OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9568, 26 October 1892, Page 4

OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

October 18. POLITICAL.. A disagreement between the two Houses of Parliament is the principal matter of political interest, and as possibly ib may come to a serious pitch its history may be briefly told. Amongst the Bhiels Government's taxation measures is the Stamp Duties Bill. This measure as it passed the Assembly contained clauses requiring (clause 31) marine insurance agents to take out a license, and (clause 32) requiring returns, for the purpose of duty assessment, of marine premiums received beyond the limits of Victoria. The Upper House numbers amongst its members several gentlemen representative of the mercantile interest, such as Mr Service, Sir Frederick Sargood, Mr Balfour, and so on—an interest which is but weakly represented in the Lower House. The bill, therefore, was subjected to close scrutiny in the Council, and the two clauses mentioned were struck out by large majorities. The Government? now take up the position that the, bill being a revenue one the Council is without power to amend it in any particular. One of the clauses which the Council has omitted does seem, no doubt, to touch the revenue proposals of the Government, but the omission was not made with that object. It was made to prevent the marine insurance business being removed from Melbourne to Sydney, as it is contended it would be if the clause were allowed to stand. The Government, therefore, are adjured not to stand upon the strict letter of the law, but to accept the Council s amendments in the spirit in which they are made. Sir Graham Berry, however (who is the Government actually); is never so much in his element as when he has a '' breeze " on between the two Houses, and he seems] inclined to force matters to a, battle. But the country will certainly not support him. Otherwise in politics the only point of interest is the trial of strength which has occurred in the Assembly on the protective policy of the Government, or rather on their policy of prohibition. The item under debate urovided for an increase, from 25 to 35 per cent, on apparel made of cotton. This is only a mild increase in the duty compared with some of the others proposed, and it is a notable fact that the Government only carried it by a majority of 10 votes, the numbers being 42 to 32. The farmers' members who voted for the increased duty were but few in number. The division is not reassuring for the reception of the other Government proposals. . THE..FINANCIAL TROUBLES.

r The half-yearly report of the Federal Bank is puohshed this morning, and is extremely depressing in tone. The directors have had to write off the whole of the reserve fund, amounting to LIOO.OOO ; and they will pay no dividend. Six months ago they wrote off L 35.000. You will observe, therefore, that the report discloses a serious state of affairs. Published at such a time as the present, when the public mind is in such a state of tension financially, its effect can scarcely be foretold. It is 110 use shutting one's eyes to the possible consequences. The institution may weather the storm, and it is devoutly to be hoped will do so. The Federal Bank was started by Mr James Munro, whose Real Estate Bank has failed so disastrously, and though he severed his connection with ■it a considerable time ago, the connection of his name with it has done it no good. It is one of the 10 associated banks (though not one of the six which comprise the inner ring); and it is of course a bank of issue. The city will await developments with much anxiety. There is a "fearsome " feeling abroad that we are not over our financial troubles by any means. The coming: year will be a tempestuous one ; and Melbourne may wish herself well over it. The reports from the institutions (leaving out of question the Davies and Munro groups) which are in process of liquidation are by "no means satisfactory. Two progress reports have been published this week—from the British Bank of Australia and tho celebrated Premier Permanent' Building Society. The British Bank shows L 171.000 due to depositors and creditors, and to meet this liability there are assets which will realise under the most favourable circumstances from L 30.000 to L 40,000. Then there are expenses to 'provide for, and those have hitherto been at the rate of about L 7500 per annum, inclusive of interest, L 4608 18s. In view of these figures the return to the creditors is not likely to be large, and some time* must elapse • before the liquidation can be completed. „ The liquidation of the Premier Permanent Building Society (Mr Mirams' institution) has been proceeding since February 1890. The liquidator (official) has realised since that date L2H.000 by the sale of properties, and LIM-,000 by repayments from .borrowers, as well as other sums. Now this makes a very respectable total, and one would imagine that the depositors would have had the pleasure of fingering a dividend. But no. The directors of the society, in their .straits to obtain money when the shoe began to pinch, mortgaged their deeds and properties, and thus created large preferential creditors. It is to these mortagees that the liquidator has to pay away the money as fast as he gets it, and the interest alone to these creditors has reached the large sum of M 9,000. This mortgaging of the securities of ttie institution was one of the most grievous wrongs inflicted on the depositors by the directors. How the money goes in liquidation is shown by the fact that the liquidator has paid to "agents for commission and charges " LBll3 8s lid in the two years. This means to the agents who have sold the properties and collected the repayments of loans; so that some person or firm is making a handsome iuconi« out or the defunct society. And for clerical assistance in the two years, apart from the commission to ageuts, he has paid no less than L4T77 16s Id !

