OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2274, 30 September 1897, Page 55

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

(Fbom O\m Own Correspondent ) September 15.

FEDERATION.

The Sydney Convention is brightening the prospects of Federation. Sir George Turner told tbe Queen that the Australians hoped before the end of the year to make her the biggest Jubilee gift of all — a united Australia. But the gift won't be made this year. Sir George himself is as much to blame as anyone else for that. He found on bis return that his own Governmenc were putting on the brake — iv fact, that one of them, Mr M'Lean, was bitterly opposed lo Federation. So he haa been going slow. But the Convention baa settled decisively what was the chief drawback — the States representation question. The point was how should each coffny be represented in the Upper House — equally or sccardiDg to population. To equil.repreeentation the big Stales — New South Wales and "Victoria — would not agree ; indeed, both Houjfts of -the New South Wales Parliament demanded the population basis. The small Statrs — WTitern Aus'ralia and Tasm»Bia— would come in only on the equality basis. It was feared that tbe difficulty would not be overcome ; but the Convention has, after all, carried equality by <H to 5. In Adelaide the vote on the question was almost even, so that in the meantime the federal spirit has grown. The decision is a distinct blow to tho Victorian Radical party led by the Age. That Victoria at heart is also for federation is shown on the stock tax isfue. Mr M'Lean opposed federation in the interests of the stock tax, declaring that without ifc the Victorian stock-raiser would be ruiued. He is a Gippsland man, and following his 'load one of the Gippsland agricultural societies invited tbe similar bodies throughout the colony to a conference to protest agaiusfc federation. But only two societies have agre< d Jbo be represented. The public feeling is tbat no such petty reason as tbe stock tax must be allowed to block the way, and the feeling is as surprising as it is praiseworthy.

LABOUR LEGISLATION.

The Victorian Factories and Shops Act is proving completely unworkable in practice It provides for the minimum wsge in trades, and to arrive at what is the fair and proper minimum is left to the decision of boards. Six boards were appoiuted — for the baking, furniture, clothing, boot, shirt aud collar, and underclothing trades respectively. The boards were elected by employers and employees, with a chairman appointed by the Government. On the surface this would appear ft wise *nd fair method of securing impartiality, but in practice it has not proved so. For instance, in the c'othing trade. The interests of employees are identical — they want the higlmst wage, but the interests of employers are conflicting. The local manufacturer pulls against the importer, and the slop trade man against the tailor. In this particular board the chairman was a clergyman, the Rev. J. F : Edgar. Mr Edgar is a man with * heart as big as a bullock's, ss the saying goe3, but he hasn't sense to correspond. As an example, he has just got into very warm water by having Ben Tillett to crate at one of his "j3leas*nt Sunday afternoons" on the Lucknow miners' strike, with a collection for the strikers at the close. Mr Edgar knew no more than the babe unborn about prices in the c'.obhing trade, but he always went for high wages. The result is tbat the employees have all the best of it, and there is the vastest dissatisfaction by employers. Already, though the board has not decided more than three v eeks ago, it has had to reduce the rate by 10 per cent, in one important branch, and unless the Government step io and amend the decisions in other branches there is no doubt that many workers will be discharged, while Melbourne will lose the export trade. It is just the same in the boot trade, and for exactly the same reason. The employeßs had all the preponderance on the board, and one of the principal employers has told * parliamentary committee: "The rates fixed by the boot board under the Fae'orias Act »re higher than any which have been paid in "Victoria for 25 years. Their proposals are a disgrace to the intelligence of the trade." Another has declared -that 500 hands will be thrown out of employment. In the furniture trade the result has been that many old men,, ■Who are too slow to earn the high minimum yi&ge fixed, have already been discharged, and they are able to look forward only to starvation.

All sorts of legal questions also are arising under the act. Tbe Supreme Court is being called upon* to determine whether a naturalised Chinaman is a Chinaman or an Englishman under' the act (which treats the two nationalities in a. totally different way), and also whether a confectioner who sells pastry is a baker.

MB BEN TILLETT.

