MELBOURNE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1188, 5 September 1874, Page 5

MELBOURNE.

(prom our own correspondent. ) August 21st. Again we have the Suez mail brought by the P. and O. steamer four or five days in advance of its due time ; and just as the Californian service seems to have broken down and disappeared, the P. and O. Company appear to be making every effort to put its service in the most favourable light. A good deal of discussion has taken place at Sydney over the departure of Mr Hall just as the service he represented was getting into such difficulties. It is not easy to under • stand it thoroughly ; but one fact comes out with great clearness, and that is that, although Mr Hall has considerately appointed someone to act for him in his absence, he has neglected to provide the pecuniary means requisite to hire steamers, provide coal and stores, and generally to carry on the service. The Government is deeply pledged to make every endeavour to carry on in default of Mr Hall. The establishment <>f this costly and hitherto very disappointing Cali* fornia line has been always regarded as the solitary feather in the administrative cap of Mr Parkes, and to lose this would be. to lose the text that has served for a great many loud, flourishing, self-complacent, truinpetings in the past, and will prohably-^imilarly serve in the future. Mr Parkes's promises that in some way or other- the service shall be maintained, and, it is said, that he will move the New Zealand Government to appoint a Plenipotentiary representative to confer with him on the necessary arrangements. 'Just at present Mr Parkes has a little provincial starring before him, having been invited to a banquet at Deuiliquin. The invitation ia believed to come from some of those locally interested in the proposed Moama and Deniliquin railway, who wish to obtain some concessions from the Government, and reasonably think that a banquet to the Premier is a veryproper first step to be taken towards securing the right frame of mind for facilitating this object. Our own. poor substitute Government— a Government of shreds aud patches- got over the threatened vote of want of confidence very smoothly. It was too much for our discordant divided feeble Opposition to expect that tho House would consent to expel a Government which it had, only a few days before, by a very large majority invited to continue in office. Nothing had occurred in the meantime to necessitate a change save the unpleasant explanations and recriminations between Mr Casey and Mr Langton, and these, however discreditable they might be in themselves, could not effect the position of the Government in any way, so that the Opposition had actually no case, and was obliged, after two nights had been wasted, to withdraw the motion in a rather humiliating manner. Libel cases have been rather plentiful of late, and ». any, of them have this characteristic, that they are brought for the purpose of restricting the province of newspapers in commenting and criticising nublic acts. It is not long 'since an actor obtained £100 damages against a newspaper for calling him a "slovenly actor," and now the managers of the Theatre Royal are taking proceedings against a paper for saying that the version recently produced of the " Princess of Trebizonde" was a "mutilated" one. There is also a complaint made that the paper reflected unjustly on some of the performances at the Theatre Royal by attributing indecency to thorn, that it charged " parsimony " to the managers, and committed sundry other enormities. The fact is, it will soon be unsafe to notice theatrical entertainments at all, even in terms of general and indiscriminate eulogy. In other ways, too, thfl action of the Press here is restricted to a degree that is without prectdent in modern times in England. , An. instance of this nature is afforded by the recent action of a person named Walker against the Australasian. About 15 months ago, Mr Walker was disqualified by the Bendigo Jockey Club, from a horse of bis having been pulled and

