MELBOURNE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1324, 14 April 1877, Page 6

MELBOURNE.

March 28th. There was, as is quite natural, a good deal of excitement and triumph the other day when the Eleven of New South Wales and Victoria beat the Eleven of All England at cricket. But I don't think that the trumpeting was unreasonable or childish, or anything more than what the occasion fairly merited. It was a remarkable occasion. It was the first time that an Eleven could be got together out of England to beat an All England Eleven, aud cer. tainly that is not a small event. Of course there are plenty of croakers who go about hinting that the match was sold, that it was an arranged thing, that the Englishmen were so drunk that the balls sent by the bowlers could not be " reached with a clothes prop," and all the rest of it. But all this means nothing, except the curmudgeon disposition of its inventors. There is no reason to doubt that the match was perfectly fair and well played. Of course there is and muat be a great deal of fortune in cricket. For instance, there was the wonderful stand made by Bannerman in his first innings, against the best bowling ability of England. This made the game a victory. But there is no doubt that the match was full of genuinely good cricket, and all who saw it were full of praise of the skill and style of batters and bowlers alike. Thus has Australia scored two remarkable victories this year in the sphere of athletics, one by Trickett; the sculler, and nc;v by the N.S.W. and V. Eleven. At home they may laugh at our politics — we laugh at them here — they may laugh at our protectionist heresies, our political "stonewalling," and many other curious incidents of our public life. But they must admit that if we degenerate in some respects, we do not physically, and that the pith and muscle of Englishmen do not diminish in Australian latitudes. There is not much new to say about our electioneering prospects. The bait of L3OO a year retains its attractive charm, and lures from his obscurity many an ardent patriot, who, without this inducement, would remain unknown, and g& down a village Hampden to his grave. There are a large number of grotesquely incompetent candidates — men who are utterly unable to express any ideas of the most ordinary character regarding public affairs. At a former election, one candidate, who was getting on ' very well in setting forth his views about land selection, immigration, railway formation, and so on, was absolutely "floored" by a question as to whether he would support a Zollverein? The candidate, who began his name with an o', and came from a certain Green Isle of the sea, replied that he scorned the imputation on his loyalty thrown out by that elector, and that he would not support anything detrimental to our allegiance to the Imperial Crown. In a somewhat similar way a candidate was puzzled and dumbfoundercd the other day by being ques- | tioned concerning his views on tne " unearned increment," one of our latest pet figments of the hour. He said he did not know what the questioner meant, and if he wanted to insult him he had better say so. These are some of the

men who aspire to shape our institutions and make our laws. To pass to a candidate of a different pattern, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy the other day delivered his first election speech at Sale. It was a very clever discourse, and although it contained many doubtful points, it was emphatic in its denunciation of the "stone wall " party and its violent extremes. A countryman of Sir Charles Duffy, Mr Bryan O'Loghlen, a barrister-at-law, who seems to want to be an Attorney-General, has come forward asa " atonewaller," and has out-stone-walled them all. Everything that Mr O'Loghlen is he is in extremes. He is not only desirous of still more liberalising the land administration, but he want 3 the State to ad vance the money to selectors to enable them to stock and work their farms. Imagine how., irresistible are the claims of so generous a candidate. Talking of candidates, I may mention one rather curious specimen of the class. Dr Macartney — now a teetotal lecturer and candidate for Parliament — was once a clergyman of the Church of England, but left that position on the ground that it did not afford scope for the movement of large intellects. So he studied for the bar, became a barrister-at-law, and ultimately a member of Parliament. When in that capacity he did not hold, or at any rate did not practise, the opinions regarding thß duty of total abstinence which he has formed since. Neither is he believed to have shown any tendency in this direction during the time of his stay in Fiji, where he is understood to have had a chequered career. . It was rather a surprise and a cruel cut to his old friends when they found out, on his return, that he had become a burning and shining light of temperance doctrines, and did battle with the demon drink on teetotal platforms a3 a means of living. The other day he was announced to lecture at the Tempetance Hall, but in the afternoon the evening paper came out with a report of an. application made to the Supreme Court by the wife of Dr Macartney to be permitted to file a petition of divorce against him for drunkenness, ill-usage, and unfaithfulness. He met his audience in the evening, but did not proceed with his lecture. In lieu of that, he read to them a letter in which he declared that he was the injured party — not the culprit, but the victim — and that a bosom friend of his, whom, he had introduced and recommended to a constituency, and who had been, and was now, seeking to be a member of Parliament, had betrayed his confidence, poisoned his domes* tic happiness, and did other very- wrong things. To those who take Mr Macartney's version it bscomes manifest that queer people found their way into Parliament, and those who disbelieve him altogether may nevertheless agree in the same conclusion. i The libel case of Langton against the Age has been again before the Supreme Court for decision on several reserved law points. ' The Jury in their verdict being directed by the Chief Justice to state how much of the damages they gave on each of the two counts, found L 250 damages for the libel on the plaintiff as member of Parliament and L 750 for that on his professional character as auditor. When the lawpoints came before the Full Court for review it was contended tbat this amounted to giving the plaintiff damages twice over, and their Honours took the same view. The option was accordingly left to the plaintiff of "a new I trial or an abandonment of the verdict 'on one count, and he selected to give up the verdict for L 250. The next issue of the case is therefore a verdict for L 750. The Age has been leaving no stone unturned to get up a public subscription, to recoup it for the expenses of its libel, and all the "Liberal" candidates : whd want its assistance, any others who fear its abuse, besides the various hangers-on and wirepullers of the party, have come forward to push the subscription as much aa possible. The unfortunate employes of the paper have had to subscribe from their earnings, and an amateur concert has been arranged for the benefit of the fund, at which it is said that the understanding is that the amateurs thus nobly ardent in a good cause are to be praised to the skies as miracles of budding genius. It is apparent that, worked in this way, libelling might be made a very profitable branch of the operations of a newspaper. We are having a busy tima just now in the matter of out-door amusements. Last Satur* day, was held the annual regatta on the Saltwater River, add just before, we had the great professional cricket match. There is to be another, a return match, between Australia and England, played on the Melbourne ground, during the Easter holidays. Then there is, after an interval of three years, to be a,volunteer camp, which ia to take place at Sunbury, on the estate of Mr W. J. Clarke. Some of the people say that the camp was got up in the interest of the pastoral classes, who badly wanted rain. Prayers have been held to the purpose, but a volunteer camp has never been known to fail of producing a wet Easter time. The principle is holding good this year, as, since the work of forming the camp has begun, the drought and hot weather have broken up, and we have been visited by very fine and acceptable tains. In theatrical matters, we have at last Mr Sothern in the part which Mr Sothern has. made one of worldwide reputation, Lord Dundreary, in "Our American Cousin." The misfortune is that our Mr Sothern is not tbe right Mr Sothern— not the one who made the part. Our Mr Sothern is the son of that gentleman, and if we could have- chosen one, should have much preferred to have had the other one. To see the part of Lord Dundreary indifferently played is no new experience in Melbourne, but it is hard to nave it poorly, played by anyone bearing the name of Sothern, and to be expected all the time to look upon it as a great impersonation, full o f , at any rate, reflected light and fire from the paternal acting. The theatre at which Mr Sothern has been playing is the Opera House, but a little higher up the street at the pretty little Academy of Music some fine genuinely good acting is to be seen. Here Signor and Signora Majeroni are playing in some dramas well fitted to display their great and well-trained powers. Tne fimah of their style, their manner, the artistic completeness of all that they do, compare very favourably indeed with the rough and-tumble, rule of-thumb, happy-go-lucky efforts of the scratch companies we usually get at Melbourne. Tnese Italian people show us, if we ever doubted this point, that acting, like any other profession, must be learned — and thoroughly learned— and that natural abilities go but a small way unless proceeding on the basis of diligent systematic study. The opera season has run its rather dreary course at the Theatre Koyal, and is to give place in a day or two to a season in which Miss Ada Ward, the beautiful and accomplished actress, is to be the chief attraction. This lady, in her late performances at the Opera House, gained the favour of the public at once, and the highest expectations are formed of her future career in this city. The annual exhibition of our Art Academy is open. I don't think that it is nearly as good as it has been in former years. There are far too many "pot-boilers" on its walls. We have nothing from Mr Gully or Mr Hoyt this time, although two of the finest pictures there are of New Zealand scenery. These are by Mr You Gruerard, and one represents a view of

