NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN AFFAIRS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1685, 15 June 1904, Page 57

NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN AFFAIRS

CHIEFLY POLITICAL AND PERSONAL.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, June 4. MR DEAKIN PLAYING FALSE.

Tiie coalition is definitely “off,” and Mi J. C. Watson’s Labour Ministry remains triumphantly in office. MrDeakin, who has more eloquence than firmness, more oratory than obstinacy in his composition, was either dragooned by his party into turning his back on his own convictions, or'“else lie deliberately deceived the leader of the es-Opposition by pretending to possess convictions which were non-existent. There is absolutely no other explanation of his conduct in refusing to support a coalition which he had himself to all intents and purposes proposed, and as he has not attempted to put forward any other reason for his action, lie must be left impaled upon whichever of the horns of his dilemma-is least unpleasant to his feelings. MR WATSON’S POLITICAL ACUMEN. Some absurd people twitted Mr Watson’s Ministry with inexperience when it first took office. But Mr Watson has already displayed an ability to turn his back on himself which has never been surpassed by the most experienced political contortionist who has ever appeared in Australia. Even the most desultory newspaper reader can hardly have yet forgotten that Mr Watson succeeded to office because he and • his party conscientiously insisted that all State public servants should be brought under the jurisdiction of the Federal Arbitration Act. One rubs one’s eyvs in positive bewilderment when one reads now that Mr Warson and his Ministry have deliberately jettisoned this piece 01 cargo as being dangerous to the safetj 7 of the political ship in the stormy weather that is anticipated. The Government now announces that it will require only railway employees to be brought under the Federal Arbitration Act. In fact, Mr Watson conducts business with the cynical acumen of Gilbert’s Lord Chancellor. “ Did I say that we do insist upon the inclusion of all public servants among the persons subject to the Federal Arbitration Act P Well, I move to amend that expression by the insertion of the word ' not.’ The sentence will now read thus: ‘We do not insist upon-the inclusion of all public servants.’ It is quite simple, gentlemen. and our policy is now stated in due form. We shall not amend it until the first division is imminent.” IRREPRESSIBLE “TOM” BENT. Mr Thomas Bent, the Premier of Victoria. reminds the astonished onlooker of one of these Indian fakirs who, after being buried for ten years, emerges from the tomb as fresh and lively as when he went into it. He . has just been returned again for Brighton, but. prior to his return at, the previous election he had been out of parliament for so long that riie younger generation of electors were almost unaware of his existence. He was often to be seen on the Brighton line travelling in company with his old crony, “-Jimmy” Munro, and he reminded the casual fellow-passenger irresistibly of a fireplace in which nothing remained but the dusty ashes that had once been living coals. Yet now the ashes have miraculously burst into Tame again, and Mr Thomas Bent is once

more glowing and roaring like a veritable burning fiery furnace. One of the most piquant incidents in his political career was his election to the Speakership of the Victorian Legislative Assembly a dozen years ago. Mr John Duffy (son of the famous Sir Charles Gavan Duffy), polished, correct, witty, full of good stories and family pride, was one of the candidates. Sir Henry Wrixon, learned, precise, refined to the finger-tips, a philosophic Liberal. of the widest views, was And between the two Mr Thomas Bent slipped in, to the mingled chagrin and amusement of the House, with his wild ©ye and aggressive fist, and with all his grammatical imperfections on his touzled head. He was never known to use an aspirate in its right place or to button his waistcoat. His rulings were invariably received with shouts of laughter, and he lost his seat when the elections came round, and retired to nui'se his grievances for many years among the Brighton cabbage gardens. THE PHOENIX PABK MDRDEfRS. Mr Bent’s opponent at Brighton, at the election which has just beeii decid-

ed, was Mr Marshall. Lyle, a solicitor' who stood in, the Labour interest, and " was beaten by a four to one majority. Mr Lyle is a North of Ireland man who has cultivated by assiduous practice a natural aptitude for talking all round a subject without ever touching it. His greatest claim to notoriety is the fact that he assisted in the defence of the Phoenix Park murderers, in Dublin. The English-speaking world was thrilled by the murder of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr Burke on that fatal day in ‘♦the Phaynix,” and though Mr Lyle’s «dienfcs were duly hanged, he ;can still congratulate hinijself on having been connected with one of the most famous

murder trials of the last century. In describing the events of the trial once to this present writer, Mr Lyle depicted with a few unconsciously graphic touches one of the most dramatic features of the trial. There were many adjournments, and the proceedings lasted for several. days, but every time that the group of prisoners, who were brought up from different cells, were placed iu the dock together their demeanour was always the same. Each man gave a hurried glance of feverish anxiety, pregnant with deep meaning, round the group of Iris fellow prisoners, mentally counting them. As long as all were there lie felt safe. But the hasty glance was the evidence of a terrilied fear that the “informer,” such a frequent character in Irish criminal trials, would at, some stage come forward. And at last one morning the hurried glance round the dock showed that one of the prisoners was missing. It was James Carey, and as his ill-omened form appeared in the witness-box instead of the dock, the murderers of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr Burke knew that their doom was sealed. James Carey did not live long to enjoy the liberty which ne bought with the lives of his aecomjilices. The bullet of the avenger closed his career as he was on his way to the United States.

