MELBOURNE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4026, 13 January 1875, Page 6 (Supplement)

MELBOURNE.

(from our own correspondent.) January 4th. Parliament has been and the most barren, profitless, and uninteresting of all Victorian sessions has come to an end. Early in the session, vhen a very formidable programme cf work was put forward by the Government, a shrewd observer wrote his prediction that the only Bill of public importance that the session would pass would be the Payment of Members Bill; and now, afc the close, he is in a position to claim thafc his prophecy has been virtually fulfilled. True enough, one or two other Bids have become law, but when we consider all thafc stood on the list afc the opening of the session, and are nowhere at its cioie, we cannot sufficiently admire the ' prudence and public spirit which enabled i Eon. members fco guide their own pet measure to the tale haven of the Royal assent. The rest of fche work that has been effected is nothing. Whether ifc were done or left uudone would not matter much to anybody. .But if this Bill had been lost, it would have mattered very much to a good many, indeed to moss of the patriots who place their de- ! votlon and enlightenment at the disposal of the electors. The prorogation speech was a very cool production. The Ministry claimed to have passed a Customs Acfc that would lighten the burdens of the people, while it, afc the same time, would promote the commerce of the country. Considering thafc the most noticeable provision of the Acfc was one raising a number or 10 per cent, duties to 20 per cent, certainly this is rather an audacious statement to make. When, in the face of recent sxpoeuros, we aye told, in another paragraph ot the speech, that settlement on our public I lauds progresses satisfactorily, ifc is difficult to imagine any extreme of intrepid, defiant j misstatements that our Ministry would be ! likely to shrink from. Tile prorogation was the last public act of Sir George Bowen, who left the Colony on a seven or eight months' leave of absence by the mail steamer. Sir Redmond Barry has been sworn in as Acting Goyernor, and if there is auy distinction to be gained from acting without capacity, certainly Sir Redmonrt Barry is amply entitled to it. The legal ability of the learned Judge is nofc thought very highly of by those well qualified to judge, bufc there cau be no dispute about the zeal with which he has extrajudicially laboured in the public service, nor aboufc the value of the services he has rendered. The obligations under which our Library, Art and Scientific Museums, and University lie to Sir Redmond Barry ifc would be difficult fully to appreciate. Ifc is not only that much is due to his extensive knowledge, bufc also that the interests of those institutions have been very much forwarded by the fact fchat a gentleman in the elevated social and official position of Sir Redmond has always been prepared to help them, either by active or by actual advocacy. If any parfc of the debts the Colony owes to Sir Redmond can be paid by conferring on him for a ahorfc interval the dignified po3fc of Acting - Governor, every oue will be glad to know that ifc is being bo paid. There is a story current that there was some little hitch p.boufc tlio appointment. Its necessity, of course, arose from the absence of the Chief Justice, Sir William Sfcawell, from the colony upon two years sick leave. Sir William's leave has some time yefc to run. It appears thafc several months ago, when Sir George JJowen first contemplated a visit home and obtained leave of absence, Mr Francis, then Ciiief Secretary, wrote home to Sir William Sfcawell, asking in his own name, .and in thafc of the Governor, that Sir William would abridge his leave of absence, and return to the Colony in time to take the Acting-Governorship as soon as possible aifcer the departure of Sir George Bowen, as ifc was nofc considered thafc Sir Redmond Barry was so fitting a man as Sir William Stawell to exercise the duties of the office. Sir Wilii.im Stawell was requested to consider tbis letter strictly private and -confidential. However, Sir William thought that if he were to shorten his term of leave and hurry back to the Colony, to assume the office of Acting-Governor—the dignity of wii'ch he would personally care nothing for —it wmild expose him to some misconstruction on the parfc of his colleague and the public. He, therefore, to guard himself against such misconstruction, sent out a copy of Mr Francis's letter to a mutual friend of himself and Sir Redmond Barry, mentioning that although he had been requested to consider it confidential, he did not con- . sider himself called upon to do so. The letter was accordingly communicated to Sir ] Redmond Barry, who need hardly ba imagined to have felt very kindly disposed towards either Sir George Bowen or Mr Francis. However, although provision was thus made for thei assumption of the office by Sir William Stawell, after a short interval it so happened that arrangements consequent on the passing of the Judicature Act, made ifc needful that an Acting-Governor should be appointed afc once, and Sir Redmond Barry wiil be accordingly sworn in next Friday. Our holidays have passed off as usual with all of the brilliancy, and activity, and zest which Melbourne holidays always exhibit. As usual, the town has been crowded with visitor:-. Servants bave been tyrannising over householders in their ordinary way, insisting on keeping holiday every day for a fortnight, with the Threat that otherwise they would leave altogether. Respectable citizens have been crowding down to Brighton Beach nnd other places to undergo the miseries oi a picnic nnder a broiling Australian midsummer sun. The Eastern Market, in JJov>ike street, oa the moraipg befyre Christ-

mas_ Day, was abundantly supplied with Christinas provender, and the market carts overflowed' the usual limits, and 'extended from the Parliament Houses to Swanston street. ' Amongst the carts, many were loaded with the great • fronds of the tree fern; to be; used for purposes of house decoration; and many a troop of people could be seen carrying a lot of those long green feathery frouds over their shoulders, and forming a sort of procession, something like a walking Fern-Tree Gully, if you can realise such an idea. Their loads would be used in imparting a look of greenery to the rooms in which they would eat their Christmas dinner, and thus combine some of the attributes of a forest picnic with a dinner on their ordinary table. Many a quiet cool fern-tree gully must have been invaded and stripped of its foliage to provide these de corations. On Christmas Eve the streets were again crowded, troops of children thronged the arcades and took possession of the "shilling shops," not coming away till each had selected his Christmas box, which was then borneoffin triumph. Christinas Day and Boxing Day were beautiful days for holi-day-keeping, there being a cool and enjoyable breeze. On the other hand, New Year's Day turned out very badly, a cold, heavy rain comiDg on in the middle of the afternoon, and sending home thousands of lightly but gaily dressed holiday-keepers, wet, cold, and miserable, to reflect on the nothingness of holidays, and the unsatisfactory character ef all human pleasures.

