THE TRAVELLER.

Otago Witness, 31 August 1888, Page 28

THE TRAVELLER.

A FORTNIGHT IN MELBOURNE.

By a Recent Visitob. No. I.

Had George Augustus Sala visited Melbourne in 1888 instead of 1885, for the purpose of writing his description of that city, he would have found even greater reason for the lavish use of expressive adjectives than he did, and to the title of "Marvellous Melbourne" which he gave it, he would no doubt have added the superlative degree to give additional emphasis to the impression which the great city and it wondrous vitality made upon him.

When recently leaving Dunedin on a visit to Melbourne, I did so fully impressed with the belief that I had a very good idea of what I was going to see ; but the reality proved entirely beyond anything I had imagined. No one who has spent his life in New Zealand- can form any conception of what Melbourne now is, and a visit to it gives a new sensation in life. .The activity of the place is absolutely amazing. From morning until night the principal streets are alive with people, and the unceasing traffic of trams, hansoms, cabs, carriages, and vehicles of all kinds is at first simply bewildering. The stranger from New Zealand, or other quiet spot where life is not running at fever heat, naturally stops at the street corners to gaze at the bewildering spectacle, and the longer he looks the more bewildered he becomes, and finally feels that he must move on with the stream of humanity by which he is encompassed. He essays the crossing of the crowded streets with distrust and hesitation, for he feels that he stands in very great danger of being run over by some horse or vehicle or tramcar. The latter pass rapidly along the principal streets with astonishing frequency, and nearly always crowded with passengers, the drivers clanging their bells with vigor and persistency, particularly at the intersections of the streets, 1 and probably more to facilitate their own progress than out of consideration for the people who block the way. This goes on from 8 in the morning until 10 or 11 at night, by which latter time the streets have become tolerably easy to travel. There are particular hpurs of the day when the crush is at its height, notably from 8 until 10 in the morning, when the trains from the great suburbs pour into Melbourne their thousands of workmen and business people, who hurry to their various employments in an energetic, resolute sort of fashion, which is peculiarly their own. Again at midday the principal streets are almost impassable; and from 5 until 6, when people of all classes are homeward bound, the animated scene is repeated.

At night Bourke street is the principal centre of attraction. The arc electric light sheds its brilliant but peculiar glare from numerous shop fronts and windows, and throws upon the crowds which throng the tootpaths an unnatural lustre. Many of the hotels and cafes, and the entrances to several theatres, which are also here situated, contribute to the flood of light which centres in Bourke street, and the scene is one of great brightness and animation. But if Bourke street presents this brilliant spectacle by night, the same cannot be said of some of the less frequented streets of the city, albeit many of them are by day leading business centres. Byjgaslight some parts of Melbourne are dismal and .repellant. Flinders street, Spencer stieet, and indeed all the back streets of the city are most dismally lighted. I have no hesitation in saying that the miserable lighting of these streets would not be tolerated in Dunedin for a week. The gas is of the poorest quality, and the wretched light emitted from the street lamps, which are at considerable distances from each other, gives a melancholy aspect to these quarters of the city.

The condition of the leading streets reflects credit on the corporation. Where traffic is greatest, as for example in Collins, Bourke, Elizabeth, and Swanston .streets, the paving of the streets with wooden cubes from the tramway lines to the footpaths has been adopted. The result is a magnificent hard and practically unwearableToad way. It must, however, be very injurious to horses, and in wet weather the danger of their falling is considerable. The London system of keeping these roadways clean is adopted. Youths are stationed at regular intervals, armed with

a short hard brush, without handle, and a scoop, into which the street refuse is brushed* They fly with their scoopfuls of horse droppings, &c, to "orderly pillars" which are fixed near the kerbstone, and similar in appearance to post office letter boxes. Into these they empty the contents of their scoops, and then return to the charge among the cabs, 'busses, waggons, &c, by which they are constantly surrounded, darting in and out among the horses' feet, and apparently bearing charmed lives. With the enormous horse traffic in these great thoroughfares, it can easily be imagined that the occupation* of the street cleaners is no light employment, and how they escape being run over is a mystery. No doubt they do occasionally suffer, poor urchins, as the records of the accident ward of the hospital may probably testify.

