44 



A US TRALIA N PIC TURKS. 



be built in the city now under four or rive stories, and there are tradesmen's 

 places and stores and ' coffee palaces ' that run up to six and seven stories, and 

 are more than a hundred feet above the level of the roadway. Thus the 

 complaint of squatness will speedily disappear. Not only are the streets wide, 

 but they are also regular. Some run north and south ; others east and west. 

 Thus the city is something of a gridiron, or rather, giants could play games of 

 chess upon its plan. Usually towns have been built on the tracks of the cows 



A Melbourne Suburban House. 



of the first inhabitants, but Melbourne is a surveyor's city. All the streets are 

 straight, and none would be narrow but that lanes intended by the original 

 designers as back entrances for the residents of the main roads have been 

 eagerly seized upon, and are utilised as business frontages. The importers of 

 ' soft goods ' — that is, of articles of apparel — have taken possession of one of 

 these streets, Flinders Lane, and as ' the lane ' it is known everywhere 

 throughout Australia, without the need of any distinctive affix. Further north, 

 dilapidated buildings in another 'lane,' with their shutters up and a profuse 



