New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-02-01
At which the excellent colonial person stood gasp

evoked and stimulated by the example SOU h'ih W
the American houses ..,
For several years very large share OF the swiftly.
swelling commerce of Victoria in the hands OF
the American houses which had established theni-
selves in Melbourne Strange to say. there is to-day
scarcely an American in business in all Victoria'
either IN the capital or in the "gold" towns IL Is
dnicult to ascertain with any approach to accuracy
the causes of this curious disappearance. nave
made many inquiries. and have received strangely
diverse replies. Some will tell yOu that the Amer
lean merchants in Victoria, smart and bright" as
they are acknowledged to have been, were some
what Over-entcrprising, and, when the colony
settled down after the gold-fever period. fonnd
their commitments too heavy for them and went
away" Other infOrmants will complacenty
cnuncato that clever as the Americans WERE their
colonial compel tors were yet ceverer. and "froze
their OUT My own impression is that the clannlsh
splrit 50 strong in Australia may have tended TO the
cultailment of tho operations Of the Americans
and that finding their sphere of enterprise hampeIed
by prejudice ami by the" blood thicker than water"
feeling which holds strong SWAY In Australia they
gradually "stepped down and out" IL remaihs
that to-day there are sngularly limited commercial
relations between the Unte1 states anu 'ne
Australian colonies The Pacific Mall Company
rms monthly steamer between sydney anu Gan
Francisco via Auckland lin New Zeaandl and Hon
Ouu At certain seasons of the year TINS IL q iavor,
tie route with travellers, mostly hOmeward pounu
forthe Old Country - and wshful to see something
of America en- route. But the big steamer month
after month quits Sydney with jnsubcieht cargo
to ballast her, and on her omt%ard voyagg ,e elp
consist of miscellaneous notions not worth ca.t
loguing. A precari0ns service OF SAILING PacS9's
between York and Meno .ms il is soe Numbers
bring cargo,s of sawn timber across tno fa.inc'
from the ports of Oregon and Washington erritory.
Bnt the American competition, althougha thnS
of the mast has left its impress on the conilercia
idiOsyncracy of Victoria. and more particularly OF
Melbourne the capital of that colony ana the ino5t
nonnlons city of Australia. The merchants OF Mel
bourne are unqnestlOnably alerter ana more ehisr-
prislng than those of other Australian c.s S,rnar
Melbourne business atmosphere Is keener. Sharper,
snapper The Victorians are proud VI th's SupeIIol
sprvness of theirs, and are fond OF asking the
stranger whether ne does moi rccogL; a . ,d
something of that go-ahead spirit when the w0rla
has accepted a. characteristic oil America. one
admits with qualification the justice OF the cia,m
40 nut forward. Victorian commerce ~ nmuier
than the commerce of the rest OF Austraiia' tnls
admittel one thinks of Chicago and does NOT see
his way t" going urter IN some atera
n one horse town. No city IN the world Is :? Wen
adapted for trainways; there Is hardly village
nIshed with a tramway service but the city that
arrogates to itself the title of capital OF Australia
has only Just begun to build ITS tram roads. water
access TO it from the sea IS along wretched,
noisomc, tOrtnons gutter some seven miles long.
aitording sixteen feet draught ut high tide. There
is no really irstclass restaurant in Melbourne, and
in all Australia there 10 not good or so large a
hotel as the Windsor in Topeka or the Metropolitan
in st. Paul. Minnesota.
Australia consists III considerable number OF
American ladies who are married to coonial gen
temen. Some of those. II the expression be par.
,lonable are tue derelicts or the short lived
American COLONY. who having married Australians
have remained VIXEN their kinsiolk and countrymen
went away. AgiIn, the young Australian Is. as mas
been said. fond of going " home" through America,
nor to do him justice Is he insensible 10 feminine
graces aud char MS When he returns II his colony.
Ha Ia, forth uatp
an American bride who has left all ana followed
him. II is not as IT she hal gone OUT INTO the
wilderness IN this desertiOn of home. She brings
with her all her bright social attractions for crtum
no, aainiam mudat; and she is made much OF IN her
over the social life OF an Australian colony the
wife of its Governor; another American LAZY has
Mayoress of Mcbourne.
n il in the appliances of lOconotiOn, perhaps
hat the Australians have most pnrs n"r sas az
an equal size, IL the all but universal venice OF thc
Australian colonies In the cities the buggy. among
the smart people becomes subimatcd into spider,
and the urban colonst is addicted to pridpg himself
upon "a horse who trot hi. between ITS shafts
The American tr0tter ~ slowly coming into favor.
There are tIottlng races now on Melbourne sub
urban track. and among the conpet!tors are some
imported trottng stations, chiefly OF the palo Alto
| stock. Int tile science of trOttng - stu IN us
infancy in Australia, and 2:3o IS Thought hrst.rate
| time on the E!siernwick track. AWAY Ia the back
regions, whittier railways have not penetrated. Tue
| stages" are universally of the old American
pattern-lODg body Oh for and aft leathcrn braces
| Those vehicles we're introduced by an American
| tirm-CObb & Con- whose hands. or rather III the
hands of their under the old name. nearly
all the coaching traffic of Australia has been for the
| last thirty years and more. The original race OF
| Yankee cOaciimcn have quite died out, but they
Fave left bsnd them their characteristic style OF
workmanship and their shout of :" all aboard
That expression never heard in England. IN also III
| use on the Australian railroads. on some of which
are of the American pattern. In this detail
the Australian colonies di0ar one from the Other
| South Australia has accepted the saloon carT1ags
entirely; that construction of ycaicle Is IN use on
| the suburban lines OF New South wales. Queens
land IS divided between the saloon aud the compart
| ment construction; Victoria will have mono OF the
saloon and adheres firmly TO the British type Of
| compartment carriages Speaking of railroads, an
| effort was recently made 20 have q limo made
| through Queensland on the and-grant system. with
| whGh-its advantages and aDusss-the Wrsiern
states well British North America are familiar
But the cry OF a dangerous monopoly" was raised.
significant If hazy allusions were made to the DIES,
| pOtic influence of the American railway kmgs and
| the enterprise crushed by the scare.
The ubiquitous Chnaman is u force IN Australia
| as in America. But the Australians have kept hrs
| numbers down by the enactment that no ship shall
| import him more largely than in the proportion OF
enc Chinaman TO every ten tons; and also by the
expedieht Of exacting from him hcad-m3ney on
| Chinese quarter both in Sydney and III Melbourne,
and on the outskirts Of every mining town there is
| Chinese camp, among whose inmates arc dscred-
table females not Of Monaghan origin. John
prospers fairly in Australia, bat he has not, az in
| America. attained the dignity of becoming a bnrn-
Ing question: He Is considerably self-assertivc on
the newer gold field. up. in the far north and is
| reput6u 10 run the settlehlenJ now
IN course of formation in tho northern territory of
South Australia but the col0nst regards bin
without jealousy and rather with -hunored
| contempt
As on the American Ohio River on the Aus
| tralian Murray River there are stern wheel
steamers. As IN America 50 in Australia alcohol is
| not infre1uent beverage; but the Australian
takes his poison straight and Is wholly un-
| acquainted with the nuances of compounded drinks.
| One might " rite columns the diversity between
American traits and Australian traits. that the
subject prescribed. In nothing IL there a wider
princnle in regard to the conservation of human
life The American theory, blunty put. is that