LABOUR’S FURTHER. TRIUMPH. In the Victorian State elections which are just over the reduced numbers, both m the Legislative Council and in the Legislative Assembly, have sent many old politicians into the cold shades of retirement. But Mr Bent’s Ministry has got back with a substantial majority against the Labourites and Oppositionists combined. The Ministerialists have won 33 seats, the Labourites 18, and the Oppositionists 12. It has been, of course, a great triumph for labour. The railway servants have elected two Trades’ Hall men Messrs Hannah and Solly, as their representatives in the Assembly, and the public servants have elected Mr David Gaurison as their representative in the same House.

ANOTHER IRREPRESSIBLE

Mr Gaunson’s re-entry into active politics is a truly remarkable resurrection. It is seventeen years since he represented South Melbourne in the Legislative Assembly, but liis * personality has always been before the public even in his retirement. Extraordinarily aggressive, never really happy except when he is insulting somebody of being insulted, a. shrewd, clever lawyer, well read far beyond the average of his profession, at any rate in Melbourne, lie shows at the same time a want of stability which has always prevented him from rising. In the old days he was a perfect terror in the Legislative Assembly, where his feats of stonewalling are remembered still. It may be confidently predicted that as the representative of the public, servants, who are in a chronic condition of dissatisfaction in Victoria, he will be a thorn in the too too solid flesh of Mr Thomas Bent. When practising in t-lie Police Court, Mr Gaunson is seen at his best and .also at. his worst. COUNSEL AT FISTICUFFS.

His memorable encounter with Mr J. L. Purves during the closing scenes of the Police Court proceedings against the directors and Secretary of the Premier Permanent Society will live long in the memory. Mr Gaunson, who was appearing for one of the defendants, had been savage in his references all through the case to Mr Purves, who' was appearing for the Crown. At last, worked into a white heat of passion, Mr Gaunson alluded to “his learned friend' Mr James Purves” substituting a gross indecency for Mr Purves’s second name, Liddle. The learned counsel for the Crown made a rush at his opponent, knocking over the table and all the inkpots. Mr Panton. P.M., who was hearing the case, disappeared as though by magic, through a private door at the back of the bench, and for about two minutes the learned gentlemen engaged in a , eatch-as-catch-can struggle, while their respective friends grabbed them by any portion of their clothing that came handy. Eventually, Mr Gaunson, breathing hard, was pulled off like a disappointed bull-dog, and Mr Purves, glaring and speechless, was forced back into a chair. The crier hurriedly declared the Court adjourned, and the accused, with their counsel, departed in one direction, malevolently eyeing the burly form of Mr Purves, who was escorted to his lunch by a phalanx of detectives and officials of the Crown Law Department. Mr Purves has had several “rough-ups” in the course of his professional career, but not even his famous stand-up fight in Collins street with Dr O’Hara could compare in genuine dramatic interest with that crowded two minutes of glorious life in the old Swanston street Police Court, which has long since been surrendered to dealers in red tape who practise less exciting pursuits than its old habitues.

BOBBING NEW SOUTH WALES. Another stage has been reached in the process of selecting a Federal capital. The Senate yesterday decided that the seat of .Government should be in New South Wales and within fifty miles of Bomba!a, and that it should consist of 900 square miles of territory. A tremendous effort was made by the Labour party to grab 5000 square miles of country as a convenient area for ex*

periments in land nationalisation, but it failed. The proposal was moved b. Senator Findley, who, having been expelled from the Victorian Legislative Assembly by the Peacock Government for alleged insulting references to the King in an obscure print called the “Tocsin,” was practically certain of election to the Senate the first time that he stood. “There is no quickener for lost causes,” observes some wiseacre, “like the blood of martyrs.” Mr Findley was generally regarded by the Labour world as a political martyr, and a very large number of those who had no sympathy with his politics thought that he had been very harshly treated. His expulsion was meant to make political capital for Sir Alexander Peacock, hut it failed completely. Senator Findley is now the most advanced of the irreconcilables. Senator Higgs having been deposed from that proud eminence by being elected chairman of committees, a position in which his hands are tied, as is also his tongue.

The attempt to grab 5000 square miles of territory from New South Wales did not come off, and perhaps it is just as well. There is quite enough bad blood between New South Wales and Victoria already, and' as the New South Wales Parliament would certainly not have granted the territory, no one can tell what might have happened. However,- there is now a fair prospect that a. bush capital will be built somewhere near Bombala, which Mr Isaac Isaacs has epigrammatically described as “the freezing chamber of Australia.”