OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11937, 10 January 1901, Page 3

OUR MELBOURNE LETTER.

(Fboh Qub Own Correspondent.) ■ , ' January 3. One story as to the reason why Lord Hopetbun did not at first send for Mr Barton to form the Federal Government is that Mr Chamberlain had wired out to him recommending him to do so, and that he wanted. to show his independence of the • Colonial. Office. This is told on first-class , authority, butjt/has had no public circulation.- Anyhow, it is beginning to be admitted that he took a constitutional course in sending for Sir William Lyne. Had Mr Beidreinained Premier he would have' been sent for without'' doubt—first because he was Premier, and next because he was a Federalist; and it is argued that Sir William Lyne was the proper person because he was Premier, no matter though he was not a, Federalist. But there was a kind of savage joy throughout Australia that Sir W. Lyne did not succeed. Certainly there .was in Victoria. For Sir William Lyne is the' very head and front of the big Sydney majority which hates Melbourne with a hate that is'always hot; is jealous and envious of her; and ever striving in word and deed to belittle her. He is a narrow- • minded, unintellectual, paroolu'ally-spirited man—quite Unfit as a, political or personal figure for Australia's first Premier. It must have been a bitter moment to him ' when he had to tell the Governor he could not succeed. What he ought to have done at the firrt asking was to have admitted to Lord Hopetoun that as an anti-Federalist be would stand aside, thougW grateful for the .cdmpliment of being askea; but he has not a soul for self-effacement.of that sort, Australia would ha,ve v thought all the more of him. ".'-,'

•The first Government is a rabid Protectionist crowd;' Mr Kingston, who has » charge of the customs, a very rabid 'member . of them. Of course, Freetrade or Protection is the one great political qr°stion of the new Commonwealth. A unii".n tariff is the biggest advantage of a United Australia—no more "border barbarisms" like the 4<ick tax and so forth. What the tariff is to be is, therefore, the first question for settlement. If it is to be Protectionist to a 45' per. cent.' degree, like Victoria's, as Sir William Lyne would like it, where is the Commonwealth revenue to come from? If Protection goes that length it becomes prohibition, which is its logical outcome? and there are no imports to levy duty on. Mr Barton, the Premier, is a milk-and-water Protectionist, and in favour of a revenue tariff—so much so that the Age told Mr Deakin he could not possibly join such a man. Mr Reid is the leader of the Freetrade party, and the elections will be y.ery interesting. ,1 . The Freetraders do not intend' to mish their views to ,the uttermost; they recognise that a revenue tariff—say, up to 15 per .cent.—.will be for some time a necessity. There has been a good deal of gush over the new- Premier. He certajnly has done much for the Federation .movement, and deserves the honour. But he was alwavs a

failure in politics—a .man who ought to do much, and who was always expected by his friends to do much, but never did it. Perhaps he nsver will. . His admirers say he ■wanted a larger field—bis is the mind which needs. expanse, :'and Federated Australia will give it. But many people believe he is only superficially a great man. The real Premier of Australia—that is. the man best fitted for the position —is Mr Beid. Mr Barton's colleagues may carry him through. To my own mind, Sir George Turner is the .- best of , them—plain, practical, not an extremist, and certainly not showy. Mr Deakin is like Mr Barton—he has always been expected to do a great deal, but has , failed. His political career in Victoria is decidedly disappointing—and. as an administrator he. was. a delusion. He is the fastest speaker in Australia, and can talk

more without saying anything than ■ any other man in the Commonwealth. Sir Wil- / liam Lyne—my opinion of him you know. Mr Kingston is a violent extremist—a most unsafe man—Radical to a degree. Sir John Forrest is a West Australian—thinks Perth a Melbourne or Sydney, and Ealgoorlie the richest place on ■ earth, and is almost as " slim" as Kriiger. Mr Dickson Ido not fcnow anything about. In Victorian politics the most interesting news is the marriage of Mr Peacock, the Chief Secretary in the Government, and probable Premier in reversion to Sir George Turner—thouch by this there hangs a doubt. Mr Peacock seemed a confirmed bachelor till he went to an A.N.A. gather- ' ing at Port Fairy .(delightful name and delightful little place in our famous Western district—the "•Australia Felix"). There, when the members weren't discussing the vexed art union question, they were danc- , Jng and picknicking with the local inhabitants; and Mr Peacock succumbed to

