OUR AUSTRALIAN. LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 42, 13 November 1907, Page 4

OUR AUSTRALIAN. LETTER.

COMING CRISIS AT NEWCASTLE GOOD RAINS IN THE COUNTRY. THE TARIFF. (FROM OUK SrECIAL courespondei;t.) The Moderate Protectionists have been gotting in some fino work upon tho tariff this week. . As has boon aptly said by one of tho newspapers, Sir William Lyno-devotes half his time in declaring that he will stand by his duties and the other half in drafting or accepting reductions. But on Thursday night bo suffered the most serious defeat so far on the Tariff Bill, whon an amendment on tho fodder duties was carriod against him by four votes. Tho condition of tho farmers in those districts theii threatened with drought evidently weighed considerably with members of the llouso, but to their representations that in their interests the duties ought to be suspended for twelve • months tho Treasuror merely replied that they wore making a mountain out of a molehill—indeed, ho refreshingly argued tho drought away, or at ariyrate, its offocts, saying that one Stato could supply another with fodder, and that, while unfortunately there was a want-of rain in parts of New South Wales and Queensland, ho had been told by a Tasmanian farmer that this was the best season they have ever had in that Stato. In South Australia and West Australia, and in the southern parts of Victoria also, the season was a good one, added Sir William. So members took matters into their own hands. They did not agree with the proposal'of Mr. M'Williams (a .Tasmanian. representative, by the way) that imports should bo free for. twelve months; but when Mr. Thomas Blown proposed that hay and chaff should be free, this amendment was carried against the Government by 24 votes to 20, all tho Ministry voting with the minority. With this duty struck out, and with tho rates for wire-netting, and confectionery, and candles, and matches, cut down, it will be seen that there is reason why Sir 'William Lyne docs not feel so certain as ho was at tho beginning about getting his tariff through exactly as he had brought it down. WELCOME RAIN. When Parliament debated the fodder duties on Wednesday, tho condition of the stock m some of tho country districts in New South Wales and Queensland was serious. The farmers have boon breeding to normal conditions; for the country has only recently re-, covered in tho numbers of its stock from tho great drought of 1902; and now these replenished herds, for tho want of wator, and the consequent .scarcity of. cheap fodder, havo been driven into the freezing works by thousands. This has been happening at Doniliquin and many other places. . But on Wednesday precious rain fell, which has been general all through the Eastern division of Now South Wales and part of tho AVestern division, as well as in parts of Queensland and Victoria-. The rain bogan in Queensland, and travelled down over part of Victoria arid the western districts of Now .South -Wales, and then camo with great rapidity eastwards, so that on Wednesday .night rain'feH'ovcr nearly all the Stato of Now South Wales, aii inch and a half being recorded'in some places. .It is not\possiblo to say yet whether this precious, fall will have an appreciable effect in saving tho wheat crop, for the ground has boon so completely parched that an inch of rain may not make a groat difference, though tho recuperative' power of the. Australian soil, oven under a few..points of moisture, is really astonishing. But it has boon received with gratitude, and especially by farmers, whoso stock has been saved. THE,.COAL : i TROUBLE..'. ~. We 'aW threatened with'''a gravo''crisis in tho coal industry, beeauso of the domarids of tho' colliery omployoes in the northern, districts; At an open-air meeting of minors the other night in'a'paddock in' Newcastle West,' said to have been'tho largest held for fifteen years, the men resolvod to ask for an advance of Bd. per ton in the bowing rate, instead of the <ld. offered; that the payment for small ccroenod coal should bo increased from the nominal one-eighth of a penny per ton.to Is. per-ton; that tho 18S8 agrebment should be restored so far as' it relates to tho minimum height of tho seam, and that tho working day should bo, as in othor countries, eight hours from bank to bank. The miners say that, as the proprietors are now getting very high prices for coal," and tho demand is greater than' over it was, they consider' themselves fairly entitled to a larger share of the profits. Unfortunately, however, the proprietors do riot appear to see matters in quite the same light, arid, as a result, we aro likely to have a crisis, which will mean tho complete paralysis of tho coal trade. The demand for the oight hours from bank to bank will bo considered later on, but'as to tho other conditions suggested there appears no doubt about the refusal' of tho owners, one'of whom has stated that thoy aro sick and tired of the demands continually made upon them, not by minors alone, but by other sections 1 of workmen .employed in .the'industry. Oh behalf of tlio men it is stated that their claim for something moro than Jd. per ton in the rate for screened small coal is justified by tho fact that the. rate of remuneration to tho owners for this coal is from ss. !)d. to 7s Tho miners' Committee of Management is'to moot to-night at Newcastle to consider the position, and tho result of this mooting-will bo-awaited with keen interest. The refusal of,tho ownors to grant their demands, and the fact that not even a compromise was suggested, has caused bitter disappointment to tho miners. Tho quantity of coal exported from Newcastle during tho month of October to places boyond tho Stato of Now South Wales was 449,580 tons; and when it is realised that theso figures take no account of the vast supplies consumed locally tho magnitude of tho industry will be Been. Of tho quantity thus exported, about 215,000 tons wore sent to other Australian States and Now Zealand. The destination of tho cargoes is here shown:— / ... . Tons. Victoria ... 101,275 South Australia ... ' ... ..'. 50.960 New Zealand 20[165 West Australia 16471 Tasmania :J 13420 Queensland...- 12 030 Chiji.... 89i701 United States ' ... 80 066 Mexico. ... ... ... ... 12!-441 Philippines 11,995 Hongkong ... ... 0575 ■ Fiji 75^0 ■ Straits Settlements gOOO Sandwich Islands ... gOOO Peru 2744 United Kingdom ~ 2200 Ocean Island }]00 New Caledonia ■ ■ ." noo : South Africa [\ 1050 Gilbert Islands " §11 Solomon Islands ... .. '"' 600 Indi » '.'.'. 566 ' 449,580 ; Tboso figures indicate, of course," how seriously .New Zealand will bo affected should the coal strike ocGur.