Lake Wakatip, and the other the interior of Milford Sound. Both are grand landscapes, and the beauties and wonders of New Zealand mountain scenery are admirably depicted. Commonplace as the exhibition is as a whole, it would be tolerable but for its high art. ■ There is a flaming "Britannia Ruling the Waves " with a crowd of tritona, nereids, dolphins, &c, playing around, which the artist modestly values at L4OO, that seemed to me undistingaishable from many signboards I have seen in England on which the same subject was depicted. There is another devoted worshipper of the ideal who always essays to pourtray the majesty and charm of female beauties, and does so by painting some flat' commonplace faces cf a ghastly aspect, ancl with strangely jointed figures, out of all drawing, and defiant of anatomy. That gentleman* i must, at his own house, have a magnificent gallery of his own pictures, valued at veryhigh rates, but still open to purchasers. A lady friend, who has helped me in the same way before, gives me the following items, as of possible interest to lady readers in' Dunedin: — How many times we have heard it said of the chignons with which female heads were lately decorated, "Will those frightful protuberances always be worn ? Will ladies never see how unshapely and unnatural these appendages make them look?" Well, they are worn no longer, and are as much passed out of date as the fashions of our grandmothers. Perhapsladies have tardily come to see that they_ were hideous and ugly. Perhaps their effects, in the shape of premature baldness or intense headaches, brought about the change ; or perhaps it was but a whim of ever-changing fashion. But, whatever the cause, they are gone, utterly departed,' and now, as we walk through the streets or sit in the dress-circle of 'the theatre," we look round and wonder at the transformation. Fashion is a stern tyrant, but this time' a reasonable one has decreed that only the natural' hair is to be worn, and that all foreign appendages are to be discarded. The hair now is simply brushed back, and coiled in a simple knet at the back of the head, low down on the nape of the neck. When the head is small and shapely, and the ears delicate and "shell like," as the novelists say, nothing is more becoming,"but' it is rather hard on those to whom Dame Nature has been more generous in size than shape. They must deeply regret the forsaken and well nigh forgotten pads which, after all/coveredmaty blemishes and reclaimed many faces. Hats are worn of navy blue and prune colours, ■ >traw, and generally trimmed with plush of' a' ■darker or lighter shade than the straw; ~ Plush, after being consigned to shelves aud corners for •many years, nas come to the front ranks' of fashion, ?nd being a novelty,' is seized r with' avidity, and promises to be the favourite trimming through the winter. At the Christmas season our stationers had quite a crowdof cards suitable for sending to friends wishing them the ' compliments of the holiday season. They |found favour with the public, and sold sq ! *ar i pidly that now, as the Easter holidays are approaching, Easter cards are being shown in the | windows devoted to fancy trifles, and they will probably take as well and sell as quickly. ' ,