OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 12067, 12 December 1903, Page 10

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

[FeOM OCR SPKCUL COBKESroKBKNT.] SYDNEY, December 5. FEDERAL NOMINATIONS. The nominations for the two Federal Houses certainly do not support any notion Tiiiit the future will bring any improvement ".ii the class of politicians ve are to have in (he consideration of Commonwealth affairs. They are, in fact, distinctly disappointing, :uid will not bear any comparison with the lists of candidates who came forward at the inaugural elections. The old members on the whole represent a much better type than the new aspirants for political honors, so that many changes will mean a decided decadence. There is a growing aversion on the part of the most competent men in the Commonwealth to engage in politics on personal grounds, in the first place on account of the unsatisfactory ordeal which has to be passed through, and in the next, owing to the loss of time and money, as well as the great inconvenience involved in attending the sittings of Parliament. At present, with its comparatively limited population, Australia has a multiplicity of Houses of Parliament and representatives far beyond its requirements. The reduction of members in the State legislatures will, no doubt, bring about some improvement, but it is questionable whether in the long run the type of Federal politicians will improve. Experience has shown that even with the Parliament meeting in Melbourne the sacrifice of time and personal comfort on the part of representatives who have to journey from one State to another is enormous, with little compensating advantage, and there is every indication that if they are called upon to bury themselves in a backblock capital in New South Wales the management of the Commonwealth will be left to the tender mercies of the professional politician and the blatant labor agitator. For the House of Representatives ten Ministerial, five Opposition, and two Labor candidates have been returned unopposed. These include the Prime Minister, to whom a walk-over is quite a novelty. Sir George Turner, Sir John Forrest, and Mr Austiu Chapman (three other Ministers). The Ministry has thus not done so badly to start with but Sir William Lvne may count himself lucky if he does not succumb at the poll.

There has been a rush of Senate candidates in New Soath Wales and in Victoria, including three ladies, who seem doomed to lose tneir deposits of An eccentric old woman had announced herself in Queensland, but when she was pelted with rotten ejrgs at an open-air meeting on Saturday she gave up all hope. An interesting incident in Victoria is the sudden reappearance of Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, the well-known Jnsh baronet, who same time ago was Premier of that State, and was latterly Attor-ney-General in the Patterson Government. He was a red-hot Radical associated with Sir Graham Berry in the palmv days of that veteran Protectionist, and now h'e de- : ':rf's to be returned as a Senator as an independent Protectionist and a supporter o! the principle of compulsory arbitration. T'lorn all appearances there is little prospet of much change in the personnel of the Senate.

The weakness of the Government in New South Wales is indicated by the fact that they have only nominated sixteen candidate for twenty-six seats, while the Opposition are represented in nil but four electorate-!. One of these .joes to Mr Chapman, the Minister of Defence, and the other three are he'd by Freetrade Labor members. The Labor party, however, have nominations for hajf^the spats, and in the absence of a direct Ministerial supporter. Government sympathisers are allying themselves with "the Labor section.

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN SPEAKER, The death of Sir James Lee Steore lemoves one who h;:s } ;CP n loner associated with official life in West Australia. ' The deceased was seventy-three vears of n~e. JTe had held the position of' Speaker since the establishment of responsible government in 1890, and had been a resident of the State for forty-two years. He was held in |he greatest respect, and was accorded a funeral. He was a native of Ssrret f England), and a son of a former m-mb-'r of the House of Commons. His place as Speaker has beer, filled by the election of Sir Charles Harper, a member of the Assembly for ten years, and htteriv Chairman oi Committees.

