OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11301, 20 December 1898, Page 6

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

(From Oto Own Cobkespondent.) MELBOURNE, December 13. Sir George Turner has given the woman suffragists a soft answer. Though they do not make a great deal ot noise, it would appear that they work steadily. The United Council for Womou's Suffrage organised, the deputation to Sir George,' and it shows that the movement has some strength to read that the following women's organisations pure and Bimple were represented: —Women's Franchise League, .Women's Social and Political Reform League, Women's Social and Political Crusade, Victorian Women's Suffrage League. Some of them certainly rejoice in high-sound-ing names. Probably enough there is a good deal of duplicate membership. The Premier assured the deputation that the Government would not drop the bill. 'The Legislative Council had only thrown it out by .19 to 15, and ho hoped within a session or two to see the numbers reversed. Ho inlendod to persevere with the measure while he remained in power.. Mr. R. Murray Smith is the most powerful opponent, of the measure in the Lower House. In a letter to the press he thus states his views:—"While'l admit that some women are not only competent to vote but are better qualified for that duty, than many men, I feel that a formidable obstacle to their demand is presented by the fact that great masses of their'sex have, never been in any way conversant with public,questions; have never, probably, thought of them at. all, and are not yet, at any rate, capable ;of giving an intellectual opinion upon them. Further, that from the long experience and training of ages,-, they .would easily bo led by some member of the harder sex; all the more if he were plausible and sensational." What is the New Zealand experiences? ■;•' , a> Tho death of James Tyson, the millionaire squatter, has been an event of the week. 'The papers have been flooded with, personal anecdotes and reminiscences of him. He. never smoked a pipe, drank'a glass of'grog, or kissed a girl in his life—so. it is gravely said; but all'itho same, when he travelled as "Mr Smith," he stayed at the best'hotels—Petty's in Sydney and Menzies's in Melbourne. There is a certain anipunt of exaggeration in tho stories about him, no doubt. The big question now is: Did he leave'a will? Apparently he did, lAit it was unsigned, which makes it equal to none. Good temper is a, lost virtue, The weather has been guilty of such sudden alternations that people's' livers are. all congested. When I wrote 10 days ago we "had been half frozen with cold for a fortnight. Tho mail left on Saturday, which was warm; Sunday was almost hot; Monday was the record day for I don't know how many ..years. ; A iierce blast blow from tho north all day, and the longer it blew the hotter it got till from 2 to 4 the shade reading was 109. Tho southerly buster came up about 5. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday grew colder by rapid degrees, till on Thursday people were shivering in overcoats, and tlio glass was down to '48. Fancy a drop of 60deg in three days! By Saturday it was hot- again; . but on- Sunday night many peoplo had fires indoors. These changes are very . trying,. and certainly this season has been unexampled in that respect. The Roy. Dr. Bevan. the leading Congregational clergyman of Melbourne, has been the hero, and Mrs Bovan the heroine, of an amusing onoountor with a burglar. Tho doctor had read himself,to sleep, putting out his candle in the wee short hours. Somewhere about 3 he was awoke by an individual who held a lighted candle in one hand arid a revolver in tho othor, and who politely enough requested the doctor to give up his ring. Mrs Bevan was aoon awake, naturally, and a, humorous situation wae soon evolved —tho' doctor and his wife side by side iii bed' engaging in an animated but strictly polite'conversation with the "burgular." They did their best to instil moral principles' into him, but. he "wasn't taking any," as the phrase' goes; and Mrs Bevan had presently to rise and find her best diamond ring and hand it over. Then the early visitor .walked through the window, and,,sliding down a verandah post, went off to .the bosom-of his family, for he assured his host and hostess that "five starving children" had driven him to the deed. Nothing niore has beon heard of one enterprising individual, and the doctor's friends are beginning to annoy him by asking if he pinched himself (or his wife) to be positive he did not dream the entire story. Mr-W. J. Lormer, who is so rabid a teetotaller that the Full Court debarred him from sitting on the bench to hear charges against publicans, startled \ the. Melbourne public the.other night with a new version of the. real reason why MY Justice Williams did not get' tho