THE COMMONWEALTH.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13009, 10 January 1908, Page 8

THE COMMONWEALTH.

SOME REMARKS BY SIR JOHN .MADDEN.

'SPECIAL TO 'THE PRESS.'*) WELLINGTON. January 0. Sir John Madden. Chief Justice of Victoria, .who has come to Now Zw.land for a holiday etates that the Commonwealth generally, and Victoria i:i particular, are at present m a very prosperous eoudiuon. ar<l that, enormous expansion and progress mo apparent. The necessity tor irrigation is being very generally recognised. A nood deal is being doive. and the "V iotorian Government has in view a scheme, involving tho construction of a dam biji'Jjer than that at Assouan on the Nile-. Tho Government in this State is pursuing a vigorous policy of land .setrl.-a-.ent. Lar-o estates aro acquired by voluntary bargaining, th-o price to the settlers being based ou '..ho price paid by tho Government. The time -iiitJiin which the purchase may Iw , made from dale of occupation is thirty years-, and rhe- Government in ntany oii.' will ad vail m> money to rettlers. • Payment ib made 0.11 the, Irdu Fonder sy.stem. anil the Government charge.-." 1 per cerar. ,'l'he r.-v----.siilts are eminently satisfactory, and there :iro low arrears of payment. I'nder this close settlement edM-iue- no person is allowed to iiave land of' v greater capital value than £1500 Thero are some who u;iy the price paid for the land uiwW the scheme it» too hidh. and they desire the passing of a Hill limiting "the price, compulsorily. There is. however, no difficulty in settling the hinds at the prices asked. Mr IJent (the Premier) has .said that ho is ready a.s soon as tho CununonwonkJi hri.s dicided on a hards tor a national srhe-mo of clok?e settlement and irrigation, to throw open two million acres of land tor .such purposes-. In regard t/i tlie defence of tho C'ommi>mve;ilth. Sir John JUidden say.? tlie great majority of th-e people t-hiruk there should I* , a general eonrpnlsory system of milirary trahirnjj. Jl"ho difficulty will be in regard to tho organisation of such a scheme. At the present time, he said, no enthusiasm was manifested a&out -Mr Dea kin's propo*aLs. but on the other hand mo hostility was noticeable on the ground t.iiat the scheme -\ras of a compulsory character. Everyone rcoojjii teexl that ho-th for tho purposes of defence and discipline it was due to t"ho State that they should have fcomo training, and they also recognised that such a course would have an. undoubted educational value. Anionpit elder men thero was apprehension lest tiivo sebomo might lead to somo disruption oj business, hut the reply advanced to that argument was that men im training should Ito. paid for their services. Asked about tho growth of tho love of sport in Australia, Sir John said Uiat the great majority of people had a tendency towards sport; but that was only to be expected in a country blessed with a magnificent climate. People wanted to bo out of doors, and the Australian .naturally had the ''righ.t sort <-.f eyes" for sport. Wherev-er there were horses and men, thero would be horso racing. Good efforts had been made to keop the sport clean, and it was tho aamo with rowing and cricket. Unfortunately professionalism was creeping intc football. Tho totalisator, ho said, had no chance of getting legal sanction in Victoria.