THE WONDERS OF MELBOURNE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6310, 7 August 1888, Page 4

THE WONDERS OF MELBOURNE.

* The High Tide of Prosperity. ILLUSTRATIONS OP THE LAND MANIA. THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND THE STREETS. [FROM OTTR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] MELBOURNE, July 81. The Exhibition boing in a chaotic state, I found it to be useless to endeavour to describe the indescribable, and took the opportunity chance afforded me of visiting the Houses of Parliament. These are being enlarged, or rather the original designs are being completed. It .seems to me to bo a pity that this particular time, when Melbourne ia receiving such vast numbers of visitors, should have been chosen for making alterations and additions toseveralof thefinest public buildings here, notably the Houses, the Town Hall, and the Post Office. All of these now -appear with huge and unsightly scaffoldings in front of them, and in consequence their handsome elevations are completely hidden. By the kindneES and courtesy of one of the city members, I saw the Parliamentary Library, and, indeed, all the principal chambers, except the Legislative Council Chamber, which waß closed. IN THE ASSEMBLY I heard a somewhat smart firo and crossfire between the Premier (Mr Gillies), Mr Harper and Sir Bryan O'Loghlin in reference to a supposed charge of conspiracy to break down the national system of education. Mr Gillies accused Mr Harper of caballing with Sir Bryan, who is a Roman Catholic, to so increase the expense of the education system as to break it down. The discussion, into which several others besides the principals entered very warmly, exceeded,": perhaps, a little the bounds of Parliamentary etiquette, but was on the whole conducted with sufficient decorum, though the Speaker was compelled to interfere more than once. By- the- way, j ust as I entered the gallery the great financier, THE HON T. BENT, was receiving the congratulations of all parties on his firat appearance after a rather serious accident. The mention of Mr Bent's name naturally calls to my mind the fact that he has been one ofthe most successful j and prominent leaders in the present land boom. A few years ago I knew him as a rate collector, inspector of nuisances, &c, for a suburban township, and now lam told that he is extraordinarily rich through his successful operations in land. It is said of him that on one occasion he laughingly spoke of those with whom he has acted as finding the money while he found the brains. How far he deserves the credit or discredit of having created the present land mania, I cannot say ; but that it is a most remarkable land fever there can be no disputing. Tho tales that I have heard of the enormous profits made by land speculations are so startling that, were they not confirmed by others of a similar character, but from widely dissimilar sources, I should hesitate to believe them. In order that my readers may judge for themselves, I will narrate A FEW FACTS, which I have every reason to believe are incontestible. A gentleman told me that some years ago he bought land some forty miles from Melbourne at £5 an acre. When a demand for land began to appear, he put the land into the hands of a broker to sell at £20 an acre. The agent assured the gentleman that the price was too high, and eventually the reserve was lowered from £20 to seventeen, fifteen, and down to thirteen and a half guineas. At thi3 lasb price a customer wa3 found. Within a few weeks the land again changed hands at £20, and quite recently it was sold at £120 an acre. The quantity was 270 acres, bo the original purchaser must feol that he has loßt a good thing. Another instance of a similar nature has been given me. In this, the holder of a small piece of land in the city retained it in t-pite of many solicitations to sell. He had given about £5 a foot for it in the early days. When, however, he was offered £400 a foot, he let the land go, and congratulated himself on having got tho top price. His chagrin may be imagined when he learned that within a few weoks the land was re-sold at £900 a foot, and that quite recently it brought £1900 a foot. There can he no question that the enormous transactions in land now going on are simply gambling. The money is ' not invested, but staked for a further rise. Calculations show that in many cases the return for the investment would be less than two per cent. To make the most of the land, owners are now erecting | STRUCTURES OF PALATIAL GRANDEUR, i and from eight to ten or more storeys. As in Sydney, so in Melbourne : old buildings are being superseded by new ones ; though I must give the palm of artistic architecture to the older city. The coffee palaces in particular appear to vie with each other in magnificence. One of these palaces in Bourke street is remarkable for its beautiful furnishing, and here the Christchurch visitors who call at thelueky moment will meet our old friend Arenas, late of the Cafe de Paris. Another in Collina street West — the Federal — which was opened with much ceremony last week, cost a quarter of a million, namely— land, £150,000, and building and furnishing £100,000. Though a fair per centage in rent can scarcely be expected, yet I must cay that it is realised very frequently. I have heard of a thousand a year being given for a shop nob larger than those in Morten's buildings. Hotels, too, are bringing large prices, while owners can be bonght oub by syndicates. A case in point is Scott's, in Collins street, which was recently purchased for £162,000. It should be said that the land has a second frontage to William street. At the Grand Hotel, in Spring street, I am told that last night four hundred pairs of hoots were put out to be cleaned. The house contains three hundred and eighty bedrooms. On Friday I went to A LAND SALE in Flinders street. The properties put up comprised sections in the city and in Hawthorne, South Melbourne, West Melbourne, and St Kilda. The proceedings wore very tame, and the Auctioneer certainly possessed none of the fervid eloquence of our Tattersall's proprietor. In most