OUR MELBOURNE LETTER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) May 13. PREMIER PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1894, 22 May 1890, Page 30

OUR MELBOURNE LETTER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) May 13. PREMIER PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY.

The affairs of this unfortunate institution are once more before the public, this time in a more serious aspect than heretofore. Criminal summonses have been issued against the directors and the ex-secretary. The names are : — Mr John Nimmo, M.L.A , Mr J. L. Dow, Minister of Lands, Mr John E. Gourlay, Mr John Stewart, Mr Thomas Fergusson, and Mr James Mirams. There are two separate charges against these gentlemen. In the first they are being prosecuted for a conspiracy to defraud the shareholders by issuing shares at a premium which they divided among themselves. Included in the charge is also Mr D. Lumsden, another of the directors, who is on a visit to England, but who had to undergo an examination in court before he left. The precise language of the charge is as follows : — " That acting as such committee of management and secretary they did authorise the issue of 5000 shares of the nominal value of £5 at a premium of £1 per share, and did prior to so authorising such issue permit and allow the said defendant James Mirams to obtain and have allotted to him 560 of the said shares, and did further, in pursuance of the said conspiracy, allot and divide the remainder of such shares among themselves." This issue of 5000 shares was made on September 26, 1887, and a further issue of 1000, in regard to which they are similarly charged, was made on the next day. The second charge is also one of conspiracy and is in connection with a loan granted to one of the directors, Mr John B. Qourlay, od land at Bit tern wick. You will remember that when the affairs of the society were placed in the hands of the actuary, Colonel Templeton, that gentleman made a report to the shareholders of a very damaging nature. This transaction with Mr Gourlay was referred to and thus described :—: — "The entry of the fifth amount, £40,218, among the receipts was of a much more serious nature. It was represented as received from Mr Gourlay as deposits in the savings bank branch, and the amount was divided and entered in the counter-book as £15,536 and £24,682 The. cleik who made the entries reports to me that; to the best of his knowledge no chequo passed through his hands in connection therewith, and that he made the entries under instructions received from Mr Docberty [who succeeded Mr Mirams as secretary] The £40,218 was credited to Mr Gourlny'ii savings bank account, and the whole amount was drawn out by him during the next 6ix weekc. Thus the association parted with over £40,000 represented as part of a loan on mortgage, but there was no mortgage, nor had the reputed borrower at that time any legal title to the land proposed to be given as security. The fact that the land was afterwards acquired, and

a mortgage executed to the association, in my opinion does not alter the completion of the transaction as a direct breach of rule 59. But even if a mortgage had been properly executed, ' £40,218 was altogether too large an amount to advauce on a valuation by the survey committee of £40,245— a value for the land which was itself far in excess of its true value. A notable circumstance in connection with this loan, whose ultimate amount was to be £106,500, is that the plans and specifications of the build- | ings cannot be found, although I have repeatedly asked for them. A member of the survey committee asserts that the buildings erected are much inferior to those which were shown on the plans first submitted with the application. I asked him why then had the survey committee certified to the progress payments ? Altogether £82,323 has been advanced on this property, and not one of the buildings has been finished. They are now taken possession of by the association." In this charge the directors are associated with Philip Corkill, Patrick John Murphy, and Robert Murphy, builders. These men are alleged to have been dummies for Mr Gourlay, to whom he made pretended sales of the various blocks of land, so that an apparent value would be affixed on which the directors could found a loan. The exact wording of this second charge is that the defendants did conspire together to grant loans or advances on the pretended security of the 6aid lands and in excess of the value thereof, against the peace of our lady the Queen, her crown and dignity. The informations are laid in each case by Colonel Templeton, which is a guarantee that the action has not been taken without full consideration. The trial will be regarded with intense interest, on account of the public men involved. All sorbs of rumours are current as to the nature of the discoveries which Colonel Templeton has made during hia investigation of the books. It is alleg d that depositors have come with receipts for money paid to the society, and no record of any such money having been received can be found in the books. Numerous other irregularities are whispered about, but a full disclosure will not be made till the cases come on for hearing at the City Court. Meantime the directors assert their complete innocence. Mr Dow has written to the Argus to say that the charge has come upon him with "painful surprise." If there has been such a conspiracy he is wholly ignorant of it, and he can only say most solemnly that he is guiltless Hg can only imagine that he must have been absent from the meetings where such business, if there was such business, was transacted. And he promises to give all the help he can in sifting the whole affair. Mr Nimmo and Mr Gourlay also express the utmost surprise that such charges should have been brought against them. THE BRISBANE LABOUR DIFFICULTY. Great interest continues to be taken in the