GOSSIP FROM SYDNEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9262, 16 January 1889, Page 6

GOSSIP FROM SYDNEY.

111. [By AN AUCKLANDER.] Sydney, January 10. THE EXECUTION OF A WOMAN.

Louisa Collins has suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and the general verdict is that she deserved it. But there have been sensible complaints against the bungling of the hangman and his assistant, who could not get the bolt in the "drop" to work until it was hammered back, the poor

wretch standing all that time with the noose round her neck in awful suspense.

After the execution the Under-Sheriff, who superintended the arrangements, sent in an official report stating that the hanging was "fairly successful." This was so contrary to the reports in the evening papers that he was called upon for an explanation, and the public learned that every preparation had really been made for doing the work expeditiously and without a hitch, but the assistant - hangman, who had been engaged only the previous day, did not quite understand the manipulation of the machinery, so that when his chief signalled to him he pulled the lever without withdrawing the pin which held it, and so only tightened the latter. Then, when his mistake was pointed out to him he tried to remove the pin, but it would not give way, and so a heavy hammer had to be called into requisition. The condemned woman was kept in suspense fully one minute, which, however short when we are running to catch a train, is sixty long seconds to a criminal about to bo put to death. The fault was in not rehearsing the whole performance ; and George Rignold, the actor, publishes a very sensible letter in to-day's Herald, stating that if such a hitch occurred at the climax of a play, the critics would be merciless in their blame upon the management. He also points out that where executions have to be simulated on the stage, the exact weight of the person to be hung is represented by bags of sand at rehearsal, and the stage carpenter as well as the manager make sure that the machinery will work well before the night of the performance. Even the actor who is to be hung rehearses his part several times, a wire fastened round his body, but invisible to the audience, preventing an accidental catastrophe. I notice that Mr. Walker has been granted leave by the Legislative Assembly to bring in a Bill to abolish capital punishment, but the probability is that it will be some time before he gets a hearing, in consequence of the unexpected

DEFEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT.

The appointment of Mr. Fehon as one of the Railway Commissioners was taken exception to in the Legislative Assembly before the Christmas recess by Mr. Want and other members, on the ground that Mr. Fehon was a partner in the firm of McCulloch and Co., which was subsequently amalgamated with Wright, Heaton, and Co., against whom some serious malpractices were proved two or three years ago, and that, therefore, that ho (Mr. Fehon) was nob deserving of the confidence of the House. During recess an inquiry was made, the end ot which was that the Government wrote a letter to Mr. Fehon stating that the charges against him had not been substantiated, and that there was no reason why he should not continue to perform his duties as Commissioner. Mr. Want, however, refused to withdraw from the position that he had taken up, and yesterday afternoon he went into the whole matter again in the Assembly. About five o'clock, he moved the adjournment of the House to call attention to the subject of Mr. Fehon's appointment, stating that when Parliament adjourned for the holidays Sir Henry Parkes had promised to institute a full inquiry into the charges he had formulated; but instead of doing so he had drawn a red herring across the track for the purpose of leading hon. members away from the issue raised. He then reiterated his charges, stating that the wool frauds, of which so much had been heard, began at the same time as Mr. Fehon's connection with the firm of William McCullough and Co.— namely, in 1880—and that it was just "touch-and-go that McCullough and Co. and Mr. Fehon were not prosecuted." He could not say that Mr. Fehon was cognisant of the frauds ; bub he could not understand how these frauds could go on without Mr. Fehon knowing anything about them. Well, Mr. Want went on speaking, and Sir Henry Parkes left the Chamber, his excuse (subsequently made) being that he had had nothing to eat all day, and was hungry. Some two or three other members spoke, no one replied on behalf of the Government ; the motion for adjournment was put at half-past seven, and actually carriedthe voting being thirty-seven for and twenty- against. The result involved censure of the Government, and there appears to be no course left open for the Ministry but resignation. Sir Henry Parkes telegraphed last night to the Governor, who is at Mossvale, and His Excellency will probably be in town this afternoon and receive the resignation of the Ministry. As Mr. Want is unlikely to undertake the responsibility of forming a new administration, it is thought to be almost certain that there will be a dissolution. Sir Henry Parkes is a wonderful I man, but he is apparently "played out" as a guiding statesman. He is autocratic and eccentric ; two bad qualities in a leading politician. The question that remains to be answered is, where shall his successor be found ? Manhood suffrage has sent so many incongruous elements into Parliament, that unless a man has transcendent ability and great force of will, he is not able to obtain a sufficiently numerous following. There has been some experience of this in New Zealand, and it is the same here. [Since our correspondent wrote, the Parkes Ministry has disappeared from the political stage, and a new one, under the leadership of Mr. Dibbs, has been formed.]

