SYDNEY JOTTINGS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4324, 20 January 1893, Page 2

SYDNEY JOTTINGS.

(Br a Mastehionian),

Sydney, January 12th,

The Parliament of New South Wales re-assembled this week after the Christmas interregnum. There was 110 formality, and very little publio interest was manifested in the event, The ladies' gallery, .which usually affords a pretty sure indication of the amount of publio interest taken in functions of this charaoter, contained only two ocoupants, and even these hardy feminine politicians retired before the formal business had been disposed of. Although it was known that Sir Henry Parkes was to bring forward his motion affirming the desirableness of re-constituting the Upper House on an elective basis, only a small proportion of the members had thought it worth while to be in attendance. When Australia's " Grand Old Man " rose in hiß place and advanced to the floor of the Houso, he received a royal reception, and was at once accorded the closest attention. He opened weakly, and with a thin, quavering utterance, but gradually he warmed to his subject, and occasional flashes of his old time eloquence lighted up the uninteresting recital of early Australian history which formed the ex-Premier's exordium, Presently Sir George Bibbs interjected, aud drew upon himself several Barcastio rejoinders, and from that point Sir Henry's speech was animate with life and vigor. But for that, the re-assembling of Parliament would have been of the dreariest charaoter.

To New Zealanders there is something difficult to understand in the system of Government in New South Wales. Maorilanders are accustomed to the- idea of local government by means of County Councils, Road Boards and MunioipalCouncils.lnNewgouth Wales the only local government is that of municipalities, and even these bodies have but a very faint idea of: what really constitutes local govern* ment, If a flood washes a rutin a road 600 or 600 miles from the metropolis, a deputation is appointed straightway to interview the Government and obtain a grant of money to baye the hole filled up. The people look to the Government for everything, and never permit the idea o' helping themselves to enter into theii i calculations for a einglo moment. Speaking to a Minister of the Crown the other day, the matter of country deputations cropped up, and the Minister narrated as a fact that a few weeks ago, when in a country town, ho was waited upon by a deputation of citizens, the prayer of whose petition was that the Government would have a new leather put on the piston of the town pump I These rural petitioners were quite in earnest, too, and could see nothing ridioulous in their request. To tliein the failure of the town pump to perform its functions was a very, serious matter, and in carrying their grievance to the representative oftbo Government thov con-! sidered they were taking the best possible steps to have the matter attended to. So much for the dependence engendered by centralisation.

Without doubt the residents of Sydney are a pleasure-loving people, The five theatres are crowded nightly, and the innumerable music halls, cirouses, aquariums, and sundry shows all contrive to draw patrons within their portals. And yet we are told that at the present time New South Wales is going through a period of commercial depression bum as she has never bofore experienced. Paradoxical as it may seem, this latter statement requires very little verification; , The " dossers" in the Domain are far more numerous than of yore, and tho charges of being loafers and habitual drunkards cannot now be levelled against these involuntary dwellers in the open air. Competition, keen and cruel, and stagnation in every trade and profession have foroed theso men to seek the shelter afforded by the rocks of the lovors' walk (bitter Barcaßm I; and MrsMacquarie's chair, and now every nook and cranny is the dormitory of a destitute " dosser," In nearly every trade wages have been greatly reduced and the number of hands employed has been lessened, There are thousands of unemployed ready to jump at the chance of earning a bed and a meal, and with no certainty of getting either. Yet despite all this the caterers for public amusement Btill reap a golden harvest. At the second day of the intercolonial cricket match this week—off day though it was—there were ovor 10,000 people on' the ground, representing something like £7OO, This does not look much like depression; but for all that the demon of distress is here in our midst, and here it will remain until the return of better times, or until a period of prosperity in a neighboring stato will have caused that discordant element, the unemployed, to migrate thither, Without either of these contingencies-and they are both equally improbable—the outlook for sunny New South Wales appears dark and gloomy.

Numerous ace the schemes proposed to overrule the natural commercial laws which alone can account foe the stagnation in trade and general financial uncertainty now prevailing, Politicians all have their particular theory, and on every conceivable occasion, in season, and out of season, they trot them out, Laying his hand upon his draft of the Local Government Bill the other day, the Premier said:—"Here is the remedy for the depression; here is the only thing that will bring prosperity to the country," This is certainly a new use for Local Government. We shall see how the plan will work,

Of murders and suicides and disasi trous accidents Sydney haß had a plethora lately. The calamitous lolanthe disaster, followed closely on the heels pf the Makin baby-farming horror, and stirred the city to its depths. Since then in rapid succession haye come reports of diabolioal outrages, fiendish murders, and apparently causeless suicides, culminating to-day in a murder and suicide in Woolloomooloo. The surroundings Of which can bliow no cause for the ttrriW?.. deed.. Occasionally tljero

seoms to awoep over every country a wave of . liorrora. Can pathologists oSer no explanation of these visitations, or formulate no plan to . avert them? If not, to what, after all, does the boasted omnieoienco of the nineteenth century Beers amount to.