OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER

Evening Star, Issue 12173, 18 April 1904, Page 3

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER

{From Our Sydxky Cobrespoxdest ]

SYDNEY, April 10. THE ARBITRATION BILL. —A Repudiation.—

The chairman of the Public Service Assosiatton of New South Wales (Mr E. S. Fautin) took the opportunity at the annual sonference of that body of repudiating any lesire on its part to be brought within the Federal scheme of arbitration. He de;lared that the public servants of this State were quite satisfied with the administnition of the Public Service Board, aud did not irant to be interfered with by any outside 'ribunal. They had never asked for a Federal Arbitration Act, and did not want It. They were free men, with the full rights of citizenship ; therefore, why should in attempt be made to place upon their legs the shackles of industrial strife. They would make a. strong protest against any such interference before their freedom was taken away. —A Dreadful Alternative.— A meeting under the auspices of the Sydney Labor Council, on the other hand, de;ided to call upon the Federal Labor party Io accept no Arbitration Bill which excluded seamen and State employees. Mr W. M. Hughes. M.H.R.. made an extraordinary deliverance on the occasion. He said that people were mistaken in their view of what the alternative to an Arbitration Court for the settlement of disputes would bo to-day. It would not be the same as in the" 1890 strike. Imagine, if they struck now. with the power of the Labor party, and with the control of the aolice and military no longer at the disposal of those who employed the strikers. .■Kit at the disposal of those who were employed. This was the alternative—not the state of things which existed before the Arbitration Act came into existence, but the alternative to arbitration would be chaos and bloodshed.

This, means (says the ' Telegraph ") that 'we are to have constitutional government unset, by ultra-democracy. T]\e right of the State taxpayers to control their own employees must he taken away by law, or suppressed hy violence. We are willing to believe that this was not exactly what Mr Hushes meant to say, bet it is. all the -amc, the only logical meaning which his tctual utterances will bear. The crisis impending over the Federal Arbitration Bill, therefore, involves issues with a reach that t is difficult at. the present time to gauire. And the who,.' trouble has arisen throu<rh the weakness of the Deakin Government in attempting to propitiate the caucus hy a half-measure, which merely serves to whet appetite that it was intended to uifisfy." STAGNANT AUSTRALIA.

While political parties contend for the ipper hand, enterprise in Australia is practically at a- standstill. The result of the ipproaching crisis may be to put a stop to narrow-minded Trades Hall-dictated legislation, but much mischief has already been done, and many years may elapse before Australia regains her former reputation and credit. What has already been achieved by labor domination, and the doubt as to what is to come next., have produced such a feeling of distrust in the future of the country that those entrusted with the investment of capital are becoming more and more conservative. Of course, the influx c-f foreign capital h;i,s ceased, and local industrial enterprise has almost died out. The latest indication of how capitalists are becoming " sc;ued" is afforded by the :ondition of the real estate market in Melbourne and Sydnev. Few but exceptionally good residential sites are changing hands, the spirit of speculation being quite dead, and as mortgages are falling due renewals are being declined. People with money, although offered a higher rate of interest, prefer not to have it locked up in a country where the course of future legislation is so uncertain. Many are going out of housekeeping, partly on account of the ever-in-creasing trouble with domestic servants, hut largely so that they may be in a position to quit the country any day. A "RECORD" EASTER MONDAY. The bounteous harvest "of New South Wales produced what ha.s been designated a "record" holiday in Sydney on Easter Monday. The influx of country visitors this Easter has been quite abnormal, and as wet weather kept many people off the show ground last week the fine weather of Monday morning attracted a crowd of over 70.000. With such a throng of people, seeing the exhibits was a matter of almost insuperable difficulty, and personally I -was glad to leave the show ground after fighting with the multitude for about half an hour. There was also one of the largest crowds ever seen at Randwick racecourse, and there was a record traffic on the trams and trains. Strange to say, there was not a. single accident in connection with the traffic of Easter Monday, although two days afterwards an unfortunate fatality Dccurred through two trams colliding at noints on the Randwick line. The "accilent was one which might have taken place at any time, the points being improperly ?et. The tramcars were considerably smashed, and a bookmaker named William Snelling, who was seated at the side of the front platform of one of them, got crushed to death. Minor injuries were sustained by several other passengers.

EDUCATION CONFERENCE.—THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS.

