OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 349, 16 January 1912, Page 2

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

A MERRY CHRISTMAS

Undoubtedly Sydney m the mass has had a "merry" Christmas. The expenditure m the shop 6 has been unprecedented. The movement to places of popular resort by train, tram, and boat has been on an equally large scale. There i 6 evidently plenty of money to spend, and it is being royally scattered. "Oh, well, there is tho old age pension to look forward to," is an exclamation often heard among those who expect to benefit by the public largesse. Sometimes, too, it is heard among a class which might be expected to be more provident, and more deeply imbued with the spirit of independence. But that by th*> way. The attendance at the churches has been unusually large, and the provision made for th? destitute poor and the sick m the hospitals has been more than ordinarily lavish. Economists tell us that indiscriminate almsgiving tends to perpetuate the evil whicji it attempts to relieve. But at Christmas time 'all prudential considerations of this kind are voted down. Better to follow an "indiscriminate" impulse of beneficence than to follow no such impulse at all. The weather has been gloriously fine — rather on the hot side, it is true. But that at this time of the year is no more than seasonable.

A DECADE OF PRODUCTION

It is found, from a comparison of official statistics, that the production of New South Wales, stated m terms of money, has increased during the last 10 years m n very remarkable manneT. The total production m 1900 was set down at £40,000,000. In 1910 it had increased to £-63,750,000, or by considerably more than 50 per cent. Of the increase, £16,500,000 comes from the primary industries of grazing, agriculture, and mining, and £7,250,000 from manufactures. The total value of manufactures produced m the State m 1910 was £16,750,000. In 191 C it Avas £9,500,000. Reckoning np what the Tariff ha 6 cost us, indirectly as well as directly, we are able to form 6ome opinion as to whether the game is worth the candle. It is noted that certain manufactures were flourishing before the Tariff was imnosed. The product of these should, of course, be CfSaucteo irom the "total, -as -they .ire m no sense due to the encouragement afforded by the Tariff. It is ako noted that not even heavy Customs duties on machinery and other needs of the primary industries have prevented their expansion. On one side this fact will be claimed as offering convincing evidence r.hat a. heavy tariff i«'not inimical to primary industry. On the other, it will be pointed out that if wool growing, wheat growing, and mining have been abl> to forge ahead m 6pite of the impost piled upon them, bow much more would they have gone ahead if they had been exempt from these special burdens, and had only be m asked to provide their just share of the general revenue? At present these are purely academical questions. Neither the Government nor the Opposition can afford to reopen the perennial controversy of " Freetrade v. Protection." Still, the wideawake observer likes to keep his eye 6 open, and to observe how thing 6 are going, even if there i 6 no likelihood of any immediate action being taken with regard io the developments noted. It is significant tbat the number of men employed on the railways and tramways has doubled during the decade, and new totals 31,480, or nearly 10 per cent, df the adult male population.

THE "BOSS" SPEAKER

The over-zealous members of the Ministry carried the member for the Upper Hunter into the Speaker's chair. Now that he has fallen foul of Mr Charles Robinson, the popular chief of the ' Hansard ' staff, and of Sir F. B. Suttor, the also popular President of the Legislative Council, who espouses the cause of Mr Robinson, Ministers would dearly like to get him out again. 'They now have a majority without his assistance, and could put* Mr Cann back m the Speakership without danger of defeat. But Mr Willis is master of the situation. It is even maintained that it is impossible to remove him from the position, m which he was placed by such extraordinary means. According to this view, there is ample provision for appointing an emergency Speaker, but none for effecting a change when the appointment is once made. The possibility of such a Speaker becoming tyrannical, quarrelsome, meddlesome, or unfair did not seem to»have dawned upon the Constitution makers of New South Wale? any more than did the extraordinary means by which the present occupant was placed m the position. Mr Cann, however, has pointed out that the Act specifies that m case of the removal of a Speaker by a vote of the Assembly, a new Speaker may be elected, showing that removal was contemplated. But to this it is rejoined that the section from which this is quoted only applies to a Speaker who, like Mr Cann himself, was elected "at the first assembling" of the Assembly after a General Election, and that there is no provision affecting the position of a Speaker elected m the same manner as Mr Willis. That gentleman could materially simplify matters by resigning, but it is not generally believed that he is built that way. His latest vagary was to instruct Mr Laing, the second officer of ' Hansard,' to take charge of the staff during Air Robinson's suspension. But Mr Laing prudently obtained leave of absence from his suspended chief, and is now away enjoying his Christmas holidays.

