A SOUTHLANDER IN MELBOURNE.

Western Star, Issue 1261, 20 June 1888, Page 2

A SOUTHLANDER IN MELBOURNE.

A late resident of Fairfax who left this district for Victoria anout two months ago, us flie 1 following intorestingaceount-af ( his?e|periencoß there;— ’ til, !i It have always :delayed writing my promised letter to you, thinking every mail l would be'itv a pdsition to give you more ,r\eyv,s... Having commenced work immediately oh my arrival here, I have seen very little of the suburbs. We had a fair passage over from the Bluff—rather lumpy for my comfort—the boat was terribly crowded, but the officers did their utmost to make all comfortable. ;Sailjngj up,/the Tarra reminds one very much of the Clyde or other home--par's,? except tbe want of shipbuilding. Ships of all nations are. to be seen.front ,the smallest to the largest afloat. n The windingsof the .river have foenlciit straight canal i made,;shortening the distance greatly..; H - f T <, Melbourne is really a'fine city. It is almost impossible]for .one to believe that it is only 51 years since it was founded. The principal streets are so busy that it is really dangWbuk to cross. The tramway system is very complete, all being worked by stationary engines. Some of the building are exceedingly handsome, and would compare with any I have seen in the Old Country, only you have to bear in mind that most of them are brick and cement instead of stone. A good many are sandstone from New Zealand. The new Coffee Palace is a magnificent pile, containing neaiiySOO rooms ; I, hope fit jyillf*pay the promote w!, Buildings, which are nearly completed, are very extensive and r handsome. only “objcctihriH ha'vS to the hare is the height they are now raising them to! SoVeh ; and eight stories are the general thing now, white others are being biiilfVs biglf : a^ ; and one at the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth streets is' tb be twelve. Very handsome buildings of three and four stories Are being pulled down, simply because they must be made higher to give more accommodation; ground is so valuable. A building is now being erected at the corner of Collins and Queen streets, ground floor and basement to be occupied by the Bank of New Zealand, and it is to bo eight stories above basement story. The height from payemeq| to/tpgjof parapet . is, ,132. fopil-* You suppose you have to walk up stairs. You simply walk into A nice little apartment and tell the man in charge when yon are going how many' stairs up yon wish to, go,, f ai\4, lifted up, the door opens and you walk out. In coming down, the same. Everything is done by lifts. Of course there is aim -stairs in case of accident, ic. ~ . , The? value of jlkbd in _tJW city is hardly credible. A b'liUTng near tho foot of Queen was sold tho other day. It has 6(3 feet of frontage, is t b pee. -stories >:abpy» and was sold_ for the fabulous sum of £88,000., Scon’s,; Hotel, in Collins street, was sold last week and realised, I believe, the fiighesf pfnce yet attained, 1 namely, '£l4oo :f jldr foot of frbntage.i YduicShnot/gttiaW a street where there is t}Qt. T n^ T - ) b.uUdiags being erected.- How long this may last, t cannot give you ah idea. Some say not' long, others isayHit will last. I send yon a on the subject, and giving a description of the Coffee Palace,; ol fj t ,T— The Exhibition .is tp qpp,n,oji the Ist of August, when.there.is, to. ,be a great demonstration, The Chinese question was the principal topic of conversation, for a long time, but is somewhat deadening down HOW.

I omitted to say that I fully believe there is employment at present for everybody who wish to work. Of course in a coinmunitynauch as this, there araiplehty want to work much. About two days in the week does them, rrn T I have seenj several Southland folks since i came,' including Mr Guppies, who was over with a ship! ment of splendid horses.