The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-11 00:00:00

plaster, for this last is perpetually being broken, especially
in the lower storey, and as to appearance there is no question
of the siiperihrity of the birder material over what I can
never regard but a sham—like a " dicky." The It ,tels,
too, haie wonderfully smartened up ; they hart taken to
themselves stone pilasters and mouldings in the place of
wooden outsides, and their windows ' are resplendent with
. plate glass and tilde bars are—clean. ,Aoyear and a half
ago the Theatre Royal was opened, Outside, I know of
no building much more ugly. but seated in the dress circle
on a full night, I cannot describe the extent of my admira-
tion: 'lbis Theatre Royal of Melbourne is one of the most
marked Proofs of the progress of our social 'System of
anything existing here ; the respectability, the brilliancy of
the audiences which assemble within those walls is a fact to be
noted by every one who looks with interest upon the advance-
ment of (Ali vigorous thriving colony. I hope the present
manager will find it to his interest to have the front repaired
and finished, and then I shall be as glad to look, at-the outside
as lam gratified in. admiring the arrangements of the interior.
Tae iron theatr3 which Mr. Coppin brought out with him from
guglami, wiiich stands where of old stood the well known
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tionable tionable (though possibly to the landlords, profitable) properties.
And what a nob'e building the hospital has grown tf).
and they talk still of enlarging it ; and there is its
neighbour the public library, of which any city in the
world might be proud ; and adjoining this they have
lately built a new county court house, which is an
additional iinprovement in that Ideality, and stretching
farther north we have the university, which for all they
may talk about " having the ruffles when wanting the
shirt," is a noble pile of buildings; and going further out
still, We come to the new cemetery, which, for a pleasant
last resting place, I think I should prefer to any other I
have seen ; and further still ; but no, I am getting out of
town and on my road to Sydney, and I have something
else to say about that direction id another place, I
thought by this time we should hare had a grand palace
built. or the governor, but the site is still as nature left
it, and as I walk through it sometimes I wonder if ever
Victoria, will have a king of her own, who will drink
Australian wine out of Australian gold cups, in Australian
marble halls jait over where lam standing. But the
governor's house is not built and so I go on to the
Botanical garderisevrliich I think are known to about one
in fifty of the residents in IVielbdtirne, for I rarely meet
more than a dozen people in them, beautiful as they are.
When in this neighbourhood• I generally cross the
Richmond punt and look at Cremorne—on the outside.
[ become meditatire on such occasions, and think about
the time twenty years ago, when, on this spot (which at
night is the scene of gay revelry)—" wild in bush the
noble savage ran." These thoughts serve me for reflec-
tion as I walk through the paddock, or come down the
Yarra Yarra to Prince's bridge, which is another structure
alike creditable to the architect who designed it (though
it is too newt* for the traffic) and to the people
who caused it to be built. As I come along Swan-
stop street, I always feel rather proud of the town
hall, which, though something heavy, has an air of
respectability about it. I wish the same could be said
of the gentlemen (?) who deliberate within its walls.
Uelbotirtie is gradually going out of town to live. In
an afternoon, when stores dud offices close, the crowds of
merchants,_barristers, attorneys, &c., use., who fill the
omnibusses going to St. Kilda and elsewhere are notable
proofs of the d sposition there is to breathe pure air when
business is over. When Igo to St. Kilda myself, I am
driven Well nigh inane With envy at the sight of the
elegant little villas, which during the last few years have
been gradually springing up at this most delightful of all
our suburban quarters. I hope some day whert I have
got into the way of making my own fortune, to enjoy the
do:ce far niente in like manner, when the cares of the day
are over. A railway is being constructed hither, 1. e. to
St. Kilda, but I think I shall prefer the road, as having
more of the picturesque up in it; and talking of railways
reminds me that we are going to have no limit. of them
in Vic'oria very shortly, and we shall all be able to run
backwards and forwards to the diggings at a small cost
and without loss of time. GOing there do* is very
different from what it used to be when I was a digger ;
then it was, s•vag on back and foot it •all the way ; now
we are whisked off in a ratting, tearing, devil-may-care
sort of conveyance, and we do is one day what in olden
time it took a week or more to accotnplish, Of railways,
the only one complete is that to Sandridge, distant from
Melbourne ab gut one Idle and a half, and upon this I
oceassionatly ride down for the sake of a promenade on
the pier, a sight of the ships, and a breeze from the bay,
all which I regard as additions to my happiness, And
we have electric telegraphs now. No sooner comes a
mail ship in ship of :he " Heads" than by means of this
wonderful messenger we know immediately all about
it in Melbourne. In like manner the gold fields are
being brought within a few minutes reach as to
communication, and there is some prospect of
having the wires all the way to Sydney—
six hundred miles—think of that you home people.