THE NEWSPAPERS. The Echo, one of the evening newspapers here, takes exception to some of the remarks in my first letter, especially in respect to the people generally (including the policemen) of Sydney being thin, and the majority of the shops being small and dingy. Of course I may be wrong, for I only gave my impressions. When I see the stone walls and the iron bars of the Darlinghurst house of detention, which everybody passes to go to the race 3or to Waverly or Bondi, or to Woolhara, my impression is that the building is a prison. Yet the poet tells us that—

Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage ; And so, when I go into a shop and find that it is only about 12 feet square, and that the light in it is so bad that I cannot clearly distinguish the colour of what I am buying, I am apt to believe that the shop is small and dingy. But the shopkeeper and the writer in the Echo may have poetical minds, which soar beyond the narrow con- ! fines of the places in which they conduct their business, and which places they find ample for their purpose. 1 igave credit to Sydney for possessing some magnificent buildings and some grand shops, but only some ; and I maintain that my statement about the majority is correct. But I was about to give my impressions about the newspapers. Well, Sydney is excellently supplied in this respect. There are no less than five dailies—two morning and three eveningand all. are good. The Sydney Morning Herald is the oldest and most solid; it panders not to the taste of the public, but pursues its own career, evenly and with dignity. Its letters from London, Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg, China, etc., give its readers much information about the old world, pleasantly conveyed. The Daily Telegraph is a paper that keeps abreast of the times. It is well, I may say smartly conducted. Like the Herald it goes in strongly for freetrade, though in other respects it adopts a more liberal policy than its morning contemporary. Then there are the Evening News, the Echo, and the Star. The latter is the only protectionist daily, and I learn that it has passed through its struggling days and is now beginning to pay. The Echo is less an echo than might be supposed, considering that it is published at the Herald office. It is a paper with a distinct individuality, with short, crisp, original articles, very much to the point, and with a good assortment of news. The Evening News is the senior evening paper and has the largest circulation. Of weeklies there are the Sydney Mail, the Town and Country, the Sunday Times, the Bulletin, and the Referee. The . Illustrated Sydney News is published i monthly, and is increasing in popular favour. There are also two or three

religious and temperance papers, so you see the people of Sydney have nothing to complain of in respect to the newspaper press.' v" . .'•; NEW ZEALANDERS. I occasionally meet with New Zealanders here. Sir Maurice O'Rorke has been about town considerably of late, and I notice that in the Herald to-day there is an article by him entitled " A Flying Visit to the West." Here is a solicitor who appears to be very busy, the reverse of his Auckland experience ; here is a New Zealander in business doing well, here another and another ; but here also are some who have not yet found fortune smile upon them, and who do not see much difference in their prospects since they left your city. These latter are, of course, not mechanics, and the clerk or the journalist who comes to Sydney in hope of readily obtaining something to do is likely to be disappointed. There are too many candidates for employment in the field, and local knowledge is required in most cases, so that the new-comer must make up his mind to wait, and must not come without the means to do so, if he expects ultimately to make headway.