OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8756, 19 March 1890, Page 4

OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

March ii. LAND BOOM REMINISCENCIUS. "How land wcs boomed" would be a fitting title for the disclosures which are just now being made in the Insolvency Court by Mr Harold Sparks. Mr Sparks was confidential clerk to Mr C. H. James, the prince of land boomers. Mr James ia now proceeding criminally against his ex-clerk for embezzlement of funds, Mr Sparks' defeDco being that he was in some degree a partner of hid employer's. Concurrently with Uio l Jolioe Court investigation into this charge Mr Sparks is passing through the Insolvency Court; and in the latter, having a free hand, his is making revelations which, if they are true, (jive a pretty iusight into the methods that existed in the boom period. Mr James waa a man who never wob heard of bofore that juncture, 'ibon, however, he quickly blossomed into notoriety as the reputed maker of hundreds of thousands of pounds. He became on M.L.0., securing election at any cost; and ingratiated himself amongst the upper circles by giving an invitation banquet at the Masonic Hall to some 400 gentlemen. Many of his guests had never seen him before, but he mollified them by a superb dinner, which probably cost him every penny of £1500. Mr Sparks, as I havo said, makes some astonishing statements. Mr James established the Dominion Bank; and says Mr Sparks:— " Mr .James practically nominated the directors. The company was founded for the purpose of taking over Mr James' Heidelberg and Ivanhoe properties at a stated price. They consisted of over 1000 acres and cost Mr James £53,000 or and the company was to take the lands at ££40,000. Mr James pointed out that the bank was doing no business, and had had no transactions, and suggested that I should get others whom I knew to join me and make a purchase from the bank. Ho was to finance my share of it. One day Mr James brought Mr Marshall, a mutual friend, up to the office, and pointed out to him that ho should join in a purchase with me ; and Marshall agreed to join mo in buying some of Mr James' Heidelberg land from the Dominion Bauk. This was 126 acres, and was to cost £85,000 odd. Mr James actually paid the deposit, and we gave him a bill. Mr James gave me the money to hand to the Dominion Bank, and the bank handed it back to him. In fact, no money passed at all. Mr Jamts is now seeking to prove a debt against me on these bills. Tho next day another contract was prepared, in which it was represented that I had bought 41 acres of land at Ivanhoe from the Dominion Bank &t £1000 sn acre. Mr James fixed the deposit and the price. Mr James was to meet the bills. The following month Marshall and I were represented as buying 85 acres additional at £1000 an acre on Heidelberg Heights. Mr James fixed the priceand paid the deposit, and it was paid in the usual way. We paid his cheque iv to meet ours, and the bonk paid Mr James. I believe the bills were not presented. The arrangement was such that none of tho principal need be paid for five years. It was returned by the bank as a bona fide sale, and a dividend was paid on the strength of it. A circular was issued calling attention to the undivided profit and inviting the public to join the undertaking." THE CONFESSION OF FAITH. The Rev. T. E.Clouston, who has been elected moderator of tho Presbyterian Assembly of New South Wales, somewhat electrified his fellow clergymen in his opening address. He dealt principally with the progress of religious thought and the necessity of formulating acreol more suited to the present day. He said that since the Westminster Confession of Faith was compiled the world has been moving on, and tho questions that it sought to settle have been virtually decided, or long ago ceased to be matters of earnest controversy and discussion. It admirably suited its purpose once, but to-day we needed an altogether lighter weapon, and one more adapted to our altered circumstances. He would not be inclined to revise tho Cocfession, but to let it remain in its iutegrity as a clear and comprehensive statement of tho theology of ; tho church in the presence of seventeenth century controversies, and according to the light which it then possessed, with a statement that as such it cannot

well bo improved upon. • Lot them rather formulate a creed on different lines and more suited to the needs of the present day, and surely cuch a body as the pan-Presbyterian Council would justify its existence by turning its energies to this most importantenterprise. What he would desire in such a creed would be larger catholicity, a diminished insistence on little points of theology, which were not really vital to salvation, and about which intelligent godly men held various views, and a breadth af thought that would approximate more closely to the inclusion of all who belong to the church of the New Testament. MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. Mr W. P. Street, ex-mayor of Dunedin, has been appointed manager of the Assets Purchase and Realisation Company, in Melbourne. He succeeds Mr John Higgins, brother of the well-known barrister of that name. The Hon. John Douglas, Government Resident at Thursday Island, contradicts the reports about tho dastardly behaviour of the Lascar crew of the Quetta in the recent wreck. There were 65 Javanese passengers ou deck, and ib was these who crowded into the boats and caused the confusion. Tho Presbyterian missionary schooner Dayspring, after nearly five mouths' absence, returned to Sydney on Saturday. She spent about three months in the New Hebrides group, and has I been the remainder of the time in New Zealand waters. The Dayspring is now to retire from active life, in that work at least, for a term of 12 mouths, as the Presbyterian Church has arranged for a steam service with the New Hebrides group. The steamer Birksgate, from Sydney, will each month convey the stores for the missions to the group, and the Trugauini will do the inter-island work. " Civis " has recently been asking for news of Captain W. Jackson Barry. The veteran has just returned to Melbourne after a so-

