HEW SOUTH WALES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 78, 28 September 1907, Page 12

HEW SOUTH WALES.

• • Two subjects are of outstanding interwst in the mother colony at present. The ' first is the Government victory at the polls — the more remarkable in the face of the strong organised opposition from organised Labour and organised Liquor, and such allies as they could influence. The second is the unexpected strength ".iA the reduction vote on the license question. J-ocaj option is a novelty in New glouth Wales, and the vote, therefore, Sias, an added interest. As was once the -case in New Zealand, where prohibition ' is not cwrietl, the votes are credited to i eduction, which is mure logical than - , aw ,pres.ent plan, by yhich they are lost 'pltozetheij,

Strong protest is being made against the action of the Attorney-General in granting a lottery permit to the Eighthours Committee. In other States these permits have been refused, and no demur has been miide, the promoters recognising that no exception has bfen madb either Zov or against them. Tho New South Wales lottery is just an or- ! dinary gamble, and it is not disputed that the tickets represent nominal valuo exceeding that of tho prizes — in fact, the avowed object is to devote the surplus to the extinguishing of a debt on tho Trades Hall. Speaking at tho Ragged School annual gathering, Sir Harry Rawson, the Governor of New South Wales, said there were one or two things in the report which had struck him. The most important of these was that which stated that the schools were freo from Government help or control. "Since I have been out here," said Sir Harry Rawson, "I could not nelp being struck by the many appeals made by people to the Government. That is a bad thing for the State, and a bad thing for Australia, for it takes away that independence of character Tor which Australians have hitherto been noted." He instanced the ease of the pioneers who, having met difficulties, surmounted them, the wife helping the husband to maintain his independence. A "taxpayers' demonstration" in the Sydney Town Hall, advertised by poster and other means, at which ono Mr. Nolken, described as the. "Lawson of Australia," was to "give a talk" on the "frenzied tariff," turned out a fiasco. The date fixed — the 16th — was a little belated, as the people had already at the ballot-boxes given their verdict. The promotor and his views were alike unknown, and he was anable to secure a chairman of standing ; and those of the public who, impelled by curiosity, made their appearance at the Town Hall found the doors closed, and concluded that they were the sport of an elaborate and expensive hoax." The Sydney Telegraph points out that a late decision of the High Court (reversing a Supreme Court decision by a majority of ope) reduces the body of legislation against Sunday shows to an absurdity. The purposes of the Act (it says) "was to prohibit the business of Sunday entertainments, and if it fails to do that, as it must fail under this construction, it amounts simply to legislation iv vain. As to the propriety of the object aimed at, that raises a question about which nothing need now be said. This much, however, is beyond dispute -. An Act which professes to stop Sunday entertainments given for money, and does not do so, is an affront to the intelligence of the people responsible for its operatioa. We have row (says the Sydney Telegraph) removed the liquor question from the political arena, where it had too long been an element of confusion, and ii would be a calamity to have it remtroduced. If a substantial majority of the people wish to -reduce the number of hotels down to actual vanishing point, they now have the power to do so with- i out further reference to Parliament. What I more can Parliament givt themY Unless , there is such a majority the publicans have nothing to fear, but whenever threelifths of the .electors are determined on anything" no Parliament elected on the I oue-adult-one-vot« basis can prevent them j having their way. As Mr. Carruthers ! rays, local option, rightly or wrongly, has come to stay. Mr. J. J. Power, president of tho Licensed Victualler' Association, is displeased with Mr. Carrutkers. "Did he think," he asked, '"that the publicans or the liquor trade generally were going to eupport him and his party when he, according lo his own words, was trying to wipe them out of existence? We admit that we beat him for seven seats which otherwise his part, would have won. The Liberal Party has driven thousands of liquor men who have a considerable stake in the country into the Labour camp. They went to the opposite camp even against their political feelings." The Telegraph, commenting, says that the final test of an Act is that of efficiency. The liquor law is decried by the president of the Licensed Victuallers' Association as having proved 'a farce and a failure.' Yet in the same criticism he admits that under it four or five nundred licenses will be wiped out, and adds, 'We believe that reduction was necessary.' What clearer evidence could there be that the Act is not a failure? In the opinion of tho people there are four or five hundred too many licenses held in 'Jhe State, and the law has given them the means of declaring that opinion, to which they could not previously give effective expression. The result is that reduction will be made, which even the licensed victuallers' president admits the necessity of." New South Wales has boen visited by two serious fires, already briefly noted by who. On Sunday, the 15th inst., the picturesque town of Murwillumba, situated on a fertile plain on the banks of tho Tweed River, about four hundred miles north of Sydney, was destroyed ! by a fire which broke out about 8.30 o'clock at night, and, influenced to fury by a strong westerly wind, swept everything in its track. Tho damage is estimated at £150,000. Beginning at the back of Dainer's bakery, the fire leaped along the main street from building to building without chjeck, until tho whole town appeared to be a mass of flame. There was no water supply, and adequate fire-fighting appliances were also absent, so that the people coujd merely look on helpless at the destruction around them. Fifty-nine buildings were destroyed, including the courthouse, School of Arts, four banks (the Bank of New South Wales, Commercial Bank, the E.S. and A. Bank, and the Bank of Australasia), the Lands Office, and the police barracks (both in the one building), the two principal hotels, and many shops. No fives were lost, but two hundred and fifty people were homeless, and slept in the open or in churches and schools. At Murwillumba a disgraceful scene of- lawlessness occurjed while the conflagration was at its height. A band of "hooligans" broke loose on the town, and roamed through the streets, looting unprotected stores and dwellings. One man was seen to put on three pairs of trousers. In one case a man in a diunken state was found in art outhouse and rescued just in time. The police records were destroyed, but the Crown Land Registrar's records wero saved. The courthouse business will bo conducted li) the police stables. Some marauders took advantage of the troubles of the police to take boots, suits, sewing machines, guns, and jewellery from salvage in the police paddock. " A baby was born early in the day. The mother and the babe were removed in bed while the fire wa3 raging next door. On the 17th inst., an elderly man, Thomas Conn, residing at Lambton, near Newcastle, died under somewhat tragic circumstances. He, in conformity with an old habitj went to view his wife's grave in tho Wallsend Cemetery, and as his long absence occasioned some alarm among nis friends, a search was made. The old man's body "was found lying prostrat/j acioss tho grave, death having occurred some time previously. The dead body of an old-age pensioner named Donald Stewart was lately found outside his hut near Wtntworth by a. nolke-consUhlfi, T\er,rat*A U-vad, nt file.

police .paddock, about a mile and a half from town, and had been dead fully a month. His absence was first noticed by tho local postmaster, wno mentioned to the police that Stewart had' not called for his pension, and as ho was a noted figure for his caily application for the monthly grant, the constable proceeded to his camp to investigate. He was unable to get near the hut on account of the old intin's dog, which was ferocious. Tho constable had to return to town and procuto his revolver, with which he eventually shot the dog. The faithful animal stood' across his master's body, and could bo neither coaxed nor hunted off. An amount of £6 found in tho camp indicated that the old man had been steady and saving.