Chief Justiceship. His story was that Mrs Williams had declared she could never receive certain prominent politicians at Government House, and that these prominent politicians ■ therefore determined to prevent his Honor getting the chance-of the actingGovernorship. ■ The story was too ridiculous; but tho. newspapers thought it necessary to get a.set donial of it from Sir Hartley Williams. • Mr Lormor was delivering what be termed "an impeachment of justice and politics in Victoria" when ho spun the cock-and-bull story. Tho impeachment fell most utterly flat. The man who, could retail so ridiculous' a story as fact. Cannot be taken seriously in anything ho says; '•''■.. Another impeachment that has challenged more attention has beon made in Parliament by Mr Deakiri upon the Victorian education system. . After attacking the Education department on points of administration, Mr Deakin went on to declare that the system was bad. Indeed, he quoted tho opinion of a "well-known expert from outside the colonies " to tho effect that the school system of Victoria was the worst he had ever examined. This-expert was Mr Sidney Webb. And Mr Deakin asserted further that colonial experts had stated that Victoria was far behind tho other colonies arid that her methods of teaching were those of 20 years ago. The public were inclined to set some store by Mr Sidney Webb's opinion, and there waa a good deal of talk about the seriousness of the impeachment. But when the department was able to reply.that Mr Sidney .Webb had devoted one hour and.a-lialf to his inspection of the Victorian school system, the seriousness vanished. The.school system may be bad, but how bad it is would certainly need longer than an hour and a-half to establish-. As for the colonial experts, whatever opinions they had expressed to Mr Deakin, they had always spoken favourably of the system to: the department. So, after all, Mr Deakin's impeachment, like Mr Lormer's, fell flat. The Melbourne Bicycle Club's Austral Wheel Race meeting has b.een"a magnificent success in attendance, .financial results,, and good racing., But the Soharp incident was a fly in the ointment, ft has already cost the club £300, and apparently they, are not done with it yet. With so large a number, of competitors, the race has, of course,, to, be run in heats. Tho handicappers determine how the heats shall be constituted; that is, they name the men who shall take part in each heat. They supply the secretary of the club with this list a week before the race. Scharp, a rider who was the piiblio favourite for tho race, was listed to run in a heat in which there were no othor first-class riders;. but the club took it upon itself to alter him from this heat to another, in which Walne and other good men were to run. Soharp. objected. He asked for the reason of .his being so treated. He was told it was " in the interest of sport. This, if it meant anything, meant that in some way it was suspected he'intended to run "crooked." The club declined to father this insinuation, however, though they failed to explain what "in the interest of sport meant, if it did not-mean this... In ,tho end Scharp did not start at all.'. Ho would' not run in the heat to which he had been transferred except under certain conditions. The club insisted that he should run in that heat or none; so he ran in none, and stood upon his legal rights. His legal rights were so strong that the club has-paid him £300 rather .than go to law. Now, his babkers, who did not get a run for their money, are also making a claim against the club. Then there.is a further complication. Another rider named Matthews was transferred to a different heat, just as Scharp was. Ho accepted the transfer, won his heat, and so was qualified to take part in the final. But the rider who was second to him in,the heat has made.a claim against the club. This is M'Donald. He argues that if Scharp was illegally transferred, so was Matthews. Matthews. accepted the illegality, buo that illegality put M'Donald m the'position of second. He would have beenfirst rf the illegality had not been committed. U>nse■queW an illegality having shut him cm from competing in the final, he asks the club for; compensation. And fairly enough .too. It may well be imagined that there -will be no alteration in tho heat lists'.next yew. Apparently the secretary of the club was the inSividual responsible for the. troubte. He acted without consulting the executive though why he acted is the mystery. , His action has cost tho club a pretty penny anyhow. : A " spiritualist" is in trouble in Melbourne. Originally a "clicker" in a boot factory, he spread his wings by setting up as a spintualis tic medium, and to make money pretended to be "controlled" by a doctor, who advised patients. Presently a -detective called M a patient, and the medium is now under arrest.