It is worth while to run the eye briefly through these paragraphs, which might be headed thus--Résumé of telegraphic intelligence; short account of Dr. Benson, whose appointment to the Primacy is announced by telegram; short account of the distribution of prizes at the Bordeaux Exhibition; announcement of the arrival of the P. and 0. mail at Albany, and of its departure from Melbourne the previous day; short account of the trip of H.M.S. Miranda, just arrived in the bay; ditto of the movements of H.M.S. Nelson, and of the Orient liner Chimborazo, with mention of some notable colonists arrived by the last ship; summary in eleven paragraphs of the last night's parliamentary proceedings; notice of a meeting to have a testimonial picture of Sir Charles Sladen placed in the Public Library; a puff of the coming issue of the Australasian; account of an inquest; three notices of Civil Service appointments; one of the intentions of the railway department about excursion tickets, and another announcing the introduction of reply post-cards; another that the Government intends circulating amongst vignerons a report and pictures of the Phylloxera vastatrix; a summary of the doings of the Tariff Commission; a notice of the intentions of the Steam Navigation Board; a list of subscriptions to the children's charities; a summary of two judgments in the Supreme Court; of a will (value £75,200); of a mining law case; of applications for probate of a will, and for the custody of children; an account of a fire, another of a distribution of prizes; a summary of the programme of a Music Festival; announcements of the different theatre performances, and seven subscription lists.
The last column of the seventh page is headed 'Special Telegrams.' Of these there are only five today: one about the construction of Prussian railways on the Russian frontier, the second about the French expedition to Tonquin, the third on the relations between France and Madagascar, the fourth noting an explosion at Fort Valerian, the fifth on the execution of Oberdank. Then follow eleven messages from Reuter on M. Tisza's speech on the relations between Russia and Austria; on the Egyptian Financial control; the new Archbishop of Canterbury; the Lough Mask murders; the health of Mr. Fawcett and M. Gambetta; the trial of MM. Bontoux and Feder; the mails; monetary intelligence; commercial intelligence, and foreign shipping intelligence. This list gives not at all a bad idea of what European news is considered of sufficient importance to be telegraphed 15,000 miles.
Turning over the page, a column and a quarter is occupied with a general summary of European news by the P. and 0. mail, telegraphed from Albany. Then follows country news by telegraph. Between Sydney and Melbourne the Argus has a special wire, which accounts for three quarters of a column of Sydney intelligence on twenty different subjects. There is also nearly half a column from Adelaide on nine subjects, and a "stick" from Perth on three subjects. The list of overland passengers from and to Sydney is also telegraphed from Albany. 'Mining and Monetary Intelligence' takes up over a column, without counting another column in very small type of 'Mining Reports.'
Turning to the back page, we find that the first column forms the conclusion of the Parliamentary Debates. A column and a half has a large heading--'The Creswick Calamity,'--and is chiefly composed of subscription lists for the sufferers and accounts of meetings held in various parts of the country on their behalf. A column and a quarter is headed 'Sporting Intelligence '(results of small provincial race-meetings being telegraphed); a column is devoted to 'Cricket,' and a third of a column to' Rowing.'
We now take up the outside sheet, and find the whole of page 4, taken up by a report of last night's Parliamentary debates. On the opposite page (9) the first three columns contain a full report of the inquest in connection with a fatal railway accident on a suburban line. Then comes a list of eighty-seven school-buildings to be erected or completed at a cost of £25,000. Three deputations take up nearly half, and the Russell Street fire two-thirds, of a column.
Opening the sheet, pages 10 and 11 are the only two with reading matter. On 10 is a report of the Police Commission Meeting, occupying two columns and a half; and reports of School Speech Days--over three columns for eight schools. On page 11 the first four columns are Law Reports; a column and a half is devoted to a wool and station-produce report, and two half columns to reports of meetings of the Melbourne Presbytery and the Melbourne Hospital Committee.
