COMMONWEALTH NOTES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13921, 25 March 1909, Page 3

COMMONWEALTH NOTES.

(By F.H.)

A TRIP TO MELBOURNE

I ventured, saw a lot, spoke a good deal, thought more, and returned with preconceived notions vitalised, it such can be. Melbourne is a city, an ideal city ; but take away a square halfmile which compasses its business ramiiications, and Melbourne is a desolation On this a word or two later.

Still, with the sportive instinct ot schoolboy days, a game of cricket or football never comes amiss. A chosen member of the New South Wales steamship companies' cricket team to visit Melbourne to uphold the honours of the Mother State in the annual match, the opportunity has presented itself ior your contributor to recount some incidents of the trip and impressions left upon the mind. Saturday, February 27, was one of those ideal late summer days which Sydney prides herself upon. Hardly had the big interstate liner, comparable to, say, the Moeraki, emerged from South Head of Port Jackson, when, turning south, a heavy northeast swell came along, leading the steamer to exercise her most graceful movements, to the discomfort of at least one of the hundred-odd passengers. Enough ! Forty hours and we find ourselves in Port Philip, and soon the pilot boards his charge, and lin a couple of hours or less we are liast alongside thewhaif Monday pas.oj uneventfully. lim- 3 was allowed ik- tc recover from "):«• effects of the voyage. Hospitality was showered upon us by our hosts, of course. Tuesday morning we were assembled at Scott's Hotel, Collins Street, to be officially welcomed. There we found ourselves in company with managing directors and managers ot all the interstate shipping companies, who told us, as we expected they would, that they did not care who won so long as it was the better team. The shield was there ; a fine piece ol plate, presented seven years ago by [Mr. Howard Smith. It ought to have | been in Sydney, but by a slight mi.sadventure last year it was carefully I packed up and taken to Melbourne. Of course, Melbourne claimed her right to have it hung in the 'Federation Rooms. Perhaps she was right ; a second thought—quite right. The [afternoon was given over to practice' | at the nets at Richmond, a small [ground saucer-like in shape, where the sun's rays shot down* with penetrating force, and we were glad to cool down 'under half a dozen lovely cold water [showers in the pavilion. The evening was one of unalloyed pleasure — a moonlight excursion on Port Philip. The steamer was palatial, and on her decks thronged twelve hundred souls, light in heart, merry in face, and buoyant in spirits. A glorious moonlight night with every surrounding to elate the most stolid-minded. Particularly enjoyable was the music, ami there was a feast of it, but none too much. Eleven p.m. saw the steamer again moored fast to the South Melbourne wharf, and we were lothe to leave her.

Wednesday morning, with businesslike promptitude, the teams were at the nets. The afternoon free, and the evening theatre parties. Thursday, the match. ' "Weather dreadfully hot; the luncheon pavilion hotter, and after a surfeit of good things came the übiquitous photograper. Afternoon tea and ice creams at four o'clock, when the golden opportunity was taken by the ladies to show off their frocks for the special edification of the visitors who came from Sydney, where frocks are so little worn during summer — Canadian bnthing costumes for continental bathing is more appreciative there — so wo admired the silks and, satins, the face;. and forms, holding a tight rein ou our words lest there fell from the lip:< undue flattery — momentary impression* if maiden beauty. Another hour and « half in the field aud the Victorian lirst innings ended, .md so did tK> game for the day. In the oyening n sumptuous banquet was given iv aur honour. It was a fine sight. Tfho big guns , were there, and fired off some big? shots each in turn. The opportunity was taken by the managing director of one of the steamship companies to emphasise the fact that it was a" pity to find parochialism still paramount amongst the States, thwarting many estimable objects for the welfare of the Commonwealth. The shipping companies on the Australian ',-oast have formed a combine and work together with striking unanimity and satisfactory results. They are breaking down the barriers of selfishness, petty mindednees, which a few years ago .spelled ruin. Now mattors are on a Higher plane. When the political parties come to recognise the good results attending the union of the shipping trade they will see tho folly of their present ways and no longer be held up to ridicule by the populace, who in heart do not wish to' see the States still fighting one another for their individual rights, which might be most amicably settled if only politicians would extend their limited horizon and take the continent as a whole as their field for considera tion, and not, as they now do, put up barriers against each State, just as though each other was a foreign competitor. The sentiments were heartily applauded, and when the elderly speaker reminded the gathering that the youth of to-day would in time rule the destinies of the continent, and urging them to fit themselves to act the true man, there was a spontaneous shout from the company, "We will !" Friday, the match resumed and finished at 6 p.m.— a draw, but on the first innings a win for the home team. The evening was set apart for a smoke concert, and a capital one it was, just in keeping with the splendid hospitality that had been showered upon us all through the week. Saturday the partings came, which to the younger members of the tparii was particularly affecting. It had been the time of their life, and they were quite ready to admit it. And now, before closing, a word or two on Melbourne — unquestionably a very fine city. Its broad, well kept streets, its avenues of trees and attractive shop windows lend a charm to the eye and impresses one with the opinion that there is nothing finer in the Southern Hemisphere. But its suburbs are uninteresting, not in any way to compare with those of Sydney, which is really the charm of the mother city. The attractions for visitors in Melbourne are few and inconsiderable, a vivid comparison to Sydney, where the populace find endless attractions and interests, thanks to the harbour and seaside allurements. With an open mind to receive impressions, I am prone to say that Melbourne excels in its city proper; go outside its boundary, and in comparison to Sydney it is desolation, for which reason I throw in my lot with Sydney,