The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-04-26

FITZRoY, MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA.
Australasia is noted for beer, hot winds. 1
dust and cheap mutton. All canned fruits |
are made into jam before it is put into tin I
cans, and IS about as thick as mashed pO- /
tatoes. As fuel IS very expensive, wood cost /
ing % to 30 cents per hundred weight peO-
pie, as q general rulo, do not cook much /
themselves. A hind quarter Of mutton costs /
but 36 cents and a can Of lam Is cents 2 four
pound loaf Of bread costs 10 cents, and this I
with pitcher Of beer costing six cents makes
up the principal part Of the living Of thousands
of families. You will see little children, too
small to know a penny from sizpence, going I
and coming from hotels with beer any time
you may look out up to II o'clock at night.
If you think / am streining the truth in tbis
Australian besr-drinkIng habit, just allow me
to tell you that the Government statistics say
that every 135h person in the whole Colony Of
Victoria
WAS ARRESTED LAST YEAR FOR DRUEKESNEss,
and know that they do not arrest ons-haIf
who get drunk. II any one, man or women, is
drunk, they think nothing Of i, but simplysay
he or she has had q drop too much, and this is
all that is said about it, provided the parties
create no disturbance The police have but
very little authority; the most Of them are
armed with pair Of white gloves and q
gilt band around one sleeve Of their coat
near the wrist, and / am told that some
Of theHa carry clu6-they call 2 batou-after
dark; but / never saw one have any weapon,
not even stick, since I have been here. /
have seen girls put stones in pocket handker-
chiefs and then beat the policemen over the
head with them in very brutal manner; and
the police had TO take it, for they cannot call
on or deputize any one 70 assist them IN making
an arrest of any kind. They cannot enter
house after a thief or laW-5Te2ker without hrst
going TO procure a search-wGrraut, and If they
do arrest person for any purpose whatever,
and take him TO Jail or the lookup, they must
| appear n court The next day against the pris-
/ oner. If they do not, then the prisoner goes
/ free but If they do appear, the law seems to be
rather in favor Of the prisoner instead Of the
/ police. They say It would not do TO give them
! revOlyers or too much authority, az they would
make bad use Of it. There IS a class Of beings
/ here called Larrikins known az hoOdlums
! il San Francisco who are sorely in need Of
| some bad use Of police weapons They in
/ fest all public meetings, and are a holy ter
ror " in the theateTs, and should policeman
| come in they all grOsn and yell, and even throw
! paper wads at him so 1 do not blame him for
! not going into such places to be made sport Of.
His presence instead Of restoring order, is sure
to create disorder.
There are some very fine theaters here, but
1t is rather disgusting to sit and hear the gurge,
/ gurgle Of the beer, as the Larrikins create
| a Spring freshet in their stOmachs by making
| free stores of their insides They call the
aristocracy or big bugs" here the tOfts, and
the lofts go into the dress circle, where you are
supposed to wear
sWALLOw-TATLED COAT,
| or q very low-neck dress, with bare arms.
This they call full evening dress.
The women, as q general rule know little
about cooking, outside Of roasting meat boiling
/ potatoes cabbage, carrots, etc. There are very
few native-born Australian women or girls who
can make loaf of bread, biscuits or cake. In
| fact hundreds buy their meat cooked at the
many cOOked-meat shops. I an speaking only
of those in the city, for I know nothing about
pies, etc, pastry, and / do not blame the most
of them for not liking pastry, for it is made
with what Ia called dTippings-that is, the
talloW or grease from roast beef or mutton, and
is generally so burned and smoked as TO make
ii more fit for gressing q cart than for pastry.
IF my comrades wives and daughters will take
some of this kind of grease and make dough
with it, roll it out about one inch thick, and
putt on plate, then put some plum-jsm on
top of this dough, right in the middle, leaving
from two to three inches around the edge with
out any jam, and bake n hot oven until quite
brown, they will have an Australian pie, OF
lam tart, "a they call them here. But you must
: use lots Of the tallow, enough go IS 70 make II
hy all TO pieces when you bite it. They make
what they call meat-pies here, and they are
generally kept for sale hot, something like
, peanuts in America. They usually cost Vol
two pence called tuppence.) After seeing 81
many buying them Tor nearly year l con
, cluded to try few and give my wife and chill
: dren e grand treat go I purchased three no
ones from the steam heater snd took then
) home for tea, They were about the size Of
small tea saucer, with upper and lower crust
and the great mystery was hidden in between
J | Nv wife placed them on the table and all watch
5 ed them as though they expected to sea then
Jump any moment. A ! was the first one
be ready for dessert, and being very brave frol
having
PLANTED SO MANY FLAGS
. behind large rocks and trees during the exist
ence Of those Confederate States, I cut one RICH
through the middle. ! don't mean one Of tn
. Confederate States, but one OF those meat pie
. | and took one-hslf on my plate. They e.
watched me with searching eyes, but / man
aged 70 keep st il until my wife took one
fourth and divided It among the children
: This gave them about q mOuthful eact
and this was more than they wished 70 ca
Thus, the six OF us managed to eat Ia
of one, and the rest my wife handed throug
the fence to the neighbours children VINO dt
: vOured them as though they were stTaWbsrr
shortcake. The one we opened had some piecS
. of mutton in it about the size Of three oyster
: very not with pepper and as tough as rubber.
Hle0 you d5A any u lL2tLl 44o4C II t4tOS In
, strawberry shortcske, pumpkin pies, pork an
> beans, biscuits or fried cakes they do NJ
=. know what you mean, and great many neyC
= heard of such q thing as eOrnmeal, buckwhel
or maple sugar. As a general thing they al
very poor housekeepers and untidy with the
= work AL are not so, but they are IN the M
y iOrity, especially among the working classes.
Nearly all the houses are built with on
room back of the other and an architect tel
me he has built them one story high with
rooms long, and one room wide with hall. Il
- says they do this 80 you cant come in Whel
!. they live and see the dirt. The one I live
= has small psrlor in front. The front doc
- opens into hall. The first room is the parlO
. the next back of the p8rlor is q bedroom, th
Z next the kitchen or living room, then tt
. bathroom then two very small bedroom
= There is a fireplace in the psrlOr, and in d
:, larger bedroom and kitchen, and this rents f
: SIS per month. All front doors have the o.
- English knocker on them, and a very laFl
- knob right in the center Of the door to pull
= shut and when you pub Il shut it always loci
- itself; SO if you have forgotten something in
:, SIS you have shut your door y0u have 70 bar
- that knocker to be let IN, or search your poe
:, cts for a key, and 60 to the trouble Of un.oc