OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 405, 14 January 1909, Page 9

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

THE BUSH FIRES, A ■; (from oue speciaii correspondent.) : ■ • Sydney, January 9. >• Rain on Tuesday, checked the progress of Sho bush firos m this State just in time, but only after enormous ..damage had been done.' thousands of acres have been swept by fire, and farmers have lost heavily in the destruction of their; sheep and growing crops. . 'i Near Yass, great damage was caused, as area, between the Murrumbidgco Rivera was under flames.' : One settler, wlio saw dense clouds, of. smoke rising near his hbuso, although thoro. was no sign of fire x in the vicinity when,lie set out,, rodo ; back, rapidly; and. after great fighting extinguished the flames at the house. The heat was so intense that when ho had accomplished this task., ho , had to go and plunge into the/river, wherejlio found his wife and 1 dmily seeking' shelter.' Tho. fire .'meanwhile was sweeping over life-land; and in the ultimate result no' lost grass, fences; crop's, hay, harness,, vehicles; , and one; thousand stud ewes, which were burned to death;. His cattle made for. the river:frontage, and thus escaped. Another settler lost all- his possessions except the .clothes in which, he stood, ■ i arid had to envelop his, wife and children in : ; wet blankets to save their lives.;. Everywhere i" sheep were burned in immense numbers. One ;■ ■■ man fortunately shifted 15,000 sheep; from his lanas a few days;'before, and but. for this r his loss would havo been much greater. When, the, fire passed over his stations, .only 2700 ; .'sheep wore running there, but it is believed .that many of-these-have, perished; At several i farms the sheep have been found huddled up in, corners, roasted. Many families were in great peril while the : V fires v lasted.^;'At Eden; on tho South Coast,- • the members of. Mr. Mark Walker's family . had to fly for. their lives, and were nearly suffocated by the smoko and .heat. They, were discovered later in the day in a place of ■ comparative' safety,, but almost' exhausted, "the children crying for 'water. Mrs. Walker, • saved her baby by imparting moisture with : j h'e'r, toiigue/to its .parched 1 lips., ' y iSome holiday' visitors. atSpringwqod,'.in . 'thV: Blue Mountains country, had an ..eventful; ex_perience-. : ";TheEe ; peoplo,' a -man and his wife and\three.children;., left the,cottage whore they, had • been staying, as : : it r *was in: • danger,, and ' sought., safety *in that of-. a neighbour; ibut . the flames travelled without check; and presently it, too was threatened. . A. constable, who arrived on; the' scene to as-; ' eist to extinguish the fire, ordered them out, and, taking; the .two children on his horse, ho rode with them through the smoke end flames to a place where thoy were safe, and meanwhile the remainder" of'the. family : - also escaped. ■■■;. The; constable, then., returned, ': arid " helped the owners of the property to : beat.out the flames. ,' • . ..' '. : i The heat .was already great—in some places 113 degrees in the shade, and when to this .was; addedvthe:heat from the bush -fires'; it may, be" imagined what tho.atmosphere was likoi? The back of the mountain rango west ofi Clifton (on the South Coast), on to Bulli Hill, was a mass of. flames, and tho hot : : noftli-westerly wind 1 blowing ■ off .tho, S res came in scorching blasts, withering cvory- . thing . before it. ' Half-grown fruit, withered aid . dropped 'off the 'trees; and -grass. turned bfbwn in 1 the' space of a few. hours:' At I.ilyxfale, near Clifton, tho flames swept, through! .. fijuit ' and . vegetable, gardens, destroying. - everything "before : them, burning green trees ; as vif they . were straw, and -leaving- roasted poultry all over the place. A partyof motorists; on their ivay, from could- not continue the journey, and had to stay at : Btilli. until tho danger, had passed. . Even then they had to make a, detour of 21 miles . tfs avoid running into bush fires. .

■' ■'Y r, Victorian Politics. . Sir Thomas :Sent",■;after;■the ■unmistakable verdict ,'at the polls, has gone^—yielded both the; Premiership , and(:,the.; leaders'ui]iVof his. p4rty,:and Victoria has;-a.now EtGiiuei) Aliv ■ John- Murraj%- S . elected, by' a- compromise :be-<" : tween the. followers* of the, late; Government and' -tho .'party of' Liberals, 1 of Independent Oppositionists, -of Vp;hich;'Mr.; Murray,»is''"tlie

