The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-23 00:00:00

time £1 for the boatmen, if you specially engage.
But six years ago, and it would have cost you five
times as much. Six years ago, and you would have
ridden on no railway, have seen no Sandbridge,
have beheld nothing of that large sugar factory,
built of grey-stone, which you sec in process of 'coin-
pletion near the beach. There were none of those
pretty villas which you behold everywhere around
the bay—there was no car to take you up to town,
if you preferred being drawn by a horse rather than
being whirled by steam, and there was no brick nor
stone building, even in the town to which you are
going ; while even the suburb, three miles distant
from it, has its substantial hotels and stores at the
present time. When the railway has landed you
in Melbourne, you find yourself in a city the streets
of which are laid out at right angles, each of them
as broad or broader than George-street, Edinburgh
—all of them lighted with gas, patrolled by police,
having apple and orange stalls at the corners, and
the telegraph posts planted at equal spaces beside
the curb-stone. One that strikes you is the
iron bridge over which you pass from the pave-
ment to the road when you wish to cross the street.
Every crossing has its iron bridge, and these iron
bridges across the gutters are an institution of the
city. The water, in rainy weather, flows down the
streets which tend to the river, not as a mere stream
but in one great torrent, frequently so broad and
so strong as to sweep away the iron bridges alto-
gether ; and—in Elizabeth-street, for instance—so
to deluge the road that, if you wish to cross over to
the Post-office, you must do so on a cart and pay
6d. tor being taken over. This is one of the de-
fects of Melbourne which will be remedied when a
thorough system of sewerage is adopted. At pre-
sent the town is entirely without sewers, and labour
is too costly for anything of the kind to be attempted.
Now that I have-spoken of labour and its costli-
ness, it may be as well that I give you some idea
of what it really is, and what you have to pay, if
you wish to have anything done in Victoria. Let
it be borne in mind, to begin with, that living is
comparatively cheap, though house-rent is fearfully
dear. A small four-roomed house readily lets at
£lOO per annum ; and " this house to let" is a sort
of notice which you seldom see anywhere in Mel-
bourne. Except in the suburbs, very few of the
original wooden houses remain. Most are built of
brick and many of stone. The Majority are of two
storeys only, and with few exceptions all are self-
contained. A single gentleman may lodge at
a first-class hotel, and have the best of board
iiir £3 per week, and a working man may
get his board and lodging. for 255. weekly ; the
single man 'has to pay more in proportion than the
married, because provisions are exceedingly cheap
if you buy and cook them yourself. You can get
a dinner for ls. at any of the common eating-houses,
but you can buy a pound of the best beefsteak for
5d., if you like to take it home and cook it your-
self. In Bourke-street there is now a magnificent
establishment, known as the Cafe de Paris, sur-
passing in elegance and luxury of appointments
anything that London possesses among its restau-
rants. For a chop at the Cafe you pay Is. 6d., and
for a basin of soup, Is. You may dine in style for
about 7s. 6d., not including your wine, though
you may have a bottle of Burgundy for ss. Drink
of any description is comparatively dear ; nothing
can be had under 6d. To get 'drunk, and to pay for
getting so, is as expensive a pleasure as a Mel-
bournite can enjoy; for, should he get into the hands
of the police, no ss. fine, as in the old country, will
free him from durance vile. Yet to drink is a fashion.
Large American bars are to be seen in every quar-
ter of the town. Indeed, Americans seem to have
had a guiding hand in the social arrangements of
the city. "To nobblerise" is the verb which you
most frequently have to conjugate in Victoria; and
it means that when you transact.business, or meet a
friend, you must drink strong drink of some one
kind or another. The noun "nobbler" signifies no
definite quantity of liquid. It means a glass and a
decanter of spirits, out of which latter you pour into
the former what you consider to -be a sufficient
quantity for a single draught, and you pay sixpence
for it, and that's a " nobbler." A glass of ale costs
sixpence, just as a nobbler of brandy does. At the
diggings each costs a shilling. But leave off " nob-
blerising," don't smoke cigars, nor ride in cars, nor
enjoy any luxury, and living in Melbourne will cost
you very little. There is a most excellent free
library, containing about 10,000 volumes, into.
which you may walk at your pleasure without any
one asking who you are or whence you come; and
if you are rational enough to find your amusement
there, it will cost you but the trouble of going. If
you require amusement of a more exciting charac-
ter there is Anderson, the Wizard of the North, at
the Theatre Royal, Miss Emma Stanley at the
Princess' Theatre, a circus in Lonsdale-street, and
an Argyle Rooms for dancing farther up the same
street. It is easy to find something to see and to
hear any evening that you may wish. For at the
Mechanics' Institute you may listen to a lecture,
and at the Exhibition Building you may hear a
c*ert.
But you may not care about amusements,
and may wish to work and to trade only.
Very well, trade is dull just now, but is expected
to be better soon, and work before • long will
be plentiful. Railways, on an extensive scale, are
not only projected, but in process of commence-
ment. The tenders for the Ballarat railway have
already beedaccepted, and people are looking out
for the Leviathian to bring out 5,000 navvies to
carry out the work. The first sod of the Suburban
Railway was turned by his Excellency the Gover-
nor a few days ago, and before it is completed other
iron-ways of ten times its length will be begun.
Men are wanted, and wanted in any number. Who-
ever has a strong back and a stout arm, who is will-
ill to work, and who likes hard work for the fun
of it, is wanted in Victoria. No idlers are required,
for there are already more than enough of that
valueless class who lay themselves out to " do any-
thing." It is true that if you go down to the Post-
office at any, time you will see groups of unem-
ployed men loitering about and professing to be
wanting employment ; but go up to one of them, tell
him you want him to work eight hours a day for a
week or two, and ask him how much pay he will
expect. " Ten shillings a day" will be his answer,
and if you offer him five you are very likely to be
-told, in not the most courteous manner, to go to
a certain place which it would be equally uncourte•-
ous to name. It must be remembered that this glo-
_rious southern land is one where there are no beg-
gers and no-poor-honSes. There is a large and laud-
able institution, called the Benevolent Asylum, to
-which tho-e may go who are incapacitated for
labour •, but for him who can work there is work
enough to do, and he must do it. To stay in Mel-
bourne is not the right way to obtain it. He must
shoulder his pack, and turn his face towards the
up-country. Work and money, plenty to cat, and
independence in the future await him there. For
the information of those at home who are looking
for a home elsewhere, and who think of trying their
fortunes in a new land, I give you the most recent
quotation of the labour market. As it is not made
up expressly to send to England, I think that you
may take the Wizard's word for its being pretty
correct.

