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 368 MELBOURNE were left, to afford back entrances to the houses ; but as the value of property increased these lanes were occupied by merchants and tradesmen, became independent streets, and now form a very unsightly feature in the older part of Melbourne. The town is generally well built of brick and stone. Melbourne be- came the seat of a Koman Catholic bishop in 1847, and of an Anglican bishop in 1848; in April, 1874, the Catholic diocese was erected into an archbishopric. The most numerous churches are those of the church of England, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics, and there are also places of worship for Independents, Lutherans, Baptists, and other Protestant de- nominations, as well as for Jews. The Wes- leyan church opened in August, 1858, is said to be one of the handsomest church edifices belonging to that denomination in the world. Among the prominent buildings are the two houses of parliament, the custom house, the treasury, the post office, the free library with a museum of art and a reading room, several theatres, and an elegant club house. The uni- versity of Melbourne was opened in April, 1855. It occupies a beautiful site N. of the city, and has 40 acres of land, which form part of extensive pleasure grounds. The buildings are arranged in a parallelogram. The institu- tion has departments of law, civil engineering, and arts, and enjoys an annual government appropriation of 9,000. A public museum of natural history, manufactures, and mining is attached to it, and also a gallery of fine arts, a botanic garden, and a bureau of statistics, with a fine observatory. The city has a well ap- pointed public library, and there are numerous The Poet Office, Melbourne. scientific and literary institutions. The Yan Yean water works, opened Dec. 31, 1857, sup- ply the city from an artificial lake formed in the valley of the Plentey river, 18 m. distant. There are several pleasure grounds in the im- mediate neighborhood of the city, the chief of which are the royal park and the Carlton and Fitzroy gardens. Collingwood, Brighton, Rich- mond, St. Kilda, and other suburbs of Mel- bourne are studded with beautiful villas and terraces. Melbourne has regular steam mail service with England via the isthmus of Suez, and there are steamers to all the neighboring ports. Four railways radiate from the city, besides a short one connecting it with the harbor, and there are good roads to all the principal gold fields. The climate is on the whole cooler than is generally experienced in the same latitude N. The mean temperature of January (midsummer) is 66, the highest 101, and the lowest 48; while the average daily variation of the month is 19. There is a great proportion of dry sunny weather. The annual fall of rain, taken from the mean of five years, gives 32-63 inches. The wettest months are from April to November inclusive. In commerce Melbourne ranks as the first port in the British colonies, an importance due to the gold discoveries in 1851. Besides gold, the chief exports are wool, tallow, hides, and other kinds of raw produce. The imports in 1872 amounted to $66,628,819 and the exports to $67,504,170, the latter including $25,000,000 gold and $21,000,000 wool. The principal trade is with England, and that with the United States is not inconsiderable. The customs duties in 1872 amounted to $6,913,183. The Melbourne manufactories of mining machinery and other articles are steadily increasing. Ships drawing 24 ft. of water can come up Port Phillip as far as Hobson's bay at the mouth of the Yarra- Yarra; but vessels requiring more than 9 ft. cannot get over the bars. Although the distance to the bay by the course of the river is 9 m., it is not quite 2 m. by land, and a railway with an extensive jetty at its lower termi- nus has been made, con- necting Melbourne with Port Phillip at Sandridge. There is another railway to Williamstown, on the opposite side of Hobson's bay, which, though con- siderably longer, has the advantage of better shel- ter for ships lying at the jetty. A ship railway has been constructed here ca- pable of taking up very large vessels. From the anchorage in Hobson's bay to the Heads of Port Phillip the distance is about 35 m., and the channels are obstruct- ed part of the way by sand banks which render the assistance of experienced pilots necessary. The Heads, or the opening con- necting Port Phillip with Bass strait, is about