MELBA

The Melba opera season has closed m a blaze of triumph. In the utterances of theatrical people one never knows how much is sincere and how muoh is histrionic effect. But there was a genuine " last appearance " of the company, and there is no reason to doubt the genuineness of the feelings displayed either by the company or the audience. " I'll try and come back," said Madame Melba ; " but, mind, I haven't promised." Mr Hugh Ward, on behalf of the company, said, with truth, that they had had the greatest season of opera ever seen m Australia. The immense cost of the venture had at first caused concern, but it was gratifying to know that not only had there been no loss, but they had made a little money.

SHORTAGE OF WATER,

"lie water famine is abating." So says the veracious contemporary historian, and there is no reason to doubt his accuracy. But one may justly cavil at the appropriateness of the word " famine." How can there possibly be a, water famine m a city which has a supply of 50gal per head per day? If some selfish people, ignoring the effect of their conduct on their fellow-citizens, have allowed their garden hoses and sprinklers to run all day, and so to deplete the supply that large portions of the city were left without any, 1 j that does not constitute a famine. It is I simply a case of misappropriation. NeverI theless the Water Board have plainly been ! caught napping, and will have a hard task to get abreast of public demands. There is water enough to let the sprinklers run all day, if only the mains were big enough and the pumps powerful enough. I THE "VEND" JUDGMENT. One of the most notable occurrences of last week was the judgment delivered by I Mr Justice Isaacs m the celebrated "Vend" case. Like the case itself, the

judgment broke the record as regards time. It took His Honor three days to deliver. But, when delivered, it was an eye-opener. The fines inflicted on 37 defendants amounted to £18.500. They • were also ordered to pay the costs of the prosecution by the Crown, and these, it is known, will amount to more than another £10,000. Their own costs, owing to the number of eminent counsel engaged, will almost certainly mount up to two or three times that sum. In fact, *:or the legal profession, the case has been "linked sweetness long drawn out." Nevertheless, if His Honor's conclusions aTe well founded, the penalties and costs will only come to a very small fraction cf the amount which the companies, by their combination, have wrongfully wrung from the public. The mme -owners first formed a strong combination, and used their power to crush out competition, much m the same way (though on a largor scale) as the unions combine to keep out the non-unionists. The shipping companies formed a similar combination, which pursued an equally amiable course. Then the two combinations effected a further combination with one another, and the consuming public of Australia was virtually at their mercy. Ihey fixed prioes and freights at a figure | which gave them very liberal profits. But, seeing that they had the whole business m their own hands, they can claim a certain degree of credit for not charging I more than they did. It is instructive to ! note that this combination had their origin m the celebrated " sliding scale " which fixes the hewing rate for miners. It was part of th? unwritten law regarding this scale that it was only to slide up, and never to slide down. That meant that the price of ccwd must never be allowed to go down under peril of a strike and a general stoppage of the industrial activities of the district. To keep the price of coal and the hewing rate, which was linked with it, from going down, combined action was necessary. If combined action was to be effective, outsiders must be prevented from undercutting. It was also necessary to bring in -the shipping companies, for m the other States the price of coal depends on the freight charged, and the man who can secure the lowest freight commands the situation. Being judges m their own cause, the coal-owjieiS---aB4-^the~^hippiiig companks judged their own requirements, According to the finding of Mr Justice Isaacs, on a very liberal scale. December 26.