instances the bids did not come up to the reserve, as the following figures will show : — Lot 2, 176fb to the Sandridge road, was run up to £195 per foot, the reserve being £220. Lot 512 was passed in at £1300 a foot. This was an acre block in Collins street West, on which stands the Australasian Wool Stores. The bida went over £170,000, but tho reserve was -more than double this. An allotment with 66ft frontage to two streets in West Melbourne elicited bids up to £59, but the reserve was £80 a foot. The new Supreme Court Hotel, having 70ft frontage to William street City, brought up. bids to £280 a foot, but the reserve was £350. A frontage of 396 ft to St Kilda road, without buildingß, was sold at £25 per foot. Seventy-two feet, front- • ing Burwood road, Hawthorne, brought ' £54 per foot. The last lot was a store, with about 100 ft fronting Spencer street, and the same fronting Little Lonsdale street; this brought bids up to £240, but the reserve was £300. During the whole proceedings, there was an entire absence of excitement, and of any attempt to stir up bidders. But THE SALES AT ESSENDON, on the next day, were of a different character; they realised £72,000. I was not there, but a Christchurch friend who was, gives mo a graphic description of the Bcene. No less than five land sales were going on within a radius of about a mile. On the ground tents were erected, and numerous flags and banners attracted attention. Refreshments, including tea, j coffee and whiskey, were freely distributed. I The land had recently been purchased by j a syndicate from the original grant, but | water and gas wero laid out bn to it, it had ; been sub-divided, and the aections were all j checked off. As is invariably the case, the J price was per foot, and among the bidders {were several women, who arrived with

stylographic pens, and made voluminous notes of the prices. These ranged from .£3 to £Q 10a per foot, equalling, according to the size of the sections, from £350 to .£IBOO an acre. The whole of the land was sold, and more could have been. On Sunday, a Canterbury mau tells me, he drove through ST XII.DA, BRIGHTON, ELSTEENWICK, ETC., a district which I had passed through by rail on Saturday. He says, and what he says is by no means an exaggeration, the way these districts have gone ahead is a wonderful display of energy and enterprise. It is marvellous, and quite a rovelation to one who has been so long absent. Where as a boy he used to play football and hounds, and the country was unoccupied for miles, save by a house here and there at great distances apart, is now thickly populated, and there are terraces and large townships. Building is still going on, and apparently the builders, in their hurry to realise wealth, are neglecting sanitary precautions. This can be seen more especially at one place, where a slaughteryard (and operations are in full swing) 'is absolutely surrounded by dwellinghouses. My friend tells me that the price of land there is beyond anything he had ever witnessed. The whole population is "land mad." Everybody one talks to is in a financial delirium, and the "pots" that some make are beyond the wildest dreams of avarice. At the pressnt time, he is in a kind of daze, and cannot grasp the position. Yet the facts are plain. It seems here that whenever one man buya a property, no matter at what price, he is sure to find a bigger fool than himself to give him a , profit on his purchase. There can be no '■ question that, apart from theae speculative purchases, the population will require the land, and in twenty years East Melbourne and its suburbs will count their population by the hundred thousand The system of land syndicates has created a competition undoubtedlj>|unhealthy,butwiththe result that so long as the ball keeps rolling the game is a merry one. When the end of the game is to be, no one can say. Some tell me it must continue at least until the closo of the Exhibition, but others prophecy that the end is very near; and a friend, whom I have already quoted, says, " You ask why do I not go in and makoamuckle or spoil a horn. My answer is, It requires experience, and ** fools rush in where angels fear to tread.' I must be one of the latter, for one mistake would mean collapse." At present the country is undoubtedly AT THE VERT HIGHEST TIDE OF PKOSPEEITT. Money has been pouring into it from Europe, and the influx cf capital has caused Melbourne and Victoria generally to advance with astoundingly rapid strides. In Melbourne land is selling at enormous prices, but then Melbourne is the chicf — one might say the only part — of a vast continent, possessed of enormous natural wealth. In addition to this it has a self-reliant and energetic people, whose Government sees that tho caro of native industries mutt be its first duty. New Zealanders cannot but feel regret that a similar policy has not long since led to Bimiiar results in their own favoured land, the natural resources of which should make her the most prosperous in the world. However, let us hope that New Zealand's hour of prosperity is drawing nigh. Few things in Melbourne attract the attention and secure the admiration of visitors more than THE TEAM LINES. These are worked by a cable, and the trams all run at a uniform speed of about eight miles an hour. There is no smoke, no confusion, no noise. The expense of laying the trams has been enormous — a quarter of a million — and at the end of thirty years the property reverts to the City Corporation. At present it is in the hands of a Company, but the traffic is regulated so as to prevent any abuse of the monopoly. Tho consequenco is that you can travel for three or four miles for threepence. The eara are elegant and light- looking, and form a great contrast to the clumsy structures in Sydney. Since I was last in Melbourno, THE FOOTPATHS have been considerably widened, so that now th9y extend for at least twenty feet from the buildings. "Fortunately, the founders of the city laid out the streets on Buch a Bcale of magnificence that the forty feet thus devoted to pedestrians leaves ample room still for road traffic. This enormous width of streets tends much