VICTORIA’S WESTERN DISTRICT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXX, Issue 8578, 4 September 1888, Page 5

VICTORIA’S WESTERN DISTRICT.

OUR SPECIAL’S TRIP TO WAEENAMBOOL. A LONG NIGHT JOURNEY. RICH LAND. MR DOBSON’S GREAT ENGINEERING WORK. MELBOURNE, August 28. The programme for my visit to Australia included a trip to the western portion of Victoria, and I took the trip accordingly. At the closo of my last letter I was about to leave Ballarat, where I had been most courteously treated by Host Bentley, of Craig’s Hotel, who gave me a lithograph of that city, a book of photographs of its principal beauties, and a guide. At the railway station we used for our own purposes the tactics of which we had been made the victims at Melbourne. We managed to induce an official to put us in to a carriage by ourselves, and to put up in the window a ticket “ engaged.” The said official further telegraphed to Ararat, where we would have to change carriages, in order to ensure for us a similar privilege for the remainder of our journey, which was to extend to Portland, a distance of two hundred and thirty miles. As this was to be accomplished in one effort, and as we had been sightseeing all tho previous day, if will readily be understood that wo wished to be able to snatch a few hours’ slumber, if possible, on our way, and therefore a separate carriage was a great desideratum. For my own part, I was thoroughly fagged, and ere we had travelled a few miles was curling myself for forty winks; but, unfortunately for me, one of my travelling companions was revisiting the haunts of his boyhood, and the country through which we were passing, illuminated as it was by the rays of an unclouded full moon, excited his enthusiasm to such a degree that he could not keep his pleasure to himself. Slapping me on the knee he would exclaim “ Rouse up, old fellow, and have a look at the loveliest picture you ever saw, and at the finest land in Victoria.” There was no help for it, and after repeated failures I abandoned all hope of getting a nap. To be sure, an hour or two later my friend’s effervescence had expired, and stretched at length on a comfortable cushion, and, covered with a warm buffalo-skin rug, he slept the sleep of the righteous. But, alas ! his former watchfulness had now passed to me, and woo her how I might, sweet Sleep would not visit me. Shortly after one o’clock in the morning we reached Ararat, where twenty minutes were allowed for refreshments. Possibly tho cup of strong coffee —or was it a stiff nip of whiskey that I took ?—was responsible for my subsequent wakefulness. At a place called

BEAUFORT, my friend entered into a spirited discussion with ono of the residents, who said that the gold diggings there wore worked out so far as the alluvial deposits went, and that the people were too poor to afford to sink deep shafts. Quoth my friend, “Why not all club together to sink one deep shaft, and so prove the ground ? ” The resident admitted that this would bo the proper course to pursue, but seemed to doubt tho possibility of getting his fellow miners to see the thing in the same light.

AT HAMILTON, where another interval for refreshments took place, a guard took away the ticket of another of our party, the only one, in fact, who had not a free pass. He mildly expostulated to the effect that the ticket was to take him to Portland, a good many miles further; but the guard took no notice of the expostulation, and retained the ticket. The consequence was that on our reaching Portland, xny friend had to pay nine shillings, in spite of our ail protesting that he had already paid his full faro. There seems to be some screw loose in this matter, for the by-laws of the railway threaten with grievous penalties the passenger who refuses to give up his ticket when demanded by an official, and should an official take it prematurely from a stranger who had no money at the end of his journey, the latter would be in a very unpleasant predicament. It was close upon seven o'clock, on a lovely spring morning, that we reached PORTLAND, and we speedily betook ourselves to the chief hotel. We were too early for breakfast, and too late for bed ; so after a good wash we strolled down on to the wharf, where a steamer was discharging her cargo. From the wharf the town looked very pretty, and the harbour, with its fleet of fishing boats, mostly at anchor, looked charming. The sea was without a ripple, and there was barely a sufficient breath of air to fill the sails of one or two boats, whoso owners were starting for a fishing excursion. Portland is well above the sea level, and from its streets a splendid view of the ocean can be had. It has a population of over two thousand, and appears to he fairly well to do; but its quietness, which at first we attributed to the early hour of the day, remained unbroken during our stay. Yet it has several very comfortable and large hotels, a remarkably handsome Post Office, several good churches and schools, private as well as public, a newspaper published thrice a week, and several Clubs, &c. It has its skating rink, too, at which palace a “ champion of the world ” had been appearing the night before our arrival. After a hearty breakfast, we strolled for some hours through the town, acquiring thus the facts recorded above. But Portland is not a place for tourists to make a long stay at, unless perhaps during the summer, when sea bathing and rest are sought by the wearied man of business. In the commercial room of our hotel was a book for visitors to note in it their impressions of Portland. Tho comments of those who availed themselves of the book were of a somewhat sarcastic nature, and the following is a fair sample of the lot-—“ Are you weary of the gaieties of the world, then come into Portland, and you shall receive entire rest. Should you be of the feminine gender, and wearied with your lovers, come to Portland, and you shall find exceeding peace; for Portland is like unto the grave, ‘ where tho wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.’ again I say unto you, should your heart rebel against that which is quiet and slow, then come ye not into Portland for you would surely die." Determined to escape from so terrible a fate as death from ennui, we chartered a buggy and pair, and at one o’clock DEPARTED FOB WARBNAMBOOL.

