OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER

Otago Witness, Issue 2363, 8 June 1899, Page 19

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER

(Fbom Our Own Correspondent.) MELBOURNE, May 31. MR DAVID SYME'S LAND.

I referred in my last letter to the Government having* appointed Mr Justice Williams a Royal Commission to inquire into the charges made against Mr David Syme, of the Ago, of having " dummied " land at Mount Macedon. Mr Frank Madden made these charges in the House last session. Mr Syme replied ."to them in his paper, and without doubt" disproved them ; and everybody thought the matter had ended. But Mr Syme got the Government to grant him a Royal Commission — a ridiculous proceeding, because the matter was quarter of a century old, and no one (except J\lr Syme) cared a brass farthing about it. When Mr Justice Williams came to sit, however, a difficulty arose. Mr Madden refused to recognise the Royal Commission. He took his stand on " privilege." The Government, he argues, cannot put a member on trial for what he says in the House. The House is the guardian of its own honour. The House might order an inquiry, but not the Government. So he refused to attend.

There is no doubt Mr Madden is right. Tod and the other constitutional authorities support him. Mr Justice Williams, however, went on with his inquiry without Mr Madden, and has thus helped to play the farce out. He sat for two days to take evidence, and as there was no prosecution, of course his report will exonerate Mr Syme. But it will not be at all surprising if the whole matter creates a big disturbance when Parliament meets. Members have chafed before at Age dictation, and they will be pleased enough to blame the Government for obeying it on this occasion. And it is iust on the point of privilege that members like to create a row. Sir George Turner's onlydefence is that the question of privilege nevor presented itself to his mind, which is not an excuse Parliament is likely to accept. His wisest course would have been to withdraw the commission, but this would have been too great a confession of error.

THE REV. HECTOR FERGUSON.

At last this heresy matter seems out of hand. The presbytery has formally deposed Mr Ferguson from the ministry, though this was not done without the tisual " dissent," for Dr Marshall, of Scots Church, considers the requisite formalities have not been carried through, and declares his fear that Mr Ferguson may take civil action for damages. The newspaper war that arose between the Rev. Dr Itentoul and the Rev. George Tait n-as long continued and very angry — on Dr "ReHtoul's part, at any rate. How angry he was may be estimated from his language to Mr Tait, whom he declared to have acted " in violation of all the laws of honour, human and divine, and in violation of the rules of hia own church." To Mr Tait's credit be it said, he never followed Dr Rentoul into the realms of abu=ivo language of this kind. The public verdict on the correspondence undoubtedly is that Di Rentoul gave it forth that he was dissatisfied with Mr Ferguson's scholarship, and that he had never inquired into Mr Ferguson's scholarship was never clearly established until Mr Tait established it. ANOTHER RELIGIOUS DISTURBANCE.

The northern suburb of Brunswick, which is next door to the scene of the Rev. H. S. Ferguson's ministry, Northcote, had its own religious sensation last Sunday. A great proportion of the congregation of the Rev. J. Barley Sharp, the Anglican clergyman, rose m the middle of his sermon and left the church in a white heat. The secret of this wholesale defection is the abominable Orango v. Green trouble. Brunswick, you will remember, was the scene of the Orange riots a couple of years ago, when the Roman Catholics mustered in force to stop an Orange procession. The trouble last Sunday evening arose in this way: An ex-priest and escaped nun, Mr and Mrs Slattery, aro at present in Melbourne lecturing on the sin? and shortcomingr of tho Catholio Church. All the newspapers have severely ignored them, so that their lectures have not created the expected excitement. Still, they have had crowds to hear them. Mr Sharp last Sunday Right ajanounced a sermon on " Romish P.e-

farmers." Apparently the Orangemen of .Brunswick suspected him of Catholic leanings; at any rate, they rolled up in force to hear him— to such an extent that the church was unusually crowded. Sure enough, Mr Sharp reprobated the Slatterys, and urged that in a new country like Australia all sects should live in peace and forget old-world animosities. Then lie went on to commend' the Romanists for their education system, declaring that Protestants were bringing up their children "nothingarians." Thereupon up rose somewhere about half his audience and solemnly stalked out. There is no doubt the great majority of these were Orangemen. Mr Sharp gained some notoriety a few months ago, when he was suspended for three months by the Bishop of Melbourne for intemperance.

