The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-02-20
MELBOURNE NOTES.

uue DutH HUUtN uW, VIII uH-
doubtedly be read with interest by
many. 1t is dated January 25th,
and was written at Melbourne, Aus
tralia:-
1t is now nearly six months since
l arrived in Melbourne from China,
and am still of the same favorable
opinion regarding it. During this
time the greater part of the Austria
liam summer has passed, and l have
been informed by colonists who have
been born and raised here it has
been an exceptionally hot one. My
private opinion has been on some
specially hot days that the differ
ence between Melbourne and Hades
consists of very few degrees. The
great disadvantage of Melbourne in
this hot weather is the wide streets,
for directly a breeze springs up, in
stead of being luxury, it becomes
nuisance, because of the clouds of
dust it carries with it, quickly coat
ing your clothes and making you
feel disagreeable. They do little
to keep this deplorable state of
things down by watering the streets,
but that is of little avail. One of
the eyesores to Europeans visiting
Melbourne was the open drains or
streams of water running down both
sides of the principal streets. This
has been recently done away with,
and the sewers covered over by flag
stones, thus adding several feet
to the sidewalks and making them
more comfortable for pedestrians.
Work is being rapidly advanced
on the new Cathedral and Parliament
buildings. The former is building
on site in Swanston street near the
river, and the latter at the top of
Burke street. Both will be exceed
ingly large and handsome buildings
when finished, and ornaments to the
city. The Bishop of Melbourne,
DR.. Moorhouse, leaves here shortly
for Manchester, England, to which
See he has been appointed Bishop.
He is very popular here, and his
departure is much regretted.
One of the branches of a city
bank was "stuck up" few morn
ings ago by three larrikins; but the
manager, a young fellow named
Hill, made u plucky fight and pre-
vented their getting any booty.
During the scutile the manager fired
several shots from his revolver, one
of which unfortunately killed the
landlady of the house, who was
just coming in to see what the
scuflle was about. All the men are
in custody and will be tried in the
course of few days.
A teller in the City of Melbourne
bank has made away with about
100000 during the past two years,
and of course, being large amount,
will be leniently dealt with. If the
Bank managers had not been so
nearly related to Balaam's com
panion, he could not have carried it
on so long, for it is entirely due to
their negligence that the discovery
was not made before.
During the Christmas holidays
we had splendid weather, although
a trife too hot for some peoples
tastes. The business houses closed
down from Thursday night to the
following Tuesday morning, and
three days at New Years. So we
were pretty well off for holidays.
The people here seem to think more
of New Years and Boxing Day than
Christmas. Excursions down the
Bay and picnic parties were all the
rage. The picnics were more in the
line of my tastes. Christmas Day
l passed very quietly. The day
following was spent in an excursion
to Lillydale, Almost charming place
about 25 miles from Melbourne, on
the Hawthorn extension line. 1t is
new country, chiefly devoted to
fruit growing and wine making.
Nearly every variety of fruit grows
here in luXuriant profusion. 1t is
delightful place for picnic, and
seated on the hill with the valleys
beneath and the Blue Mountains in
the distance, we could hardly find a
more beautiful spot in all Victoria.
1t is also noted for the great quantity
of maiden hair and other ferns.
There were several picnics every
day down to Queenscliffe, Geelong,
Ballarat, Sorrento, Fern Tree Gully,
Yam Yean and other places of inter
est within easy distance of Mel
bourne, and both the railway and
steamship companies gave every
facility as regards special trains and
boats and reduced fares.
To me New Years Day was the
most enjoyable of all. We had
arranged picnic party to the Yam
Yean reservoir, which is about "a
miles from Melbourne, which city
it supplies with water. We were a
party of eighteen, nine of each sex.
n