THE ERA OF EXTRAVAGANCE 261 



but if he had lifted up his voice in the later eighties he would have 

 been derided as a fanatic. 



Parliament placed a high estimate on the value of the services 

 of its individual members. It regarded the petty stipend fixed by 

 the Act, and even the handsome salaries of Ministers and high 

 officials, as an inadequate return. Innumerable Royal Commissions 

 and Boards of Inquiry sprang into existence, carrying with them 

 attendance fees, travelling expenses and other perquisites. In this 

 generous appreciation of good services rendered, it voted 4,000 

 to the family of James McPherson Grant, who had served Ministeri- 

 ally under widely opposing banners ; 2,500 to the representatives 

 of J. H. McColl, a private member of no long standing ; and 4,000 

 to Peter Lalor of Eureka fame, on his vacating the position of 

 Speaker, broken in health and fortune. A proposal to put 1,000 

 on the estimates for the widow and family of Marcus Clarke, an 

 Australian author of some reputation, was, however, rejected. An 

 intimation by Mr. Gillies in November, 1887, that he intended to 

 put 6,000 on the next year's estimates to recoup the Governor for 

 the extra expense which would be entailed upon him during the 

 Exhibition year elicited enthusiastic cheers. 



After all, the generosity of Parliament was only a mild reflex of 

 the prodigal expenditure which had been developed throughout the 

 whole community. Large fortunes had been made by early Vic- 

 torian investors in the Broken Hill silver mines, in the tin, copper 

 and gold mines of Tasmania, and in the auriferous deserts of Western 

 Australia. Still larger fortunes had grown out of Stock Exchange 

 operations in a continually rising market, and out of bold specula- 

 tions in city property and real estate. During the years 1887-88 the 

 speculative fever had manifested itself in every stratum of society. 

 The talk of the streets, the clubs, the trains, the luncheon-rooms 

 and the dinner-tables centred round the rise or fall of stocks, the 

 chances of subdi visional sales, or the wonderful luck that had followed 

 the operations of divers well-known leaders in the arena of com- 

 petitive finance. On the 20th of January, 1888, the day's operations 

 on the Melbourne Stock Exchange exceeded 2,000,000 sterling, 

 the great bulk of the transactions being in Broken Hill Mining 

 Companies' shares. Grey-haired men, who had been known on 