made to lose a race, which, in the judgment of all of the 2000 bystanders, confirmed by that of the stewards and all of the racing authorities present, he could easily have won. The punishment of disqualification was subsequently imposed upon Walker by the Victoria Racing Olub following the decision of the Sandhurst Club. On these facts, and upon the judgment of two competent tribunals, supported by a literal host of witnesses, the Australasian denounced the transaction as one of those scandals which mako the turf a place of such odium in the opinion of honest and respectable men; Its comments were challenged by Walker, who quietly submitted to tho punishment inflicted by the racing clubs, but brought an action against the paper that merely took the decision of these tribunals to be a correct one. All this of course he had a perfect right to do if he plenserl, but the effect was that the newspaper was compelled to adduce the oiiginal evidence, and was unable to put the judgment of the racing tribunals as warrants for its strictures. The case on its first hearing had the effect of showing that the relations of the Press to the public are not altogether what they have been in past time. The Judge took a tone strongly hostile to the newspaper, and the jury found a verdict for £300 damages. This verdict, however, was set aside by the Supreme Court on the ground of its being against evidence, aud a new trial was ordered. This has since taken place, and again the Judge— this time Mr Justice Stephen ; the first time it was Mr Justice Fellows— took a view of the case strongly adverse to the paper. If the principles embodied in these two Judges' charges were to be accepted as a fair expression of the Jaw of newspaper libel, then, indeed, the area of journalism in its criticism and comment upon public events would be exceedingly restricted. However, the jury this time declined to follow the Judge, and, although they so far yielded to His Honour's direction as on two counts to give a verdict for the plaintiff, they found on the third for the defendant, and limited the damages they awarded on the other to a farthing on each count. Indeed the weight of evidence was so strong that there was a general feeling of surprise in the public mind that the verdict was not wholly for the defendant. Taking all three cases together then, those of the present sessions aud those that f have alluded to in recent sessions, it does seem that newspapers have not the same freedom of discussion allowed them here that they exercise in England, and that the tendency is rather to restrict ifc than to widen it. It would be a curious result of the development of democratic institutions if it had the effect of limiting the liberty of the Press, to which so much of its progress has been duo. It might be said that the limitations have been produced by a public reaction against journalistic excesses, but I do not think that the explanation will be entertained by anyone ac- • quainted with the moderate respectable character of most of our Victorian journals. It seems more reasonable to believe that it is due to the influence of living in little communities, where '• the anonymity of journalism is by no means perfect, and where any man whose conduct is commented on at once makes it a personal quarrel between himself and the person he chooses to suppose the writer of the' strictures. The movement that has shown itself in several towns of New Zealand in favour cf opening public libraries, literary institutes, &c , on Sundays, is also visible here. The Sandhurst Mechanics' Institute hold a meeting of its subscribers the other day, when the question was discussed, and it was resolved by a majority of moro than four to one to open the institute on Sunday after. noons. Naturally the movement meets with strenuous opposition from the Sabbatarians, but it is becoming evident that this ulasa is every daydiminishing iv its numbers, and that the influence conceded to it is ridiculously in excess of its numerical strength. A large majority of members of Parliament have been returned pledged to the principle of opening the Public Library and running trains on Sundays, but they all tacitly agree to let the subject alone as long as possible. lam satisfied that a plebiscite of tho inhabitants of the colony on the question — women and children, of course, not being allowed to vote — wonld sweep away once for all these attempts of the Sabbatarians to make their opinions an absolute law for mankind at large. That clever but eccentric lady Madame Goddard has been at some more curious tricks at Sydney. She had arranged to play at Bathurst, but broke her engagement on the ground, it was stated, that she objected tb some member of the company engaged to support her. She then ongaged to play some farewell performances at Sydney, but sho suddenly advertised, on the day on which the first was to be given, that she was going to Orange. At the same time she left her hotel, had her luggage put on board the steamer just ready for Melbourne, and sailed with it, leaving a letter addressed to Mr Bennett, the lessee of the theatre. When the curtain rose at the Victoria Theatre last night, and the audience expected that Madame Goddard would appear to carry out the programme, instead of this Mr Bennett walked upon the stage and read the letter she had left for him. This was to the effect that she had been warned that she would get an unfavourable reception because she had not engaged talent. She had not, she said, been previously aware that the Natives of Australia had any taste for music. This was very pleasant for the audience, to be disappointed of the performance they expected, and insulted into the bargain. A great deal of - indignation is excited, and if Madame Goddard intends ever to re-vi3it Sydney it wonld be well to allow a very considerable interval to elapse. On the whole, the best thing she can do now is to return home as quickly as possible. We arc not sufficiently artistic, and are too matter-of-fact and practical to understand .all of these ebullitions of temper, or to ex- j cuse them merely because they are exhibited by ' a lady who plays very skilfully on the piano. | The Williamsons are still most successful in the Theatre Koyal. They are still playing the same two pieces in which they opened. The programme is unchanged and the performance is more popular than ever, the theatre being thronged every night and money refused at the doors. With all of the stars that have in times past played at the Royal, there never was a time when it was doing so good a business as at present, and everyone who sees the Williamsons concur in the opinion that their success is generally deserved. To-morrow night, a new entertainment is to be given at the Princess Theatre (which has long been closed) by a Mdlle. Zelinda, who calls her j performance "The Arabian Box Mystery." It ! has been given at Sydney, and is thus described | by the Sydney Morning Herald :— " A perforated box is brought on tho platform, in full view of all present. Four persons are invited and go on to the platform, and inspect the box closely. | The box is then locked and roped by two attendants, a good many folds of the rope being bound around it and knottfd. The rope-knots are sealed by the persons invited to tho platform. Over this a canvas cloth is thrown and buckled closely, and another rope is fastened round this. Mdlle. Zelinda is then brought on the platformand a'screen is let down, covering her and the box. In three minutes the screen is raised, and only the box appears, roped, as if untouched since last in view of those present. The knota of the ropes are knotted with the sealingwax undisturbed. But the cloth and the ropes being removed by the attendants and the box opened, Mdlle Ze- ,

linda is found within, bound in a bag. The roping and unroping of the box occupies the attendants fully 20 minutes ; yet within three minutes Mdlle Zelinda manages to get within it. How she gets there is of course unknown to any but the initiated ; but it certainly appears a very clever performance to the ordinary spectator, and on the appearance of Mdlle Zelinda from the box she is greeted with warm applause."