SYDNEY LETTER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2923, 9 April 1891, Page 4

SYDNEY LETTER.

(Li - ui/k ov/'.< cuKK£i>ro:<ri£:<x.) yvDNEY, March 10. hXDEIiAIIoN b making good headway, :o far at k-aJ as the Convention is concerned. There is every reason why the delegates should uink minor differences and persevere in their task. They have lb- opportunity of welding into one these southern ooninmnitios, and of starting them oh a acw career as an English speaking nation iu the southern hemisphere, whose supremacy shall he unquestioned. The alternative to federation is, at the host, perpetual bickerings and jealousies, cross-purposes and hostile tariffs. At iho worst if would mean active hostilities. There nro already causes of difference between the colonies which have in them the germs of a first-class petty war. The old Tilting blood is still hot within us. There are no outsido enemies on which it can expend its energies, and if we do not federate it is morally cortaiu that, however suicidal such h course would bo, we shall find an excuse for fighting. No wonder, therefore, that the patriotism and foresight of the delog.ites irnpol them to strain every nTTO to,find ont points of agreement.

The trouble at present is to find a modus vivendi between Slate rights and popular rights. Tf the smaller colonies feel themselves in danger of being swam]'*! by the larger, and their individuality destroyed, thoy will not join. Hash State must count for one, and none for more than one. On the other hund. the large populations of New South Wales and Vic* toria must be in no danger of being coerced by, say, Tasmania or Western Australia. Tlie Lower House of the Federal Congress, it is agreed, is to be elected on ihe basis of population; that is to Si.'.y, each colony is to be represented in proportion to the number of people it contains. The Senate or Upper House, on the contrary, is to be composed of an equal number of delegates from each colony, no matter whether it be large or small. 'J'hu latter body will therefore be the conservator of State rights, whilst the aspirations of the larger coh mies will hud fullest expression in the House of Representatives. lam not a consti-tution-monger, but it seems to me that the difficulty would bo solved by giving to each House a full and unrestricted power of veto. Nothing could then become law.unless it had the sanction of a majority of representatives of the people, and a majority of representatives of States as well. The. only danger to be feared is from aggression and this expedient would do all that can be done to render any aggression impossible. So simple an expedient has not, of course, escaped the notice of the delegates, but they arc so trammelled by their ideas of existing nominee " Upper Houses " that they hesitate to entrust to a thoroughly representative Senate the | power of vetoing Money Bills in detail. But if this power is withheld, it is obvious that the smaller colonies, by reason of their comparatively sparse representation in lower chamber, will be, in matters of taxation, at the mercy of the larger colonies, and may well be excused if they decline so invidious a position. Perhaps the "lion " of tho Conveuvontiou is the veteran Sir George Grey, a, delegate from New Zealand. Whatever his merits or demerits as an administrator or legislator Sir George at Ihe close of his long life, conies to us with Ihe reputation of being preeminently a " straight '' and singlehearted statesman. We feel instinctively that these are the men whose services wo shall need iu troublous times which are so plainly coming upon us. The drunken, vapouring, land - jobbing, share - syndicating schemers who infest our legislatures serve as well as others to wrangle away the time, when everything is peaceful and serene. But when the storm breaks these lubberly fair-weather sailors, willing and eager to purchase peace by any direliction of dutv. however glaring, are worse than useless. They will sell anything, anybody to servo their own wretched and paltry purposes. Men of Sir George Grey's mental and moral calibre are badly needed everywhere, but nowhere more than iu our colonial Parliaments. One of the gravest practical objections, in fact, to the proposed Federation is that it will increase the terrible difficulty, -which is already felt, in getting .honest, and sensible men to serve in Parliament. Already we rusort largely to shady tricksters whose public and private record is about as bad as it can be--men who would figure more appropriately iu a reformatory than as legislators. What will it be when there is another Parliament to be tilled, which will claim the services of all the best men among us.