journ in the cooler climate of Tasmania. Ho had great success as a lecturer in Hobart, oecuring vice-regal patronage, and visiting, too, at Government House. The Tnsmanian Government gave him a free pass over the railways of tho colony. He has now completed the note-taking for his new book on " Men of tho Time in Australia." He will see Lord Hopetoun to ask him to take the chair at his " grand farewell lecture " in Melbourne, and will then visit New Zealand. Mrs Brown-Potter hss not met with the appreciation of the critics either in " Oamille " oc the " Lady of Lyons " They all praise her magnificent dresses, but there praise ends. " She does not get inside tho part as well as the clothes," is one unkind remark. She has written to the Argus to explain that some one else is constantly being mistaken for her. Thus she has been credited with appearances at Flemingtonand"on the block"; bat, she asks leave to Bay: " I have never been to the races or any other public place of amusement; I have not yet had time to take either a walk or drive lin Melbourne; aud, lastly, I am not the possessor of any of tho garments the Australasian and other papers have credited me with' attractiug considerable attention' by wearing." There is a diphtheria scare in Elsternwick. The outbreak is declared to bo the result of land-boom building. Acres of houses have been erected without proper street formation or any drainage provision ; and in the hot summer the sewage which na nk into the soil has fermented and caused disease. Much attention has been directed to tho " book fiund." .'"The Picturesque Atlas," "Victoria and its Metropolis," aud several other works and pictures havu been suddenly sprung on people, whose signatures have been procured in a perfectly surprising way. There have been two prosecutions up country for perjury, one of an agent stul the other of a customer. Tho former was committed for trial, the latter acquitted. Many business urn iv Melbourne have been forced to pay for a wretched lithograph supplied to them at n cost of W guineas; and there is not the slightest doubt that the signatures iv some cases wero not

An extensive Echemo for the removal and disposal of nightsoil throughout the city of Melbourne is likely to be adopted by tho City Couacil. Thy system adopted is the removal of the nightsoil in air-tight pans, and its subsequent distraction bj-incinerators. The apparatus ia simple, ita main features being a receiving chamber, a furnace, and a chamber in which the ga«s generated in the process of destruction are effectually disposed of. The pan with its contents is placed bodily iv the receiver, an airtight cover is fitted over, and the pan is then, by meaus of suitable mechanism, inverted, the contents of the pan being gradually allowed to find their way over a series of iron plates in direct contact with the flames of the furnace. Not the slightest odour arises from the process, and in 15 minutes the air-tight cover of the receiver is lifted, aiul the pan, freed from all ita contents and deodorised by heat and steam, is removed.

Tho " doggy world " is excited jusfc now over ths Australian terrier.' This is a wiry-haired little nnimal th.it has been evolved in tbo colony. Blr Coupe, the judge at the dog shows, dad res him to l)i; a mongrel, and him a real John Bull kind of contempt; for him. ]?»t to the horror of Mr Coupe and all his friends, Lord Hopelonn has actually bought two of the breed; and everyone is anxious to know if he intends to exhibit them, and if he does whether tho uncompromising Coujie will turn thorn out of the ring as ho has always done hitherto. Dog fancying in Melbourne is progressing vastly. An Irish terrier has just boon imported for which £70 was paid at Horcc.

Gu>:long has just paid for 45, 137 cfjgs and 5065 heads of sparrow, destroyed. It has liec-n reckoned that had the spin-rows not been liillicl and egg* destroyed there would havn been iv tho district 411,136 moro sparrows, this season than thero were last season.

A nifiu Biirl wcui'iu have bsen iv rested iv Melbourne wild »r« bolieved to bo concerned iv 70 dill'ereut robbi->ien. The woman visited houses l:o ssk for ch:'.ri!.y, and In i m; i,bown into a room lo wait v.hilc- t>o;Ke food was;;;.fc for her w:»ilil decani;) will. i;v; n tbii-K the could hi- her

bunds mi. One ot hvr exploiti \yk.s n visit to l)r Singleton, tlio i>g-:(J plijl.iiitliropitt wlio is to well known. 110 was ill raid she had to bo taken to his bedroom to tell her story. While he was writing some order for her, ehe inado a

bolt with his watch und chain which were IviDg on tho table, and got clear away with it before he could give the alarm. Another of the tragic deaths which are bo marked a feature of big cities has como to light in Melbourne. A poor vagrant woman was found dead in a right-of-way. She had been indulging in immoral practices, had received an injury without being-, aware of it, and bled to death while afileep. Nobody can recognise tho wretched creature. She will add one more to the list of the unknown who get public burial in this big city every year.