SUICIDE OF A SOLICITOR

A shocking discovery was made the other morning when the charwoman employed to clean out the offices of Messrs Crisp, Cameron, and Pennick, in Chancery lane, found the body of one of the partners, Mr Robert Bruce Renniok, lying betide his desk in a pool of blood. He had shot himself through the heart with a revolver, very deliberately. He was a married man with one child, his wife being a daughter of Sir Arthur Snowden, M.L.C., also a, well-known solicitor, who received his knighthood after a two years' occupancy of the mayoral chair of Melbourne. Mr Rennick himself was the son of tho chief engineer of railway construction. It is believed that over-work had brought on a. fit of aberration. He was in comfortable circumstances, and led a happy home life.

ROMANCE OF GOLD MINING.

The chances of gold mining have rarely been more startlmgly exemplified than in the case of the Glenfine South Gold Mining Company. This mine is on the Pitfield Plains, some distance out of Ballarat. The company was floated after the Glenfine estate had bottomed on good gold, and like the parent mine, was formed to work an alluvial gutter or old river bed which runs through the plains at a depth of from 100 ft to 200 ft. When the alluvial jrutter was struck in the South mine, it did not- gi*s great promise of richness. The shares, which had risen to some 7s or Bs, dragged on the market, and some large holders got out at almost any price rather than pay calls, which seemed likely to be the fate of shareholders for months to come. Some sales were certainly made aa low as Is 6d — and it is said ovon as low aft 6d. A fortnight afterwards, to the complete surprise of everybody, a reef was struc-k in the mine. The mine was purely and simply a deep-sinking alluvial venture; a quartz reef in the middle of tho alluvial gutter was the very last thing expocted. Yet there it was, and a big one at that — no less than 27ft thick. Shares immediately rose, and continued to rise as the reef continued to show gold. A trial crushing of 6 tons gave 2oz to the ton, and the shares rose still higher, till they reached about 50s. Then 100 tons of stono was taken out to give tho reef a thorough trial. It was sent in equal parcels to two separate batteries. While the process of crushing lasted tremendous fluctuations marked the price of the shares. These lasted till the return was due. That morning shares were at 70s. by midday they were clown to 40s, by evening they were up again to 55 ! The 100 tons gave an all-round return of over 2oz to the ton, and the mine seems now to have an assured successful future.

HORRIBLE MINING ACCIDENT.

A shocking occurrence has taken place at ' the Great Northern Quartz mine, at Eaglehawk. The victim was a young miner named Robert Degreaves, whose head was taken off through the fall of a bucket, as completely and suddenly as if he had been guillotined. Degroa\es and another miner named James M'Curdy were at work in the winze below the 1580 ft crosscut, and about 3 o'clock were sending up mullock. The winze i? between 70ft ™d SOft, deep. A full bucket had been scAt away, and Degreaves v.as placing tho empty bvTcket- in the bottom of the winze, prc-paratoiy to filling it, when the winch rope,, broke, and tho full bucket, which had th«n ascended between 18ft and 20ft, came- "down with a crach. Dpgreaves was stooping over the empty bucket, with his head over the edge, when the falling bucket struok him, and he was completely decapitated, the severed head foiling into the bucket, and the body to the floor of the winze. His horror stricken mate was standing only a few feet away.

THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY,

The Government have at last " shut down " on the MafTra Beet Sugar Factory. When the company was started in 18P6 the Government advanced £50.000, bein" at tho rate of £2 for e\ery £1 subscribed by the shareholder!;. This money was to be repaid by 49 halfyoarly instalments, and as security the Government took a mortgage over the factory and machineiy. Last year £13,000 more had to be advanced. But the concern has been going from bad.' to worse, and the Government commis-sioner fent up last week to investigate nvitters has reported that, still another £1fi,0.09 is required to enable the factory to carry on till next year's crop is ready. The Government have determined not to make any further advance, and tho factory will consequently clo=e. The failure arises mainly from the fact that beet is not a payable crop, and the farmers won't grow it.