It must not bo supposed that tho advocales of Federation arc to have everything their own way. There is a good deal of quint opposition, some grounded iu dread of real danger, some based on indefensible ambitions and imaginary fears. The most prominent figure on the side of the Opposition is Sir John Robertson, but he is ably seconded by Mi' G. 11. Eoid, and one or two more. In their opinion New >South Wales, with her large outlying interests in Riverina and at the Barrier has everything to lose and nothing to gain by Federation. Consequently, they are extremely distrustful of the zeal professed by the colonies which have every thing to gain and nothing to lose. Hungry city sharpers ol'teu feel an. immense desire to " federate " with the fat and prosperous farmer from the country. In the view of the irreoouoileables, the Federation movement is only a kind of plausibly organised confidence triek, designed to rob the oldest and wealthiest colony of real and solid advantages without any fair return. This view is no doubt a morbid aud jaundiced one. There is a spurious and interested zeul for everything else that is beneficial. But this humiliating fact cannot obliterate or diminish any of the real and genuine advantages of sound alliance, any more than hypocrisy can put out of existence tire genuine goodness of which it is the baso imitation. If the colonies can be content to combine as to those matters in which their aspirations and interests are plainly and obviously identical, and leave to the future those which are disputed or doubtful, they will avoid many dangers and hindrances to prosperity, and will make a distinct advance in the developement of national life.

Our Supreme Court judges are doing good service in exposing the short-comings of public men whenever they come before them. Last week judicial censure was visited on Messrs Taylor & Willis, M.P.'s for their action (or rather inaction) in bringing Oswald Reatmge, alias Crouch, to justice for a criminal assault committed on a, servant of tho farmer. This wock, Mr F. J. Smith, M.P., Las boon haided over the coals for accepting £'2~> in connection with the Oakley Railway Bill. The judge characterised the payment as a bribe. Mr (Smith, however, strenuously repudiates this interpretation, and has demanded an enquiry. This dis. play of thoroughgoing zeal for purity on the part of their Honours is gratifying and encouraging. It chows that they aro still alive, and have not become mere machines to grind out dry and dusty technicalities fur the amusement of suitors, who arc being shorn to the ijiuck. It even arouses the hope that uur legal biiniuarit'.s may yet turn tli'ir attention to the abuses ;ind iniquities of the system over wliieli they preside—a system whieh virtually denies justice to the peer ::ud brings utter and hopeless ruin ru a large proportion of the comparatively rich who seek its help—a system which permits barristers to take fees for cases in which they do not appear and to amass princely fortunes by shutting their eyes to the rights of an opponent's case. Perhaps it is too much to hope that men who derive their emoluments from a bad system will ever willingly become its reformers; but. if by their zeal for tho purity of members of Parliament, they stimulate the latter to an equal sharpsightednps* in discerning and reforming the hoary and greedy system of c.aoriK'n and robbery which shelters

itself under the gnrb of legal- pro» cedure. their action will have the most beneficial results.

Matters commercial art' dull. Tin: failure of the 8011 th Australian Loan and Uiu delay in issuing that of Victoria, though tho latter L'f)lony has notoriously been compelled to have recourse to the banks, fosters distrust. Capitalists ean see no period of prosperity ahead, so they button up their pockets and decline to embark in new undertakings. The wild talk, and louder action, of the. labour agitators tend to intensify the prevailing depression. Whatever else they have done, or failed to do, they have succeeded in persuading men who have the command of money that it is not to their interest to employ any more labour than they can help. Those who are imprudent enough to take large contracts suddenly find themselves bailed up by demands for increased wages, and loss of time and money is the inevitable result —to say nothing of the ill-feeliug that is generated and kept alive by these attempted exactions. It is for the general good that wages shall be as high as can profitably be paid. The labour agitators, however, have a sublime disregard for the element of profit, and commit themselves with a light Ilea rt to the folly of attempting to raise prices in a market which is depressed —and this by their own action.