NOTES ON AUSTRALIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7158, 24 January 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

NOTES ON AUSTRALIA.

I IV.—Sidney. yone has heard of the beautioa Harbour — " our harbour," as folks fondly call it. Thia ia fow sights which, liko Niagara, frapbad on the memoiy of whon so fortunate as to see thorn. :-rence, howover—tho impression instantaneous; it stamps itself I in a moment, nnd though furon may make the details more _ add to tha depth of ths impres'dney Harbour grows upon ono. race you may po3sib!y be a little It is only as you drink in each lat its wonderful loveliness takes ou. Tbe more you explore its es—foiming altogether 2GO miles nore familiar you become with r headland or reach, the greater i—tba more one feels tbat one i live on its shores, and bavo its instant companion, i admirable from a practical as c point of view. The Austral can be moored alongside natural very heart of the city. There Scient to hold the combined irld, mercantile and naval. The is the paradise of yachtsmen; arsmen. The gardens of suourdown to the water's edge along and points, and there are thoulpied building sites from which i fit for the gods, lite angry with the town for orthy of its site. The viow suburbs as you como up into ming and picturesque as that of n Port Phillip is commonplace But when you get near tho n vanishes, It ia a capital error rdney for the first time by land, ty ol fine buildings, pubiic and he town is farther back in its than Melbourne. Time alone >idly making away with tho old luildings which spoil the appsarneighbours. But timo cannot o streets of Sydney, nor rectify eaa. They were originally dug s, whereas those of nearly every Australia were mapped out long •c inhabited. Besides thia, they 1. Oa the other haud, there is homely look about tho Sydney are old friends, such as you can eds of towns in Europe. Thoir eness for the practical wants becomes a pleasant contrast to indsomeness of Melbourne and in London, the size and handdividual buildings is lost in the , You look at tho street from it it down as littlo better than a '_ down it without noticing the lildinga it contains; whereas in in Paris, both the general effect idual building are Bhown off to vantage; but there is a certain 3 and old-fasbionednoss about brings back pleasant memories , after ths monotonous perfection md Adelaide, mpply is not always quite as rid be wished; but the system }c is good, and the oye is not pen sewera, as in Melbourne, c that there are not so many sb here, and fewer horsemen, sars greater, but this iaowing to i of the streets. It is not so till easily perceive. land their passengers in the ity, and, unless you walk, you aye to take a hansom to your havo much luggage, two han-ir-wheelers " are rare. In cornSydney hansoms are clean and rams run out to the railwayis at the farther end of the town, I the suburbs, and if the Sydney best, the Sydney tramp are worst of their kind—dirty, unnd unsightly. No other Ausnity would tolerate them. The clean and well kept. Thore is one hotel to go to—Patty's— •ior. In most matters of this s only a second-rate edition of loth the Union and Australian ortable. s of Sydney are rather natucial. But although the town out, it muat not be imagined •ly built. On th' contrary, its ior tho most part Bmaller than juruo, but if a new-cr-mer docs uvne first,, he will probably bo the number and s;z3 of tbe ?a. Sydney bas the great ad3S3sssing a superior building red-and-grey sandstone of great ich forms tbo substratum of tbe n which it is built, while Meloainly to rely on a blueßtone distance, and bas to import the sst buildings from either Sydney The general style of architeoJe to that most common in Melg to the more limited area of the of the town, the buildings ara jurne and Adelaide look as if ;aken his seat upon the top of tenet!, tbem. Sydney is taller liar.' It climbs up^ -id down a hills, and protrudes at all kinda points. The city proper has no loundariei, and it is difficult to town begins and tho subuib3 c buildings, the handsomest are irks Office, tha Colonial Secrold the Land Office, each four to ;h and close to the water's edge. Secretary's Office is only second lrne Law Courts amongst tho dings of Australia. It ia lofty, dignified outwardly, elegant inside, although It has been the most incongruous fashion 1 ends of third-rate statuary, zes, &c, until it looks like an shop. The University, though an old building, still holds its st the best, and may well be splendidly-proportioned hall, ;h-oentury Gothic. The Roman ledral, which has juat been well-proportioned. The length i within transept 118 ft, height 'here is to be a central tower i two towers with spires which leight of 260!t. The Anglican ugh not large, is a handsome wo towers, in fourtesnth-coutury Post-office is a fino building, statues of nineteenth century in niches. The Town Hall is g built with the idea of at all g it larger than the Melbourne So far it is a success. But , it ia externally nothing more id failure—over-decorated and The interior is not yet finished, igh, it is built upon the site of a of the early settlement —formWestminster Abbey for the fiist re are practically only two none well fitted or decorated; ally no good concert-hall ,_in the ,1 hospitals and asylums abound, nent House is wretchedly small. Library is far inferior to that , but it possesses an excellent free circulating branch, which i working man who would not brary to read. Any person can 100k free of charge on presenting im any well-known citizen of his Tho Picture Gallery, though , contains an admirable small :ted with great judgment, ly, Sydney has vory few reserves, Bhe keeps in bad ordor, with the lovely Botanical Gardon, situated the land almost entirely surrater. Almost equally beautilation of Government Houbo— Tudor mansion, but rather small if entertainment, j commercial buildings, the new ! the Australian Mutual Provide pre-eminent. Thoy cost no 100. Tho banks ars not equtl to bourne or the Adelaide banks; ranee offices, warehouses, &c, numerous, aro nearly up to the indard in sizs, although they do i great advantage as their merit 3 shops are not so fine as in Melo well stocked, and are pretty il with thoso in au English town ;e. if the principal streets proclaim town. George street and Pitt two main thoroughfares, and lereagh, Liverpool, and William King, Hunter, Bligh,'Macquarie, reets, and Darlinghurat preserve he first Governors. The suburbs -eserve the Bweet-sounding native loomooloo, Woolahra, Coogoo, the harbour. Of a later date , Waveriey, Newton, Slnnmoro, vood, Croydon, aod Petersham — along the railway line. Oihor ouble Bay, Darling Point, Darts' Point, Elizabeth Bay, Vauie Bay, all around the harbour. ■ and Manley Beach, near the iched by steamer; and up the c Lane Cove, Hunter's Hill, almain, and Parramatta, louth Welshman do not spend ion outward show so much as the lence the number of large houses i is smaller. But whorea3 the d Melbourne for miles is mostly bs of Sydney revel In beautiful For choice, thoro ara the es below the town or up the iver, which is lined with protty inhabitants come up to Sydney in small river steamers. The rbs, howevor, are much cloaer to in Melbourne, being connected ways instead of railways. Now ao springing up along the railway l'tha railway-station is brought i of the town they can never be the Melbourne suburtw.

■id on good authority that the nment are contemplating the it of gaming-houses (or rather uibliques) under state manage fction. Tbe argument is that ■ only certain method of raainfcression of the private " hells " Km, but only partially effected. B thb House.—" Rough on B rats, mice, beetles, roaches, Hants, inseots, moles, jack■—Kempthobne, Pbosseb; ■Cbrisfcchurcb.— [Advt.] ..