The remaining space is taken up by paragraphs under a third of a column in length, with cross-headings as follows: 'Casualties and Offences;' 'Police Intelligence;' 'The Death of Mr. Chabot;' 'New Insolvents;' 'University of Melbourne;' 'Friendly Societies;' 'The Belfast Savings Bank Case (by telegraph);' 'The Workmen's Strike;' 'Collingwood City Council;' 'A Recent Meeting;' 'The Wellesley Divorce Case;' 'The Victoria Agricultural Society.' 'Australian Electric Light Co.;' 'Public Tenders;' 'Ballarat News;' 'Victoria Masonic Lodge;' 'Early Closing Association;' 'The Tariff Commission;' 'Iron on Continuous Brakes;' and letters to the Editor on 'Holiday Excursion Tickets,' 'Window Blinds for Omnibuses,' 'Swimming at the State Schools,' 'The Musical Festival (3),' and 'Immigration to Victoria.'
An analysis of the advertisements of the Argus is almost equally interesting as showing the heterogeneity of the wants of the community. There are Births, 3; Marriages, 5; Deaths, 6; Funeral Notices, 5; Missing Friends, Messages etc., 8; Lost and Found, 13; Railways and Conveyances, 6; Shipping, no less than four columns, including eight different lines of steamers to Europe, of which six are English, and seven of intercolonial steamers, of which three are owned in Melbourne, one each in Sydney, Adelaide, New Zealand and Tasmania. The next lines are Stocks and Shares, of which there are 18 advertisements; Lectures, Sermons, Soirées, etc, 5; Tutors, Governesses, Clerks etc., 45; which may be summed up thus: Wanted, a traveller in the hardware line, cash-boys, a copper-plate engraver, canvassers, junior chemists, five drapers' salesmen, law costs clerk, an engineer and valuer for a shire council, a female competent to manage the machine-room of a clothing factory, a retoucher capable of working in mezzo crayons, junior hands for Manchester and dress departments, two first-class cutters for order trade, a good shop salesman, a junior clerk, two clerks for wine and spirit store, a clerk proficient in Customs work, two clerks, (simply), a general manager for a carrying company, a grammar-school master with a degree, and one to teach the lower classes; an organist and two medical men, £400 and £500 a year guaranteed; an accountant, private lessons in dancing, a shorthand reporter. The persons advertising for situations under this heading are only 4 out of 45; they are a matriculated governess, a dancing-master, a doctor, a singing-master.
The next lines are 'Situations Wanted,' 40; and 'Situations Vacant,' 118. The relative numbers are here again suggestive. Under the first heading I find a barmaid, three cooks, carpenters' apprentices, three gardeners, two nursery governesses, two housekeepers, three men desiring any employment, seven nurses, a tailor, and the rest miscellaneous. The vacancies are chiefly composed of 13 advertisements, from registry-offices for servants of all capacities, married couples, gardeners, housekeepers, butlers, plain cooks, parlourmaids, housemaids, laundresses, waitresses, barmaids, cooks, laundresses, general servants, nurses, needlewomen, lady-helps (3). Similar persons are advertised for by private individuals; but besides these, I find: Wanted a bullock-driver, a carter, a coachman, a shoeing smith, three butchers, a bottler, two bakers, innumerable boys, barmen, a compositor, several dressmakers in all departments, half a dozen drapers' assistants, four grooms, sixty navvies in one advertisement, millers, haymakers, woodcutters, spademen, needlewomen, quarrymen, etc., two wheelwrights, a verger at £120 a year, pick and shovel men.
Turning over to the twelfth or back page, I find Wanted to Buy, 12; Wanted to Sell, 35; Board and Lodging, 44; Houses to Let, 67; Houses for Sale, 34; Partnerships, Businesses, etc., 44, of which 12 are hotels; Wines, Spirits, etc., 16; Dress and Fashion, 3; Auction Sales, 128, taking up 12 columns; Amusements, 24, taking up 2 columns; Stock and Station Sales, 11; Horses and Carriages, 18; Produce and Provisions, 2 (Epps and Fry); Publications and Literature, 6; Bank Notices, 2; Public Notices, half a column; Business Notices, 53; Money, 41; Machinery, 23; Medical, 30; Judicial Law Notices, 6; Tenders, 26, and Meetings, 9. There is also a column and a half of special advertisements charged for at extra rates in the inside sheet just before the leading column.