were sent on active service to the north-west frontier of India, I should have the command of it, I replied, "On these terms I shall be delighted to go without any pay at all!" I may mention that the pay and allowances of a general officer given me by the Victorian Government proved to be sufficient. Although I found the cost of living in Australia to be greater than in England, the amount of entertaining was much less than a district command would have required at home.

CHAPTER XXV.

VICTORIA.

IN October 1889 I embarked with my wife and the eldest and youngest of the family for Australia. The first, our only girl, then saw her native land for the last time. She died very suddenly in Melbourne, and life to us ever since seems somehow different from what it was before,-light went out of it which can

never return.

The first place we arrived at in Australia was Albany, a magnificent harbour, but at that time without even protection against a gunboat. As this was a coalingport of great importance, one of my first cares was to write a memo showing the absolute necessity for at once protecting Albany. Correspondence connected with the defence of Albany and the coaling-port of Thursday Island, on the north-east coast of Australia, had been going on between the Australian colonies and the Colonial Office for ten years, but nothing had come of it. Fortunately there was a strong Minister of Defence at Melbourne, Sir Frederick Sargood, who took the matter up, and finally got all the colonies to agree to furnish the money for building the necessary forts and barracks. The Home Government was to supply the guns, the colonies providing everything

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else, including garrisons. All this took some time, but the final result was my appointment as president of a joint Naval and Military Committee, which visited Albany and Thursday Island to select sites for the batteries and barracks. The guns ordered, or rather their hydro-pneumatic elevating carriages, which the colonies had asked for ten years previously, were not the proper ones for the high sites we had chosen, and were therefore objected to. On this the colonies were told that they must take what had been ordered; but when it was quietly represented that, if the proper guns and carriages were not sent, the colonies might stop the supply required for the construction of the batteries, we got the guns with the right carriages, and long before I left Australia the guns were in the forts and the garrisons in the barracks of both Thursday Island and Albany.

Melbourne, with its broad streets at right angles to each other, had a look of New York about it; which city it also resembled, particularly in Collins Street, with its banks, insurance offices, and other fine mercantile buildings. The crowd of busy energetic pedestrians hurrying from office or store showed very plainly that, although Melbourne is at times decidedly hot, it is a very long way from the take-it-easy life of the tropics. At one season of the year, however, not only Melbourne people, but also all who can leave their stations up-country and come south, take a week's holiday. Business of every sort is suspended during the Cup Week. To most English men and women a racecourse, with its attendant objectionable sights and sounds, is not particularly attractive; but in Victoria things are very differently managed. We arrived at the commencement of the Cup Week, and not knowing

AUSTRALIAN RACE MEETING.

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what the Melbourne races really were, we declined at first to attend; but on being told how very different they were from meetings at home, we went. The governor drove down to the course-a few miles from the city-in a well-turned-out four-in-hand: there were some other carriages, but the rest of the world went by train, the railway service being very well arranged. Arrived at Flemington, we found, instead of the usual rough racecourse scene, a magnificent lawn on which a great crowd of ladies and gentlemen were promenading. Had it not been for the course and the mass of people on the other side of the rails, we might have supposed ourselves at a large gardenparty. The stands and refreshment-rooms behind the lawn were such as can be seen only at Melbourne ; and there were other excellent refreshment-buildings for those who could not afford grand-stand prices. The dirty refreshment - tents and booths of the English racecourse were entirely absent, as was also the yelling bookie—that is, as far as the grand stand and lawn were concerned. That necessary fraternity for people who wish to get rid of their money were kept in a separate enclosure, quite out of sight and hearing of the stand and lawn. The well-behaved crowd on the other side of the enclosure and rails was estimated at over 50,000. I purposely walked about amongst it, and not one single foul expression did I hear. Could the same be said of any public race meeting in England? It must be an unpleasant shock to an Australian who, on visiting England, ventures to the saturnalia of the Derby.

Our first introduction to Australian life was decidedly pleasant, as was also the following small but, nevertheless, telling incident. Soon after my

leaders know the ground thoroughly, and the enemy is a careless one, they ought not to be attempted.

The last high Nile during my stay at Cairo rose to an almost unprecedented extent, and was the cause of much sickness: we lost many from enteric. A very

severe type of bilious fever also broke out, which more particularly attacked elderly people. I was one of them, and very nearly ended my days in the general hospital, but was sufficiently recovered after a fortnight to be allowed out, and back to my brigade. I was very shaky on my legs for a while, and the day after getting out of hospital staggered against a table at the club, when I heard a member say to another, "Poor old fellow he is done at last!" Both those members joined the majority long ago. It was some time before I was able to do much, but during that time I can never forget the kindness of warm-hearted American friends, Judge and Mrs Keeley.

When at Cairo I was able to do a special piece of good work for the soldiers. A very large number of them were in hospital with that disease which has such terrible after-effects. I spoke plainly to my men on parade on that point, and told them they must do what they could towards helping me to stamp out the disease in Cairo. So when any man's name appeared in the sick report suffering from that disease, he was marched by the provost-sergeant to the house where he had contracted it, and the delinquent was handed over to the Egyptian Hospital authorities. On taking over command of the brigade I adopted the same system as with my regiment, with the result that when I left Cairo there were but 35 cases in hospital -all slight. Considering that the garrison was be