e theatres and public exhibitions are
all insufficient to accommodate the throngs that attend them, though
there are five regular places in the city where dramatic entertainments
are given. The bar-rooms reap a golden harvest, and are especially
patronized, while a general spirit of license prevails among all
classes. The streets are crowded by a careless, not to say reckless,
throng of men, women, and boys, very many of whom were observed to be
decidedly the worse for liquor. Burke Street, Elizabeth Street, and even
Collins Street, which represent the best portion of the town, are
tinctured for the time being with a spirit of rowdyism. Indeed, a
general latitude of behavior appears to be condoned on this Saturday
half-holiday, as it is with us to a certain extent on the Fourth of
July. The workmen of Melbourne who have received ten hours' pay for
eight hours' work also claim this gratuity of time on the sixth day, and
by their use of it not only cheapen their labor, but impair both their
health and their fortune. We could not but conclude on the whole that
the Saturday half-holiday as employed by the masses of Melbourne was a
weekly error, and that the class which most imperiously demand this
release from occupation is unfortunately composed of those who most
grossly abuse the privilege.

On Sunday few people were to be seen in the streets and fewer still in
the churches, leading one to divine that the day was generally devoted
to necessary recuperation after the gross excesses of Saturday. It was
noticed that the bar-rooms were ostensibly closed on the Sabbath. This
the local law requires, but there are always ways and means whereby the
thirsty tippler gets his fill.

The laborers who place themselves under the control of some organized
Union are in fact its slaves, the victims of designing theorists and
cunning managers, who are themselves drones in the human hive. The
ordinary workman does not think for himself; he does not realize that
the less he gives for his day's wages the dearer must become those
articles that are dependent upon labor. If the abbreviated time of
eight hours per day for five days of the week, and four hours on
Saturday, constitute a week's work, the laborer has more to pay for all
of the necessities of life than he would have were full hours and a fair
equivalent given for the wages he receives. It costs more to build
houses in the former instance; therefore his rent must be increased. He
mus