This gentleman has raised a very pretty stir. "When he arrived he -was entertained at a luncheon. When the Chairman care the toast

<A *' Tne Quer-ii," the labour tjang waited to see what Tilletfwould do, and aFter an awkward pause the British champion said : " Oh, let us drink her health— or tbat of any other old lady." Perhaps the thing might have passed unnoticed at any other time, but so soon after the Jubilee the public simply could not stand it. So Ben Tillett and his labour friends have beea catching it hot. The Ballarat Mayor, Mr Shoppee, refused to have anj thing to do with him, and that town has been iv a state of wild excitement for dajs, so much so tbat when the mayor made his appearance 'in the Stcck Exchange room one morning the members ros« and cbeeted him heartily, and then sang ''God save the Queen." At one of Tillett's addresses, too, the audience would cob listen to him until they had relieved their feelings by chanting the National Anthem. Tillett, now that he sees how the' public take it, declares that "the repoiter is a liar." But ho does not say in what particular ho lied, and the labour men who were present have admitted that the report ia true, though they say that the delay occurred through a misuuderstaadiug as to .whether "The Queen" was to be proposed. But when the toast was proposed, their duty w»s clear, and they admit that Tillett used tho words attributed, to him. It is timply amazing how much feeling has been fhown ov^-r the incident, and it is juso ai amazing to ace how eager everjbody concerned, from Tilletb downwards, has been to deny that any disloyalty was intended." That is the one creditable feature in the whole affair.

EFFICACY OF PRAYER.

A remarkable inf tance of the efficacy of prayer wan given by Mr Charles F. Reeve, the general director of the Poona and Indian "Village Mission, to a large congregation which assembled at the Collins street Baptist Church the other evening to bid farewpll to 35 mis'ionaries departing for India. Mr Rjjeve was explaining how the mission depended for its funds on its faith in th« Lord, and mentioned that he had prayed in Sydney that £100 iriight be given to Ihe mission. Only two dajs later a letter arrived from a geutleman in an ari joining colony enclosing a cheque for the very amount, and wltb an explinalory note that at the very hour the prayets were being raised the donor had been "strangely moved" to send the money.

In the up country town of Numurkah also there has bet:n some extraordinary testimony of the same kind. Mm Cory is the wife of a Bible Christian minister, and Mrs Cory has bceu detailing the particulars of the Divine healingvouchsafed to both of them. Both had been 'j given up by several dcc'ois. Mr Cory, who had fpiue disea«e, had lain on his back, unable ! to move, lor five and a half months* ; Mrs Cory had suffered from internal tumours for some years, and was unable to dress herself, her condition being such as to give no hopes of her recovery. The two sufffrera prayed for deliverance, and it was immediately vouchsafed. They threw off their ailment* suddenly, became quite well, and had never known a moment's illness sired Such is_ Mrs Cory's story.

SUFFERINGS IN THE SNOW.

Another story of sufferings in the snow conies from the mountains beyond Bright. Tyro young miner.* were, cnoght in a very stvere Miowetorm. The snow wa» 4fo deep. Fixing a counterpane tc windward, they mada a hole in the snow, aud, Mt'inp close together, wrapped in a blanket, passed the night wibhoub «. fire. At daybreak the storm had not abated. Blanket were torn up, ai d," stuffud with leaves, were ustd as snow-shoes, on which the retreat was commenced. The gale, however, had shifted to the north-tast, and the men *sere obliged (o proceed against it. Only half a mile was accomplished io the thick snow when they wtTe again compelled to oanup, and thus they spent the second uight The btorna lulled, aud frost set in t-nvatds morning, and the blankets at d clothes became frczen. There was no fie, and the few provisions they possessed ran ou h . As a forlorn hope, after abandoning everything they earned, the back track was iigain takeu, with fresh-rcade pads for sr.ow shoes. Over and over again they plunged into the snow up to th»ir waists, aud twice got into drifts 16?t to 20ft deep. At 5 o'clock they reached the Cobungra mine. Tteir hands aud feet were terribly frost-bitten, aud they were iv a very pitiable condition.

MISCELLANEOUS.

A c»«e is proc<ed:ntj-b«fore tha Brisbane Police Court in which Juleis Joubert and H. S. Hondt are charged with having on or about July or August conspired to obtain unlawfully three guineas as compensation or reward for procuring a certificate of merit for artistic hair work in favour of Carl Elsinger, from the Queensland luttrna'-ional Exhibition Company (Limited), aud further that they conspired to dfce've the directors of thst company, and had fraudulently procured from them a certificate of meiit in favour of Elsiuger.

