OUR VICTORIAN LETTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12854, 24 December 1903, Page 2

OUR VICTORIAN LETTER.

(I'r.ou Otjb Owh ConnBSPOSDKira.l

MELBOURNE, December 16. To-day is Federal election day. Ms Deakin, the Prjmo Minister, has got into a rare men over tho Petriar.a case. I gave , you full particulars of this in my last—how the Government, because tho shipwrecked crow wero Chinese and Malays, prevented them from being landed. Tho whole cenumunity has been stirred to profound , indig; nation over tho Government's action. Mr Deakin has beon waking an election tour in Tasmania,, and one meeting after another insisted on an explanation about tho , Petria-na case. "What about tho Petriain* ; case?" tho audiences roared until the Primo Minister had to speak about it— though ho would wilingly enough have left it alone. Ho continued denying that the Government wero to blame, until, getting bolder by degrees, he arrived at tho conclusion that the- Me-lbourno agents of tho wrecked steamer were entirely in tho wrong. They simply wanted to shift their responsibilities as to the. crew on to the Govern-, ment. Ho also got his departmental secretary (Mr Atler Hunt) to furnish a lo'ng explanatory memorandum, declaring mosi. solemnly that the Government had ncvei refused to lar.d the crew Bimply becansa thoy had , never been asked. Mr Deakin when he returned to Victoria addressed another ejection meeting, • and , was stronger than ever in his blamo , of the agents. But this firm, Messrs Gollin and Co., wore by this timo stuug into reply. , Alongside of. the Prime Minister's speech in yesterday morning's paper they publish a long letter, which most completely and' convincingly shows that the Priina Minister and his secretary have both been indulging; in gross lnisstatements. It is a very damaging letter, indeed, to the Government, and will do 'heir candidates a lot of harm at the polls. Mr Deakin has made a, great mistake. Instead of shuffling and explaining, he should have admitted that the Gtt vernment had made a mistake, but woujd seo to it that, Immigration Restriction Act or no Immigration Restriction Act, shipwrecked crews would never be treated so again. He won't forget the Petriana case. ' There is only one other election incident worth mentioning—that is that tho Rev. Dr Rentout has come out boldly as a. supporter of little Dr-Maloney for Melbourne apainst Sir Malcolm M'Eacharn, Lord Mayor, president of the Caledonian Society and commander of the Highland Regiment. The little Doctor has not, I think, any chanea of election, although Sir Malcolm ~ is now decidedly unpopular amongst his own class. Dr Maloney will get the Labour vote only. But that Dr Rentoul, the Presbyterian Professor of Theology, should support the little man is very surprising, indeed. Some day Dr Rentoul, with his pro-Boer and other unpalatable opinions, will strain his Presbyterian connection to tho breaking point. . , In my last ■ letter I gave, particulars o the £50 incident bolwoen the Indenendenl Order of Forostes and Sir Alexander Pearack. The State Government has appointed Mr Justice Hood as a Royal Commission of Inquiry info the whole of the! circumstances. Dγ Moutaßue, who offered the £50 bribe, is now in Canada, and will be asked if ho desires to give evidence. On the face pi things Sir Alexander Peacock shows verj badly. Not that he benefited himself, W ho acted thoughtlessly, which no man in the position of Premier ought to.

Th'e Presbyterians of Melbourne will shortly lose for a time the services of two uf their leading ministers. The Rev. Dγ Marshall, of Scots Church, accompanied by his wife and daughter, will set out on a mlerimaee to the OH Country by the B.M.S. Moldavia on Febraary 9. and on hu return will travel by way of Canada, the home of so many thousands of his countrymen. The congregation of Scota Church are divided in as to the. wisdom of their minister" in upholding the genuineness of the Turin "Shroud of Christ, about which a long correspondence has appeared in the. Argus; while the Roman Catholics rogard the Presbyterian divine us a modeller in a dispute which he is not competent to investigate—in fact, the Tribune, a Catholic paper, assails Dγ Marshall for his ignorance of r>cclesiastical history. The other Presbyterian minister who 11 going for a holiday-but only for ft fen weeks-is tho Rev. James Aylwin Ewen, whose successful efforts towards clearing off tho tremendous debt that hung over the Cairns Memorial Church were celebrated by memorial services and, n festival about si* months ago. The attendance at tho East Melbourne Churoh is often larger than that at any of the churches in tho city proper, oxeopt the Anglican Cathedral. But Mr Eweli is not only a popular preacher. In the metropolis and its suburbs and m many of tho large country towns he is well known for his vivid reciißls from the works o! Lan Moolaren and J. M. Bnrrie, in which he displays wonderful dramatic talent. n° thinks of spending his brief holiday in JNew Zealand.