-of wheel fame is a brave man. - For downright colonial check and independence let me commend you to a Melbourne nipper of 13 summers, who was working at a photographic studio here for 5s a week. He got a position as call boy at 15s a week at one of our theatres, and having to start the theatre job right away he could not jive his boss notice of leaving, but sent in the following letter in the morning early: Dear Sir,—l regret I shall be unable to come to the studio this morning, as I have to go and sec a man about a dog and don't know exactly how long I will be in finding him, .so please till up my position. !. trust you will not be inconvenienced by the loss of my very valuable services, which you failed to 'recognise or remunerate me sufficiently for. Wishing you a big time at Christmas—l am, etc.—O. Blank, Naturally enough the kiddy's boss cut up rough over it for a time, and later offered the lad 5s a week more to return. The nipper's reply was " Not taking any," and I think his career is a good one if cheek will ! help, one in the world. Till I write again—Kia Ora, and plenty joy and happiness at Xmas to all Pakehas in dear old Maoriland. P.S.—The latest whisky aclvt, in Melbourne is a motor, car on which / il}Q traveller rides,