SYDNEY LETTER

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2956, 25 June 1891, Page 4

SYDNEY LETTER

'■ IKo.M llfti nWN roUUI.-l'') , - M'AT. ] Svi'VKV M-iy lili. < i'IVnKXMK.vr have s;t My weathered I. , ic lirsl squall (lint availed them, .Mr Reid's umendment to the Addr.-ss-in-J{e:ily being defeated by iiu overwhelmim,' majority. As u matter of fuel, '.he d-bale was u mere wjisti! of time, the wind having been completely taken out of Mr lieid's nails by the Premier's declination that tin Ci'list.ituti.)il Hill, prepared by the Convention, is subject to amendment, and that no attempt will be. imitle to fiiivc it* acceptance, in detail upon the people. Mr Reid luis since admitted that his amendment was effectually "dished" by tho Premier's frani. avowal, or, if you like, ohansrn <>f front. It would have been better if he had acted upon this conviction, iind had abstained from moving it. lie has simply playvd into the hands of the Opposition by precipitating a serious rupture in tho party of Free Trade. Mr Reid's amendment, however, was only tin; beginning of troubles. Mr Dibbs has notified his intention of m'.ving » vote of censure, which, it is to bo presumed, will be supported by Mr Roid and his small following. As ■fie House is equally divided, n. defection of this kind must give the victory to the Opposition, and precipitate, tin appeal to tht! country. There is, however, as I hinted last week, one point on which an overwhelming majority of lion. ui"mb ■"- ■<••' fur mort* di'oply inreivsvd t. •• m I , ' deration ;ind Isolation >im' -:.\'< .i I'lutcc tion or Free Trade,; thut is. their unwillingness to face their election expenses one day before it in absolutely necessi/ry. If possible, Mini-teriidists and Oppositionists will discover some modus vivendi which will prolong tlioir legislative existence a few months more. Meanwhile, the lack of interest that is evinced in matters of really noedud reform shows that the House has out-livod its usufulnoss, and is rapidly dogonorating into the mere .sport and tool of place-hunting politicians. Mr Carruthurs, tho Minister for Public Instruction, will not feel flattered by one of tho resolutions of which notice has been given. It proposes to do away with school fees, aud should of course have emanated from tho Department. Right or wrong, it is a course which, soonur or Litor, is certain to bo adopted by the popularity - hunting politicians who f like charge, of our national destinies, and ouo wonders why the Government should allow anyone to jump their claim to the modicum of "kudos" involved in bringing it about. To compel people to pay for education—that is to say to compel them to purchase what otherwise they presumably would not purchase—is a much greater stretch of power than simply to compel them to avail thonilolves of privileges granted at the public: expense; for the public good. The one position is equitably defensible, the other is not. It has always been advocated by an influential minority that compulsory education and free education stand or fall together, and that tho latter is the unavoidable corollary of the former. It is, howover, humiliating to note, the false sentiment and the abjectly ii2>ologetie style of somo of the advocates of the change. Education must bo made free they declare, because it is very jHiinful for those who are poor to admit the fact, and £70,000 a year is n, more trifle to pay in consideration (if tho gratification which they will experience by being relieved from this trial to their susceptibilities. There is, of course, no limit to the folly of professional popularity-seekers, but I don't believe that oven tho Parliament of New South "Wales are sufficiently far gone in brain softening to bo seriously affected by transparently hollow reasoning of this kind.