RETRENCHMENT TN QUEENSLAND. _ The Queensland. Government are unflinehrndy carrying out a policv of retrenchment In connection with the Civil Service a reorganisation schema has h,-n druwn un involving at least fifty retirements and the rearrangement of the work of various oeparrments. It is reported that the Govern?f?nnf PeCfc t0 eff " Ct a savin ? of abont a year. CARDINAL MOHAN'S RETURN. Cardinal Moran has returned to Australia from Rome in time to intrude himself in th" political sphere during the elections. Pv W';y of commencement he lias made Vh'e following remarks tn nn interviewer in Melbourne : "T have not had much opportunitv of rtTTo-yuwr the trend of affairs in Australia fiunrtg the past five months, but as far ai J ran judrj-e from the public Press, I look upon the present endeavor to introduce sectarianism into the political erem as a proof o. the greit weakness of Mr Reid and his party. If ther had anv real political strength they would rely on it rather than on the rousing of such a spirit in the community to attain their political ambitions lheman who exercise? vote from mere motives of bigotry is no patriot. The elector; should record their votes for th» men best qualified to serve their country, either by ability, experience, or true patriotism. Inat is a sound political principle that has really saved the Empire from' destruction in days gone by. and it is the onW hop<j for the future of this great country. At the we, ns Catholics, have nothing to fear from such men. "My advice to the electors is that thev pay ro attention whatever to such extremists, and an exhortation I would address to the people is to observe the Latin maxim to triumph over evil bv a display of everything that is eocd ; and I hope they will record their votes for true patriots and those best able to guide the destinv of the r. at ion." THE COMING OF THE "SECOND ELIJAH." The projected visit of the Rev. J A Dowie, the Zionite leader, to Sydney' caused some little pertmb-'rion in'alderEiamc circles when the question arose as to allowing the "Second Elijah" the u«e of fae Town Hall. The Finance Committee recommended that the use of the hall should be granted on the usual terms, but Alderman Kelly objected, on the ground that sectarian strife might be raised. Alderman Meagher scouted the narrow-minded spirit. that would shut out from the Town Hall any religious teacher. He contended that Dowie had as much right to expound bis religious views in the Town Hall as had iny other individual, for he did not think that he could stir up any more strife than sther sectarian-mongers who were in evidence at the present time. As far 'as the American Pre-s w*re concerned, he maintained that fully 93 per cent, of what was published durin-r election or other equally Rxcitinc time might well be discarded. He claimed to have some religious tolerance, and was prepared to listen to what every man bad to say concerning the savm" of souls. For hi<s part, he thought there "was rnore Chr'ftisni'-y in the thumb of Tom Paine than many of those high-falutin' gentiem"n who occupied the pulpits on Sonciny. If he behaved himself, then" was no reason why he should not be heard. He would sooner fall into line with Tom Pairte ,'ind his followers than with those who tried to wound the feelings of others not of tie same persuasion. Many persons had taken e~e<=ption to what were called the music he.!! methods of Torrey and Alexander; but he admitted thit, after having heard them one evening at the Town Hall, he had left the building a better man for it. Most certainly be would sooner hear " Elijah Dowie " expound his views of the Bible than listen for one moment to the strife-mongers who preached a lot and practised little.' It seemed to bin that some people swallowed the sectarian camel and strained at the Dowie gnat." Eventually the Committee's recommendatSaa was annroved on. division oy 15 votes to

4, the minority being Aldermen Kelly, West, Jones, and ftl'Elhone. A WOMAN'S SHOCKING DEATH.

A trade affair took place at Menzies' Hotel, Melbourne, the other night. Mr and Airs Dugald MacDougall, who arrived from London three weeks ago, were lodging at the hotel, and occupied a room on. the fourth storey. While Mr MacDougall was at the annual dinner .of the Caledonian Society his wife remained at the hotel, and alxv.:r 11. "V> was preparing to go to bed. The v.il:.'. • of her room was high from the'flour, i-

apparently one of her cuffi fell on to a below, and in attempting to recover \]■.[■■ she over-balanced and fell headlong to the slreet pavement, a. distance of 50it. Two gentlemen who were passing heard a heavy crash behind them, and turning saw a human form huddled on the pavement. It turned out to be the body of Mrs MacDougall, her limbs being broken and twisted. i;<at.h must have been instantaneous. CHINESE EGGS ESCAPE DUTY.

