OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 283, 3 June 1909, Page 6

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

[OWN CORRESPONDENTS SYDNEY, May 25. DEFENDING THE EMPIRE. The Enipiro Day celebrations, though somewhat marred by threatening weather and occasional sleety showers, evoked much interest, and; will ~be long remembered by the thousands of eager, happy youngsters who took part in them. THE BARRIER STRIKE. It is stated that the Barrier strike ]ias cost the workers in wages nior'e than a. quarter of a million sterling. In addition many of them are out of work and have to face the world •afresh. What they have, got in return is best known to themselves. Their losses are due ;to the violent counsels of their leaders on one hand and to the timidity and cowardice on the other hand of those unionists who saw the wickedness and folly of the course taken, yet lacked the courage to stand up for the right. The lesson for the State is that the tyranny of the demagogue and the agitator is much more galling, and entails, far more serious consequences than any other that is known to us. AGRICULTURE. It can no longer be contended that a reputation for proficiency in agricultural knowledge is not a marketable commodity. Professor Lowry was offered £1000 a year for ten yea rs to take the Chair of Agricul ture at the Sydney University,. But he had already closed with the v Government of' Western Australia to undertake the duties of . Director- of Director of Agriculture at a similar salary for five years. He was therefore! compelled, regretfully no, doubt, to decline the tempting offer. Therefore, there is still room— at the top of the tree. JOURNALISM. The Institute of Journalists is faced by an invidious temptation. Shall it, or shall it not, go the way of the. common, or garden, variety of trades union , and aim at a monopoly of employment for its members? It would he, of course, in highly reputable company. The lawyers and the doctors have gone that' way before it,. and the tinkers, the tailors, and the candlestick makers -have but followed in their august footsteps. Whether a general segregation, of . the community into castes, bossed by the most energetic and least scrupulous of their number, would be for the public benefit or for the real benefit of journalists themselves, is more than doubtful. As Mr Gullett pointed out, individuality is the life and soul of journalism. AJI newspaper readers demand it, though many neglect to cultivate it. Once settle

into a conventional rut, and the charm of the newspaper vanishes. One speaker remarked that such proposals never come from genuine journalists, but usually from those- who are only on the fringe, so to speak, of the "calling. No decision has, as yet, been arrived at. SAUCE FO.ll THE GOOSE IS SAUCE FOR THE GANDER. Mr Fisher, "when addressing the Presbyterian Assembly, departed from the usual lines of the Labor orator. Instead of exhorting the ministers before him to insist on obtaining a more liberal reward for their services he confined the burden of his speech to impressing upon them the importance of doing/better work. Better work is undoubtedly the great need of the time. , But it Avould not be so urgent a need as it is, if the average politician and the average unionist worked as hard as the average minister of religion. = Surely" if it is important that manual-laborers shall receive a living wage it is much more important that those who labor directly to; promote the moral and spiritual elevation of tjie community shall be similarly cared foi\ Bishop Stretch has hit the nail fairly on the head. "I wish," he said, "that Mr Justice Higgiais could call the wives of some of our clergymen, 1 into the witness box, as he did those of the miners, and get from them the facts which. they have to face. How does the stipend compare with the expenditure? Everything has gone up but religion, many would plaintively and pathetically declare." ■ IMMIGRATION. The controversy which the secretary of the • British Immigration League is waging against the State Premier evokes but little interest. In comparison Avith the great question of the need of more rapidly increasing the population the adjustment of the claims of rival organisations seems a matter of superlatively small moment. At the same time it must be admitted that, badly as ■an influx of new .blood is needed, it will at present, for the most part, experience a very inhospitable reception, and will find .great difficulty in obtaining absorption. CLOSE PRESERVES. For, while on one hand we declare that. we. are very anxious for new arrivals, on the other we "are busily engaged An fencing them out. " For instance, every 'industry in which a minimum wage is declared is effectively fenced against the man who has his experience of Australian con-

ditions yet to gain, and who is thus a.t a disadvantage as compared with those who are receiving- the minimum. Ho cannot earn that, and it -would be a crime to take less. When, as is usually the- case, the olr.tacle presented by the minmuin w::ge is reinforced by "preference to •unionists," the fence is made doui/lv effective. The new ' arrival ir.. ay walk the streets till he starves before- lie is able to surmount it. GO ON THE LAND. Settlement on the land is held up as the proper destination of the immigrant. But tli ere is no more reason in the fitness of tilings why a greater proportion of immigrants than of those who are already here should become 'farmers or farm laborers. To become a farmer requires capital, which only few possess. To be an effective farm laborer also requires qualities which are possessed by only a certain proportion of the people who are here.Besides, according to the present trend of events, the farm laborers will soon be -a- close corporation too, like .the shearers and rouseabouts. Then we shall be practically ' saying ■to outsiders, "Come and live with us by all means, but we will take all sorts of care that you don?t get any work." It is very curious how eseremes meet. The party that loudly professes itself to be the <nlly upholder of the freedom of the working man is Tesponsible, as a matter of fact, for utterly destroying his freedom/ and for condemning the Commonwealth to stagnation and impotence. STATE BORROWINGS. New South Wales is. in the market again for a loan of three millions. Other States are seeking to tap the same source of supply. The amount seems large, but a large proportion of it is required for the redemption of obligations falling due. " Moreover, the balance is mainly required for work which in the Mother Country would be carried out by private enterprise, without any borrowing at all. In Australia, wisely or unwisely, we discourage private enterprise. Therefore, as additional capital : s urgently needed the only possible mode of obtaining it is by the medium of the State. '•