one of two. Misses Holden, with whom all the visitors, married and single, fell over head and ears in love. They were wed. on New Year's Day..,. The doubt about whether the 1 bridegroom' wi'l foe used to "be a grocer's shopman, or drive out the cart, or something of that sort—arises from Mr Isaac Isaacs. Mr Isaacs is the Attorneygeneral, a very, clever Hebrew, but unpopular -because he is a Hebrew, and because he is as "deep as a draw-well." Sir George Turner publicly announced that Mr ' Peacock was to be his successor; but Mr Isaacs is the senior member of the Governi ment, and he is after the post. He only - stayed in Sydney for the first day of the celebrations—was back in Melbourne the very next day.—and will work Peacock ■ out of the position if it is possible to be done. , . I would like to give a full and complete exposition of the wretched, miserable muddle the Marshall-Hall affair has got into; but am afraid 'of worrying the reader. Nothing like the affair has ever happened in Victoria- for petty personal intrigue and partisanship. The University Council , should surely be a body of high-minded, pure-souled gentlemen; but it has behaved in this matter in a very opposite way to what it tnicht-bave been expected to do. To begin with, the council some two years ago passed upon Marshall-Hall the severest censure for 'his poetical publication ever pawed upon a university professor. Next it deliberately by 10 to 6" refused to reappoint him, and appointed Mr Peterson, ; of Edinburgh, in 'his stead. Now it lias 'seritfa' cable .message to Mr Peterson virtually suggesting'to him that he should not come; because " the future of the .ConserVa- • torium" (a school altogether apart from the , professorship) "is doubtful." ■ The. .future of the Conservatorium is doubtful because Marshall-Hall-will possibly conduct one in opposition: but. fancy a University Council taking official notice of the gossip that he is iikely.-to do so. The latest phase of the affair is most, extraordinary of all. The professors—lo of them in all—have themselves sent a cable to Mr Peterson "Dissatisfaction felt here because council appointed you." Of all the pieces of cool cheek and improper interference ever perpetrated.-this surely beats everything. As the Age puts if, their cable tells Mr Peterson plainly that they will boycott him if he accepts the office, and the professors are acting exactly as picket men do,in a strike. jThe reason of . the dissatisfaction, they say, is that the Agent-general withdrew Marshall-Hall's name from the London Selection Committees consideration. Why he did so is a mystery. No one knows why; and admittedly he was wrong.. But'that he did so did not affect the result. The University Council had his name before it, and by 10 to 6 decided against him. The upshot of the matter will probably be that Mr PeterSon will decline to come; that he can come ■ after all the contradictory cablegrams he has been bombarded with seems impossible. The'whole thing has degenerated, into a sorry farce, for which personal animosity and prejudice are responsible. A wretched "domestic tragedy"—more affecting perhaps than most—occurred at Burnley, <i small Melbourne suburb, the other night. A working baker named Nash was drinking all day and quarrelling with his wife. Towards midnight he got drinkmad.. Pour little children comprised the family, and the eldest girl has given an account of the murder. She was in bed, but the quarrelling awoke her. Her mother came into the bedroom, and, sitting down on'the edge of the bed, began to weep bitterly. Nash, almost beside himself with rage, followed her into the room, and caught her by the throat as die sat on the bed._ Pushing her back with brutal violence, he.shouted, "Where is my money? I want my monev." "I haven't any money,", answered the poor woman, who was still crying bitterly.. "Oh, haven't you?" said Nash, and, catching the unfortunate women round the waist, he threw

her on the floor and walked out of the room. She got up, half dazed, and again sat on the bed. The younger children, who ivere in the room, slept .peacefully through the disturbance, but May, the eldest, lay open-eyed, with terror, at the scene, not daring to move lest her father's attention might be directed to herself. The father got down a shot-gun, and, coming back, he pointed it at his wife. " Oh, Ted, don't shoot," she cried. Then she rushed out, but he followed her, and shot her dead in the tack yard. The little girl, who had heard the report oMbe gun, shook with fear as her father reapproached the bed, but she was reassured when he stooped and kissed her, and said, not unkindly, "I am going away. Look at this, May," he added abruptly, showing her one of his hands, which was red with blood. He kissed .her again, and quickly left the house. He has been arrested, but declares he remembers nothing of the occurrence.

A commission of inquiry into Metropolitan Board of Works .affairs has completely exonerated the board from all the charges brought against it.' The board controls the new sewage scheme and the water supply of Melbourne. The sewerage will cost millions, and involve very heavy taxation on property-holders. The Age started a crusade against the board and its chairman (Mr Fitzgibbon), just as it did against the railways and Mr Speight. Like all Age crusades, it was virulent and powerful; and the Government at last appointed a commission of inquiry. The commission declares that it has been unable to find the slightest justification of any of the serious charges. The board has connected 14,000 houses with the sewerage system. Only 19 persons came before the board to complain, and the findine is that'their compkints were trivial. The repert is an unpleasant blow for the Age. ' Mr J. G. Ward's "message to the Australian people" on New Year's Day has created some amusement. The descent from "the cementing of the Empire" to that " not the least important event of the centurv," the penny post in New Zrahmd, is a drop from the sublime to the ridiculous indeed. And as the New Zealand Premier was himse'.f in Sydnev giving his own message, people are wondering w.hat Mr Ward had to do with the matter. Who is tie real Premier of New Zealand?