SYDNEY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6071, 7 January 1898, Page 2

SYDNEY.

[Correspondent "Canterbury Times.'*] SYDNEY, Dec. 22. GREETING. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers by way of introduction. The festive season has come with a rush. The papers are full of reports of school speeches, Christmas beneficence to the poor (how do the poor live all the year round ?), and the like. Reading matter and cunningly-worded advertisements are so ingeniously blended together in the papers , that it is impossible to say where one ends and the other begins. All this would be a weariness to the flesh did we not know that it is a. part of the orthodox festivity of the season, ;and that it is our duty as loyal Australians to take our festivities sadly. ' WHEAT AND FLOUR. The question of prices of breadstuffs remains pretty much in statu quo. The Millers' Association adhere to 4s per bushel (on paper) for new \wheat and .£ll per ton (also on paper) for new flour. . Both quotations, howover, are • set aside oh occasion. More money iB paid for good' samples of wheat, and flour can. be obtained briow the official minimum. The report that Argentina will only have three and a quarter million quarters of wheat to export, if confirmed, is likely to sond up prices in London, as nearly double the quantity was looked for from that quarter, and it is now the only important source of supply until the next European harvest. A miller, in one of the dailies, has un* kindly given to the public a statement of the profits made by the trade if they buy wheat at 4s and sell flour at Jsll per ton. He brings it out at £2 15s Sd per ton, or, allowing 10s per ton for cost of milling, at .£2 5s Bd. It takes forty-five bushels* of wheat to make a ton of flour, so that this calculation gives a profit of Is per bushel on the grain. No wonder that some millers are prepared to pay more than the Association price for their wheat, and to accept less for their flo\u\ LICENSED TO KILL. The results of the University examinations just published, show that twenty-two fully-fledged M.B.s have received their degrees, and in due course will be let loose to practice on the public. Of these, no fewer than f our are ladies. So large a number of passes is unprecedented, and as there are already complaints that the profession is overcrowded, some lively competition may be looked for in the near future. It is to be hoped that it will result in better and less costly services than are now available, and that the number of " brilliant " operations which are " successful " in finding subjects for the undertaker will show some diminution. THE GOULBURN BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. Our would-be smart writers have found •a congenial chopping block for their sarcasm in a Ladies' Benevolent Society at Goulburn, •which, it is said, refused assistance to a child (which afterwards died) because its parents were not married ! The ladies indignantly deny the whole story, but, as the denial, if accepted, would send j to the waste-paper basket a quantity of i promising " copy," not much weight is ! accorded to it. It is a standing puzzle tp me why sensible persons should set themselves up as targets for abuse in. this matter, j Why do they not take a leaf out of the t books of their critics ? Their names are 1 seldom found on the lists of any Benevoi lent Society, and thus they escape all possii bility of censure. In any case, the system, ! or want of system, which allows the lives of the destitute to be at the capricious ' mercy of the casual benevolence of mdi- ' vidnals is a disgrace to nineteenth century 1 civilisation. » j LIBEL ACTIONS. I The Daily Telegraph, in the second action ! brought against them by watchmaker ] Kelly, "were fortunate enough to get off ! with a verdict of a farthing, the plaintiff's case breaking down so badly on his statement of the profits of his business that his

counsel declined to go dn. John Norton was mulcted in 40s and costs for an article on J. S. Manders, the Charity Carnival promoter, and is now fighting an action for criminal libel on the Secretary for Lands at Armidale. The reform of the libel law promised long ago by the Attorney-General has not yet made its appearance, »nd is very unlikely to do so as long as the newspapers of the colony are content to suffer under their present

disabilities. Parliament is now in racess, but it will be too late, when it meets again, to attempt to take organised action. THE COURSE OF PRICES. One of the principal occupations of politicians in, power, who are expected to. fulfil their pledges, is that of explaining why prosperity does not return. Some light is thrown on the problem by certain figures which have been published by the Government Statist in " The Wealth and Progress of New South Wales." Mr Coghlan says that in 1896 the colony exported produce to the value of .£32,500,000, The same produce, at the prices of 1871. would have brought .£61,000,000. The difference of 28 J millions would alter the position of affairs materially if it had passed into the hands of producers. They would have made ample" profits, and would haye # been eager .to embark in fresh enterprises; whereas now there are comparatively few who can make any profits at all. What has happened 'to bring about this stupendous change from prosperity to penury ? Half the world's money has been deprived of its monetary power, and the general level of prices has automatically dropped' SO per cent in consequence. The world's silver money has been demonetised. Some of our flippant journalistic financiers tell us that this has had nothing to do with the fall. They might as well deny that water, runs down hill, or that two and two make four. John Stuart Mill voices the opinion' of all political economists worth mentioning when he says: "That> an in-, crease of the quantity of money raises prices/ and a diminution lowers them is the most elementary proposition in the theory of currency, and without it we should have no key to any of the others." The quantity of the world's money has been diminished by the abandonment of silver. Prices have fallen accordingly. Profits have vanished, and there are stagnation and depression where there ought to be prosperity. JOURNALISTIC CHANOEH. Messrs Westlake and Todd, the first for many years sub-editor of the Daily Telcigraph and the . second ■ a reporter •on the staff of the same paper, have become the purchaser's of ■ that old-established and well-known paper, the Wagga Express. Both of them are well up in their business, and their friends are heartily wishing them success in their new venture. I believe that Mr G. Ward, brother of F. W. Ward, who was the real founder of the fortunes of the Daily Telegraph, is likely to be the new sub-editor. The expansion of the paper has been wonderful. I remember, not so long ago, when one man did the financial, commercial and mining work single-handed. Now there is a separate editor for each branch, and they seem to have particularly rosy billets. THE ILLAWARRA HARBOUR COMPANY. The passing by the Assembly of the Port Kembla Bill, for making a harbour at that exposed roadstead, seems to have promptly brought the Illawarra Harbour Company to a sense of their position. They have had a concession for some jeavs, and have been under an obligation to construct a harbour. But they seem pretty much to have slept on the'matter until at last the Government listened to the unanimous complaints of the inhabitants, and brought in .a Bill to construct a hai'boiir at' Port Kembla. It is now stated that the Illawarra Harbour Company ..have raised a large amount of fresh capital, have paid .£IO,OOO into the Treasury as a deposit, and intend to work night and day until the work is done. A little earthquake of the same kind to wake up some other companies which are merely " shepherding" their holdings would be very beneficial. It is highly improbable, if it is found that the Lake Illawarra people really, mean business, that the Port Kembla scheme will be persevered with. It will cost at least half a million before it is finished. In thirty years the cost will be doubled by the payment of interest. In sixty years it will be trebled, and altogether it will be so extravagantly costly that if the same accommodation can be provided by private enterprise the latter ought by all means to be availed of. CHRISTMAS. Christmas this year is quiet, not to say slow. There are not so many visitors us usual, and those who are here don't seem to be spending money very freely. There is an excellent display of seasonable goods in the shop windows, but what is the use if people have not the money to buy them ? Unless an increase in the production of useful and beautiful commodities is accompanied by an increase in the purchasing power of the people, it only accentuates depression. Some idea of the state of affairs may be gathered from the fact that some leading retail firms are sending travellers into the country towns, feeling,, no doubt, that the demand in the metropolis is not likely to sufficiently reduce their stock. The natural condition of affairs is that tho person who needs goods shall seek the seller. Instead of which, sellers are chasing buyers— and people who have no wish to be buyers — all over the country.