merchant
of Melbourne. He spent a great deal of money upon it, being determined
to have the finest house in the country. About the time of its
completion he met with heavy losses in business, and was unable to carry
out his plans concerning the grounds around the building. It was his
original intention to have a park, in which he would enclose specimens
of all the animals of Australia, and an artificial lake, with specimens
of all the fishes of the country. He has never carried out this part of
the scheme, but declares that he will do so whenever his wealth returns
to him."

"A very good scheme, indeed," said one of the youths, "and I hope the
gentleman will be able to carry it out."

"Yes; and I hope so, too," was the reply. "The place would be made
interesting if he should do so, but, after all, you can see the same
thing in the parks of the principal cities of Australia. Each has, I
believe, collections of the animals of the country, together with many
animals of other countries, and any one is at full liberty to go and see
them."

Houses became more numerous, and towns and villages made their
appearance as the train went along. Harry observed that in some of the
towns which they passed through there were imposing buildings, which
seemed rather out of proportion to the number of dwelling-houses.

Their impromptu guide explained that this was the outgrowth of
Australian politics. "Every town in Australia," said he, "is desirous of
having some of the public money spent within its limits. It wants a
courthouse, jail, or some other public edifice, and in order to secure
his election to the legislature, a candidate is compelled to promise
that he will obtain the desired appropriation. These appropriations are
secured by what you call in America 'logrolling.' That is, Smith of one
town makes an arrangement with Brown, Jones, Robinson, and I don't know
how many others of as many other towns that he will vote for their
appropriations, provided they will vote for his. In this way a town of
five hundred inhabitants gets a courthouse and jail large enough for a
population of five thousand, or perhaps twice that number. A great deal
of government money has been wasted in this way, but there is no help
for it as long as human nature remains as it is."

This led to a little talk on Australian politics, in which the youths
learned that the people were divided into parties very much as in
England and the United States, and th