BRISBANE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 19, 7 May 1892, Page 467

BRISBANE.

EVERAL daily papers in New Zealand, we are sorry to say, persist in making much of a *£|jSStL cablegram which recently reported that some hundreds of Kanaka labourers in Queensland g°ne out on strike, and that white l/uZi*; settlers were arming in expectation of a condiet. On receipt of this startling message we

made it our duty to interview several gentlemen who have lately returned to this colony after a lengthy stay in Queensland, with the result that the editorial opinions of the ‘dailies’ alluded to were severely criticised and ridiculed. The exact position of Kanaka affairs in Queensland, we learned, is simply this : The intense heat of the place prevents the working of sugar by white labour, so black must be employed. These Kanakas are engaged by the agents for two, three, or four years (or for whatever period of time the contracting parties agree upon), and receive not less than £6, but in many cases much as £lO per annum, in addition to their food, clothing, and shelter. Unlike the English farm labourer who works from dawn to dark, these Kanakas have each day a certain number of hours of labour, after which their time is their own. They receive wholesome food, are well clothed considering the tropical position of Queensland, and have Government inspectors to protect them from anything like cruelty. It is a common sight to see Kanakas in Brisbane purchasing trinkets, and looking so generally contented that the refutation is given at once to the charges of ‘ Southern States Slavery ’ so often levelled at the proprietors of Queensland sugar plantations. Speaking of Brisbane (of which place we give a full-page engraving), our informant told us that of all the towns in Australia none has grown so rapidly within the last five years. The growth of the times is perceived by the presence of an old, rough little store, dwarfed in height, alongside a stupendous establishment, or some magnificent banking premises, worth a hundred times the value. Several commodious and comfortable hotels are on either side, while drinking bars are numerous enough to satisfy the thirsty. Restaurants provide a capital dinner at a rate only to be done in a cheap living land. All varieties of trades may be found, and not a little style in shops frequented by ladies. The post office, on the eastern side of Queen-street, is an imposing building, amply furnished for all requirement. The telegraphic department is in connection. The Town Hall on the opposite side is higher up. At the top of the street, having passed the offices of the Courier, Queenslander, Telegraph, etc., we reach the Registrar General’s quarters. To the rear of that are the offices of Treasurer, Colonial Secretary, etc. These, again, are in connection with the Government printing establishment. The observatory looks down upon this from the terrace above. The street is in good condition ; the pathways are lined with people, and the roadway is crowded with drays and carts, coaches and omnibusses, cabs and saddle horses. Queen-street on a Saturday afternoon, or a holiday, is a lively scene. THE BRIDGE AND SOUTH BRISBANE. When at the top of Queen-street we come upon the Bridge, which leads into South Brisbane, an important and rapidly extending quarter, the outlet to the beautiful Logan country, region of farms and plantations. The bridge, called after Her Majesty, is justly admired by the inhabitants of the city. It is constructed of iron, on the lattice-girder principle, having the usual opening to facilitate navigation on the river. The work was prepared by Mr Brassey’s firm at Birkenhead. The length from abutment to abutment is over a thousand feet, there being thirteen spans, the swing span taking 170 feet. The piers are double columned iron cylinders. The weight of iron used is over two thousand tons. BOTANIC GARDENS AND GOVERNMENT HOUSE. These two are associated in the illustration. As before mentioned, the Government domain, in which the vice-regal lodge is placed, adjoins the Botanic Gardens. In the very olden times, when Brisbane was luled by a commandant, that officer had bis quarters at no great distance from the garden. At first only a kitchen garden for government officials, it became, upon the opening of the district to ordinary settlers, the humble copy of those glorious public grounds which so charm the stranger as well as resident in Sydney. Additional attractions in the shape of landscape gardening, the gathering of representative plants from all parts of the globe, and the fine array of fruits and other vegetable products suitable for the colonial farmer, might well turn this into so favourite a retreat. HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. What more picturesque position could be occupied by a senatorial edifice than this? On a gentle acclivity, in the vicinity of the beautiful Government domain and the viceregal residence, while looking down upon that fairy scene of lioral magnificence, known as the Botanic Gardens, the spacious and imposing-looking building is reared.