An ingenious plan of importing Chinese eggs into Australia so aa to escape" Customs duty_ has been brought to light. The tariff provides for 6d per dozen duty on eggs, and 6d per dozen on eggs condensed whole—one dozen fluid ounces to be considered equal to one dozen eggs. Plainly ergs imported in the shell or in bulk "for household or baking purposes must be dutiable under one or other of these headings. That 5s the spirit of the law, but the importer has discovered that it is not the letter. Instead of importing eggs for biscuit and cake manufacturing purposes in the ordinary pulp (i o in buik without shells), they are be'ing broken! and the white and yolk shipped in separate packages. The white, as egg albumen, comes m duty free, and the yolks, according to the decision of the Comptroller-General of Customs, comes under item 40 (oilmen's stores) of the tariff, and are dutiable at 15 per cent, on the cost. Having run the gauntlet of the Customs, the whites and yolks, when required for use by the manufacturers, are mixed a?ain. This system of importing the separated egars has been suba successful practical test, and ihe result is that instead of paying 6d per dozen duty the eggs can be imported in this way at less than |d per dozen duty. Under these conditions it is not a matter for surprise that large contracts have been entered into for importing eggs from China during tLe ensuing six months. HALF A CROWN UNDER A WILL. MVs Mary A. T. Redden recently died in V ictoTia, leaving an estate valued at £4.963, which she bequeathed as follows :—£soo to Archbishop Carr for masses to be said in St. Patrick's Cathedral for tie repose of the souls of her late father, mother, and herself, and for her surviving brother, John William, after his death: £IOO each to the Little Sisters of the Poor at Northcote, Magdalene Asylum. Abhotsford, and St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne; £2OO to St. Joseph's Home for Destitute Children, Surrey Hills : and bequests of similar amounts to three friends. The residue of the estate, less two and sixpence, which is bequeathed to the surviving brother, is to be divided equally between Archbishop Carr for masses and Catholic institutions.

A caveat against the granting of probare has been lodged by the brother, who is given the half-cnnui. A BELT OP HALF-CROWNS.

lwo peculiar cases were brought to light at the Adelaide Destitute Asylum recently. Henry Kahle, a German, ' who was admitted to the asylum nearly ten years ago. and who worked as a tailor', was allowed 2s 6d a week a.- pocket money for his special s-rvkw. A few days ago he astonished the officials by informing them that, he intended to return to Germany. Asked if he had friends._ he replied: "No. but I have money.'' He then showed (hern a huge belt, which he had worn under his ordinary clothing, containing every half-crown he 'had received, over 400 in' number, and weiihing about 131b. The money was so old and blackened that the shipping authorities refused to take it until it was tested. However, the old man got away bv ?he German steamer.

Another man, Robert Henry Evans who had wandered all over Awtrclia in apparently destitute condition, was admitted last July. A few days ago he received a lemirtance for £B6 from Ireland. The authorities then discovered that he was- the owner of property consisting of sis housesin Ireland. They had him properly clothed, and sent him with the balance of the moa»v due to him to England. THE WEIGHT OF 100 SOVEREIGNS. A strange story wa« io!d in the Victorian Supreme Court on an application for an injunction to restrain the Bank of Victoria and two private persons from dealing immediately with £365.

The fads sworn to hv the applicant, Henry William Lutwycke. of Svdnev. were that he had had in his custody 500 sovereigns belonging to his mother." They were secreted in a shed attached to the house in winch he lived with hi* mother and a nurse. A conversation took place one dav between Lutwycke and the nurse as to the' weight of a hundred sovereigns, and he took her to the yard where he had hidden the money. He Landed her a bag containing 100 sovereigns. and alter she had experienced the delight of handling so many golden coins, he "returned them to their hiding place in her " presence. She warned him'that the place was not at all safe. Then he removed his hoard. He put the coins in a teapot, which wa« hidden in a tin, and placed it in an unlocked room off the verandah of the home. The nurse shortly afterwards left suddenly, excusing her absence on the ground that her sister, residing at Cobar, was seriouslv ill. It was alleged, however, that ehe had "gone with a laborer on a holidav tour. Th.-y vieired Melbourne, depositing £565 in the Bank of Victoria, and then went on to Tasmania, where they were arrested and taken back to Sydney to answer a charge 'of having stolen the money. Thev ,-ive now awaiting trial.

Lutwycke has also instituted legal proceedings against the laborer and the nurse to recover the money, and sought to restrain them, with the bank, from dealing with the money until this action had been determined. The Court granted the application.