MELBOURNE ITEMS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2873, 11 December 1890, Page 4

MELBOURNE ITEMS.

(kkom ouk own ooki;esi'ondi:.st.)

Melboukse, Novembers. Tue curtain has been rung down on the great racitijr carnival of the year, and the Melbourne Cup of IbOO is numbered with (he past. It was, in every seuse, a inost successful meeting, and Mi Byron Moore, the Secretary of tho V.R.C., should, indeed, feol abundantly sati-fiort with the result of hi" labours. Bright »uushiuuuud clear blue skies smiled upon oach of the four days' racing ; aud that fickle old dam, Fortune, was good enough to scatter her smiles freely upon that portion of the gentle public who put thoir faith iu horses. Tho process of "skiuning tho lamb," by tho descendants of au ancient race.has not taken place this year : and rumour has it that several of the " bookies" have been skinned themselves to such an extent that they are now shivering in the cold. Without being impious, I will, however, venture to foretell that as "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," the beforementioned fickle dame will soon reverse her smile* in the direction of the layers of the odds, who perform what it is described as the " soooping-in process," eight times out of ten. It is only now and again that the public get " a throwin," and so well is this understood by the " bookies," that when members of their particular community get " hard hit" by the backers of horses, assistance is generally quickly forthcoming, in the full assurance that ere long they will "scoop the pool." T question whether any city in the world affords its people so many opportunities of losing money at horse racinir as does this city of " Marvellous Melbourne." Tho racing carnival disposed of, and the strike ended, it is hoped that the community will now settle down to serious business*. The community has suffered enough in consequence of the freaks of Hancock, Murphy, Trenwitb, and their congeners. It is a lamentable spectacle, however, that whilst these gentry havo been forced to acknowledge themselves beaten, they should still eDdeavour to inftueuco the passions of their misguided followers by threats to exterminate the employers some time next year, or the year afterwards. Poor, mistaken fools— not the followers, it is the leaders, I mean —cannot they see that the only reparation they can make to those who have so blindly trusted and followed them is to get them back to work as speedily as possible. The best way to accomplish this is to cultivate feelings between capital aud labour, instead of setting both by the ears, is they aie now trying to do. Past successes have made them blind; power has made them drunk: the implicit obedience, the unswerving loyalty of their followers, has made them arrogant: and the arrogance of ;t coarse mind, always unpleasant, becomes, iu time, intolerable. To a looker on, it seems moustrous that men like these should demand unquestioning obedience for the ranks of labour—that their actions no matter bow foolish, are to be endorsed by the great army of labour, in the ranks of which are to found hundreds of abler men than themselves.

