OUR MELBOURNE LETTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13209, 16 February 1905, Page 2

OUR MELBOURNE LETTER

STATES AND -COMMONWEALTH. (FltOll OIIK Own Col'.llESl'ON'DfNT.) • MI3LBODKNE, February 8.7 Tito State Premiers aro incelmg the ■Prime," .'Minister 7 in conference '■ ; at Hobart. - just ' now. Thesd htlk gatherings arc generally arranged for Holmrt if they take place in the summer, in. the same way as the Australian squad; ron always pays its official visits to Mel' bourne;at Cup time. The' Prime Minister is' accompanied by the Minister (or Home Affairs, ~Mr Dligaid .Thomson, and most ci the Premiers are supported by their respective Treasurers. An agenda pftpor ol portentous length had been prepared, but one of the first things they had to do was to prune out the subjects it would be impossible'to touch, The corifcrenco sits with oloscd doors, and each evening the Prime Minister makes an'official statement of the day's proceedings.-. You can gather tlut the information is, hot of much value. Oiio of the most Important questions is thai of transferringthe Stato debts to the Commonwealth. Before federation we were always told that-a great saving of interest would occur by the Commonwealth taking over the debt# and floating, of all new loans. Nothing milcli lii!s becn 'dono on the inattor since," ulid eVeit the present conference is not. likely to advance the subject, .materially; The fact is - that' the Commonwealth is prepared to. go much too fast in many directions for the States. It is not. too much to Soy that there, is a growing distrust 011 tho jmrk of the States, and an increasing reluctance to hand- over to the Commonwealth any subjects not fSatrvcd to it by the Constitution. Mi' Oarrilthcrs will hove an interesting subject to bring forward in the Federal Capital Rite. it will be remembered that tho Federal Parliament selected the Dalget.vfiombqla site. Afterwards the' New South Wales Parliament discussed the subject anil btfered to the Commonwealth three sites, twpressly eliminating Dalgct.y, which -tho fiovernmont had proposed to include, Now Mr Carruthors is reported to be about to try and induce Mr Reid to accept, Ynss as i\compromise. .Mr Reid may do so, but I doubt whether the Commoiuveallh Parliament will ever let New South Wales dictato ivhere the capital of Australia is' to be. AN ARDENT AGENT-GENERAL. Jlr Taverner has been so anxious to get back to his work in London that ho litis taken a quite unexpected departure from Sydney. The inner history,of his flight is not a little remarkable. The published letnils are that the Cabinet decided', on iniisidering the report of Mr. Justice Beckett, that Mr Taverner should resume us posl. and that, indeed, his passage noiicy should be paid. Mr Tnvhriier was lot to return for a few weeks, and was in ho meantime to consult with tho Premier 'cgarding the future working of tho office. Mr Taverner went away to Sydney, and the lex.t heard of him was that ho had written o Mr Rent saying that ill-health detained 11111 m that city, and that, lie had decided 0 catch the boat, for Vancouver, ns another yould not he leaving for a month. Mr Sent remained quite cool for several davs hit 011 Thursday last lie announced that h» |ad sent tue following letter to his fugitivo Vgent-genpra!: — Premier's Office, February 5,1905. Sir,—l beg to acknowledge the receipt' of' 'our letter of the 22nd ultimo, in which vOu tate 011 account of illness, vou are sailing or Ellwand from Sydney without returning 0 Melbourne. , While I regrot to hear of your illness: I nmiot refrain from exwessiiig astonishment hat you should have left, Australia without irst consulting me. especially as yon must urely have known that I-expccted to see you gain before your departure for England, so lint I might futtber discuss with you further >oints of interest in connection with tho iiture management of the Agency-general, lho fact that there was no oilier steamer or a month does not affect, the question, ns our leave of absence was not for rtny suecificd 11110. It was, I maintain, your duty to have onsidered yourself still under the orders of hp Government ns to your movements, and D have comd hack to Melbourne as soon ns cur health poriiiittpiH. in order that you Jight see me again for tho purpose stated hove, and that you might, ascertain (lie winlies f the Government as to the dato of your sturn to London. 1 regret, therefore, that I cannot lmt regard our action iii this matter ns highly ccnsitrble.—l have, etc., . (Signed) T. Bent. Premier, 'his letter was sent away by the outgoing iugjish mail. "I will not be made a fool 1, Mr Bent bluntly told a press veprstilitative. "We will hear what, he has to ay. Unless he misunderstood out arrangerient with him he was gtlilty of a breach f faith." _ • J Now the story 'in . private circulation iii i lie, political world is that Sir Taverner was ' ever intended to. go'-back after the L'Beckett finding. The report that he was 3 bo reinstated was merely put abroad to save his face." Mr Taverner was to rejoin in Melbourne for a time, and tho iovcriiiiieiit was to mention certain changes ; proposed to institute pending tho ppointinnnt of a High Commissioner. Then, r? Taverner was to discover that it. would ot nay him to return, and was to hand in is.resignation. But -Mr Taverner outwitted lie Ministry. With its official announcelent to support, hiin he took a practically jcret departure, evidently thinking that he got awav ho would be safe. The liteolho of the little trouble will bo watched 'itlr much inlcrest. 'fUE MAIL CONTRACTS. We have got ourselves into a somewhat wkWiird position on the question of our cdiiii mails. Hitherto we have had an "ccollont weekly service, tho P. and 0. lid Oriiuit Pacific boats coining iii aitei'nalo eelcs. At the instance or t.lic Labour parly revisions were inserted in Iliocostal Act lat 110 mail lino should bo subsidised on hicli coloured labour was employed. Existig contracts expired on the ,31st of January. 1 he P. and 0., as an Indian service, is mlriiitted to lascar la'hour, and it declined 1 submit ri tender. The Orient Pacifio [fered to keep ii|r,its old sci'Vieo for a ibsidy of £140.000 11 year—nearly double ic subsidy previously pnid. This amount ie Government, declined th pay. Th 1 nglisli Government has concluded a conact with the P: And O. Company for n irtriightly service, and that enables 113 to jt a similar service from this end. But ir the rest wo must, depend 011 any our.)ing boat—French oi- German 6r English,— liether manned by black, white, or brown ! en. Thus while the old service has been ' iset, the mails will still bo carried in ■ssels (lciwli in the stokeholds of )vhich ack Irieii are at; work. Tho position has jw been,a good deal complicated by tho iusal of tho Orient Company to take on 10 mails frohi England at Marseilles, pparently it can only' be compelled to iip English mails at an English port mi 0 notiiidawe system. If that is so it iiipans > delay of nearly a week in the mails liicli epnie in this way. MR RISID AND BURNS. Mr Reid, the Prime Minister, claims 110 lationship with the poet- Burns, but, spcakg at, the unveiling of a Burns statue in 'dney'Mast week, lie mentioned that an icestor has been immortalised by the poet, e said in tho courso of his retnarks:— rani tfiily promt to recollect that the Reids' d Ronalds from whom I am descended urished at the same tilue and in tlie same tie hit of, Scotland as Robert Burns.—(Aplitse.) Tlie Ronalds, like most Scotch nilies, have a pedigree Which extends back ;ht or nine centuries; but I think the audest evelit ot their family history is therererit admiration expressed by the poet oiie of the family—Jcaii Ronald. It is 111 reference to her that) the poet wrote the 1 lowing lines:— 1 Hiere'# ahe they ea' Jean; I'll warrant you have seen

