the Antipodes, that you must have landed in England again
by mistake, and it is only by degrees that you begin to see that the
resemblance is more superficial than real.

Although Sydney is the older town, Melbourne is justly entitled to be
considered the metropolis of the Southern Hemisphere. The natural
beauties of Sydney are worth coming all the way to Australia to see;
while the situation of Melbourne is commonplace if not actually ugly; but
it is in the Victorian city that the trade and capital, the business and
pleasure of Australia chiefly centre. Is there a company to be got up to
stock the wilds of Western Australia, or to form a railway on the
land-grant system in Queensland, to introduce the electric light, or to
spread education amongst the black fellows, the promoters either belong
to Melbourne, or go there for their capital. The headquarters of nearly
all the large commercial institutions which extend their operation beyond
the limits of any one colony are to be found there. If you wish to
transact business well and quickly, to organize a new enterprise--in
short, to estimate and understand the trade of Australia, you must go to
Melbourne and not to Sydney, and this in spite of the fact that Victoria
is a small colony handicapped by heavy protectionist duties, whilst
Sydney is, comparatively speaking, a free port, at the base of an
enormous area. The actual production does not take place in Victoria, but
it is in Melbourne that the money resulting from the productions of other
colonies as well as of Victoria is turned over. It is Melbourne money
chiefly that opens up new tracts of land for settlement in the interior
of the continent, and Melbourne brains that find the outlets for fresh
commerce in every direction. There is a bustle and life about Melbourne
which you altogether miss in Sydney. The Melbourne man is always on the
look-out for business, the Sydney man waits for business to come to him.
The one is always in a hurry, the other takes life more easily. And as it
is with business, so it is with pleasure.

If you are a man of leisure you will find more society in Melbourne, more
balls and parties, a larger measure of intellectual life--i.e., more
books and men of education and intellect, more and better theatrical and
musical performances, more racing and cricket, football, and athletic
clubs, a larger leisured class than in Sydney. The bushman who comes to
town to 'knock down his cheque,' the squa