A FARTHING IN THE POUND. Judge Molesworth, who presides ov<>r the Insolvency Court, "expressed, himself pretty strongly on the subject of -Jd in the pound compositions the o^her day. James William Wallace, a post office employe in receipt of L 350 a year, was the bankrupt, and he made application to have his estate released from court on payment of the abovenamed composition. His Honor refused the application on a technical ground, and in doing so said:— " The insolvent had stated that the causes of his insolvency were losses in land speculations and in a syndicate for the purchase of the assets of the ship George Roper, and having to pay excessive interest on borrowed money. He was a civil servant with L 350 a year, and yet he engaged in laud speculations, and came into court owiag L 2590. Amongst the 16 creditors who had not proved their debts, but who appeared in the schedule, were butchers, grocers, and iiroduce merchant?, to say nothing of a medical man and members of the legal profession. He was sorry to say that in this court and in this community it was not considered a disgraceful thing for a man to enter into contracts though he could not pay what he contracted to pay if called upon to do so, and it was not considered a thing to he ashamed of for a man to offer his creditors |d in the pound, event-hough those creditors included tradesmen from whom the insolvent had obtained goods such as groceries, meat, clothing, and the like. He believed that the morality of the Insolvency Court was in some respects worse than that of the racecourse. If a gambler at the races who contracted to pay LIOOO if a certain horse won were, on being called on to pay, to olfer 1000 farthings, his conduct would be described in language more forcible than elegant." MARITIME STRIKE. An extraordinary arid unexpected strike is in progress iv the shipping trade. One day last week, without a word of warning, the seamen and firemen serving on board Messrs William Howard Smith and Company's s.s. Gabo were called out, and 17 of them left the vessel in a body a few minutes before she was ready to sail. Mr J. A. Mansfield, the secretary of the Seamen's Union, conceived it to bs an indignity that men should be shipped through the medium, of the Maritime Labour Bureau, a practice which has been iv vogue without objection tiuce the last strike, and intimated to Captain Bell shipping inspector for Messrs Wai. Howard Smith and Co., that unless three firemen who had been engaged to replace men who had signed off left the ship unconditionally all hands would bo at once called out. It was not deemed advisable to yield to the threat, and Mr Mansfield accordingly ordered all hands to go ashore. The order was obeyed by 17 men, whose places were filled without much trouble the same day, and the vessel proceeded to sea. The reason of the step is to compel tin; shipowners to recognise the union once more; but they are determined to stand by the labour bureau, where men arc aalted no questions as to wnether they belong to the union or net. It is the old bugbear of " freedom of contract." As the men have left without notice, they have all been summoned to the court. The actual cause of the new move is hinted to bs the fact that the time is near at hand for the election of secretary of the Seamen's Union. Mr Mansileld, who now holds the position, has found "things too quiet recently, and apparently hit upon a "strike" .as the best means of showing the union that it still required a secretary, and that he was the man for the position.

NARROW ESCAPE FROM ICEBERGS. The four-masted barque Heoehbank (Captain Tarry), which iirrivetl at Newcastle last week from La Plata, had a narrow escape from being crushed by ioebergs. She left on .July 27, and on August 16 seven large icebergs were sighted on t-ho starboard side. In endeavouring to avoid them sho became suiTouuded by fully 60

immense bergs. This was in lat. 41.58 S. and long. 31.32 W. The boats were provisioned and kept in readiness. The bergs came so close that a stone could have been thrown to them, and the number increased during three days. Escape seemed hopeless, but at last, by continual tacking, a narrow channel was found, and the Beechbank got through safely. SIR GEORGE DIBBS ON WOMAN SUFFRAGE. A deputation of ladies representing the Woman's Suffrage League waited upon Sir George Dibbs on Friday last in Sydney to ask that the Government would introduce a clause into the Electoral Bill giving women equal political rights with men. Lady Windeyer introduced the deputation, and a Mrs Lawson explained that she had risen from a sick bed in the hope oE being able to convert Sir George Dibbs to the deputation's way of thinking. The world, she said, was going to the bad fast, and women thought that they were driven by the hand or God to redeem it from irretrievable ruin. Sir George Dibbs said that he would submit the matter to his colleagues, but individually he would not give women a vote. He thought that they were not intended by the Creator to take part in the stormy scenes "of strife which were necessary to the legislation of the country. They could be of far greater use at home. Probably some gallant member of the Assembly would be proud to produce such a clause as was suggested, but he (Sir George) would oppose it when it came before the House, and he did not think it would pass. Personally he would like to have the pleasure of welcoming all the members of the deputatation to the floor of the House, for. he would give place to no one in his admiration for the sex, but they would be out of place there.