threatened strike at Brisbane. The latest announcement is that all arrangements are now complete for a strike in the event of an unfavourable reply being received from the British India Steam Navigation Company on the question of shipping non - union sheared wool. Amongst other steps is the formation of a mounted shearers' guard for the intercolonial boarders, and the Shearers' Union declare they are prepared to provide 5000 men for this purpose if necessary. This will show you how big a thing the strike may become if it goes on. Some of the officers of j what is called the "Labour Federation" of Brisbane are evidently afflicted with the cacoethes scribeitdi, for almost every day a fresh " manifesto " is issued, the language of which, it must be confessed, is of a truly "rousing" order. One was issued on Saturday at noon, for instance, which is quite grandiloquent in tone. " Stand firm and trust one another " is to be the motto of labour, and the " fellow unionists " are assured that " the cause is a sacred one." "It is holy. It is the hand-grip of the organised toilers standing in one solid mass between brothers whom they have never seen and a tyranny which they have felt and know to be unclean, and because it is so sacred and so holy, because it is the inspiration of the humanity within us, and the voice of tbe unknown God, who speaks by the voice of the people, we call upon you to act like men who have faith and hope, not like brute beasts who only despair. ... If the worst comes to the worst, then tighten your belts and fight on, still quietly, still orderly, still ! soberly. By our devotion to each other we shall conquer. Then let us not shame each other. Let us be men." It must be admitted that the present movement is the most powerful labour has yet made in Australia, and that fact is felt everywhere. It is a fact' which startles the employer that, because he shears his sheep on the Darling Downs by non-union labour, the discharge of the wool so shorn can be prevented in the London docks on the other side of the world. And while the employer is startled, the labourer is jubilant. A thrill of delight has passed through the breast of every union member in Australia at the bare idea of the power of unionism which the present difficulty has suggested. This fact was manifest at Friday night's meeting of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council, when very aggressive language was used. There is a dispute at present in progress at the boot factory in Richmond of Messrs J. and R. Mair, and Mr John Mair is a leading member of the Employers' Union. The Trades Hall Council, on the motion of Mr Trenwith, M.L.A., passed a resolution calling upon the Employers' Union to expel Mr Mair from membership on account of his action towards his men. Mr Mair was declared to bo a. " union murderer," and therefore they ought to murder his chance of support from union. If there was to be friendship when friendship suited the Employers' Union, and eumity when enmity was possible, they had better be fighting, for they could make better terms at the point of the sword. Meanwhile the prospect of a big strike is not | relished in Brisbane, where dullness in trade reigns supreme. The Brisbane Courier considers it almost iucrcdible that there should he threats of a general strike in the present circumstances of the colony, "when times are so hard, when work is so scarce that a deputation from the Trades Council has waited upon tho Chief Secretary and the Minister for Railways and Works to implore them to push on with national undertakings, when commerce is crippled, and when daily bankruptcies testify to comrnou lossc=." I think there is little doubt that tho difficulty will be .settled by the victory of labour, and that, i too, without a strike. Ou the ccc side i« only tho question of a few cheep being shorn by any person the f quatter ehooßS-* to employ ; but on tho other there is the probability of o- rompleto pes^tion of whirf labour nnt alone in every port, in Queensland, but it; may he ihrouglnut AnsI tralia, and even in London ■ioeks. The two skies don't balance. The positiou of affairs in tbe meantime is that a truce ha^ been called until the 15th inst , when (he Darling Dovna Pastoral Assoc'ation will meek to er.iiM'W what is to be dove. During thi-> interval th,-. British India Company has promised not to &bip auy of the wool over which the liisputr: hab »riseu, nor to accept any of th" wor I for shipment. THE VICTORIAN DIVORCE BILL Both the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches

are up in arms against the new Divorce Bill, which, now that it has received the Queen's assent, will be brought into operation at once. Tho Bishops of Melbourne and Ballarat are forbidding their clergy to re-marry any person divorced under the new law, and the Presbyterian Assembly has resolved on a similar course. Yefc it may safely be predicted that no one will hesitate to take advantage of the act by reason of this threat. The registrar will always be found complaisant if the clergy will not. The Age declares that for fatuous folly and wrongheaded ness the manifestoes of the Anglican bishop and the Presbyterian moderator have not been exceeded m any bull that has been issued by the Pope of Rome himself. THE DEATH RATE IN VICTORIA. Mr Hayter has recently published some more statistics which ought to put Victorians in a flutter ; though, truth to say, they have not had anyauch effect. The reason probably is that they are encased in those tabular columns which so few people care to study. Yet they are very startling. As nearly as possible the population of Victoria and New South Wales is equal. But in 1889 (that is, last year) there were no less than 19,372 deaths in this colony as compared with 14,829 in New South Wales, and the comparison comes out worse with some of the other colonies. Take New Zealand, for instance. Your colony has a population of