Onecau understand that men whose minds are constituted as theso men's minds are cannot help venting tbeir spleen upon the employers who have defeated them; neither is it difficult to comprehend their abuse of a clear-headed, sensible unionist like Mr Champion, whose ways are not their ways ; but one entirely fails to discover any reason, except one, why they should hector nnd bully their uwn colleagues—follow members of the Trades Hall Council. The only reason for such conduct c>:n be that they are afraid to submit their actions to the criticism of their own people. " Open your mouth and shut your eyes ;"' then, look what we have ►ant you. Well, the people did opeu tbeir mouths and shut their eyes ; in fact, they have now discovered that they shut their eyes a greatdeal too closely, for what was it the trades' leaders put iuto U.oir mouths ? Ashes : uothinjr but ashes. And when the eyes were opened a barefaced atempt was made to close them by throwing handf uls of dust into them. Tho promise of the new Government to stop the financial leakage in the Victorian railways will arrest public attention, because peeplo will naturally stop to enquire to what extent they will be nfFected by any successful attompt to make the railways pay expenses. That a system like ours should pay interest upon capitsl expended in construction, nil its working expenses, besides contributing something to a sinking fund for tho gradvial extinction of tho debt—no matter how slow the process may be—goes without saying. And if this position be accepted, it will bo evidcnt > to everyone that there is a screw loose in a system that is entailing a present loss of £200,000 a year, with s pro.pect of that loss being doubled in the near future. God only knows what whould have been the coneepuvnees if the octopus Railway Bill of tho late Ministry hadbeeu suffered to struggle into existence. And yet, in the face of all this, we havo members in the Houne insisting upon higher wages being paid to railway porters and others. It cannot be understood too soon that: a radical change will have to bo effected in our railway administration. Political interference therewith will have to be stopped. Hon. members who hopo for a renewal of their three years' lease of the £300 finnuitiesat the next general elections will have to depend more upon their own merits— " the survival of the fittest,"—instead of being carried into the House upon the shoulders of railway porters. The time has come when the Government must pause and consider the position in which the country has been placed by its railway policy. We want more railways, and we must have them. Not a mile of new railway can be expected to pay for some years to come ; yet, how con we pay enterest upon new capital when existing lines are not paying interest upon capital already borrowed? Mr Gillies, with his wonderful fertile imagination and unbounded faith in paper surpluses, might, perhaps, havo helped us out of the difficulty, but Mr Gillies has been relegated to the othor side of the Houae. We have to look to Mr Munro. and that geutleman's worst enemies could not have placed bim iu a more unpleasant situation than that in wbiob he will be called upon to solve this difficult railway problem. For what can he do? Even tho Jews found it impossible to go ou uiakinif brinks in Kuypt without material, and Mr Munro will Cud it juat us difficult lo run the usual number of trains, keep as many men employed, pay present scale of wages, build as good or better carriages, and otherwise keep up or improvo the present standard of efficiency, without raisins the scale of both fares and freights. What will he do?

Mr Justice Hipinbothim is evidently propariiif? for a m«Rterly retreat from the false position in which ho so incautiously placed himself with the lenders of the strikes movement. It will be remembered that. Heveral weeks afro, he sunt a cheque to the secretary of the Trades Hall Gouucil—said cheque amouutiuf? to £50, He further said he would contribute a weekly sum of £10, "until a conference should bo hold between employers and the Trades Hall leaders. It has for some time been manifest that no "conference" would tnke place, and people have been wouderiii(r how much longer the judfje would continue to punish his chequehook for the sake of keeping his rash promise Perhaps Mr Higiubothntu has himself occasionally found such reflections passing through hia own mind. At nil events hia remittance last Friday showed some iudication of this. Instead of Kendinsr his cheque to tho Trades Hall C'uujMiil, through its secretary, he stnt it

to the secretary of the " Strike Comraitteo," When ibe Strike G'ommitrco ceases its labours and dissolves itself, it will have no further need of fund». As tho strike is " oftcially declared off," there is no pretext for the longer existence of the commit'oo ; there ia therefore, hope f»t tho chivalrous Chief Justice, *no, 1 dure s»y, ha« boeu already let in for a trifle more than ho bargained for. "Numerous articles have appeared of late iu the leading journal* of Australasia (I (juute from a little circular beating tho name of Mr Alfred Dampier which has reached me), poiuting out that with tho rapid increase of population, there are developing in our midst a distinctive literature and a pnrely Australian typo of art, Authors and artists are awakening to tho fact that our daily surroundings on the printed puge or pictured canvas, tbero lie both prDtit and renown." Then Mr Dampier goes on to say that he has made it his study, wherever practicable, to produce orignal dramas, written by AustraliHiis for Australians, dealing with Australian subject", and performed by a representative Australian company. In pursuance of this very laudable object Mr Dampier has, during bis recent temporary cessation from active management, and working in collaboration with Mr Garnet VValch, dramatised Mr Ralph Boldrewood's new romance, "The Miner's Right," and they have have also written two dramas, entitled respectively, " For Lovo and Life," and "This Groat City." "I havehave further,'* Mr Dampier states "matured and elaborated Mr Edwin N. M'Neall's drama, •' The Morning of Lite," and have under consideration several other pieces written by Australia authors, with a view to production, as occasion offers." Mr Dampier is, I am glad to say, back at tho Alexandra Theatre, playing in a revival of "Robbery Under Anne." and I doubt not that a long and successful season is before him.