OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13708, 26 March 1908, Page 8

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

[from OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Sydney, March 19. NEW LABOUR LEGISLATION. The Government of New South Wales is amending the Arbitration Court Act in the direction indicated some time ago. The Industrial Disputes Bill, introduced last week in the Legislative Assembly, provides for the establishment, of bodies akin to the Wages Boards of .Victoria, enjoying the advantage of expert, knowledge of the trades concerning which they are°to pronounce judgment, This proposal, for some reason, has not commended itself to the Labour party, and it does not appear that the opposition to the BUI is likely to be modified now that the measure has made its appearance. There is very strong objection to the clauses enabling the assistance, of a , Wages Board to be sought by any body of men, 10 in number, whether they are members of a union or not. This, it is argued, will mean the "sandbagging" of the unions, as it will be only necessary lor a sweating employer to get 10 men together and secure an award before a union can be called into existence to prevent it. Moreover, it is a grievance of the Labour party that the new measure does not expressly give preference to unionists; but on this point the Premier explains that there is nothing in the Bill to prevent that principle from being enforced in an award. As to the. point that 10 non-unionists may apply for the advantage of having their dispute adjudicated upon by the board, Mr. Wade is willing to raise the minimum number to 30, 40, or 50. The Government hope to put the Bill upon the Statute Book this cession.

.'. POLICEMAN AND FUGITIVE. It appears that a police constable may be . no surer in- his aim at the " running man than manv a perspiring military cadet endeavouring to achieve the object of his ambition in a big score- on the rifle range. The other morning, at about four o clock, in George-street, Constable McQuaker was patrolling his beat, when he saw a man standing in the middle of the thoroughfare deliberately hurl a stone through the platedass ■ window of the shop of Mr. P. J. Anthony. McQuaker bore down upon him, whereupon the man fled in the direction of Regent-street, with the constable following. As the fugitive kept on running McQuaker fired a shot, but missed, and the man finally disappeared in Regent-street. When the "broken window was examined it was found that the stone thrown through the plateglass had been wrapped in paper, in order that the sound might be deadened. CHARGE OP MANSLAUGHTER. The Attorney-General has decided to proceed no further in the case of manslaughter preferred against the boy James Edwin Sparkes, as the result of a fight with another lad, Alfred Edward Spicer, at Alexandria. The two lads, who were employed at bootmaking, had some words, and went, out after work to settle the dispute m the fashion usually resorted to by boys. While they were lighting on a vacant piece of land near the factory, and surrounded by a crowd of their comrades, Spicer received a blow over the heart, whereupon he collapsed, and died soou afterward. The. post-mortem examination has revealed that the lad, who was 17* years of age, was in ' an unhealthy state at the time, having had long bout of pneumonia, and that, his heart' was undoubtedly very weak. . The I fight .was a fair one, and, according to the doctor's evidence, the blow said to have been inflicted would not have affected a _ he&ltbv ' lad -"seriouslr. The Acting-City Coroner, Mr. S. "Murphy,, committed Sparkes for trial upon a charge of. martslaughter, but in view of the circumstances of the case this charge has been withdrawn. r " :_ . '.THE LIBEL LAWS. One is always discovering something new, ind for the most part decidedly interesting, lbout the libel laws. It now. appears from the verdict of a jury in the New South Wales Supreme Court yesterday that there is a serious danger in those interesting an-, nouncements of" probable marriages which now and then appear m the newspapers— that is, if either of the parties whose names are linked together in this way come and tell'a'jury that the statement is not true. For : instance, in the action in question, a young woman gained Toy, whose brother is 1 a, well-known violinist,* complained of a paragraph published in the Sunday Times, purporting to report a statement made in America by a certain John Johnson that he was to many Miss Toy. It is necessary to' explain that Johnson is a black man, and a noted pugilist, who recently visited Australia, where he gave exhibitions of his prowess in the arena. The plaintiff indignantly denied the truth of the paragraph, and said its publication had subjected her to considerable annoyance. Certain witnesses were called who stated that Miss Toy was on friendly terms with Johnson, and had frequently be"en seen, in his company: and though she denied a great deal of what they said, she admitted that she had been out driving with him once, accompanied by her mother, and a photograph produced* in Court showed that in a picnic .'roup Johnson stood beside her when the picture was taken, and had his hand resthjfupon her shoulder—though the plaintiff explicitly declared in the witness-box that die did not know it was there. However, judging from her own evidence, she had no .'ioknt" objection against meeting Johnson, and talking to him, though he is a black man. The jury, all the same, awarded her.£soo damages. '•••.■