The style as may be seen in the illustration, is after the modern type, conspicuous in so many European public in stitutions. Its lofty form and its broad facade show off to advantage from its eminence, and seem in character with the bills surrounding Brisbane. The interior displays that practical common sense, so marked in the colonial mind, that declines to be drawn from a consideration of the useful in its just admiration for the beautiful. All arrangements are subsidiary to intention of erection ; they were to serve a purpose. THE SUPREME COURT. The handsome and lofty building seen to the left in one of our illustrations, and overlooking the river, is of an imposing character. The extensive covered balcony may strike one as showing a warm climate. Queensland not being like some places exposed to great extremes of temperature, can construct according to a more uniform climate. The Supreme Court is near the Lands’ Office, and convenient to the Treasury and other Government offices. The Local Board of Health meets at the Town Hall and performs excellent service. The City Volunteer Fire Bi igade men are in five companies—three hose and reel companies, one engine company, and one apparatus company. The alarm bell tolls one, two, three, four, five, or six, according to the site of conflagration. But Brisbane is not, like New York, Chicago, or other American towns, given to fires. The wood is far less inflammable, the people are less reckless, the houses are not so crowded, and the climate nearly all the year round restricts the area of combustion to the kitchen ; in the so-called winter evenings a fire in the parlour is cosy. To guard against the destroyer there is also a Fire Brigades’ Board, at which the Mayor presides. The hall is, of course, used for concerts, lectures, and meetings. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. Much talking has been said to require much printing. Certainly, since Australia has enjoyed responsible government and allowed the control of its own affairs, the official printing office in each capital has greatly extended the sphere of operations. The printing account is a growing one. Brisbane resolved upon a building more suitable for the advance of Queensland than the modest quarters formerly occupied by the dealers in the black art. THE MUSEUM. This interesting embodiment of national development and the evidence of colonial culture occupies a prominent position on the north bank of the Brisbane river, and is nearly opposite the offices of the Colonial Secretary and Colonial Treasurer. It is one of the many surprises before a stranger from Europe, that a community of one quarter of a million should not only own ten million sheep, plantations, farms, mines, industries, railways, churches, and schools, but should have an eye for the progress of art and science. A very tangible proof of something more than a sentimental regard for the domain of nature is afforded by the museum, Entering a spacious room the visitor is introduced to old and new friends. Young colonials must know of old-world animal forms, vegetable life, and mineral treasure, while newly arrived emigrants seek information of such as relate to the new home. GORDON AND GOTCH’S PREMISES. This firm of newspaper agents has a widely spread reputation in the southern colonies. The two gentlemen began a new business under great difficulties, but achieved a distinguished success. Indomitable energy, prudent plans and honourable dealings marked their course. IPSWICH GRAMMAR SCHOOL. This, if at all inferior to the Brisbane Grammar School, fitly represents to the English inquirer, the condition of education in Queensland. The Brisbane Grammar School has been recently removed to a charming spot on the outskirts of the town. Ipswich School is worthy of mention, having been so successful in turning out accomplished prizetakers, who have proceeded, at Government expense, to home or other universities. The architecture is sufficiently ornamental, without needless expenditure. Ipswich is so closely connected with Brisbane that a few words respecting it may be allowed. The second born town of Queensland, though long known as Limestone, from the quarries, is approached by rail in twenty-five miles, or by steamer on the River Brisbane. On the main road to Darling Downs, the earliest and richest pastoral district, it was hailed as the capital of Squatterdonr, and sent forth its many bullock drays of supplies to stations, receiving thence the wools and hides in return. Ipswich is now the high seat of railway works, employing many engineers. It is surrounded by a country as fertile as it is attractive. Cotton is still largely giown in its vicinity, and gardens of fruit and vegetables abound. The manufacture of tweed cloth is an industry of this municipality of 9,000 people. F(G TREE, BY BRISBANE. Thia enormous specimen of Queensland vegetation is to be seen just outside of Brisbane. The fruit is not the fig of commerce. The representation of a man at the root may give some conception of the size to which these native trees run. A botanist has thus described a specimen : —* One of these trees which I measured was thirty-eight feet in circumference at two feet from the ground, the roots forming immense wall-like abutments, some of which expanded twenty feet from the base of the tree.' After the fashion of

the banyan, it throws down roots from the branches, which produce trees that in time choke the parent. Inlike many Australian vegetable forms, the Moreton Bay fig tree has a grateful luxuriance of evergreen foliage. THE SUBURBS. The Brisbane suburbs are toward the bay, beside the flowing stream, or on the hundred pretty woody heights around. It is almost invidious to select where so many court admiration. There is Breakfast Creek, just beyond the Bowden Park, and but two miles fiom the city below, a charming spot for a family home. Some prefer Oxley, by rail eight miles off, where the river is spanned by the Albert iron bridge, 716 feet long. Lytton, by the mouth of the Brisbane, is not deemed too far for suburban. But Cleveland, on the bay, now that the Zine is open, has become something more than a watering place. In Bulimba, four miles from town, as in the other suburbs, a retreat may be had amidst banana groves and sugar plantations. Toowong, two or three miles distant, can be reached by rail, by boat, or by omnibus. It is a melancholy drive to some, as the prettily laid out cemetery is just off the road. The village presents numerous knolls and dells for healthy and attractive sites for residences. Freeholds are the rule. Building societies enable any prudent worker to have his own castle in the suburbs, to the comfort of his little ones