In a horse-loving country circuses are of course popular. Perhaps in no other part of the world can a circus obtain so critical and appreciative an attendance. Christy Minstrels and conjurors apparently do well, considering how very poor some of the miscellaneous entertainments which visit Australia are, it is most remarkable that they should contrive to get so good audiences.
Household amusements are much the same as at home, although more frequently indulged in. The more frank relations between the sexes make dancing a favourite pastime. In this less pretentious social atmosphere a dance can be given without all the costly paraphernalia customary in England, and a far larger class of people are able to afford to give parties and balls. 'Assemblies' are held every season in all the towns, the season being, of course, in the winter months. Even the servants are accustomed to go to balls, and a mistress would only make herself ridiculous who looked upon their going to one as anything but proper. And here I agree with the colonists. So long as her work is done for the day, and provided that she does not go to so many balls as to interfere with her capacity for doing her work, I cannot see what impropriety there is in Biddy going to her ball. No doubt she enjoys dancing, and how can it do her any more harm than her young mistress? With all the universal love of dancing, which permeates even the strictest Puritans amongst the young colonials, there is very little good dancing to be met with. People out here do not attach much importance to what are called 'accomplishments.' To dance is pleasant, but it would be a waste of time to take trouble to learn to dance well.
A mining population is always a gambling one and a card-playing one. In Adelaide the old Puritan element still sets its face as steadily as it can against cards as the devil's playthings; but young Australia will not put up with any such prejudices. Of course the mining townships are the centre of gambling with cards; but the passion extends sufficiently widely to do a good deal of harm. 'Euchre' is the favourite game, then 'Nap' and 'Loo;' but it would not be fair to call the Australians a card-gambling people in comparison with the Californians.
NEWSPAPERS.
This is essentially the land of newspapers. The colonist is by nature an inquisitive animal, who likes to know what is going on around him. The young colonial has inherited this proclivity. Excepting the Bible, Shakespeare, and Macaulay's 'Essays,' the only literature within the bushman's reach are newspapers. The townsman deems them equally essential to his well-being. Nearly everybody can read, and nearly everybody has leisure to do so. Again, the proportion of the population who can afford to purchase and subscribe to newspapers is ten times as large as in England; hence the number of sheets issued is comparatively much greater. Every country township has its weekly or bi-weekly organ. In Victoria alone there are over 200 different sheets published. Nor is the quality inferior to the quantity. On the contrary, if there is one institution of which Australians have reason to be proud, it is their newspaper press.
Almost without exception it is thoroughly respectable and well-conducted. From the leading metropolitan journals to the smallest provincial sheets, the tone is healthy, the news trustworthy. The style is purely English, without a touch of Americanism. Reports are fairly given; telegrams are rarely invented; sensation is not sought after; criticisms, if not very deep, are at least impartial, and written according to the critic's lights. Neither directly nor indirectly does anybody even think of attempting to bribe either conductors of journals or their reporters; the whole press is before everything, honest. Although virulence in politics is frequent, scurrility is confined to a very few sheets. The enterprise displayed in obtaining telegraphic intelligence and special reports on the questions of the day, whether Australian or European, is wonderful, considering the small population. In literary ability the public have nothing to complain of.
Melbourne attracts to itself most of the able and clever men in literature and journalism There is a pleasant press club there called the 'Yorick,' which forms a sort of literary focus; and for one clever, writer whom you find in the other colonies put together, there are two in Melbourne. It is the only Australian city which can claim to have anything approaching to a literary centre. It is no wonder, then, that the Argus is the best daily paper published, out of England. There are people who assert that it is only second to the Times; but without going so far as this, there is ample room for surprise on the part of the stranger, and pride on that of the Australian, that so excellent a paper can be produced amidst so small a population, and under so great difficulties of distance from the centres of news and civilization. The Argus will compare favourably with the Manchester Guardian, Leeds Mercury, or any other of the best provincial journals. In many respects it will be found superior to them; but although the amount of reading matter it contains is often larger than in the Standard or Daily News, it cannot reasonably claim comparison with them. The leading articles are able, though often virulent; the news of the day well arranged and given in a concise, business-like manner; the telegrams--European, intercolonial, and provincial--are full, the expenditure in this department being very large. Literary articles are more numerous than in the London dailies, and are generally well executed. The theatrical critiques, though the best in Australia, are somewhat poor. The reports of parliamentary proceedings, public meetings, etc., are exceedingly full and very intelligently given, and their relative importance is well estimated. Throughout, the paper is admirably proportioned and well edited, the paragraphs being much more carefully written than in any London paper except the Times. There is rarely a slipshod sentence to be found in any part of the paper, which is the more remarkable as slipshod writing is a noticeable characteristic of almost every other colonial paper. The leading articles are for the most part supplied by contributors not on the permanent staff, two university professors being amongst the best known. They also write reviews and literary articles, though the doyen in that department is Mr. James Smith, to whom the Argus pays a retaining fee of £500 a year. Art criticism is also in Mr. Smith's hands; and although all his work is essentially bookish and wanting in originality, he thoroughly understands his subjects, and his style and language are excellent.
The paper and type used by the Argus are similar to those of the Times, and in the arrangement, contents, and general style of the paper the same model has been followed. The standard issue is an eight-page sheet about three-quarters the size of the Daily News; but when Parliament is sitting, a two or four-page supplement is nearly always issued; and on Saturdays the number of advertisements compels a double issue, which includes 'London Town Talk,' by Mr. James Payne, and about half a dozen columns of reviews, essays, etc. On ordinary days four to five out of the eight pages are always covered with advertisements in small type, charged for at the highest rate obtainable in the colonies. The published price is threepence, and the circulation must be from ten to fifteen thousand.
As the Argus may be considered as the type of the Australian press at the highest point it has yet attained, it is worth while to make a short examination of a casual copy. The reading matter begins at the left-hand corner of page 6, with the heading 'Shipping Intelligence,' under which we learn that six steamers and one sailing-ship have arrived in Hobson's Bay on December 21st, and that four steamers and one sailing-ship have cleared out. Next comes a Weather Chart of Australia and New Zealand, after the model of the one in the Times; and then follow the observations taken at the Melbourne Observatory, a synopsis of the weather, and the state of the tide, wind and weather at twenty-two stations on the Murray, Murrumbidgee, Ovens, and Goulburn rivers. About halfway down the third column, we reach the heading 'Commercial Intelligence,' with a report upon the state of the market, and the sales reported during the day, auctioneers' reports, list of specie shipments, amount of revenue collected during the previous day at the Custom House (£7,498), stock sales, calls and dividends, and commercial telegrams from London, Sydney, and Adelaide.
The next heading is 'Mails Outward,' which are separated from the leading columns only by the special advertisements, of which there are over a column. It happens that this day there are only two leading articles, whereas generally there are also two small or sub-leaders. The first leader is on the finding of the Coroner's jury anent a disastrous railway accident which has recently taken place. The second on the preference of colonial girls and women for low-paid factory-work, when comparative independence, easier work, and much higher wages are obtainable in domestic service. These two leaders occupy altogether nearly three columns, and are followed by five columns of 'News of the Day,' split up into fifty paragraphs.