The Melbournians Author:Francis Adams Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. HEEO AND LEANDER ON THE POLITICAL SITUATION. The first dance was emphatically that of the elders, and it was a great sight to see Mr Medwin a... more »nd Mrs MacGhie, faced by Mrs Thistlethwayte, the wife of the senior Member for the big Radical sub- urban constituency, with Mr M'Naughton, the Member for one of the squatter pocket boroughs, leading off at the top of the room. There were several other politicians or ex - politicians there, for MacGhie had gone in for a good deal of social entertainment, and his widow, thanks to the incitement of her youngest daughter, had kept up the connection, so that her house had come to be looked upon by the tribe of M. L. A.'s as a safe and pleasant place of general meeting. These were the meridian hours of the Coalition, when Conservatives, Liberals, and Radicals worked side by side, and the young journalist, who did not indulge in square dances, stood still leaning against the wall and watching the saltatory antics of the Members and ex- Members of Assembly whom he knew so well in other spheres. The spectacle amused him. The greatest and best thing in Australia is its Press, which, without anyone being aware of it, does most of the ruling of the country: knows everything, and having so far been satisfied with its large and legitimate profits as an universal benefaction, has remained pure, while every other form of public life is tainted with jobbery and greed. Stuart, a tried and trusted member of a powerful newspaper office, had not much to learn about the political persons he saw here so earnestly engaged in the amenities of self-relaxation, and he enjoyed the sense of knowledge the more that none of them were aware of his possession of it. Perhaps there was not one of themwho recognised him, while his pockets...« less