THE NEW SOUTH WALES BUDGET. The Budget of Mr. Waddoll, as you havo no doubt been informed by cable, follows almost.the linos laid down by his predecessor, Mr. Ciirruthers, in liis speech at Kogarah.: The- income tax on personal earnings is not to be abolished entirely; but all incomes' below £1000 will bo exempted, which will bo a very substantia! concession—for the exemption, at present is only £200—and 't will to some extent disarm the critics of the Labour. Party, who view this reduction as a concession to the well-off, though why this attitude should bo taken it is bard to See, when wo have a land tax in this country. Anyway, it will probably he admitted that the man who gols £1000 a year can afford to pay 'Something to the cost of government; Even if the income tax is to bo abolished to the man of modcrato income, be will find plenty of calls upon his purse without it, from the way things arc going now. The tariff has sent up the prices of clothes, and now the cost of food supplies is jumping up

with remarkable rapidity—all because of the drought and the scarcity of wheat and cattlo, so the tradesman who calls at tho door every morning tells you. Mr. Waddell proposes an extension of the old age pension system, so that the orippled poor of any ape may be benefited, and this commendable scheme, which is to come into effect on next New \ oar's Day, will cost £40,000. The stamps on cheques, receipts, promissory ri j c hllls of exc!ia "S p . arc to be abolished from January 1, a concession amounting to £60,000 for tho half-year, it is estimated. Jhc salaries of that industrious class of the community, tho school-teachors, are to bo increased, and thus to somo extent tho reproach may bo removed that we pay this deserving body of men and women 'less than wo pay our hod-carriers. Th'o sum of £60,000 will be set aside for this purpose, and there will also bo an additional vote of £40,000 for schools and teachers' residences. Tho subsidy to tho Shiro Councils, under the new system of local government, will bo £195,000. Ihe wise and carofu] administration of tho public finances,. Mr. Waddell declared, had brought the State to a position of financial strength unexampled in its history. A NEW ZEALAND VICTORY. 'The members of the Now Zealand Rifle J earn visited Bathurst yesterday, and took part in a match which has been described by Brigadier-General Gordon, the New South. Hales Commandant, as an "historic struggle- : The competitors represented Great Britain, Now Zealand, and the Civilian Rifle. Club, Bathurst; and the New Zcalandors dofoated the Britons by one point, while the Bathurst men in third place, were only one point behind the Britons. The result' was in doubt right up ,to tho last', shot, and tho .'finish,, therefore, was' very exciting. There were throe ranges. . At 200 yds. the Now Zealandors were 12 points behind Great Britain arid 8. points behind :Bathurst, and tho capital quality of their shooting is shown