Those, credulous persons who, on the faith of tho assurances of some fanatical followers of M. Pasteur, got their sheep inoculated Avith tho terrible anthrax orcharbon, paid pretty dearly for their folly. Of less than 200,000 " vaccinated," no less than 9,308 died. T shunld bo afraid to say how many times more this is than would have diod of anthrax in the ordinary course of events if no special trouble hadboen taken to poison (heir blood. And it must further be remembered tli-it if nearly ten thousand died, the reasonable probability is th it nearly a Vmndr .i ll.ousand were S'-riously injured. Tie. , 'i dy official ex-jiisi- put, t'ovsvai'l f'jr t'.e failure is '.hat the .ve.irher <vn< "too hot." lVople vho tamper with theso virulent animal poisons will always find plausible excuses when they are overtaken by the results of their action. They sow* disease, and s-i.y they expect in reap health. A more imerriiiir, and mure inexorable logic shows them that the crop is disease and death. Still they are not convinced, and will not be as long as iinv credulity is left to pray upon, Tht! Trades and Labour Council have decided to exclude the press reporters from their meetings. The chief grounds of this decision as reported in their official organ are the fear that souio of their members should become amenable to legal proceedings for criminal libel or conspiracy. What a commentary on tho loudly vaunted " brothorliood " of tho labour loaders. Brotherhood implies a right relation to tho wliolo family, but the deliberations of these and similar badies too i if ton take the form of devising blows <it the prosperity of tho family. WhatIcind of brothorhood is that which confesses that it daro not let the light ot day upon its proceedings for fear itshould beeomo amenable to tho courts "\\liich are instituted to punish lawless speech and action ? As a matter of fact there seems to be very little brotherhood among themselves, leaving their relations to the general public out of the question. "When the meetings were reported it was very evident that they were liable on the smallest provocation to become scenes of angry recrimination v, hero shameful charges wen. , bandied about, where malice and hatred apparently reigned supreme and where the authority of their own chairman was completely defied nnd set at nought. The exclusion of the reporters will not make much difference after all. The public have been supplied with abundant evidence by the help of which they can form a very good opinion of what tho future proceedings are likely to be. The fact is only too plain that the.*! self-dubbed " reconstructors of society" are absolutely incapable of reconstructing even their own narrow I'litjuo. Thev enn neither l<i mj> if--; debates or its doings within thn bounds of ordinary decency. V.ni after all, in we erasure eifocts little or Tiothinsr. Thrse blemishes tiro as apparent t< themselves as to any observer outside their eitvle. The secret of the persistence of au agitation which to the unsympathetic observe! v.resents norm bur the repulsive f,...t-.,,.,.0 ; u ir. Hp t':,iurl >r ih" unque-,-tio ii ■ . i 1 ' r, f wl'ieli '"'rviided .ill cii>-«r> ■')..'• v v tliu, our "ociiil eonU.iou-; , *, founded ou equity. Thw i nit .ht'sis easily become* the

t'.iiiudaM-.ii f■. r- the ab-s..lulely fills.! a--tump! ion thai a b-id sit nation can be j IIU'I" 1). -11 •- J" t>V tin , domination of pre» hums ignorance and unserupuImis terrorism. "My witch doiM ""t k"»l> perfect lime." True. '• Th.'icforo I will make it keep better time." Absolutely false, n< every amateur wateh-iiieiido;- knows to his cost, The body politic; i-i a inucli more complicated and delicate structure than any watch, and iiirlivii'luiils or combinations who think to improve it by rashly intruding with brute force will find their felly made manifest to all. The trouble is'ilue to the omissions and commissions (I urn not just now alluding specially to the •_>.") pounders') of our legislators. Let fill who are dissatisfied apply their strength in the right direction by urging their reprosentativos to imiuvc some of the most glaring injustices iind iibuses which iiow claim the shelter .and sanction of legal usage, and it change for the. butter will soon be miinife.st. At present the leridors of labour are acting in opposition to tlio only instrumontnlity which can do them any permanent good. Instoii.fl of noting in siichaj would entitle them to claim protection and redress from the law they take up an attitude of hostility towards it. Moreover, they set up a bigoted, narrow, and illiberal law of their own, and attempt to enforce it by penalties which shall bring ruin to recusants. At, present they tend to become like the secret .societies of the Chinese, whom they so bitterly hate, or like tho Italian Maih. unci Cainorrii who :i,\ j ! now beginning to be spewed on , i.y civilized ooininunitius.

To-day Madame [•jamli Bcnihar.lt is to arrive from .San Fraucisco. The great French actress—or to speak inore accurately her impresario— shows pretty plainly which of the great Australian cities is regarded by the " pi'oi'esh " iis the capital of Australia. She passes through Sydney to commence in Melbourne. I venture to prophecy that in ten years time, with ordinary fair play, the verdict of even a globo-trotting showman would be tlio other way about, Prices are to be about thruo times as high as they customarily are. Hut than the linguistically learned Australian public will have the choice and peculiar satisfaction of hearing French plays in their original tongue. This, to a large number of our r.ouveaux riches, is a priceless privilego whicli cannot be too highly appreciated. A mass of more or loss ridiculous " gush " about the " star " is appearing in the papers. Ido not say it is paid for at so much per column, but if it were it would be no more than a fair business transaction. Nothing succeeds liko success, and one of the rewinds of tho successful is that tho newspapers advertise them for nothing. Nevertheless our Potts Point linguists need not imagine that their knowledge of French will give them an overwhelming advantage over the less favoured p-rtion of tbo audience. Tho language of passion is universal. It speaks to tho heart, and the words in which it is clothed are but a trivial circumstance. To do her bare justice, this is the language of which tho Bernhardt is famed as tho unapproachable interpretress, and all our littlo jokes about tho French grammar aud the French lexicon sink into insignificance before it. Descending from passion to prose, I have to report that tho general position as regards business is unaltered. There is no particular stir in any qiiiirter, anil there is a far greater number of unemployed than we euro to see. Breadstutts are unaltered, flour remaining relatively much lower than wheat, which is very firm at os, and is likely to go higher. Maize is worth 2s 2d to 2s Gd per bushel, according to quality. Sugar quiet; tea rather uncertain.