OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11128, 21 January 1899, Page 4

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

[from oub own correspondent.] Sydney, January 11. THE AUSTRIAN INVASION. Every mail steamer is bringing a contingent of Austriana — fine, upstanding fellows— most of them— who originally intended to go to New Zealand. The prosperity of New Zealand, howeve*, Is of such a " shickery " and Unreliable character that Premier Seddon is apparently afraid that the admission of the Austrians would upset it altogether. At any rate he has mustered the horse, foot, and artillery, whose original mission was , to repel the French, and it is understood that the landing of the Austria'as is to be withstood by force of ■arttiii if necessary, Under these circumstances the steamship companies, being men of peace, and not caring to get a junk of Dick Seddon's rocky eloquence between wind and water, decline to take the Austrians on, 'and they are consequently stranded in Sydney. Our own Government applied the education test to them — a test intended to keep out Hindoos, Assyrians, and Afghans — but they surmounted it triumphantly. The Government Yrtjre ruefully contemplating the probability of having to open a fresh soup kitchen when the Queensland Premier gave them immense relief by wiring that if lIW mfeh liked to go to the nortjteVft colony no obstacle would be placed in the way of their landing. There was a time wh si _ 0 ,, i - m wAy of OBBißted immigration, .-.« have been paid to fensttre it. But that was bgrore. {Premiers had learned to trembte before the narrowest, shallowest, and bitterest of their supporters. Also it •was before the country was monopolised so thoroughly as is the case at present. STUBBORN PEOPLE. A great deal depends on the way in which a thiag is put. We have been wont to revere our forefathers for the gallantry with which they won for us civil and religious freedom as we now enjoy. In these daysi however, their attitude would probably be deemed obstinate perversity, because the foes of freedom are not only more influential than formerly, but much more plausible, S3 that they dan persuade Governments and responsible persons that the public safety depends on the adoption of revolting and dangerous practices. The felicitously named Mr Chataway, for instance, complains of the " stubbornness " of the Brisbane dairy farmers who refuse to contaminate their herds with tick fever unless the Government will make itself responsible, for any damage that' may tp'd occasioned by the inoculation of the disease intended to be imparted, and others that will be unwittingly and unintentionally conveyed with it. Mr Chataway is also fluent in recommending New South Wales stook-owners to inoculate also. In this he is strongly suggestive of the fox in the fable who recommended the other foxes to cut off their tails because he had unfortunately lost his own in a trap. There is no tick fever in New South Wales at present, but there will be as soon as inoculation is resorted to, and then neither colony will have the laugh of the other. We are told on the highest official aubhority that inoculated beasts become centres of infection and convey the disease, often mi a virulent form, to other animal's ; also that it deteriorates both their flesh and their milk. After thlß it seems rather an insult to the common sense of any stockowner to ask him to inoculate at his own risk cattle which are now healthy. Unfortunately the number of persons whoso mental equipment and aptitude invite such results is very large, and the probability is that the herds of New South Wales will be duly inoculated with tick fever tuberculin, and other etcetras accordingly. The faith in inoculation filth is much stronger and more general than faith in health, and according to our faith it will be done to us. MUNICIPAL. The Mayor of Syney is covering himself with distinction. Whether it is of a kind which bodes well for the reforms which the citizens desire, but which they havo almost given up hoping for, I can't say. In addition to municipal matters he is turning his attention to the Press. That institution is far from perfect. It fills its columns with mint and cummin and rue, the mere frippery of the day's events, and neglects the weightier matters which they ought to teach. To the great problem of securing the maximum of prosperity for the people, and to the operation of the economic laws which govern prosperity, it is blind and deaf, apparently of set purpose. But I question seriously whether Mayor Harris will be able to exercise any tangible influence for good upon it. At the last Council meeting he told the reporters present, according to an evening paper, that they would have to be careful what they wrote. He would do his duty, irrespective of what was written, and he would not be dictated to by the newspapers. It is difficult to say whether good feeling or practical wisdom were more conspicuous in these remarks. But they will certainly cause the future administration of the Mayor and his advisers to be watched with more pathetic interest than ever. FEDERATION. The cabal against Mr Reid seems to have been successful in killing Federation, and those who whooped the loudest for the cause seem to be the most contented with' the result. As a matter of fact hatred of Reid is a much more potent element is certain circles, popularly supposed to be hyper-Federal, than is love of Australian unity. So long as Reid is blocked, it is small matter if Federation is blocked also. It is easy to see where the insincerity is now. It is nearly a fortnight since Mr Reid, speaking in the name of the newly elected Parliament of New South Wales, invited the Premiers of the other colonies to consult respecting an amendment of the bill. But not one of them has deigned to give any reply that is to the purpose. It is an open secret that they have been much less reticent with regard to the leaders of the Opposition, and the outcome is looked for with interest, not altogether unmixed with amusement. The ultimatum seems to be that we are not to have Federation unless we also accept Toryism, and, with Toryism, certain figureheads of the movement, who once were popular, but who have now been tried and found wanting. To all overtures of this kind New South Wales will only have one answer, and it will not be the one that is looked for. PRODUCE. A number of gentlemen, some of them buyers of Redfern produce, some of them importers of New Zealand and intercolonial produce, and some of them firm friends of the Commissioners, are writing letters to the papers to show that the action of the latter to the effect that trucks of produce must be cleared by 6 p.m. instead of being allowed a day's grace as previously, is in the farmer's interests, and is calculated to enable him to ob- j tain a better price for his produce than formerly. The trifling fact that the first time the new departure was tried, the produce thus offered " with a rope round its neck," so to speak, dropped pounds per ton, has neither slackened their zeal nor paralysed their ingenuity. Why, indeed, should it ? What is needed is reasonable accommodation for storage, such as the steamboat companies provido at the wharves. Until this is secured the competition will be very unequal.