Page:Advanced Australia.djvu/63

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VICTORIA
47

sanguine a view, and an additional rate of one shilling in the pound will be required on all the sewered portions of the city. The works are now well advanced, and parts of the city are already connected with the sewers.

It is a curious fact that several of the suburbs of Melbourne, being anxious, in the boom times, to borrow money (as, being separate municipalities they were entitled to do), changed their names, apparently for the benefit or conviction of the British investor—as, for example, from Sandridge and Emerald Hill to Port Melbourne and South Melbourne. It might almost be hoped that they will now, having achieved their end, go back, like Sandhurst, which is now once more Bendigo, to their older titles.

Lord Brassey is Governor of Victoria, and he resides in a large mansion near the city, in the midst of well laid-out grounds. Government House is quite a landmark, for it is situated on an eminence, from whence it can be seen for miles. Lord Brassey still indulges his taste for the sea. He performed a noteworthy feat of seamanship in sailing out to take up his duties in his fine yacht, the Sunbeam. He also owns a smaller boat, and is president of the principal sailing club. He is noted for his many and weighty speeches on a wide range of topics. As the leader of society in Victoria, Lady Brassey is very popular.

There are, as is usual in the colonies, two Houses of Parliament; the Legislative Assembly being the popular chamber, and the Legislative Council the representative of property and stability. It is in fact the ratepayers' house, as only owners of property to the extent of £10 annual value, and lessees of £25 annual value, have votes. For the Assembly every ratepayer has a vote, and also every male person of the age of twenty-one years, who has been resident for one year, and takes out an elector's right. The members of the Assembly are paid £300 a year each