OUR SYDNEY LETTER

Evening Star, Issue 14554, 1 May 1911, Page 8

OUR SYDNEY LETTER

QTTAT.TTV v. QUANTITY. One of the moat interesting personalities at the Easter Show was Mr James Dunlop, & member of the Scottish Agricultural Conrmissoh. With Mts Dunlop, he remained behind when the other members of the Comnriasiori returned to Britain. He ia recognised as an authority upon agricultural matters, and when he was «een at the show he was pressed very hard to give his candid opinion respecting the exhibition. He said a number of tho complimentary things which our journalistic guides have made too familiar to need repetition, but he felt impelled to Bay some other things besides. Acknowledging that in the cattle sections therewere some very fine specimens of the best British breeds, he said that he was surprised at the very large number of second Tate and inferior animate shown. Here lie touched the weak point of the show. In the desire to have a big " spectacle "' at all costs, quality is sacrificed to quantity. Anything, pretty much, is good enough, if the owner is only willing to pay the entrance fee and 6end it along to swell the numbers. At Home, Mr Dunlop said, Buch an exhibition would be confined to •winners at country shows, who would compete with one another, not with animals which they had already beaten, fur the highest honors. Incidentally he remarked that he was disappointed w'th the Ayrshires. As for horses, especially the heavy draughts, not even the merits of the New Zealand contingent could redeem j them in hifi eyes. The prize-winners in the Clydesdales, he declared, would nat get a 6econd look in Scotland. And yet ■we have been admiring them unstintedly, i "Your draught horses here as much too, straight, too Tound, and soft of bone, aim straight to the pasterns, with all the_ indications of unsoundness, such as sklebone. Your show of Clydesdales puts one in mind of a country fair in Scotland now a show, mind yen, but a fair, where they sold horses—thirty years ago." That | is a cold douche, if you like. If there | was anything that we flattered ourselves j that we knew something obm\t it was a j horse. Now we are told that what we j thought we know we have to unlearn. | Very disconcerting, but perhaps all the ! more salutary. I THE PREMIER CITY. I Mr R. W. Richards, who left tho service? j of the Sydney City Council to take up j work in New Zealand, has been giving us j some interesting information concerning I municipal affairs in the Dominion. He | considers that, generally speaking, Aus- j tralasia is advancing in the- science of j human comfort more rapidly than any I other part of the world ; but in Austral- j asia be gives the palm to Duncdin. That j City, he declares, stands pre-eminent in the sphere of municipal government, and j from this point of view is equal ti> any ] city of its size in the habitable globe. It j owns and controls the abattoirs, tho gas and water supply, the tramways, the generation of electrical energy for lighting and power; it has blue metal quarries, and i extensive lands, reservos, and park areas. ', besides endowments amounting to £200,000. ! Whereat our ardent municipalists are consumed with envy of the happy lot of their colleagues in the southern seaport. There are. of course, some inveterate sceptics, who "want to know, yon know," whether the citizens are as well satisfied as their municipal officers, or whether, after all, there is a tly in the municipal ointment in this City, as elsewhere. There can be no question, however, that municipalisatiou is on the up grade, and is going very strong. A WHEAT EXPERT. Tho ability and value of the services of Mr Sutton, the wheat expert who took up the work of the late Mr Farrer, are more highly valued in West Australia than in this State. Mr Sutton has been offered something like double his present salary to go west, and he has closed with the offer. It is pointed out that his services ought to be more valuable to Now South Wales than to the Western State, seeing that our wheat production is so much greater. Youth, however, will not be denied. The younger State has determined to get the best talent available, and the odder, ones have to pay tributo accordingly. If Mr Sutton's salary had been increased to the point set by Westralia there would I have to be a general levelling up, whereas I the Acting Treasurer is more inclined to cutting down. EMPLOYMENT. The figures of the Employment Bureau are not, in tho nature of the case, altogether comprehensive or perfect. But they are the best available, and it is not reassuring to learn from this source that there was in March a slight falling-oif in activity, which is likely to become more pronounced as the winter approaches. Undoubtedly, in Sydney business is unusually prosperous. Men, and women too, who are considered able to do a good day's work, in return for the good wage now made are in keen demand, and it is impossible to get sufficient of them. But theTe are hosts of others who cannot earn the statuory minimum. Some are in this unfortunate position through no fault of their own—from old age or other disability; but many more are "wasters," because they have persistently lived in such a manner as to cause them to become «x Some have never applied themselves to become qualified to work. Some ate exceedingly well qualified, but through, j laziness, insubordination, drunkenness, or I other causes of their own making they have acquired an undesirable reputation. The best hope of reform in the case of these latter would be to allow them to j make engagements for what they might be | worth. But this, in the eye of the law, j would be a punishable offence. They are j compelled, therefore—and many of them ] not at all unwillingly—to become a burden \ on those who are still allowed to earn their j living. Any advertisement for light em- j ployment, such as that under the City ! Council, brings hundreds of applicants. notwithstanding that employers who re- ; quire men who mean to work advertise in j vain. Thja is the explanation of the appn- j rent anomaly that whilst employers are ! complaining "bitterly of scarcity of'woikers : the Trades Hall maintains that there are J hundreds' who cannot get a job. Unfortu j nately, under present conditions, the mini- j ber of the latter seems more likely to in- j crease than to diminish, as legislative con- \ editions are directly calculated to promote j this industrial " dry rot." IMMIGRATION. |