This unsatisfactory character of pleasure was never more forcibly illustrated to me than the other evening, when I went to sec one of the pantomimes, which are thronged nightly by admiring audiences. It seemed to me the most dreary, inane foolery I ever witnessed in my life. The introductory extravaganza lasted three hours and a quarter, and in that time I did not htar a single sentence containing a trace of wit or of Initnour.' The plot of the piece—to speak of it as a plot—was totally incoherent and unintelligible. There were kings, queens, demons, and other odd people, belonging to some realm of the world of fiction ; but they were all the time occupied in trying to rna're jokes about little matters of the day in Melbourne. This is to be said in their favour— that their jokes were execrable and simply idiotic. There was a princess for whoso hand there were seven suitors, and of these six were represented as caricatures of some well known citizens of Melbourne. They fail in their suit, and are put to death, and their bleeding heads, weariug this ghastly resemblance to people you meet every day in Collins street, are hung up in a row on the stage. Such is the delicate, graceful play of wit and fancy which is offered for the amusement of the Melbourne public. The parts were purely imbecile, and as such were very indifferently played. Having given this description of this miserable stuff to which the juvenile patrons of pautomiinc had to listen through, three loug dreary hours till their friends clown and pantaloon could get upon the stage, I need nob say that it is the production or adaptation—l don't know which.—of a local author.

A little while ago there was someone lecturing in Melbourne about Australian authors, and complaining in his disccurse that they were not ptoperly encouraged by 1 the public. Well, it seems to me that they are only too well encouraged, The utmost encouragement they cau expeot is endurance and forbearance, and of this they receive an ample share. My fellow citizens at the entertainment I speak of sat patiently and quietly, as I did myself, listening to the amusing exhilarating matter I have feebly endeavoured to characterise. They did not applaud certainly j how could they ? but they bore it with the fortitude and resignation of martyrs. There was an evident feeling that these things must be put up with at Christmas time, and after all Christmas only comes once a year. Encourage native genius, indeed. I would like to see native geniusdosomethingto deserve encouragement before it goes about whining that it is not sufficiently fostered, its young developments cherished, and all the rest of it. Unless it can do something better than produce senseleas pantomimes, without sense, coherency, intelligibility, or even a single gleam of the fun which is the essence of such works, and which at present would atone for anything that might be deficient, I, for one, devoutly trust that native genius will be checked by a wholesome neglect, and extinguished by the disfavour that it works so hard to deserve. Why should these people reduce our holidays to a miserable penance ? why should, they add to to the terrors of a time of festivity by their intolerable pantomimes, thqir meaningless plots, their imbecile " local allusions," their incredibly stupid jokes, their sparkling dialogue, that would be despised for its \ a v ty, its bewildering nonsense, its want of sense or cohfrcuey if it were presented to an audience of lunatics. And then these people complain that their native genius is not •■' encouraged." Before Parliament adjourned we had one or two' instances of the manner in which our paternal Government treafc the most important interests of the country. Our Insurance Companies have for a long time been representing the iujustiee which leaves to them the soi§ care of providing for the support of a Melbourne Fire Brigade. The justice of these representations has been admitted over and over again by successive Governments, which, affc.ii- hearing all that could be urged, have firaily and decisively determined to do—nothing. At last the Companies determined to abaudon their Brigade, and gave public notification of their intention. The Government received the announcement with perfect calmness, aud up to the present time has not thought it necessary to take any step towards meeting the emergency. A fire that will lay half of a suburb in ashe3 will bo needed to enable the Government to see that it has a duty to discharge in this matter, either by ifcselc providing against tha danger, or by insisting on the Corporation dj>ing so, A few claya before Parliament rose, one member asked tho Premigr if it were true that the Bay was silting up 1 Sir Kerferd replied that he regretted to have to state that it was, aud, in fact, that if it .continued, as of course it will continue, the Bay would \ cease to be navigable for large ships. This i would seem to be an emergency that would rouse evfia our miserable make-believe Government to action. Not at all. Mr Kerferd was equal to the occasion, and, in official phrase, made and provided for use at such times, assured the IJou-.e, arid through the House the couufcrj', that ths Government | were alive to the importance of the subject, : and would consider the propriety of ap- j pointing a Couunissioa to examine the ! matter, and enquire if any and what steps should be recommended for the consideration of the Government. And these considerations and deliberations and examinations are all that are promised towards keeping the bay clear; and yet Mr Kerferd says that he is quite aware that in a little "While it will cease to be navigable. We are now to liave another commission to bring up more reports on thid nmch-reporj;ed subject, and—that is all. Surely the worst .Quality that any Government can possess is impotent incapacity, and our present Government appears to have no other quality. The arrival o:J t!io St. Osyth from London, in a voyage of 47 days' steaming, has, as it naturally might, revived the' discussion about the Cape route fop a subsidised mail and passenger service. But we have yet to see in what time the vessel will make bhs run home. At any rate this is beyond question, that the new steamer ie 6no of the most magnificent ships that ever came into the Australian waters, and shows the imErovement that is taking place in vessels uilt for the accommodation of passenger traffic on important steam routes.