MELBOURNE 



3725 



MELILOT 



the Chicago Grand Opera Company. Though 

 she lacks dramatic gifts of the highest order, 

 her voice is unsurpassed for purity and sweet- 

 ness of tone. Her family name was Mitchell, 

 which she discarded for Melba, the latter being 

 suggested by the name of her native city. In 

 1882 she married . Charles Armstrong, an Eng- 

 lishman. 



MELBOURNE, met' burn, a manufacturing 

 and shipping center of first importance, capital 

 of the Australian state of Victoria, and next to 

 Sydney the largest city in the Commonwealth. 

 It is situated about 500 miles southwest of Syd- 

 ney, on the Yarra River, which flows into Hob- 

 son's Bay. This bay is a northern bend of the 

 spacious harbor on the southern coast of Aus- 

 tralia known as Port Phillip, the entrance to 

 which is about forty miles from the city. Along 

 the shores of the bay the Melbourne suburbs 

 extend for over ten miles, but the city proper 

 lies about three miles inland on the north bank 

 of the Yarra. The suburb of Port Melbourne, 

 two and a half miles from the business center, 

 is the chief port, but vessels of twenty-two-foot 

 draft can sail up the Yarra to the heart of the 

 city, which has an interstate trade of nearly 

 3,000,000 tons a year. The tonnage of vessels 

 entering the port from foreign countries is about 

 690,000 a year. 



Melbourne is a busy, prosperous place of 

 modern aspect. The state railway system of 

 Australia has its center in this city. The prin- 

 cipal streets are ninety-nine feet wide and are 

 substantially paved and well kept, and the resi- 

 dents enjoy the advantages of gas, electric light- 

 ing, a good water system and street tramways. 

 No other city of the same size has such splen- 

 did public buildings as Melbourne. Among these 

 are the magnificent Parliament House, crown- 

 ing one of the two hills on which the city is 

 built; the Treasury building; the law courts; 

 the post office and other government buildings ; 

 and a spacious structure housing the public li- 

 brary, national gallery, technological museum 

 and sculpture gallery. Parks, pleasure grounds, 

 public gardens and commercial buildings of im- 

 posing architecture add much to the attractive- 

 ness of the place. Avenues, gardens and parks 

 are adorned with numerous statues and monu- 

 ments, including one erected in honor of Queen 

 Victoria. 



Melbourne is the residence of an Anglican 

 bishop and a Roman Catholic archbishop, and 

 both of these religious bodies have erected fine 

 cathedrals; the Scots, the Wesley, the Inde- 

 pendent and the Baptist churches are also note- 



worthy. The city's educational interests are 

 represented by the university, which occupies 

 several acres about a mile from the business 

 center, Trinity, Ormond and Queen's colleges, 

 various high schools and academies under de- 

 nominational or private control, and numerous 

 state schools. Industrially the city and suburbs 

 are in a flourishing condition; among the im- 

 portant industries are tanning, wool washing, 

 bacon curing, flour milling, brewing, brickmak- 

 ing, iron founding and the manufacture of pot- 

 tery, candles, cigars, jewelry, furniture, boots and 

 shoes, clothing and woolen and leather goods. 



In 1835 a little settlement occupied the site 

 of the city, which consisted a year later of only 

 thirteen buildings. By 1841 a town of 11,000 

 had grown up, and after the discovery of gold 

 at Ballarat in 1851 its population rapidly in- 

 creased. Melbourne became the capital of Vic- 

 toria when that state was organized (1851), and 

 in 1901 it was made the temporary capital of 

 the Australian Commonwealth (see AUSTRALIA, 

 subhead History). Population of city proper 

 and suburbs in 1913, estimated, 651 ,000. B.M .w. 



MEL 'FORT, a town in Central Saskatche- 

 wan. It is on the Winnipeg-Prince Albert line 

 of the Canadian Northern Railway, 494 miles 

 northwest of Winnipeg, eighty-five miles west 

 of Hudson Bay Junction, and sixty-two miles 

 east of Prince Albert. A branch line from 

 Melfor to Humboldt is under construction. 

 The town is the distributing and shipping point 

 for a rich agricultural district; its principal in- 

 dustrial and commercial establishments are 

 grain elevators, lumber yards, farm implement 

 agencies, hardware and general stores, machine 

 shops and a government creamery. The ship- 

 ment of hogs, horses and cattle is an important 

 business. The Dominion government building 

 and the $60,000 high school are attractive 

 structures. Melfort has a Dominion lands 

 office, and is a customs port of entry. Popula- 

 tion in 1911, 599; in 1916, estimated, 1,800. 



MELILOT, met' Hot, the name of a group 

 of cloverlike plants belonging to the pea 

 family, commonly called sweet clover. Two 

 species, white and yellow melilot, are familiar 

 residents of the waste lands and roadsides of 

 the United States, Europe and Asia. The tiny 

 drooping flowers, which resemble their cousins, 

 the pea blossoms, are delightfully fragrant and 

 attract large numbers of insects, especially the 

 honeybee. These flowers are used in the manu- 

 facture of toilet water and perfumery, and 

 dried branches of the plant will give a pleasing 

 scent to a room. 