Government temporary labour in relief, that is,
employment given by the Immigration Aid Officers
to those who on arrival can find nothing to do im-
mediately, and are in want, 4s. per day and half
rations ; road-makers, that is to say stone-breakers
(and on the road leading to the race-course there is
a clergyman's son- at this work at the moment I
write), from ss: to Bs. per day.

Masons and bricklayers l4s to 16s per day
Carpenters
Policemen IOS
Gonipositors is-4d Per MOO
Farm labourers
Gardeners £6O to £65 per year
Grooms 52 to 60 ~
Shepherds
Female servants (in great request) 25 to 35 ~
Married couples, without families 70 to 80 ~
Nobody moves for you in Melbourne under half-a-
crown. A gentleman gives that much to a boy for
holding his horse ; and a lad of twelve or thirteen
for running an errand or two during the day will
ask and expect five shillings. 'Washing is among
one of the dearest items of necessary expenditure.
You cannot get. it well done under 4s. or 3s. 6d. a
dozen, even if it be only a dozen shirt collars.
Whenever you have to employ labour, and when-
ever you have to get your fellow-man to lend you a
hand, you find the value of a man as an article in
Victoria. You may buy a pair of ready-made Wel-
lington boots, imported from England, for 18s., hut
if you order a pair to be made you will have to pay
£3 or £4. You may buy a ready-made Newmarket-
cut coat for 355.; but if you insist on having one
made to measure, you will have to pa 3. £5.
articles of wearing apparel can be bought--
ready
made, as cheap, and in some instances cheaper,
than you can purchase them in Great Britain, but
when you desire a thing to be made expressly to
suit your fancy, you bargain for the dearest thing
there is in Victoria, and that is human labour. And
here, by the bye, I will give a word of advice to
those of my friends at home, knowing nothing
of the Australian market, may be inclined either to
send or to bring, out what they. think will be for-
tunate ventures: Ten to one the result of their
speculation will be that their goods will go to the
auction-room, and not realise their original cost.
It •
is one of the strangest markets in the 'world to
cater foli There 'may be a demand for some parti-
cular article just now, and advices to that effect
being sent home, in a few months there will be a
perfect glue of that • particular commodity. Then
again, there may be.some special items of trade or
manufacture selling at
tha loss On the export cost
Pjust now, owing..
plenitude-of-its supply.
resently the stock 'We'
having thought be dxhausted, and no one
ougnt of advising their correspondents for