OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 462, 22 March 1909, Page 6

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

THE PREMIERS' CONFERENCE. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) Sydney, March 13. Tho financial problem before the Premiers' I Conference in Hobort has been settled to ■ tho satisfaction of tho Premiers themselves, i tho idea ombodied in a schemo suggested 1 by tho Premier of Queensland (Mr. Kidston) ' having been accepted unanimously. The i Premiers first of all waited for Mr. Fisher, ! tho.Prime Minister, hut ho, like a cautious i Scotsman, preferred to say nothing until , that policy speech wo have been expecting so long, and for which wo may have to wait ' still for at least another two or three 1 weeks. On account of his attitude towards ' tho conference, Mr. Fisher has como in for • some hard names from his opponents, one set > of whom describe him as an autocrat, and 1 another as a timid; nervous man—at which I amusing contradiction he smiles, and says nothing, except to suggest that his critics i might first of all agree upon what they aro > to call him. Failing: a scheme of finance from the Federal Government, the Premiers aro now proposing one of their own. Mr. > Kidstou's suggestion was this:— 1. A sum of £6,500,000 per annum to bo • reserved to the States out of tho total Cus- • toms and excise revenue, with an additional • £250,000, which will bo devotod. to meeting tho special needs of West Australia, and 1 Tasmania. 2. The rest of tho Customs and excise.revenue up to £11,250,000 per annum will go ■ to the Commonwealth, giving it a maximum ' from this particular source, and up to that • limit, of £4,500,000. 3. Any revenue above £11,250,000 to bo divided between, tho States and tho Commonwealth on a basis not yet fixed. That part which goes to States to he distributed among them on a per capita besis. Tho amount proposed here, £6,750,000, has been accepted by the Premiers, but their resolutions, as finally agreed to, recommend that instead of its being a fixed payment, it should be a minimum payment, and that 1 the States should participate to tho extent of three-fifths in all revenues from Customs and oxcise. Tasmania's grievance has been removed by the adoption of the per capita system, but as this system on tho other hand is not acceptable to Western Australia, because of tho large amount contributed per head by that Stato to the Customs revenue, hence the reason for the special payment in her oaso. Now we shall await with interest Mr. Fisher's speech at Gympie, to see what ho thinks of the scheme, and thus estimate with greater accuracy its chances of success. Apparently, judging from certain remarks this week by tho Federal AttorneyGeneral, Mr. Hughes has no gieat lovo for it. Sir Robert Stout in Sydney. Sir Robert Stout, the Chief Justice of New Zealand, was in Sydney this week, but for only one day, as ho and Lady Stout and their daughter caught the P. and 0. steamer Moldavia on Wednesday, the day of sailing having been altered from Saturday, as.the vessel is to call at Hobart for a big cargo of apples for London. The visitors, who stayed at Pfahlert's Hotel, felt tho muggy heat of one of Sydrtey's trying March daVs very much. February and March aro really the worst months of the year here, as whilst tho thermometer does not climb very high, tho atmosphere is moist and' heavy, and far more enervating than the dry heat of Decomber. Hence Sir Robert Stout took things very quietly, and proposes to take all the rest he can on tho trip. When ho went to the Post Office in Sydney the morning of his arrival to post some letters, ho discovered that we haven't got penny postage fee, a fact which greatly surprised him'. "You aro behind Now Zealand then," ho replied, when he found that a twopenny stamp was required. "Over there we can send a letter up to a quarter of a pound in weight "for one penny within New Zealand, and up to an ounce in weight to England or America." Hero, on tho contrary, you must pay twopence to some of tho suburbs, A great crowd saw tho Moldavia off, the big ocean boats being always crowded with passengers at any season of the year. Someone on the wharf raised a cheer for "tho Chief Justice of Now Zealand" amidst the babel of farewells and noise of cheering genr erally. There was a great display of flowers, handed up to various passengors by their friends. Captain G. L. Napier, who has just given up tho position of oflicer-in-chargo at tho Admiralty establishment at Garden Island, left by the Moldavia, and his wife was laden with flowers _ from her many friends iu this city, her cabin being a bower of roses. Along the decks, lined by people as tho steamer moved out from hor berth at Circular Quay, wore ' heaps... of flowers, in one place a huge bank of roses, asters, and 'gladioli' attracting universal attention. One bright-faced girl threw down a long streamer of ribbon, the end of which was eagerly' clasped by her friends on .the wharf; and an exuberant young man on the top deck threw across his straw hat, when' the liner was quite a long distance out. It cut through tho air.like a piece of cardboard; and fell almost into tho hands of the group calling "Good-bye" to him, at which they .raised- an enthusiastic cheer, whilst he stood grinning, and calling out his last messages to tho shore. The Deakin-Cook Coalition. The coalition which is to throw the Eishor Government out of office—according to tho hopes of thoso who have been'trying to premote it—does not seem to b& closer at hand. Mr. Deakin's speeches on his Protectionist tour of Tasmania, just concluded, have not . by any means drawn his party and that of the Opposition, led by Mr. Joseph Cook, into each othor's arms. He has, in his most recent utterance, declared that ho wished to leave over for future consideration the ques- J tion of tho fusion of parties; but, failing any : clear pronouncement from Mr. Deakin upon ; tho subject, some of his supporters havo been suggesting that the only satisfactory coali- ] tion will bo one in which the lamb will lie ' down inside of tho tiger—in other words, that the Opposition must becomo absorbed i in tho De'ukm paHy. Naturally, the Opposi- ! tion declines to play the part of the lamb. "If this is to bo the price of union, it will . never bo paid," declared Mr. Cook, in a ■ speech to his constituents at Parramatta this week. There must bo, ho insisted, mutual ' concessions, and a spirit of give and take en each side. Hence, he invited Mr. Deakin to make clear his position to the public—and in this the Leader .of tho Federal Opposition is undoubtedly right. There ought to bo some definite schemo of amalgamation, or the business ought' to be abandoned altogether. But perhaps tho two _ leaders aro waiting, as everybody else is waiting, for that policy, speech. _■ The Opposition and Defence. In his Parramatta address, Mr. Cook made clear tho attitude of his party on tho subject of defenco, and tho now Australian • Navy proposals. Compulsory training was in the air, said he; but, if wo could not train and keep efficient 20,000 men, how on earth were wo going to do it with 200,000? What was wanted was not so much oompulsory service as compulsory efficiency. According to figures presented to Parliament, the sum of £200,000 was wanted to thoroughly equip their present forces. They wero told they had no ammunition wagons worthy tho namo, no swords for the new rifles, and only one gun to every ten men. There was no adequate training worth the name; they wero simply playing at the business, and the members of the forces themselves.would bo the first to admit this. Yet tho expenditure on defenco was reduced all along tho lino instead of being increased, and still they talked of wanting now soldiers. Ho would begin by not interfering with the Imperial subsidies—let theso ho increased instead of being reduced—and if an adequate dofenco scheme wero undertaken, tho Northern Territory must bo taken over for that purpose, this to be done on terms fair to all the parties concerned, as woll as to tho new Northern State which would thus bo created. Tho Australian Navy, he held, ought to be the Australian section of the' Empire's Navy, In other words, they might make a beginning .with a navy after consultation with tho Admiralty at Homo, and with its complete co-operation. Wo should havo complete unity in control in time of war, as well as in preparation in time of peace. Then there should bo a common council on defenco matters, and so far as tho land forces were concerned, liettor training for tho officers and men, and greater en.oouragemant to tho farces we already had,.