And now there was no necessity for my having my attention aroused, for the beauty of the country through which we were trayelling was most striking. The road was little better than a bush track, and occasionally the springs of the buggy were tried to the utmost. But the country, with its variety of timber, its beautiful heather with scarlet and white blooms, its occasional streams of clear water, its glimpses of sea, its flocks of parrots and magpies, its couples of herons, its occasional laughing jackasses, and larks, &c., kept one’s attention perpetually on the qui vivo, while expressions of admiration were constantly breaking forth from one or other of us. At the end of the first stage (twenty-one miles) of our journey, we came to what was called the half-way house, and needless say we were quite ready to do justice to some slight refreshment ; but to our dismay we found that no refreshments were to bo had, not even a glass of anything, as the owner had quite recently been heavily fined for selling without a license. He complained that he was unfairly treated, as he had applied for and been refused a license. He seems not to have hit upon the which I am assured, eseta adopted?

by a gentleman similarly circumstanced, who gave the whiskey and sold a straw through which the whisky could be sucked. The place is surely just the one where a licensed house would be acceptable to the traveller, but whether or not the holder of the license would make enough profit to pay the license-fee, I cannot presume to say. Athirst and hungered, however, we had to continue our journey, and not till we reached Belfast (formerly called Port Fairy), some twenty-one miles further on, were we enabled to give exhausted nature a sup or a bite. The country we passed through kept improving in character, the chocolate colour of the soil indicating its volcanic origin, and vouching for its fertility. The road, too, had vastly improved, and the rattling pace of onp horses kept na in the best of humours, despite our starved condition.

AT BELFAST we' put up at one of the ten hotels, the name of which I forgot, or, more probably, did not notice; as when we arrived the night had fallen, and we were intent on securing a repast before hastening to Warrnambool, some twenty miles farther. The bill of fare was appetising,- though in our hungry condition we were not Hkely to be fastidious. The landlord was loth to lose our custom, but his offers of most comfortable quarters could not tempt us to postpone the completion of our journey. We were soon again on the road with a couple of fresh horses, and as the moon had risen pretty high, we could appreciate the features of the country we were passing through. This comprised some of the richest in this very rich district, and we were shown one large paddock from which no less than twenty tons of potatoes to the acre had been dug during the past season. The land fever had extended, we were told, even to this spot, some 300 miles from Melbourne j and a syndicate had recently purchased a large tract at £2O per acre, this tract including a considerable proportion of very inferior land. The intention of the syndicate is the usual one, to cut the land up into small allotments, and form townships on it. Opinions differed in Warrnambool as to the prospects of the speculation turning out a successful one; but the approaching completion of the railway from Melbourne seems to favoiir the probability of the daring speculator, now bent upon making a coup. On our way wo passed

TOTTER HILL, one of the chief lions of Warrnambool. Tower Hill is an extinct volcano, the summit of which stands forth from a beautiful lake, and is a complete island of about six hundred acres in extent. We could catch but a glimpse of its beauties, and were subsequently urged to visit the spot, which is a public reserve; but we could not spare the time.

