Evening star., 1901-05-11

banks have branches in the state of Vic
toria and in all parts of Australia, and 1t Is
to large extent the money center Of the
country.
Some of the stores are large. Some are
called universal providers, taking the place
of our department stores. All have good
displays In their windows and all advertise
in the spread eagle American way one
bookman boasts of having 100000 books
In his shop and fills the newspapers with
his poetic effusons as to his goods. This Is
called the Book Arcade. 1t Is sort of
department store, in which books are most
prominent. 1t sells also stationery, candy
and pictures, and you can get tooth
pulled or your photograph taken while you
wait
Many of the large stores are in arcades
running from one principal street to
other. In the summer the sun is very hot,
and these arcades protect the shoppers.
OpaIs Are Cheap.
Among the most interesting stores are
those selling Jewelry, for they give you an
idea of the wealth and luxury-loving ten
dencies of the people There are quarts of
diamonds and pearls exposed in the cases,
and the windows are decorated with rings,
brooches and precious stones. Among the
most common of jewels are opals, which
come from Australia. They may be seen
everywhere. 1 verify believe 1 have handled
half bushel of them during my stay in
the country. They sold set and unset,
and are cheaper than with us, but the bet
ter stones bring good prices. An opal the
size of a small pea costs So, while for $15
you can get one full of fire as big as your
sweethearts thumb nail. AS a rule, the
stones are sold by weight, at so much per
carat.
In walking through the business streets
you see many curious signs There is one
John Jones Fellmonger.' That is a fur
store, as you can see from the ,pOssum,
platypus and other skins in the window.
The shop next door has the word Draper"
above it. That is a dry goods store, while
the sign 'lronmonger' on the building over
the way shows that it is a place for selling
hardware. The druggists in Australia are
called chemists, and drug store is a
chemist shop. Lumber dealers are timber
merchants" and the lunberman is called a
timber getter.'
AS to the hours of business, they are
much shorter than with US. Most of the
big stores are not open before half-past or
y a. M; all close at q, and all are required to
shut up for the half holiday which comes
once a week.
The Yankee City of Australia.
Melbourne makes me think of an Ameri-
can city. 1t is called the Yankee city of
Australia and it's people are considered the
most enterprising and venturesome of all
south of the equator The Americans flock
ed here during the gold excitement of the
early fiftes and many of them stayed and
bought property. Some of the finest busi-
ness blocks are owned by Americans; for
instance, that of the Equitable Life InSur-
ance Company of New York is the best Of
hce building here. The people pride them
selves on being like the Yankees. [ have
been frequently asked if the town did not
remind me of home. or whether we have
anything better of the same kind in the
United States.
great many fortunes have been made in
Melbourne in real estate. The romance of
ITS speculatiOns of this kind is similar to
that or New York and Chicago The Is
a Nan hot ttI,,,
dams for about peck of beads, buttons
and trinkets; Chicago could have been once
purchased for a pair of old boots The site
or Melbourne, including 600. 600 acres about
II, was originally bought of the Australian
aborigines by John Ratman for forty pairs
OF blankets forty-two tomahawks and a
rev knives. scissors, looking glasses and
snlrts: The same ground is worth more than
$loo ooopr0 today. The man who bought
II, however. was not allowed to retain it.
Ills claim was disputed by others and n
rev months later the governor of Australia
came down from Sydney and laid out the
town, selling the lots at auction.
Auction Made It's Bidders Rich.
That auction made the fortunes of it's
hlshest bidders. There We're only two hun
dred men present, and nearly all bought
CITY lots. Each lot was half an acre. The
hrst sold Tor $780, and another for twice
that One block of ten acres netted 50, 800
-
100 and the other lots increased in about
the same ratio. The net proceeds of the
DAY sale We're less than $4,000 and the
same land today is worth at least $4,000
~, t that is, 1t has increased just about
Two thousand fold, which is certainy
1alr profit in these days of 2 3 and per
cent per annum. The auctioneer was a
man named Hoddle, who worked on com
mission His fees for the sale were ahout
$3.50, and he took them out in land. He
was awarded two lots in Elizabeth street
"hlch he lived to see worth 81 $50 900 That
was certainly one of the times when
celved in the end at least thousand dol
lars for each jerk of his diaphragm in cry
ing the bids.
How Melbourne Crew.
Ihls auction took place in 1887, the very
year that Chicago was Incorporated After
II the town steadily grew. Within twelve
months hundred houses were built. and
within five years it had 5000 inhabitants.
1t was incorporated In 1S42. Ten years
iater nuggets of gold as big as your head
were discovered at Ballarat, something
IKE a hundred miles back in the country.
ana Melbourne took a place somewhat like
that of San Francisco as a sl1pplv noint for
the mines. H "
Hundreds of thousands Of men nassed
tnT9ugh 1t on their way to and from the
sod helds, and within ten years more than
$fo,ooo,oo worth of gold was sent into
Melbourne for shipment to Europe, The
town doubled and quadrupled In size 1t
soon reached the rank of city, and grew
steadily until about 1890 when it had as
many people as it has now
Inen came the panic. which seemed for
d tifne TO be the ruin of Australia but
Gns!,; ne,?ou5he Is again on it's feet, and it is
destined to grow with the growth of the
new commonwealth. Heretofore the state
or Victoria, of which it is the capital has
hau a tarlH against the other Australian
colonies and the outside world Rv thn
laws or the federal parliament this NAV he
materially reduced, the same tariff laws
peing provided for all Australia. This NAV
aHect the manufactures of Melbourne for
time, but it cannot keep back the citv
winch Will continue to grow with tba
growth of the country e
FRANK G. CARPENTER
FUNSTON STONY