THINGS AS THEY ARE IN MELBOURNE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9154, 8 September 1888, Page 5

THINGS AS THEY ARE IN MELBOURNE.

A gentleman, at present in Melbourne,' writes to a friend here :—" It is disgusting to see the tomfoolery display in the New Zealand Court. Instead of the minerals being pushed to the front, to catch the eye of visitors walking along the avenue, they are stowed away at the back, with the exception of a few samples and nuggets placed in an outside corner, in a column made to represent the gold product of the colony. This column, with a sensible man who knew his business, would have been put in the centre of the Court to attract attention about the entrance, but instead of doing like the others, and coining up to the boundary line, New Zealand is two or three feet back, and this pillar stands in the corner partly obscured until the visitor may be abreast of it, and, as the Court is nearly at the very end of the avenue, people may turn to the other side and not notice New Zealand at all, or not go so far up, as nothing strikes their eye. Some specimeus came over by" the Tarawera, and it is to be hoped they will take the hints given in the paper, and make a better display and alter things a bit. It was just the same in London. New .Zealand, if properly managed, is going to be the colony in a few years. Things here are not so prosperous at the core as they seem to appear, the properties are boomed up by speculators to fabulous amounts, which cannot bring in a return to pay more than 1 or 2 per cent, interest, if let at their best. Signs of slacking off were noticed a few months back, and resulted in the strings being pulled to have the Exhibition opened two months before it was ready, to keep things inflated. Some of them, and a large number, will get bitten pretty hard in from nine to twelve months' time."