Any description of Melbourne streets without referring to its tramway system would^ of course, be altogether incomplete. The enormous traffic which the Melbourne cable tramways have created has no doubt astonished even its promoters. The scheme is a vast one, and it has been carried so far towards completion with a success which will be for all time a monument to the enterprise of its promoters and the professional know* ledge of its engineers. No ordinary engineering skill was required to get over the many difficulties which presented themselves, and Mr George Duncan well deserves all the credit that has been awarded him for the manner in which he carried out the gigantic undertaking entrusted to him. The great engine houses, situated at various suitable points, with their splendid engines, enormous driving wheels, intricate array of cable and other ropes, and devices of various kinds connected with the working of the system, bear testimony to the brain work required of the engineer and his staff before their calculations were all perfected. It is a most interesting sight to see all this vast machinery in motion tinder the powerful glare of the arc electric lamps with which these .great engine houses are fitted. The wear and tear of the cables must be very great, but the revenue is great in proportion, and there must always be a very large surplus for division. Before leaving this subject of the streets, let me note a peculiarity of Collins street east. This is the home of JEsculapius. Struck with the number of doctors' plates attached to the doors and gateways, I took the trouble to count them, and found that there were no less than 39 doctors and dentists in a space of about 300 yards. On the other Bide of the street the same' thing is observable, the residences and professional chambers of these gentlemen being almost equally numerous.

The activity of the building trades both in the city and suburbs is truly wonderful. The buildings in course of erection in the leading streets are for the most part massive piles of from five to seven storeys high. In one instance a ten-storey building is far advanced towards completion. The price of land in the leading streets has gone up so much that it would be quite useless to erect buildings of less than four or five storeys. Interest must if possible be squeezed out of the investments, and this can only be done by utilising frontages to as great an extent as possible. Where tenants are to be found for all the offices now in various stages of completion is a question that naturally comes uppermost. Presumably those who are investing their money in these buildings know their own business best, and have gauged the office-absorbing capacity of the Melbourne commercial public. And while everything is at the flood tide of prosperity, no doubt they are not far out in their calculations. It is, however, I think, quite certain that during the reaction which must inevitably follow this tremendous activity many of the offices will become untenanted, and that rents generally, will have to be materially reduced. Indeed, the high rents now demanded from shopkeepeis in the principal streets whose leases have of late expired are such that in some instances they have been obliged to remove to less expensive and less central quarters. I have been shown small shops in Collins and Bourke streets for which as much as £500 per annum is paid, and for one very small tobacconist shop at the corner of two of the principal streets the rent is £12 per week. Brokers and commission agents, whose offices are in the best positions in Collins street, pay for a small room sums varying from £5 to £8 per week. No doubt brokers have as a rule made such large incomes during the past year or two that these rents have not been at all felt. The retail trader will suffer heavily when the reaction takes place. Failures are certain to be numerous, and landlords will of course feel that the boom has simply led to a destruction of that steady business which is always the safest, aijd to its replacement by an unhealthy stimulation of trade, ephemeral in its character and disastrous in its after effects. Meanwhile everybody is in full employment, shopkeepers are no douht doing well, and the majority of people are " taking no thought of the morrow."

In the various suburbs the same activity in building operations is manifest. It matters little which direction is taken, or what suburb is visited — everywhere the visitor likes to go are to be seen houses and terraces of houses in various stages of completion. • New suburbs are springing up like mushrooms. A large suburb called Ascotvale, distant about a quarter of an hour's ride by train from the city, has sprung up almost entirely within the past 18 months, and has now a large population, with houses still in course of erection in all directions.

With all this building going on, it is easy to see that there is full employment for bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, painters, and other mechanics employed in housebuilding. The unemployed difficulty is for the present solved, and it has been so during -the whole of. the winter. No gathering of unemployed persons has taken place for nearly 12 months, and there seems every prospect of a busy spring and summer. What next winter may bring forth is, of course, an open question. Many of the large buildings now in progress in the city v/iJI then be finished, and unless others arc started to absorb the labour which will be let loose, a repetition of the unemployed gatherings which occurred during the winter of 1887 maybe witnessed. The safeguard against this seems to me to be in the

fact that there is undoubtedly a considerable ' portion of the city yet to rebuild. Many of the older buildings now look out of date •when contrasted with the magnificent structures which rear their heads on all sides, and the spirit of emulation and of enterprise is abroad in its strength. I learned further that some of the large brickworks have at the present moment orders for bricks which will tax the productive capacity of the works for many months to come. Very frequently contractors can make no progress, because of the impossibility of getting bricks delivered, although ordered months previously. All this will serve to shew that artisans of all classes are tolerably sure of steady employment for a considerable time to come, and that New Zealand need not look for that return of her bone and sinew which has been predicted as likely to take place at any moment, and for which every patriotic resident of the colony devoutly prays.