A youth named Truswell, 17 years old, met with a terrible death in the Melbourne suburb of Matvern on Saturday uight. For a prank, he climbed an ekctric light p"«-t, aud wben he got to the top he grasped the wire to steady himself. Immediately el»ctric sparks began to fly, aud he gripped the wire with the other hand. He instantly fell to tbe ground dead. ' The Bishop of Melbourne testified to the increase of temperate habits the other evening by mentioning that what had greatly impressed him at Jubilee tirae was that on one of the evenings, when tht-re were the largest crowds in the ciby, aud he walked up aud down the leading thoroughfares, be did not ace a single drunktn man or woman amongst the whole multitude. He had mentiouf d the Eirao thing to various persons — ladies and gentlemen — who were present on that occasion, and that which struck him struck them also.

The superint-ndeut of the Wentworth Proprietary gold mines at Lucknow, wbere the miners are on strike, will not lis'eu to the suggestioa of arbitration. He -tells the strikers that he is quite capable of carrying on bis employers' business without the interference of strangers, and that the work of the mine will go on without them, and he concludes : "Finally, as to my shareholders and their dividends, that is a matter which they and I can very well settle batweeu ourselves. When my office become? vacant my directors will gladly appoint a joint comraittte of management, consisting of Labour members, evangelical preacher?, and Iccal storekeepers, in suitable proportions. Then all will ba happy, including — Yours truly, C G. Warnfc-hd Lock."

A peculiar claim was heard before Mr Justice Owc-n and a jury in Sjduey, when L. J. M'Gratb, hotelke°per, sued F. W. Marshall for dan- ages for the use of his hotel for immoral purposes. In E-ster weekMhe defendant came to tbe Palace Hotel with a woman, and engaged a, room for Feveral days, and on its transpiring that the woman was not his wife the plaintiff ordered him to leave the hotel. The defendant denied the plaintiff's allegations in toto. The jury gave M'Gratb 20s damages. An important sale of station property has been effected by auction in Melbourne by the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, when the Yarrabee Park estate, a well-known Btation in the Riverina district, changed hands. The estate comprises about

47,000 acres of freehold land. The stock consisted of about 50,000 sbeop, 275 cattle, and 94 horset, and tho btition was equipped with all the necessary plant for its effective working. The upset price per acre, was announced by the auctioneer, and at this — a sum equal lo about £121,000— the bidding started. It ro3e in bids of Is per acre until the property was eventually knocked down to Mfs?rs Samuel and John M'Caughey for £142 500. This is the Brst iinportaut stat'on property which has been disposed of by auction in Melbourne for some considerable time.

A singular action ias been heard at Newcastle. Mr and Mrs Nickisson sued C. E. Nicholas, engineer for railways, for £30 damages for assault. On June 5 Mrs Nickisson occupied a seat in the dre?s circle at the Victoria Theatre, atid the defendant, who claimed that he had reserved tbe seat, prevented her from seeing the performance by seating himself on tb.3 arm-reft of the seat, and he also sat ou her arm, ciuting severe bodily pain. The defendant pleaded not guilty, and justification. He asserted that he had engaged the seat in the Victoria Theatre, and tbat the plaintiff occupied it, and refused to quit it when requested to do fo. The defendant, therefore, seated himself on the arm of the seat he was entitled to take. The jury, after a lengthy rethemenb, returned a verdict for the plaintiff for ihe amount claimed. The Scriptural Education in Schools party, are making a strong effort to securo the adoption of th*>ir platform .it the c.ming Victorian election.- The suggestion is that tbe Xris'a books should be n?ed as in New South Walee, but Archbishop Carr and the Cutholicclergy strongly oppose it. It is noticeable that the leaders of the movement are prominent Orangemen. They are eert*iuly succeeding in working up a certain amount of sympathy But in South Australia, afc last election, the party believed they would have a win ; yeh on a plebiscite Scriptural instruction was defeated by 34,834- to 19,280 Probably enough a plebiscite in Victoria would give a eimiiar result.

A sad ca,Fe of drowning occurred at Botany Bay, uear Sydney, on September 9. William Denison, aged 32, with his wife and family, James Dsnison, his younger brother, and Frank Anderaon, were picnicking on the beach. The three men went oceau iishing on Green's rock, when * huge wave carried the two Deniaona into the water. Anderson made a- heroic attempt to save them <as they were struggling a short distance'away f roaa the rock, and was almost drowned by the under-current before he was washed back on the rock. The two Denisons then disappeared before his eyes, and before the gaze of Mrs Denison and the children.