Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/869

Rh MELBOURNE 837 and gardens are so numerous that with only one-thirteenth of the population of London it occupies very nearly half as great an area. The public buildings are generally situated on positions from which they are seen to advantage. The Parliament Houses form a great pile of brickwork with four fronts in freestone, of which the main front is not yet com pleted ; the interior decorations are highly elaborate. The Treasury is a well-proportioned building in free stone ; behind it stands a vast building known as the Government offices. On the hill of West Melbourne there is a large structure, newly erected, for the law courts ; it his four very handsome fronts, each about 300 feet in length, and the whole is surmounted by a lofty cupola, in the manner of the Capitol at Washington. The public library in Swanston Street forms one of four fronts of a building which was projected on a grand scale, but has never been completed. Much of the interior has been erected, but of the fronts only the main one is yet in existence, its cost having been .111,000. The lower story is devoted to sculpture ; on one side there are casts of all the most famous statues ; on the other there is a small collection of original works by modern sculptors, together with a gallery containing 8000 engravings and photographs ; to the rear is the picture gallery, a very handsome hall, with oil paintings, chosen from the works of living artists. Another of the interior portions of the building is occupied by the technological museum, in which are arranged about 30,000 specimens illustrative of the industrial arts. The upper story of the front is devoted to the library, which occupies a chamber 240 feet long ; 22 recesses contain each its own special branch of literature, the total number of volumes being 112,000. The book shelves rise to a height of 20 feet, but they are divided by a narrow gallery which runs all round the room, and gives access to the upper tiers. The library is open to the public; and every visitor ranges at will, being bound by the two conditions only that he is to replace each book where he found it, and that he is to preserve strict silence. During 1881 there were 261,880 visits made to the room. The Melbourne University is a picturesque, but by no means imposing mass of buildings, buried among the trees of extensive and well-kept grounds about a mile from the heart of the city. In front of it stands the &quot; Wilson Hall,&quot; erected at a cost of 40,000. Behind is the National Museum, containing collections of specimens of natural history. The museum, like all public places in Melbourne, is freely open to the people. About 98,000 visitors entered it in 1881. The university has a staff of 10 professors and 12 lecturers, with about 400 students. There are four courses open to students : arts, law, medi cine, and civil engineering. Affiliated to the Melbourne University are the two denominational colleges, Trinity and Ormond, in which about 80 students reside, and where provision is made for instruction in theology. The Exhibition building consists of a nave 500 feet long and 160 feet broad, surmounted by a dome, with two annexes each 460 feet long. These are built in brick with cement facings. The mint is a very handsome quadrangle, erected in 1872. In the year 1881 there were three millions of sovereigns coined in it, making a total of sixteen millions since its erection. The governor s residence is a large building on a hill overlooking the Yarra. The general post-office forms only half of a magnificent pile of buildings which will, when completed, include the central telegraph office. The town-hall, at the corner of Swanston Street and Collins Street, contains, besides the usual apartments for municipal offices, a hall seated for nearly 3000 persons, and fitted with a colossal organ, on which the city organist performs two afternoons a week, the public being admitted at a nominal charge. Hotham, Richmond, Emerald Hill, Prahran, and Fitzroy have their own town halls, all costly and somewhat pretentious buildings. The markets, erected at a cost of 80,000, btand in Bourke Street. They are handsome in external appear ance, and ingeniously contrived for convenience within. The observatory is a humble-looking building on the St Kilda Road; it contains an equatorial telescope, which had for some years the distinction of being the largest in the world. There are two railway stations, one being the terminus of all the country lines, and the other devoted to sub urban traffic. The suburbs of Williamstown, Sandridge, Footscray, St Kilda, Emerald Hill, Brighton, Elsternwick, Hawthorn, Richmond, and Essendon are connected by rail with the city. The Melbourne Hospital is in the form of an extensive series of brick buildings, situated close to the public library. There are beds for about 300 patients. The Alfred Hospital, on the St Kilda Road, was built in com memoration of the visit of Prince Alfred : it has beds for nearly 100 patients. The lying-in hospital can accom modate 62 persons. The blind asylum has over 100 inmates ; and there are a deaf and dumb asylum, an im migrants home, and other charitable institutions. Melbourne contains many churclies, but few of them will compare with the public buildings in appearance. The Roman Catholic cathedral of St Patrick, when com pleted, will, however, be a conspicuous ornament to the city. The Anglican cathedral, now (1882) in the course of erection, is to cost about 100,000. The most striking ecclesiastical building is the Scotch church in Collins Street, which divides with Ormond College and the Wilson Hall the honour of being the finest specimen of architecture in the city. There are in Melbourne, among its numerous state schools, about thirty whose size and proportions entitle them to rank with the architectural ornaments of the city. They have each accommodation for from 600 to 2000 scholars. Abundant provision has been made for secondary in struction by the denominations and by private enterprise. The Scotch College and the Presbyterian Ladies College, the Wesley College and the Wesleyan Ladies College, the Church of England Grammar School, St Patrick s College and St Francis Xavier s College, are all connected with the churches; and there are besides between twenty and thirty good private grammar schools. Melbourne contains the offices of numerous banks, sav ings banks, and building societies. The parks and public gardens of Melbourne are exten sive and handsome. Within the city proper there are four gardens, which have been decorated with a lavish expenditure. The Fitzroy Gardens are one dense network of avenues of oak, elm, and plane, with a &quot; fern-tree gully &quot; in the middle. Casts of famous statues abound; and ponds, fountains, rustic houses, and small buildings after the design of Greek temples give a variety to the scene. The Treasury, Flagstaff, and Carl ton Gardens are of the same class, but less costly in their decorations. Around the central city there lie five great parks. The Royal Park, of about 600 acres, is lightly timbered with the original gum trees ; some portions of open land are used for recreation. About 30 acres in the centre are beauti fully laid out to accommodate a very superior zoological collection. The Yarra Park, of about 300 acres, contains the leading cricket grounds ; of these the &quot; Melbourne&quot; is the chief, distinguished by its very large stand and the excellence of its pitch. The Botanic Gardens occupy