by the fact that, when. the 600 yds. was completed they wore in front 'with a score of 25G, or throe points hotter' tha.ii that of the Bathurst men, and sis'' points better than that of the Britons. The members of the British team made up their 'leeway at the last range, whilst the New Zealandors continued their splondid shooting in dull weather, aud with a bad light. When Ayson, the last nian, was to fire his'last' shot, he liad to make a magpie to tie''and. au inner to beat the Britons, who were leading tho Bathurst men by one point. Avson scored an inner, and thus, .'amidst,' great excitement, tho New Zcalanders won"! The scores, were:—; ... . New Zoaland ... 751 »-' Great Britain ... 750 Civilians ... 749 ■ ■ . : The following were' the detailed scores ?— . NEW ZEALAND,. 200 500 600. yds. yds. yds. A. Ayson ... 34 31 32—87 W. Masefield ... ... 31 34 31—96 F. Wilkio ... 30 33 32—95 J. Perrin ... ... ... 30 31 27—88 A. Cameron ... ... ... *29 30 33—92 W. Duncan ... ■ .... .„ 28 34 33—ftr C.'Hadfield ... ... ... 33 32 29—94 C. Craw ... ' ... ... 31 31 32-94, ' Totals ... ... 24G 256 249 751 GREAT BRITAIN. Major Richardson -33 33 32—98 Sorgt. Onimundsen... ... 28 24 31—83 Col. Cowau ... ... 33 32 29—94 Lance-corpl. Fulton ... 35 31 30—96 Warrant-officer Raven ... 32 31 30—93 Sergt. Tatlow ... ... 32 33' 30—95 Arm.-sergt. M'Haffio ... 34 33 28—95 Arm.-scrgt. Martin ... 32 33 31—96 Totals ... ...259 250 241750 BATHURST. B. Cutler 31 35 32—98 S. Kefford • ... 31 32 30-93 H. Hansard ... ... ... 31 31 27—89 W. Cutler. ... • ... ... 34 33 31—98 E. Cutler ... 133 30 31—94 ii. Webb ;...'■ 32- 31 29-92 A. KofTord : ... 33' 29 31—93 A. Cutler ■ ..:':•■ ;.;■•■ ... 29 32 31—92 ■ Totals ?'..'.''••''...' 254 253 242 .749 In the Bathurst ,team were four'members of the well-known- Cutler family of, marks-' ■men, including"W," ; Cutler, .winner of the King's Prize at the Empire Meeting tt Ilaudwick, and A. Cutler, who gained tho highest aggregato in tho Empire Match, won by the' 'Australians',' •':'.'''.' ' ■.«..:

VIAND HOLT'S TEMPORARY FAREWELL.

As Mr. Bland Holt's loaso of tho Met bourud Theatre Royal ended this week, his company has been disbanded for six months, for the first timo in 19 years. There was a great scene at the farewell performance in Molbournc. The place was packed, and hunr dreds of people who,wanted seats could not get into the thentro. When Mr. Holt came on there was wild cheering, which stopped the action of the play for somo minutes, and when the popular actor-manager was off tho stage, ho had to hold a kind of reception of scores of callers in his dressing-room. At tho end of tho evening "Auld Lang Syne" was sung, while flowers in great profusion were handed across the footlights to tho ladies. Tho gifts included two laurel crowns for Mr. Holt; Aftor a rest of six months, the : first time for years' that ho has .been permitted to enjoy that respito, Mr. Holt with his company will again appear in Adelaide. .