OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2882, 3 January 1891, Page 4

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

(I'KliM lUM; OWN CDUIIIiM'ONbKVr.) .S\ i>m:\ , December IT, WuM'Kij i ii wcrt tin; tiling that were goinjj to happen if A. Taylor were clccted tor Wist Sy-1111 y, lie w;v to he av. hip to lash the Covcrnm; n', ami it v.'.u; |>fj|>ni-itly believed Hint lie v,'unlit put that objectionable combination t'i the right-about in considerably 1 cj;m time llian it took them to achieve their position. Well, the si\ weeks parsed Ion;; and ivc art' not a ilf inir, /'where is the (lovernment after faiU'cring all those terrible assaultsbut the tpiery is, " What ins become <if the redoubtable A. I I Tie, has not lushed the ("iovernment worth a cent, and (more honest t'nan s■ nm: of our other hunting-; braggarts) liu has not even made believe to try. The fact is it is much easier to talk about these things than to do them. I'rolnbly, in about another ten centuries, the <|uietleoS " son of toil," who holds the balance of power at the ballotbox will learn to distinguish between the talkers and the workers. There then will be some wonderful i.-b-nriinCe-i in high places as well ns low our.--, and among the holder.-; of j.r; folio-; :im weli as among 111.- •:|«.ul«-r.; :ui.l ii-<itwt<MV.

i.ili'i.i ill wil it tandiir; bis |jri vi I. ;o a : a iii"iith t, ili-t ••ir-um initial partie.il.ii iv.'ii. 'i •r• '! • l.u. : lie lias it in hi;:

ji-i i• lii "ivi- tvspeeling the bribery of He !:ibe t v. ut Parliament remain undis-i-losi'd. lie says he want ;a I loyal Coinmndon, for the Premier has promi- ed to appoint one if he will maka a definite charge against any particular member, lint either Mr Crick's courage has oozed out at his el how joints, or else his memory has failed him, for so far the charge has not been made,

We are now in the last week before Christmas, so that it may be concluded. Little more legislation will be added to the statute book before the recess. Fortunate indeed, I think it will be if the estimates are passed. Fortunate, in one sense, unfortunate in another. For the estimates show a continuance of an extravagant (iovernment expenditure, which I believe is without parallel in any other country under the sun. About nine millions nnd-a-half is what it costs lo govern a million men, women, and children. About 'I") for eacli adult male, assuming that the adult males carry the rest of the community on their backs. Of course, a great part of this enormous total is for " services rendered." lint, after making the must liberal allowance on this score, the expenditure is very much greater than it to be, especially when it is rememthat the present (iovernment made

"retrenchment,'' a prominent plank in lliuii platform. Tho recess will probably l.ist for four month;-, at least, so th.it if the un!lenium u to como .i, the re.-ult nt' leiri.'l.mon it.. .'tdvenf will 1"' i xtixnn ly 'ci.suiely. However it is tho law of lilc that if an individual o» u lopreSLiitativP body does not devote itself to worthy mid noble objcet->, its time is necessarily taken up with that which is unworthy and ignoble Parliament has failed to enlist the sympathies of tho people by an}' vigorous or well-sustained otl'nrt to carry the principles of equity ;i:ul justice int'i ti-eal mid legislative detail-'. Therefore Mr Crick, without any difficulty is able to concentrate public attention on the malicious tittle-tattle which he hrw put forward as a stalking liorsr'to bide the true charae'.or of his own doings. If the Assembly were going tlii-oiii'li the estimates with a su ru mid rigorous determination to prevent further spoliation of the public by the retention and promotion of inenpables, sluggards and sinecmists, Mr Crick and his cock-and-bull stories would !»• -'.wept aside i\ itb n< little ceremony as a tly or a

A" it isf. however, the cry he has raiser' " The purity of L'.irliarowjt " h-'S eertdii amount of plausibility, for it i> better, perhaps, to be con-e.-rih ! n!)..,ir a mvivly absirai't and hypothetical purity thuis to be solely mtc-iit

on "slumming" tho work in order to urike sure of the pay. Hut the real purity of Parliament can only he shown by the /.eal and determination with which it applies itself to it* proper work of redressing injustice and reforming abuse-'. This is a point which will hardly he touched by Mr Crick's Knyal Commission, whether he makes the definite charges which will lead to its appointment or whether he does not.

Parliament, never worked such long hours as it doing at present. It is sitting live days in the week and very often until the small hours of the morning. This is very severe even on the ordinary member (who desires to do his duty) although he is able in some measurj to make iiis hours of attendance bend to his business necessities. But on the Ministry and the officers of the Jlunsc who are compelled to bo in attendance thronghort the, sitting the s'r.'in is greater still. It is, however, on the Hansard .stall', tho unfortunate scribes who have to report tlu; whole of the proceedings, that, toe burden falls with most crushing weight. lam not a believer in strikes, as your readers know, but if ever a strike is excusable it is when human energies arc tasked beyond endurance lor no adcqiiatv: object. If Parliament sits much longer, 1 do not say there will be a strike amongst the members of the Hansard staff—they are too devoted to their duty—but there are likely to be a number of interesting eases for the hospitals. A great deal of journalistic "dirty linen'' was washed in the libel action brought by the proprietors of the Evening News against those of the Star. The News in reporting the result of the Kemp-Maclean boatrace, in some copies of orio of its editions ya 'e the wrong winner, The mistake was one which might very easily bo marie though sullicient precautions should have beer, taken against. Until names in such cases are set up in type as the winner. Then, when the telegraph or carrier pigeon announces the result, the plate which contains thu winners name is put on the pres.; aud copies arc printed off. In this instance by inadvertence a pKte containing the loser's name was usetl and copies of the loser's name was used and copies of the Xcws were consequently issued which announced the loser as the winner. There is very keen rivalry between the evening papers, and the Star made it its business to show up the mistake in very uncomplimentary terms, employing among other epithets that of " Ananias." Comical wriggles were made by the defendant's lawyers to evade the force of their own phrases. It was argued lirst that the term only applied to the paper, aud not to the proprietor, and secondly that the Scripture record from which the objectionable name was taken did not specifically state that Ananias told a direct falsehood.' More to the purpose was tho evidence which was adduced of former errors on the part of tho News, and of the appearance in its columns of certain cable messages, which had'appeared previously in the Star, and which purported to bo taken from the Melbourne papers. The question which the judge put to the jury was whether, under the circumstances, the Star's clumsy rtrietures were justifiable. The jury decided that they were, and so the News lost the case.

The probable dangers of Dr. Koch's widely trumpeted " cure''for consumption arc obvious enough to anyone who will take time to think. In all their well-meant efforts to kill the microbes (which slaughter, it is plain, would by no means, necessarily remove the morbid conditions which foster them), doctors are iti great danger of killing their patients. The objections suggested by the most rudimentary exercisc of common sense are now shown by medical experts to be promptly verified in practice. \ leading Parisian doctor declares the secret preparation injected or inoculated by Dr. Koch has a fcbrilie client of terrible potency. An observant Berlin practitioner testilies that patients whoso hopes had led them to submit to the operation, were seized by inflammation of I lie lungs, which extended to the windpipe, and rendered it necessary that portions of that important part of the anatomy should bo out away. Instead of endeavouring lo substitute a lesser evil for a greater, it appears that Dr. Koch's 'nethod incurs the risk of greater torture tlriu the patients were previously sud'ering.