SYDNEY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11557, 19 April 1898, Page 2

SYDNEY.

[COEEESPONDENT “CANTERBURY TIMES.”] SYDNEY, March 30. THE PREMIER AND FEDERATION. “ What’s good enough for George Reid is good enough for me,” is a saying that is often heard just now, and advocates of the Commonwealth Bill are jubilant accordingly. Federation has had almost Go first good lift that it has received since the election of the delegates. It was in danger of dying a natural death, not frora_ active opposition but from the platitudes of its piv fessed supporters, who have repeated the same string of unmeaning generalities fid the public are heartily sick of them. Mr M’Millan’s recent speech at Burwood, if it comes in your way is an excellent example. Boiled down, all these utterances mea i. Its better to trust our destinies to the Senators of Tasmania than to the people of New South Wales.” It would not do to say so openly, so the orators are driven to the use of wearisome commonplaces. Mr Reid, however, made an honest attempt to grapple witn the reality of the question. He up the anomalies in the constitution of the Convention, as well as those of the Senate, and he rejected altogether the foolish blather with which some of the delegates have tried to stuff us that the capital was likely to be :n New South Wales. But the most powerful and convincing sentence of his speech was that in- which he said lie would vote for the Bill. Thousands of electors who will never rend his speech will be quite content to follow his example. Thousands who heard or read it will entirely c ail to grasp the bearing of the statements and arguments it contained. But if the Premier, the accredited and responsible guardian of the destinies of the colony, thinks it good enough to vote for, they will vote for it too. No wonder there is joy in the Federation camp, and consternation in that of those who are opposed to the Bill. THE MALCONTENTS. A tremendous pother lias been caused amongst ultra-democrats by the Premier's announcement. They want not only the defeat of the Bill but a" change of Governm :nt right away. Their objections to, the former, as! have often shown,.are grave and weighty enough to give pause to the most ardent Federalist. But they forget that :t is not a party matter. Though Mr Reid will vote for the Bill, Mr Want, and several other members of the Ministry’ will as certainly vote against it. Mr Reid’s connection with the inception of the movement renders it almost impossible that he could bring himself to vote against the Bill. But his colleagues are under no such obligations, and the Ministry, as a whole, is as worthy of support as ever it was. Besides, what better Ministry, from their point of view, could be got? Will the Conservatives on the Opposition change their skins and become Democrats and landtaxers if they are assured of the support 01-o 1Messrs M’Gowen, Haynes, Miller, Ashton and Co? If they will the shrift of the present Ministry may be a short one. But, according to all the rules of the game, the Federation battle must he fought.out by the electors, not in Parliament. In declaring his intention as to Ins vote, Mr Reid was quite within his rights as a private citizen, and the announcement ought not to affect his Ministerial position. All the same, I doubt very much whether he will get 80.000 voters to follow his example. The subject is certain to be brought up when Parliament meets, and in all probability for some time to come Federation will entirely displace the fiscal question from public attention. PURCHASE OF COAL. At last the war scare is beginning to have some slight effect on colonial industry. It is stated that the Admiralty have purchased 60.000 tons of New South Wales coal for the use of the fleet in Eastern waters. Somi people say that the purchase is made, not scmuch because the coal is wanted, as to prevent other nations from getting it. Seeing, however, that the quantity named is little more than a week’s production in New South Wales, there does not seem to be much in the ingenious hypothesis. JOHN NORTON. The proprietor-editor of “ Truth ” is becoming so prominent a person that he demands a paragraph all to himself. He has quite taken charge of the City Council, and Philip Ward, moreover, desires him to carry the Protectionist colours to victory at the next general election. This is the divisi ,n over which Copeland and Dean-case Meagher were recently squabbling. It would be funny if Norton were to supplant them both. Wellington also desires to he represented by the pugnacious Norton, and he, like the donkey between two bundles of hay, does not know which to choose. Recently, by the way, he had' a tiff with Mr Schey, the secretary of an ambitious Protectionist Association, whicn aims at keeping candidates in their right places. I understand that Mr Schey intends to fight him with his own weapons. He is about bringing out a paper called the “ Patriot,” and when he sets at out-wiping Norton off the face of the earth the fun is likely to be fast and furious. Norton is a bold and fearless •writer, and his leading principle seems to he r “ Where you see a head, hit it.” Occasionally, he hits heads that deserve it, but he seems to be altogether destitute of constructive ability. The man who can build up is much more badly wanted that the man who can pull down. But the New Sout - , Waters appear to be either altogether listless and apathetic, or else possessed by a sense less fury of destruction. QUARANTINE. The quarantine ground is once more occupied, this time by the passengers and crew of the Australia. Everybody knows that the proceeding is a costly and tyrannical farce, a survival of the dark ages, and an anachronism in the nineteenth century. The Mother Country has dispensed with quarantine long Ago, and is not a whit the worse. We could dispense with it here if our socalled ‘‘statesmen” had not servilely surrendered their judgment to their medical advisers, who’ are just about a century behind the times, and seem likely to remain so. Great complaints, by the way_, are made of the manner in which vaccination is performed at the quarantine ground. It is customary for careful practitioners either to sterilise their instruments by plunging them into boiling water after each operation, or else to use a fresh lancet for each person. It is stated that these precautions are dispensed with in Sydney, and that there is, consequently, a danger that patients may become infected with taints derived from their predecessors. In any case, a pers -n who suffers himself to be vaccinated runs the risk of getting a lot of unpleasant visitations beside the one that it is desired to infect him with. But that is no reason why every possible precaution should not be ' KILLING THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGG. For some years past there has been an American freight ring. A number of charterers, having run off all competitors, agreed to share the traffic amongst them serves, am. charge a specified rate of freight, which we may he sure was pretty liberal. Merchants‘here meekly suffered, altnough they knew that if they chose to bestir themselves they could get their goods earned for less money. Consequently the “ ring was doing very well Not content with their profits from freights, however, some of the members have been entering the lists in competition with their own customers, bringing out bi«- lines of kerosene and other commodities, and scllinc them at a price which gave them a bare freight, ana sometimes les» than that, and depriving the bona fide importer, who had of course to pay full freight, of any chance ox profit. This proved to be the last straw. Assisted by men m the inner running of the American trade, the merchants have now combined to establish a line of their own. The ring were only nmninn sailing ships, but the merchants will run steamers. The ring also, now that it is about to be fairly tackled, will run steamers also, and run them, too, at very low rates of freight, so that all American goods, in the not very distant future, are likely to be considerably cheaper than they are at present. This, I may say, is no new experience. The American trade always gravitates into the hands of rings. Their procedure becomes intolerable, and then there is—for a, time —opposition, and goods are carried under cost., Invariably, hitherto, the “ ring ” has ultimately gained the victory, as there is not enough trade to support [ the opposition.