to enhance the effect of the numerous fine buildings, and, in many instances, the authorities have given additional advantages by erecting such edifices as the Treasury, the Houses of Parliament, &c, so as to face a long vista of a wide thoroughfare. Among the places that I have visited is THE MCTUKE GALLERY, at the Public Library. This does not, to my mind, compare favourably with the Art Gallery at Sydney, though I wish we had one half as good in Christchurch. There seems to have been very little done by way of adding to the collection, though on the day of my visit there was a private view of three new pictures. I was not aware that there was a private view, and was rather surprised when I was informed of the fact as I was about to enter the gallery. Not feeling disposed to admit the right of the trustees of what is public property to confine its benefits even for a single day to a select few, I prepared to insist upon entering ; but the Janitor saved appearances by courteously allowing me to enter without further demur. Th 9 new pictures are valuable acquisitions to the collection, and appeared to be highly approved by the cognoscenti present. Much of my time has been spent in looking up people whom I wished to see. As a rule I have to call several times before I can find them in, and when I find them in they are so busily engaged that they cannot see me unless I wait a longer time than I have to spare. This pressure of business is, of course, intensified at the Exhibition, where numbers of interested persons seem to be perpetually striving to get an interview with the authorities, who are very courteous, but who find it impossible to overtake their work. MV CLAIM TO BE RECOGNISED as a member of the Fourth Estate waa readily admitted, and I was told that the necessary tickets would be forwarded to me, for which purpose I saw my address duly registered. This waa on the Thursday morning. I was, however, told by the Assistant-Secretary, that there waa little chance of my getting an entrie ticket forthe opening ceremony. To come from New Zealand and not to be present at the opening would, I felt, never do, so I waited upon Colonel Sargood, the indefatigable Secretary. After a tantalising delay I saw him, and he very kindly assured me that if he could possibly do so he would secure me a ticket. Friday and Saturday passed without my reoeiving any intimation from the authorities, so yesterday I looked them up, only to find that so far as a pass to the Exhibition waa concerned, I had been totally forgotten, but that Colonel Sargood had been as good as his word, and had secured for me a ticket for the opening. This was lying for me ab the New Zealand Office; while another communication, of not the slightest consequence, as it had already become obsolete, was stuck in a glass case, where its address had attracted the notice of a Christchurch man, who pointed it out to me. Considering that the proper officials had taken my address, and had promised to forward to it all communications for me, this, to say the least, seemed scarcely efficient management ; but the confusion in the office is nothing compared with THE ABSOLUTE CHAOS inthe building. This resembles nothing i so much as the hurry scurry that prevails i on the stage between the acts of a spectacular drama. Everybody seems in a be- . wildered state of excitement, trying to i complete arrangements apparently not yet fairly begun. As a matter of fact, it is notorious that the exhibits will be in a wretchedly incomplete condition to-morrow, i but ill-natured people say there is a puri pose in this, and that that purpose is to avoid putting all the eggs in one basket j i in short, to keep on adding from time to i time to the exhibits, so as to prevent any i falling off va, the. public interest. No

doubt there will be plenty to satisfy public curiosity, even though much space is only partly occupied ; and the delay on the part of many exhibitors will not necessarily affect tbe attendance of visitors. Among those who are specially active is Sir James Hector, who haa worked very hard, and especially for the NewZealand Court, which is consequently perhaps the most advanced in the building-. Another energetic man is our old friend Monsieur Joubert, who has charge of the New South Walea exhibits, and is making a striking feature of his Court. A hurried glance at this makes one feel that poor little New Zealand is heavily handicapped in the race for public admiration. The display of the enormous resources, too, made by M. Joubert will be most striking, andl am afraid will completely throw into the shade the comparatively insignificant array of which Sir Jameß undoubtedly makes the most he can. • MELBOURNE IS CROWDED with visitors, not only from the country districts, but from the neighbouring Colonies. Each boat and train pours them in until the capacity of hotela and boarding houses must be strained to the utmost. Our worthy Mayor, Mr Louisson, called to pay his respects to the Eight Worshipful of : Melbourne the other day, and found Mr Benjamin surrounded by gentlemen to whom he was doing the needful courtesy. Mr Louisson was duly introduced to some twenty of them, aud found that they were all Mayors. The fact is, that the Executive, determined to give every possible iclat tothe Centennial, have invited every notability in the country, and, indeed, Imightalmostsay in the Australasian Colonies j and the invitations have been very generally accepted. To-morrow, Melbourne will be m fete, and given fine weather, the proceedings should be of a memorable character. My ticket of admission to the opening ceremony directs me to be in the building before 11.30 a.m., at which time the door-.* will be absolutely closed. 1 shall thuß be unable to see the procession, which will form no inconsiderable portion of the pageant; but, though a reporter, and oven a special, I can't be in two places at once, and as I can't forego the privilege of hearing the cantata, for which much preparation baa been made, to-morrow will, all being well, find me a model of punctuality in occupying seat G6, row 1, division A. I I »___«»__________________■ I 111!