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What the pubhc enterprise or commercial
men has been unable to accomplish dunng
the" long years of Melbourne's prosperity,
private enterprise has at length accom-
alished, and given a suitable and a comfort-

others of that kindred to meet together and '
talk on 'change. That is, there be sucli
a place in the city when Mr. H. Byron
Moore's new Exchange, m Collins street
west, has been completed, which will be
about six weeks hence, and some description
q£ building may, at the present time, not
prove out of place. The old Hall of
Commerce may have been able to fill
all the requirements of its members when
it was first erected, hut it is now
totally unworthy of the mercantile com
munity of the largest city in this part
of the world, and Mr. Moore having per
ceived with quicl% intelligence a want in the
place, which might he supplied with great
advantage to whomsoever supplied it, at once
took a lease of the building, with the ex
ception of the front basement and the vesti
bule, and entered into arrangements for the
erection of an Exchange-building which
would afford all the accommodation necessary
in such an institution. Mr. Lloyd Tayler
prepared the plans for the new structure,
which is of brick ; and for the alterations in
the old building, and the' contract for carry,
ing them out was entrusted to Messrs. Free
man and Sons, who have now nearly com
pleted their work. " Under the Verandah"
will soon be a memory of the past,
for the removal of that sunshade is in
cluded in the alterations in the Collins
street front of the Hall of Commerce,
which will be modified by tliree-quartcr
columns recessing the windows sufficiently to
takeoff the heat and glare of the street from
the rooms inside. One of the front offices
will be converted into a more useful place
than perhaps it has ever yet been, namely, a

telegraph, stamp, and ticket office, where a
telegram can be sent to St. Hilda or London,
and a ticket obtained for a ride in an omni
bus, or a tour round the world. So much,
now-a-days, can be put ipto a little space.
The present vestibule will remain untouched,
but the existing reading room will be turned
into two suites of chambers, one of which
lias already been let to -Reuter, and
the other to the Chamber of Commerce.
A passage between these chambers leads to a
small flight of steps rising 3ft.. and from the
landing a high arched doorway opens into
the new Exchange-hall. When completed
this .hall will have a very fine appearance,
with its heavy cornices and light roof. It
measures 77ft. long by 31ft. wide, and is 2oft.
high, with fireplaces in two corners. Steep
polished cedar desks will run round the sides
of the room to carry the newspapers, and a
handsome case of standard works of reference
will also form part of the furniture. In the
two arched bays at the farther end of the
room blackboards will be placed, on which
it is intended to write in large charaeters any
items of news received throughout the day,
which will save members the trouble of
going to the telegraph board. An important
feature in the furniture of the room will be a
number of office-desks, with nests of drawers,
on which members may put their names,
and thus always have a safe receptacle for
documents, an arrangement which should be
very handy for country subscribers. Adver
tisements are to be admitted round the room
in the bays between the handsomely-capped
pillars, and each space will probably be
eagerly looked after. Mr. Moore intended to
lay down the floor in parquetrie, but unfor
tunately the floor he imported was damaged,
so that the exchange will be laid down in
tesselated pavement of a chaste yet pretty pat
tern. The roof is of ground-glass, which will
allow a pleasantly-subdued light to fill the hall,
as some feet above this second roof — as it
may be called — is another glass roof, which v
will receive the direct rays of the sun. At
night the hall will be lighted by gas from
above the ground glass roof, as in the Legis
lative Assembly Chamber, the result being a
very soft light, and over each newspaper
desk a bracket lamp will be placed. It will
thus be seen that every care has been taken
to make the hall a convenient one and plea
sant withal. At the back of the exchange is
what may be called a mercantile room, 33ft.
by 52ft., and 20ft. high, which has been set
apart for auction sales and public meetings
of any kind. It will be fitted up with
polished cedar auctioneer's stand (movable),
and tables flapped to the walls, so that
when not required they can be let
down out of the way. On the west of the
exchange is a fine suite of rooms engaged by
the underwriters. A flight of stone steps
leads from the ground floor to the second
floor, on which is the underwriters' board
room, and several spacious chambers, which
will probably be occupied by country local
bodies, to whom a metropolitan meeting-
place and chat-room would prove of great
convenience when representatives aw in town
on deputations or other business. On this
floor ample bath accommodation and lava
tories are supplied, the latter, by the way,
being plentifully besprinkled all over the
building. On a third floor the kitchen is
placed to supply the basement 'restaurant, so
that no odours of a cooking tlinnAr will per
meate the - exchange. Above the mercantile
room at the rear is a spacious well-lighted bil- ,
ir00m' W<1 tll be fitted up elegantly
with two of Alcock's tables. A winding staircase
prom the room .belowleads up to this room,
mto which entrance may also be had from a
passage leading from the top of the stone
scaurs. At considerable expense, Mr.
Moore has made an entrance from Flinders P.
lane m a straight line vfith iBhnd street, so |
piafc members coining into town by the morn- |i
suburban trains can have easy access to f
#Te There is another entrance >'
_ Flinders lane, but this will be re- |
served for vehicular traffic, inasmuch as a
portion of the basement has been let as |f
_rmerly as a store-room for Fitzgerald's fr
Castlemaine ales. The remainder of the |
basement has been divided into a restaurant f
for tbe use of the members, and a room for I
the exhibition of novelties ; in fact, an adver- ?
lsmg-room, which, however, has been some
what curtailed by M'Clure, Yalantine, and
hk aB a "beat sales
room. That portion of the exchange facing
narrow entrance from Queen street has v
an ornamental facade, and a shady area in an- \
' ...-Tr"-' " -
c b

angle nOhe»bullffing adjoining the rests.- '
rant infl IgeFfapaild into a . greenery and
. post, thy tfce ; Hm& 1 It J is. qpmptetea,! folly
H £>$,0u0. llt is expected that it will, be ; ready f
in:si we, wlmn it is intended to open it
wfih considerable cereinpnyi" and ve trust
. that the enterprise of the projector will
be amply rewarded in his somewhat exten
sive, undertaking.
$