• > As boanie a lass, or, as braw, 1116111.7 7. But for sense and guid'taste; blio'lV vie ivith .the best, . .-.■■ .-. ■: ' >And » conduct, thnt beautifiesmon.' , The charms 0' tho mih; the langer tlicy shine, .The mair admiration they : draw, mon; ■ While peaches and olietries, .and rosts ihd ;7; ' lilies, 1 , 7 j "■ They lade arid they wither aw.i', : mon: I '.'' *' it is always a. pleasant recollection in my mind that tho Jean Ronald hero referred to was my. father's mother.,, \ •, VICTIMISING A NEW CHUM. •, A remarkable story of imposition was told ni. the Water Police ■ Cohtt, Sydhey,ri ; 'few' days ago by a'now, .arrival, named bumard Hiude. George Michclsoii,! a clerk, ..was chargcd with stealing property, vaiiicd at £30' belonging to' liinde. In his 'evident© Hindc said that while living iil Croxton, Leicestershire, ho read tho following .advertisement in- tho London Daily Telegraph:— •"Parents and Others—Pupil required for liorso and cattle breeding estate, Australia. Premium '£50, returnable as salary:" Throiigh it he cahie linto communication with Michelsoii, whom lie ultimately saw jn London. Michclsbri mentioned that iie had two estates, and wanted someone to help him, but required a premium of £50. Hindo gavo him a cheque for. the amount,' arid Michelsoii sent him a third-class ticket for Sydney. An agreement was drawn up, and Hincln reached Sydney 011 ' Thursday of last week. Next day lie met the accused at. Circular quay. Continuing his evidence, Hinde said: "Defendant said, 'My carts are all busy .to-day; they are away from the station. I shall not be. able to send for your luggage to-day, eo yon"'.will have to store i( until I send my, carts for it." I gavo my lUggagc to be stored.- .AS halfpast 4- that day wo met. again, and defendant said that, .the train to get to his estate near Hiirstvillo did hot leave till a quarter <o 3 p.m. AVe, however, left Redfern about 20 tninutes after, and alighted nt liurstvillo to go to defendant's estate. Michelson sail) he was sorry his buggy was not at, the station, giving as an excuse that the boy must have had to go somewhere else. During our walk''about town defendant- tried to obtain froin-' ine what money I possessed. Wo' walk'ed'abbut 'two miles from Hiirstvillo alorig the road, and thence', struck off into the bush. Defendant kept getting behind, and I, feeling uncomfortable, pulled up every now and then to enable him to catch me itp. Wo onnio to a fence, and defendant said it was the boundary of his ostnte, and ho thought tho broken. He would go on .to look at it. lie told me I could go on to the gate and ivait for him, I found the gate, where i waited for , about an hour. Defendant did riot show up again; and I wont into the grounds and roused up some men. who tijld mo it was not Miclielson's estate. I returned to Sydney, and communicated with the police." ' Other evidence was jriven tint Michelson had on luridly last called at the place where Hindo's lugKßgp was stored, "and took it away, nftflr giving a rccnipt for it, in the

name of Ilitide. Michelsoii was committed for trial. , .