rather more than half that of Victoria. Yefc the figures read ;— Victoria, 19,372; New Zealand, 5772. Again, during 1889 Victoria increased her population by 27,208 ; New South Wales by 36,460 ; New Zealand by 12,899. The increase in the number of deaths compares as follows : — Victoria, 3085 ; New South J Wales, 421 ; New Zealand, 64. Thus Victoria increased her population by a little more than double what New Zealand did, whilst her list of deaths increased in the year by nearly 50 times as many ; and though her increase of population was less by a fourth that that of New South Wales, her death list was seven times as heavy. The death rate per 1000 of the three colonies was as follows:— Victoria, 17 54; New South Wales, 13 43 ; New Zealand, 9 40. THE EGERIA COURT-MARTIAL. H.M.S. Opal, which left Sydney for England yesterday, has taken with her the prisoners from the crew of the Egeria, who were so severely sentenced for the disobedience in Auckland. The general feeling throughout the whole of Australia appears to be that the offence committed by the men was comparatively trifling, that it was committed under a deep sense of injury, and that the sentences passed, in the first two oases at any rate, were outrageously heavy. [ The Sydney Trades and Labour Council propose to pass an opinion on the matter, as the following notice of motion has been given for next meeting :— " That this council is of opinion that the recent court-martial is an outrage upon the feelings of a democratic people, aud wo consider that such a system of adjudis&tion is more in keeping within the dominion of a despot than among a free community." MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. The Rev. J. F. Ewing, of the Toorak Presbyterian Church, has died of typhoid fever after a fortnight's illness. The occurrence deriveß additional sadness from the fact that his wife is at present in Sootland, having been sent for to see her mother who was dangerously ill ; and Mr Ewing was to have joined her at Home on a visit in a few months. A telegram from Sydney states that great interest is being taken by amateur athletes in the forthcoming championship sports to be held there on the 31st inst. Communications from New Zealand and Brisbane state that some 20 of the best amateurs of the two colonies may be expected to meet the local champions. Among the New Zealand visitors will be Mr J. H. i Hempton, the hero of the late Dunedin sports meeting, who will meet the local champion (Mr T. M'Pherson) in 100 and 220 yds races. Professor Drummond, who was a warm personal friend of the Rev. Mr Ewing, was much pained by his death. The professor has not been idle since his arrival in Melbourne. He has met the students of the Melbourne University on several occasions, in response to the invitation given to him to address them upon religious topics. On two Sunday evenings he held services at the Victoria Coffee Palace, and on each occasion between 200 and 300 students were present. Professor Drummond makes it a point to avoid all seeking after notoriaty in connection with his work, and no publicity has therefore been given to bis meetings. The case of a man named John Ray, who has been confined in the debtors' prison in Sydney during the last four years, has been brought under the notice of the House, and at a special meeting of the Executive the immediate release of the prisoner was directed It appears that Ray was sent to prison in August 1886, on a writ of attachment for contempt of court in not paying costs amounting to £18, pursuant to a rule of the court, and had languished in gaol ever since, all representations regarding his case having failed to secure his release until to-day. Mr Charlt s Warner, the actor, who is now playing at the Theatre Royal, in Melbourne, has accepted an offer sent by cable from Mr Augustus Harris, of the Drury Lane Theatre, London, to create a part in a now and original drama, the name of which has not been divulged, but with which it has been arranged that the autumn season at Drury Lane shall be opened. Mr Warner intends to return to Melbourne next; year, and take up the management of a theatre in Melbourne. During the last six months 97,000 carcases of frozen mutton have been exported from Sydney to London, and the paying price of up to 4Jd per lb has been secured. A sad occurrence has taken place at Northcote, a suburb of Melbourne. Mr Edwin Lindsay accid'.ntally poisoned his son, Mr Alfred William Lindsa}'. who was 20 yesrs of age. The young man was taking a mixture for a chest complaitit, and asked his father to give him a dose from the bottle which he would find on tbe mantelpiece. The father mistook the bottle and gave his son carbolic acid, from which he died almost immediately. A billiard tournament is proceeding in Melbourne which is to determine who will meet John Roberts on hi* approaching visit. Evans, so far, has played the most astonishing game. His opponent, Lindrun, had only four strokes, in two of which he railed to score, and he could only put together 65 to Evans' 500. The latter played in style which ho has never excelled, and after commencing hy putting on 100 in 9 minute?, be kept it goiug throughout, making tho following brenk^:— lo4, 99, 189, and 106. He scored 500 in 42 minutes. Two youths named Arthur Wynne md Robert Tun'f-r, briek>.yer'-< appraise «, met with a horrible death in Sydney on Monday, at the new Lands Office >iow in comae, of erection. A largo box, ronKininj,' about two tons of sand, whs beuig hoisted by menus of « steam derrick crane, to rhe top ft the h Mlrt'"p;;, ond had reached a poin 1 - „lioi:t 6ft abuvs tbe top of the wall on which Wjnuo, Tur.-it-r, »nd another youth named John Brown wero working, when tho f-pliring of the wire c«bl- gave wa3 - , and the box fell ou th° t')p nf Hie unfortunate young men. 1-irown escaped with two broken fingers aud a scratch or t-o, but Wynuo aud Turner were crushed to death.