Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/229

 is controlled by the Public Instruction Department, and the whole cost is paid out of consolidated revenue. There is no educational tax or local rate.

It seemed to us, as we assimilated all these facts, that first day in Sydney, that our colonies were doing things while we talk about them; but it must be remembered that they have to form, while we have to reform, and the first is much the easier task.

We got back to Kirribilli Point, eluding the heavy showers as far as possible, but Sydney looked as miserable as all towns on a thoroughly wet day, producing a confused impression of chilly damp, streaming shop windows, jostling umbrellas, and liquid mud. The next day was better, fortunately, as the Governor of New South Wales was giving a garden party.

Government House, itself an unimportant structure, is charmingly placed on a point of the harbour, with gardens sloping down to the water. Towards evening the sun shone out, and gave us the first impression of the real Sydney, and our host seized the opportunity to show us something of the place as it ought to look. We motored to South Head along a road, where verandahed and balconied houses clustered in gardens on the hills above the harbour, clinging, as it were, to the