AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 150, 25 June 1904, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY.

« (For the weet ending Saturday last.) FEDERAL ARBITRATION. The details of the Arbitration Bill have been discussed in tkc- Federal Houfo during the week, and hardly a clause has been allowed to pass unchallenged. Mr. Glynn, of South Australia, hu& been particularly psr&i&tent in proposing amendments reducing the power*, of the Court. Members peeni to be arriving no neajrer an agreement as to the power granted for arbitration by the Constitution. A couple of days, were spent ovor the claus.es, providing for the application, of a comiuou rule. Mr. Glynn proposed to abolish j then} altogether, but. Air. , Watson ii&isted I upon the section* sr the mwt vital in the Bill, as the common rule ««« essential to protect the employer ordered to pay a fair wage. Air. Al'Uay moved that the common rule should not apply to workmen \yiio.«e products did not coins into competition, with the employees directly concerned in the- award. Others if.c, ho fc'aid, the Court might hear a snuAi cum and niiiko its award ihe common rule ia ' the industry throughout ' the Commonwoiilfcl); A modified form of Mr. "M'Cay'a amendment suggested by Miv Wafcon was ultimately' agreed to. '■"THE OCEAN. LINERS. ' ' The, Government lias introduced a number of clauses which it 'proposes to add to the Arbitration Bill, with a view of applying its provisions to all British and foreign ships trading betweeh Australian, ports. These new clauses provide that the masters of all outside vessels cuirying; paw-ongers and cargo between two Australian ports shall enter into an agreement with the crew providing that untij tiro .*hip , fceaws to be employed in thecoasting trade every award made by the Arbitration Court in reference to shipping shall be in force on board. It has been asserted that the ma&ters of outside vessels would get round these provisions by paying the higher Australian rates when in Australian Waters and afterwards deducting the difference when paying thei* crews beyond Australian jurisdiction. A special 1 clause has now' ljeen inserted forbidding this. The opinion seems to be very general that the High. Court will decide , . that the Commonwealth has no power to enact such provisions. Sir Edmund^ Burton, when Prime Minister, last, year considered such a proposal unconstitutional, and likely to lead to grave international complications. West Australian "members ar© especially indignant that no provision is made exempting tlie big mail^lin^ri* that at present form the chief, communicating link between their State and the rest of "the Commonwealth. am: waddell's cabinet. The oh.ar.g2s that have, taken place in the 'New South Wales Cabinet consequent on' Sir John Sen's retirement have con* iiderablv weakened tho- Government position. , Iho Sydney Telegsaph says that" Hie , nejw Ministry represents the. Sco Tarty in its last possible- btage of attenuation. Mr. Waddell is considered by the Party as a «afe but not a brilliant leader, and a rather colourless substitute for Sir John See. Air. Wise and Mx. Crick have, both left the Ministry, Air. Crick publicly complaining that he had been flighted in not being given tlie Premiership, Air. Wise, who is at present ■a member- of the Legislative^ Council, fslal-es that he will stand for tn*e Assembly at tho forthcoming elections, and talks vaguely about forming a party of his own under certain- conditions. The new members of the Government — Messrs. -Bennett, Fegan, nnd Gannon— do not add any strength to the team. There is a certain . pathos about tho S&at that' Air. O'Sullivan, formerly Minister for .Work*, lias been transferred to the Lands Department, where liewijl have the opportunity of. collecting revenue instead of spending it. The- changes arc thought to greatly weaken the Government's prospects at .tlie "forthcoming elections, particularly if Messrs. Crick and Wise attempt to form v new party, and so spltt up tho Alinisterial following. THE REFERENDUAI. Now (hat the final returns of the voting on the Victorian religious instruction referendum havo been published, both sides have been claiming the victory. Tho Melbourne Argus and Ago bath declare that the result of the voting, contradictory as it at first seems, is an overwhelming victory for the secularists. Tho advocates-, of the Scripture, Wessons, . on the other band, contend tliat the electors have in many cases misread the first question, "Are you in favour of the ' Education Act remaining strictly secular' as at present?" Many electors, 'they. sn,y, have read "secular" as. "undenominational," as the word has been so used" in' the past in Victoria in connection with the education question. No person, they say, could possibly have. in-MurtdeKStood the meaning of the second and third questions on the referendum paper, while many thousands might well have misread the.first one as it i 3 &uggested they have dove. The' Argus describes this interpretation .of the result as casuistry, and Mi-. Bent .has stated that . the view ignores the* words "as at present," which could not possibly leave any doubts in the minds of electors as to 'the "meaning of secular.' " THE FARMERS' CONFERENCE. The New South Wales Farmers' and Settlers' Conference hns concluded ita .conference- at Dubbo,' after dealing with a large number of matters affecting pa.*toraland agricultural interest's. The two most important -resolutions passed were those in favour of the conTorteion of leasehold elections into , freeholds, and in favour of the Association remaining aloof from any of the existing political parties. A platform has now be<.-n drawn up and members are urged tt> support candidates who ' adopt it at the ■ forthcoming elections. ' Ihe platform is a*- follows; 1. Land settlement to bo paramount over revenue, and to include (a) abolition of auction sale* of country, lands ; , (b) conversion of holdings, subject to continuous residence attaching to the land; (c) clectiveLand Boards. 2. State/ Land Bank. 3. Closer settlement by compulsory resumption of private estates oi over £20,000 unimproved capital value. 4. Water conservation. 5. A progressive railway, to include (a) extension and construction of paying lines; (b) railway revenue to be credited with increase ir- land revenue due to new military construction. 6. Local government." PROFESSOR GREGORY'S RESIGNATION. Professor Gregory* resignation of the Chair of* Geology and Minernlogv at tlieAlelbourne University caused considerable surprise^ It seems that the Professor some titke lime ngo received the offer of tho Chair of Geology in connection with Glasgow University. This he has accepted, as he saw no reasonable prospect of being provided with proper anparatus for carrying out his duties in Victoria, When he arrived four years ago he iillimated that a proper laboratory -would cost £10,000, and that ho needed 43300 for immediate requirements All that" the Council had bs*n, able to give him for equipment was £70, and ho had found it quite impossible to do satisfactory work under tho conditions. It is alleged that political considerations have operated to keep down the grant to tho University Ge6logical School, in order to keep it from competing with provincial Schools of Mine« t