The State Labor Government are between the upper and nether millstone in the matter of immigration. On one side is a strong and growing public- lonvictio'i that self-preservation, if no worthiennotive is operative, demands a vigorous immigration policy; on the other hand there is the bitter antagonism of the political labor leagues to any influx of people which might render it difficult to maintain the present arbitrarily fixed rates of wag's. Mr ilolman's recent deliverance on the subject possesses, therefore, .special interest, fit: shunts the chief responsibility on to the Commonwealth Government. They have plenty of money, he says, and are empowered to take action by the Constitution. The State is spending as much money as it can spare to promote immigration, and it is not in a position to incrcaso the amount. All roads lead to Rome, 60 far as immigration is concerned. The pretexts assigned may vary according to circumstances, but so long as Labor is in power there will be no more immigration than can decently be avoided. At the present rate of progress, the immigrants ■who are coming in barely make up tor the portentous decrease which has taken place. in the birth-rate. As all parties are agreed that the best imroigiant of all is the Australian baby, it is quito possible that the Minister for Works, having nyw an opportunity which he was prrvi/raslv denied, may take action to give effect to some of his suggestions for encouraging parents to increase their families. At present the couples who do their duty in this respect axe unfairly handicapped. SHIPBUILDING. Some of our Victorian friends are ruefully declaring that the possession of " the ■eat of Government" is hot all that it was cracked up to be. " What's the use of having the seat of Government if the building of ships of the Australian fleet hao to be sent, to Sydney?" is being asked. But the unanswrirable leply is that Sydney jffffwaapa the- necessary appliances in good

% < J l -;j7 — J ■!' ' ■."■■; : • working order, whereas Melbourne does not. .Jt is said, .with what truth the present deponent knoweth. not, that Melbourne was well equipped at one time for such work, but that the machinery was sold (for a fraction of its cost, of course), so that now, if it were desired to build ships of war, it wonld be necessary, first of all, to provide tho plant required. This would be a formidable . undertaking, and would absorb much money, besides entailing undesirable delay. The possession of the seat of Government, unfortunately for those whoao aspirations lie in the direction of shipbuilding, does not alter the facts in tho case, so that the roply is tolerably conclusive. LOCAL GOVERNMENT., At the meeting of local government engineers, the Lord Mayor opened out against the stinginess of those shire councils which fixed their rate at too low a figure to provide for necessary works. The amount of a rate, of course, is a matter for the exercise of judgment. So are j the works which are to be deemed "ncces- | sary." Men of equal honesty, cut of dif- ! feivnt temperaments, would arrive at widely different conclusions on both these points. But when a shire council appioaches the State Treasury for " assistance," after having carefully abstained from mulcting more than r. peppercorn 1 tax on tho ratepayers under its jirnsdic- ; tion, an opening is certainly ah'cided for sume scathing lemarks. Another point, i which naturally found favor with the meeting, is the desirableness of trw.ting j the engineers liberally. It may not always bo true, as a laiior Minkter <i'-elared. that " i heap labor is always bad If.bor." Some ' of tho Ihvit work in the world has been the ! worst i-eimineraiid. A pi-n;iple of justice, however, shott'd ensure for everyone, so far I r.s practiiablc. a fair remuneration for his work. HOSPITAL SDIViEOS'S. The hard-and-fast regulation recently framed by the Chief oipartmeat, to the effect that hospital committees must not discriminate- in accepting tho services of medical men for their resieclivo institution, was thought to have been promulgated in the interests of certain practitioners, who deemed themselves to have been un jur-tly excluded. Wlrj-ther this is the lie or not, the regulation in question is not approved hy tho profession. '1 hey admit 1 hat it may work tolerably well where there are only three or four med'cal men in a locality", ard all are in g-.d sanding. But when the medical men are numerous, and there is reason to believe that some are novicos seeking experience, they point | out that it wotdd be ve r y iind'su; I!e to give to everyone the right to poetise. Furthermore, the Committeo are recpunsible in every case, and the Committee arc elected by the subscribers, because they have confidence in their judgment. The regulation of the Minister, who cannot possibly bo fully acquainted with the circumstances in every case, over-rides the judgment of every 'hospital or.-mi it toe in I the State, without warrant, either in thcil I unfitness or in the ntporior fitness of the Minister. At present, howover, tho latter seems firm in his determination. April 15.