ARRIVED AT WAEBNAMBOOL, wo gladly took possession o£ our comfortable quarters at the Commercial Hotel, and I would fain have retired to rest; but Mr Matson, grandfather as ho is, displayed all the exuberance of spirits of a school boy home for the holidays, now that he was revisiting the place where ho had passed some years of his youth. Nothing would satisfy him but my accompanying him to the house of business where formerly he had occupied a desk. From this he dragged me to the Bank, where, too, he had held office; and then I must go with him to where he had lodged. Many were the reminiscences which the sight of once familiar spots suggested to him, and terribly late was it ere I found myself safely between the sheets of my bed. The next day was Sunday, and while the others of our party went to church to hear their old and esteemed friend, the Eev Archdeacon Beamish, I devoted myself to letter writing. In the afternoon we visited TEE BREAKWATER, one of the contractors for which is Mr A. L. Dobson, whom my readers will recollect as a gentleman who took a active part in connection with the Midland Railway movement. Mr Dobson, on hearing of our presence in Warrnambool, called at our hotel and courteously placed at my disposal an account of the great undertaking he is engaged in. Prom this I have learned the following particulars. Wo saw lying ready for use the immense blocks of concrete, some of which have already been placed in situ, and we also saw the powerful crane used for lifting them, said to be the largest in the world. Wc hoped to see the crane at work on Monday, but heavy rain, at the time when we proposed to visit the breakwater, stopped operations. The blocks are being laid on a rock bottom, the boles in which are levelled up with concrete in bags. The size of tho bags varies from a cornsack to twelve tons of concrete. When an absolutely level surface has been secured, the bottom course of blocks is set upon it; Mr Dobson, in a divingdress, superintending this, very important part of the work. Above water, the blocks are all set in cement mortar, so as to form solid monoliths. The breakwater starts from tho “ Depot,” an artificial island built on flat rocks about 3ft below high water-mark. This depfife extends along the fiat rocks for 500 ft, at which distance is deep water, and the breakwater begins. At present the breakwater is 150 ft in length, so that already 650 ft of shelter is afforded, the effect of which has already been very marked. The present contract will carry tho breakwater out to 912 ft. All the blocks of which the work is composed have to be set accurately by divers, and are all bonded together like a brick wall. It is a long and tedious process, requiring fine, calm weather, m this respect differing greatly from the breakwaters built at Timaru and Camara. Four divers work at a, time, out of a barge moored in front 'of the work. Tho blocks weigh upwards of twenty-seven tons each, and measure nine to fourteen feet in length, by abotit six feet in width. The amount of the present contract is .£129,017, but the Government undertake to take over at a valuation all tho contractors* plant, which at present comprises a “ Titan ” crane for blocksetting, a “Goliath” crane for lifting blocks on to the trucks, &c., a sir-horse power engine and sand washing machine, a ten-horse power engine and stone breaker, sheds to hold eight thousand casks of cement, blacksmiths* and carpenters’ shops, office, divers* cabins, &c. Tho block-yard is fifteen chains long, and contains eight rows of concrete floors for making blocks upon; the aggregate length of the floor being one mile and a half. The lines connecting tho pier with the blockyard, sidings included, measure nearly three miles. And here it will not be out of place for me to mention

THE AMOUNT OP TKADE done at the port, which, is considered sufficient to warrant so large an expenditure. For the twelve months ended June, 1887, the total value of the exports was .£313,340. Potatoes took a prominent position, of course, in the list, this item reaching 500 tons. Of cheese, 2,654,9251 b; of butter, 364,0001 b; and of bacon, 212,8001 b were shipped. We did not leave Warrnambool till the Tuesday afternoon, and though much that I saw during our stay will, I think, be of interest to my readers, its record will prolong this letter too much, and I therefore defer the particulars till my next.