AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14843, 8 December 1913, Page 9

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

(FROM OCR OWN COE.SXBTOKDENT.) SYDNEY, November 29. FEDERAL PARLIAMENT. With no progress being made in legislation, proceedings iv the Commonwealth Parliament continue to bo composed of unremitting endeavours to score party points in view of a possibles, or rather inevitable, early dissolution and another appeal to the electors in j the hope that one party or the other, Liberal or Labour, will be given a working majority. As was to be foreseen, the comparatively polite strategy and finessing which marked proceedings at tho opening stage have to a highly unsatisfactory and unedifying extent given , placo to crude bludgconiug and personal recrimination. The fight is now one with bare knuckles anci rough-and-tunible n:tiiiods—in a Parliamentary souse, of course. Buatcn in tlio House of Representatives by the Ministerial majority of one mail in that Chamber, the Labour Party is trying to get more than even and to completely tie up the Government by making full use of its overwhelming majority in the Senate. Three times in succession the Labour Party in the Senate has taken tho business out of tho hands of the Ministry, and 'dosed down business for the day, whilo Ministers have been obliged "to look on in impotent rr.ge. "What tho Government is planning for is a dissolution in tho expectation that the next elections will lead to an improvement in the Liberal position in both Chambers. While persistently aiming at the humiliation of the Ministry, the Labour {Senators havo to bo careful lest they play into the •Ministry's hands by plain refusals to entertain in tho Senate measures which the Government has managed to force through the House of Representatives, because repeated refusal or neglect by tho Senate in this regard would afford a constitutional ground for a reqi:cst for a doublo dissolution. Naturally, tho Laboxir members of the Senate, elected for six years, are not very anxious to themselves and their party to the risks attaching to a general election as far as the Senate is concerned, although their party is hoping for_ an early chance of regaining a majority in the House of Representatives. At tho same time Labour Senators talk of perfect ..readiness for a double dissolution if the Government will only dare to set up as the issue the repeal of certain supposedly very popuInr pieces of legislation for which the Labour Party was responsible in the last Parliament. Altogether, the situation is unsatisfactory, and attendant happenings in our young National Parliament can only bo described as unworthy and unodifying. It looks as if thus early in our Federal career the Commonwealth Constitution is in danger of breaking down badly. HOME FOR HORSES. Several ladies and one man attended a meeting in Melbourne a couple of days ago to develop the charitable idea of providing a holiday resort for tired city horses. This idea is taken from a society in England, which is under tho patronage of the Duko and Duchess of Portland, from the outline put before tho meeting the scheme was to rent grazing land near tho city, purchase horses to act as reliefs, and to give opportunities to men in town who have only ono horse to rest it for a week or two, meanwhile using in ex- | change one of the society'? horses. The first point discussed' was that of means. A theatre niatineo, a garden fete, and a race meeting were suggested. It was urged that a matinee meant much work for a email and that a garden fete generally fell on a wet day. The enthusiasts were greatly encouraged when told that a race meeting might be expected to realise from £GCQ to £ICOO, Therefore the encouraging alternative of a race meeting-was adopted. A lady who confessed to nevor having been to a race .meeting asked : "Do you really think it would be quite right to hold a race. mooting in the cause of this charity I understand jockeys are cruel to horses, and make them go faster than they want to go." Apparently there were no punters present to tell of jockeys who make horses go slower than they want to y Then the meeting discussed tho question of a site. • How could some 100 acres of good grazing land near the city bo secured. Someone mentioned that good grazing land might be got about fifteen miles from town. But it was asked —How were tired horses to go fifteen miles Might they not succumb on the way ? This problem was not'solved when the meeting adjourned without any definite decision having been arrived at. A. committee was appointed to make enquiries and to moot again next week. AUSTRALIA'S WHITE CITY. The first amusement park in Australia at all similar to those of the chief capitals of Europe was opened in Sydney this week. , Nino and a half acres at Rushcutters Bay, which is two or three miles from the General Post Office in Sydney, hare been transformed in the last five months into a White City, similar, .though of course on a smaller scale, to the famous White City of London. The park is lit with 32,000 small electric lights, besides large lights. It has cost nearly £6X1,000 to date. The designer and builder of this White City is Mr T. H. Eslick, an engineer who made his name in tho construction of the Franco-British Exhibition in London, and who has since been called in to design and construct fifteen similar parks in other capitals and large cities, including Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Madrid, Brussels and the Bombay Exhibition, organised by : tho Indian Government. Mr Eslick, who managed that exhibition, is remaining for some time as manager of the Sydney White City. The "city" is nearly as large as that at Earl's Court in London. THE SOVEREIGN. As regards the purchasing power of the sovereign in Australia there is some justification for the familiar lament that "things are not what they used to bo." Officially compiled statistics show that the cost of the necessaries of living, has increased so much since 1910 that the purchasing value of £1 has up to the present depreciated 3s sd. That is to say, that what could be purchased for £1 a couple of years ago in New South Wales now costs £1 3s sd. In 1911 tho average of yearly earnings of factory employees in thi3 State was £96- Thi3 year the average has increased to £104. But as tho result of the depreciation in tho purchasing power of a sovereign to 16s "d, as compared with 19J1, the employee now gets only tho equivalent of 104 time sixteen shillings and eevenponco. Therefore what on the face of it appears to be a rise of £3 a year is in reality a decrease of £9 15s -id. Otter figures show that for food and rent alone prices have so increased that to purcharo £1 worth on thf 1931 frtnndard 21s 10d is now reonired in Srdneyi Were clothea, fnnl, licht and other necessaries added, 23s 5d would be needed. Another text for economists.