The streets of Melbourne are now macadamised, the
gutters are pitched, and the pathways are flagged—with a
-little exception here and there. We have gas in the
houses, and when the gas company can persuade themselves
to be content with something less than twenty five pounds
a light, we shall have it in the streets. Water pipes
arterialise the city, and we have fire plugs at the corners.
Our drainage is, however, as yet superficial, and we want
a Tarquin to begin our cloacae. One thing is evident every-
where, and that is progress. " Forward" is the word ;
and, provided I live the usual term of man, I hope to see
Melbourne the best built, the beat drained, the best
watered, and the best lighted city in the world. ,f will
content myself with one further reference only to our affairs,
and that comes under the head of Amusements. .

OUR THEA.TREi.—Some time ago we had positively four
theatres open. 'At present one seems quite sufficient to
satisfy the wants of the play going public, and even this is
occasionally more than enough. In the early diggings
time, the little Queen's was all satisfying, and 'in those
primitive days there were enacted some odo scenes in that
very uneimfortable playhouse, bath before and behind the
curtain. Small skill was required oa the part of the
manager and small talent on that of an actor to fulfil the
demands of the play going world. Commendable was the
patience of those who sat out drowsy, sanguinory, or
p sinfully funny pieces ; it was wonder enough to have a
theatre at all, and perhaps people went as much out of
curiosity as from any other motive. But we have become
refined now, and we have got a Theatre Royal as large
almost as Drury Line, and there is a dress circle with com-
fortable cushions where elegant people is full dress actually
sit and enjoy well selected, well acted, and well mounted
plays.
CoraczaTs.—And we are rather fond of concerts, and
the performance on • these occasions of real first
elass music is as surprising as it is delightful. There
is a Philharmonic Society which has done very
much to encourage a refined taste with reference to
music. They have performed some of the best
known oratorios, with a success beyond expectation.
Their operations are being gradually extended, and then
position and influence are widely recognised. 1 look for
very much good to spring from this society, for the
moral influence of music is a fact so long established
that I need not say one word in confirmation. Let
there be but a love of music, and no man and no cori-
rounity can ever be utterly depraved. Even when this is
of a less exalted character, there is something humanising
about it. Save and except a bagpipe and a Jew's harp,
there is hardly any musical instrument which does not
po seas some agreeable combination of sounds.
TAVERN Musrc.—At times I take solitary walks through
the cily of an evening, and from almost every public
house there proceeds music of some kind. Here there
is a piano giving forth a sparkling polka, there a harp
and violin waltzing in concert ; further on some German
girls are warbling the "Standard Bearer," and accom.
parrying themselves with guitars ; on the opposite side
we have Ethiopians singing " Lilly Dale," aided by
accordeon and binja ; farther on s ill there is a German
band plaiting " Partant pour la Synie ;" to this succeeds
a comic sang given by some tremendous favourite of the
frequenters of a " Hall of Harmony." What if all this
music is said to be but a bait to entice thirsty souls to go
in and drink, while listening thereto. Perhaps it is, but
thirsty souls would drink were there no music to entice
them; and if they can bl made meanwhile to undergo a
kind of unconscious moral depuration, why not ?
RacEs.—We Melbourne folks, too, have rather a weak-
ness for horse racing. We have a race course which, for
situation and level, would, I think, meet with an almost
unqu dified aeoaroval from some of the " 'ossy" gentlemen
at the real Tattersalls' at home. It is close upon the
Salt Water river, a tributary of the Yarra Yarra, and it
can be reached by steamers in the course of half an hour.
I prefer infinitely this mode of going to the races: I
avoid the dust, which along the road is always a most
unpleasant source of annoyance and vexation : besides,
there is generally some music on board, and it is pleasant
on a bright sunshining morning to steam along as if
keeping time to the tune of " The Red, White, and Blue,"
and other national and popular airs. And then the
approach to the course from the river fa rather
picturesque. You see the tents with flags flying in the
distance, and the foreground of the picture is made up
probably by some small craft, filled with merry pleasure
seekers, crossing the smooth river on their way to the
ground. Not being a sporting man I cannot say what
comparative degree of merit is usually possessed by the
horses and their riders, but I always think they have an