.. effort to'pfe^ejitLSboui-Irani■oVtaij£&ig-'ther . key to ' oppositibnCvSt' first,'tKer.e -was*.considerable.. .; difficulty;' in'the /Ue2otiations/:-rM£ Graha'ni v ■, who' 1 became .t'he , - in;, succession; to;-, the'-late;' Prepiier, put. ; fonvard:-.as''an aspirant:"^ but ;the .Mflirray,."party insisted : tbat thelW: mier' must 1 be chosen from the ;.: had voted against the Bent:. Government, or ■ had ; declared against ; it on- .the.'- .hustings. ... 'After.jjConsiderable' ;talk,; arid.'. not -■ a! •: little. . . wrangling, Mr. v Murray, .who-was. almost re J " :' ganled as; out of -'the running, was chosen, aridjthus takes office, as Premier; phief £>ecretaryiand, 'Minister of . Labour, 'while, to ■' equalise matters, Mr. 1 Graham, as'..the. representativel of the other party involved in the .coalition, becomes Minister. of Agriculture. and Railways. :. The Minister for. Lands, Mr. H." M'Kenzte, and the Minister for Mines, Mr. ;P. M'Bnde, are. also from the Bent party, while Mr. W. "A. - Watt, a-; prominent •member of the Independents'; takes,office; as Treasurer; -Mr. Billson is Minister for Education, and the Ministers m the Upper House are Mr. W. L. Baillieu, Minister for Works, and . Mr. D. Brown, Attorney-General. The members ,of the new Cabinet,. in accordance with the practice; in ': Victoria, will. have to :, go.i to .their, constituencies.;; for . -re-election.• Tlio, new Premier has not yet unfolded his policy, except to the. extent that ho means to.' place progressive land legislation arid land taxation in. its .forefront.; The) necessity for. ;. measures in this direction was - clearly, indicated by the. voting,, at'the recent elections, .- and: as, the/Labour, party 'has'; been agitating for sonie time "for a tax oil. land : values', it' .will b<J. interesting to see whether. Mri Murray is prepared to. take the wind out .of its sails . by. a measure';.sufficiently yrida.-iiijits scope to ' '•■ g al n.the support of that section;of the House. It will, interest. New. Zealanders to learn that the now_:Minister for Lands/ Mr. M'Kenzie, is to„visit the Dominion at once to:study .the land, legislation existing, there, .especially in regard to:land .taxation- and compulsory acquisition''of. large estates: . ...

Brutality Outsitfa' the Ring. Aj£eat outcry, has lately been made about : thDy. brutality, of i the Vprize-ring, : because 1 of: the manner; in. which Burns- was punished by Johnson, and the correspondence columns of - the rnewsp'apers; have' beeiv.filleil with letters. on the subject. With most, of the statements . urged by. those who protested against this fightVl cordially: agree; but.l wonder if there : will be a similar outcry against tho'state of affairs; revealed by a speaker at the Sydney /Labour Council the other night,; Mrs. Grovilie, delegate from ■ one .of tlio unions, who declared that in this city there arc young girls, under.;..the age..of 16 years of. age,:.'working; with heavy'.irons all day long, pressing shirt cuffs at one farthing per dozen—a munificent rate, which does not enable.them to earn the' • foiir • shillings per' week now stipulated by ■ Act ;■ ;of //Parliament' as " the, minimum - wage. Other girls who should bs at school, she .stated, are : working .hard; all-day sewing on buttons for.lid. per dozen, and. scarcely earning 4s. ; per;week,, while.; competent ..shirt and-collar nands''are ;rcc.eivihg not more t'naii 20s. per i.WMk from: some of the shops where customers paid Gs; 6d: for. a shirt. There have been frequent; revelations.of the sweating which goes on in this city, and tl'.oso statements indicate that, despite'le?islat!pii,. tlio evil is : still pronounced. ; 'Mqst : of all, tfowiaveri* is,the fact; that the.Sydney Labour.Council', itself the.champion of the sweated;and;op-;, pressed apparently; does, not scruple to sweat its own .secretary.'; ' .After •.•listeniiigi'te this' eloquent speech by Mrs. Grovilie,' the 1 council . proceeded to consider' the Question of thesecretary's .represents 70,000; me'mb'ers'of trades organisa'-. tions, and is, of coiii'se'j the official heid -of. . th?'i'consolidated labo\ir'; : forces. of ; New. Soiith : ; Wales. Therefore,', the srei-et'ary, Mr. J. P.- . Cochrane, has a good' deal of; : ; responsible • irork on his shoul£le.rs ) ..most.'of ?it Tequiriiir his presence in his. office at the Trades Ilali at night. Yet he has, been : paid onlv -£3 10s. J per week—and no payment for overtime. What a fine howl the unionists would raise if one of their number was compelled by the tyrannous capitalist to work' overtime without pay.' ..Hoffcwr,.the council discussed- the matter, and raised Mr. Cochrane's salary to £4 a, week,' giving him an extra JOs,—the sort of rise 'a-private employer would give I a junior clerk.: Yet the Labour Council has the audacity to lecture us about sweating!