The Conference organised bv the NewSouth Wales Department of Education to discuss the report of Commissioners Knibbs and Turner are sitting in Sydney. An inaugural address was delivered by the State Governor, and remarks were abo made by several church dignitaries who were invited to be present. They, of course, took the opportunity of putting in a plea- for religious instruction. Cardinal" Moran contended, on behalf of the Catholic bishops, that the. best results of education were not attained unless religion permeated the educational system. Both in England and Scotland the people had learned to recognise that great principle. The same results were to be found in Irelani and Canada. If permitted, he woidd like to suggest how improvements might be effected in"the State school system. First, he would like to see a. uniform standard adopted throughout the Commonwealth. Secondly, some of the country centres should be equipped with better school buildings. Thirdly, every consideration should be "extended to teachers to secure their proper maintenance, and to provide them with comfortable homes. Fourthly, great care should be exercised in increasing the system of kindergarten, because of its materialising effect upon lhe young. He contended that books written by Protestants should not be used in the religious, hastruction to Catholic children, sspecially in those cases where the authors were confessedly the opponents of the Chruch, and the books conduced to antiCatholic proselytising. Of such were the Scripture lessons in use in the public schools of New South Wales. Further than that, the work done by Catholic schools should be compensated and recognised by the State. He did not mean the religious part, but the ordinary educational work required by the curriculum of the State. He would also like to see that the department instituted a system whereby Catholic schools would be subject to tho inspection of public officers,, just as in the case of the State institutions.

When the Conference got to business, the si'bject of pupil-teaching was dismissed, and oltimately the following resolutions 'were agreed to:—- (1) Thai, in the opinion of \hu Conferences tha Department of Education should be asked to terminate the pupilteacher system as soon as possible, and immediately take steps to put into force the system of previous training; (2) that in view of the practical difficulties in the way of immediately adopting this scheme, such changes should be made in the existing system from time to time as will at first introduce and afterwards extend the application of the principle of previous training, and lead finally to the complete adoption of the previous training system; (3) that the

first modification should include previous partial training of all pupil-teachers admitted to the service henceforth; (4) that the Minister be asked to Dominate a committee to draft and to report to this Conference a scheme for the admission and the partial previous training of pupil-teachers employed in the regular work of the school." Subsequently the following decisions were also arrived at:—" (1) That this Conference request the Minister to place ori the Estimates for the next financial year a sum of money to provide and equip a normal school and practising school attached; (2) that this Conference recommend that the examination of applicants for admission to the Normal School be the same as that prescribed for applicant pupil-teachers, bnt (a) that, when practicable, graduates of any recognised university be admitted -without examination: (b) that applicants be not. under seventeen nor over thirty years of age; (c) that any pupil-teacher may ho transferred from the pupil-teacher class to the Normal School, but that such transfei shall not be regarded as a. treak in the service; (d) that students in the Normal Schools be granted allowance during period of twining—males £6O. females £45; ("•) that the period of training be at least two years, and on completion of training students be eligible for appointment as assistants." EXIT DOWIE. The Re.-. J. A. Dowie ha-s taken his departure from Adelaide unobtrusively, not to say secretly, by the R. M.S. Mongolia, which sailed 1"—-* England on Thursday. Instead of liskfng tit- trip to the mail steamer by the ordinary passenger !atmc'i from Largs, Bay he got the use of a. special launch from Brighton. He slipped aboard the steamer in a most undemonstrative way. and almost unobserved The Rev. Friend lien kins was on hand to meet inquiring reporters, and, when asked whether the Xionite leader intended to return to Australia, gave this remarkable reply: "Yes; nut when he comes again he w».l be accoin--I'sir.sed by a .thousand Zion guard; in ships of their own. He will have bis G.OOO-to:i ' adit, which is already in course of con stiuction. He will then ronqu-jr Anstralii and the flag of Zion will w;i-ve over the uncle- Commonwealth." He add-d that about forty people had arras gad to leave j South Australia for Zion in May next. ATTEMPTED SAFE ROBBERY.

A sensational attempt to rob the safes of the Carlton brewery, in Melbourne, was made on Wednesday morning. A man residing near the brewery heard the explosion of dynamite charges to hurst open the safes, and, leaving his bed, looked out of a windew. He was observed by one of the burglar gang, who gave an alarm, and the robbe*s immediately took to i.u'ir heels. A constable arriving shortly .i.i"'.er*",fds. an ir: rection was made of the hivw-iry office The room was thick'with smoke of powder, p.ud a glance showed that expert and ttanr.g safe-breakers had been at work- The door of a Milner safe had been blown out. and the. guard of the keyhole on the strong room door had been blown tlirongh the skylight. x\bout £2O in gold and silver was sci.liere.l aboul.Ahe floor, atvi it «*< ap parent t Nft|dHfcMtf rs had not had time to gather The fact that a bit of fuse was found in the office shows that they had put in a "time" charge, and, having ignited the fuse, had left the office to be out of personal bodily danger of any effects of the blasting operations. A stout iron bar was found in the cashier's office, the deduction being that one of the robbers had stood by the door ready to brain anybody who might happen to arrive on the scene. As a result of a close examination, it was found that the only money missing is the sum of 7s, which was left overnight in a petty cash box. The safes contained in all over £5,000 in cheques and cash.