SYDNEY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6124, 10 March 1898, Page 3

SYDNEY.

Correspondent " Canterbury Times."] SYDNEY, Feb. 16. FEDERATION. The gale and the rains have washed pretty nearly all the interest out of the Federal discussion. As they "will leave grass for the winter behind them over a vast tract of country, they will probably do more good than the delegates, notwithstanding the destruction which has been caused by shipwreck and floods. The most zealous advocates of Federation now confess that the Bill, when it leaves the Convention, is not likely to evoke any enthusiasm. As a matter of fact, it is mainly, and by the necessity of the case, the production of West Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, which have thirty delegates at the Convention against the twenty sent by New South Wales and Victoria. If the majority were possessed of superhuman intelligence, conjoined with angelic selfabnegation, this would not matter. As they are not, it has only been by strenuous battling, and as a matter of concession and favour, that the eastern colonies have been able to get their wishes and interests consulted at all. This initial vice of unequal representation, which enables the minority to rule the majority, it is proposed to perpetuate in the Federal Senate, and other proposals are equally open to objection. Mr Holder, of South Australia, is kind enough to say that if the present Bill is open to criticism, any ether arrangement which could be arrived at would be more so. But then the smaller colonies are playing the part of "top dog," and the top dog is always a lenient critic of its own proceedings. The best-informed opinion here is that if Mr Eeid enters into the next general election as an enthusiastic advocate of Federation according to the ideas of the smaller colonies, he has no possible chance of coming back with a majority. REVENUE OR PROTECTION. The ranks of the Opposition are disturbed by the straight question propounded to them by Mr W. H. Traill, a staunch and thorough-going Protectionist. Supposing the party attain to power, as they confidently declare they will, are they going to establish a tariff for revenue, or a tariff for protection? If the latter, they will have to retain the direct taxation, because it is plain to the meanest capacity that in .proportion as a tariff protects, it does not yield revenue. But if direct taxation is retained, then the wealthy and influential persons who are " bucking " against it, and who are prepared to " sink the fiscal question " (and everything else) in order to relieve themselves of it, will fare just as badly with the Protectionists as with the Freetraders. The Star, which now is little better than a barraclier for the National Ass., seems inclined to let Protection goby the board/and advocate a tariff for revenue, provided the obnoxious direct taxation as repealed. My own opinion is that the Star is imagining vain things. There is as little Toryism in the Protectionist ranks as in those of the Freetraders. It may succeed in splitting the party in the interests of its proteges, but it will hardly gain a victory for reaction. coal. The masterly coup of the British Government in buying up all the Welsh steam coal in Eastern ports, and the lavish expense which is being incurred in manufacEussian navies must necessarily cc

suffering for. want of the necessar fuel. They would gladly supply the: need — for a consideration. It is nc likely that they will be directly aj proached, as the" Governments intereste would naturally prefer -to resort to othe than British sources of supply. Still, t whatever extent the American collierie on the Pacific Slope are engaged in suppij ing the requirements of the Continents warships, they are necessarily remove from competition with Newcastle, to th advantage of the latter port. DR EMMENS. All persons who are. concerned about th contraction of the currency, and conse quent fall in prices which has been cause< by the demonetisation of silver, may no\ take heart of grace. The beginning of th end is in sight. A certain Dr Emmens ha discovered a way of turning all the silve into gold! This is more alluring thai Klondyke, and is likely to prove quite a satisfactory in the end. It must be true for " it is in the paper." A BENEFICENT RAINFALL. The week has been momentous by reasw ,of the most extensive rainfall that ha visited Australia for many years.- Fron the transcontinental telegraph line, righ down through Western Queensland an< New South Wales, the monsoonal rain hai come soaking the soil, flushing the rivers and rendering habitable once more im mense tracts of country that were rapidl] relapsing into a desert condition. "Th< best rain that wo have had for twenty years," wires Clermont, an arid spotii Western Queensland, and a similar tal« is told all along the line. Directors of banks and finance companies walk about as jauntily as if soint one had left them a fortune. Thej may well feel elated, for advances or pastoral properties, were beginning tc look particularly blue. All that is needed now is a fair price for pastoral products. The grass will soon be transmuted intc wool, meat, hides, tallow and the like, but if these have to be sold at a lower figure than it cost to produce them we are not much "forwarder." Herein lies the importance of the currency question, which at present does not receive the consideration that is due to it. SHIPWRECKS AND LOSS OF LIFE. Unhappily, the rainfall has been accompanied by easterly gales of unprecedented violence, and there have been at least two fatal shipwrecks. The brig Amy, bound from Wollongong to Sydney, was driven ashore, and all hands were lost on the inhospitable coast, right before the eyesi, and almost within the grasp, of the helpless spectators. The lot of coasters at these southern harbours is not a happy one. They are only safe in fine weather. If they remain in port when an easterly gale arises the crew will be saved, but the vessel will be dashed to pieces. If they put out to sea the chances are that, as in the case of the Amy, they will not be able to make a safe offing, and then both crew and ship are lost. With all our pretensions to foretell the weather, we have not yet arrived at the point at which timely and specific notice oan be given of the approach of a destructive gale, and the coasters, taken by surprise, after a gallant effort to hold their own go down like cockle shells. The loss of the Amy and the Malcolm will certainly strengthen the hands of those who are agitating for the construction of a safe harbour on the southern, coast. THE EXPORT OF WHEAT. As owing to the shortage of the wool, clip many ships axe seeking cargo, and as at present prices there is the prospect of earning a very liberal freight by purchasing wheat here and selling it in London, it is probable that a great deal of business will be done in this way. Already some big shipments, totalling perhaps a thousand tons, have been fixed. Of this the mail steamer Oceana took two thousand bags, which were shipped by Messrs J. Darling and Sons, the well-known wheat kings of South Australia, who have been operating in Sydney, because, thanks to the lack of enterprise of our millers, they find it the cheapest market. In the interests of growers and holders, it is to be hoped that this exportation movement will gather strength. Out of a crop of 9,000,000 bushels it is officially stated that there is a surplus available for export of some 250,000 bushels. The existence of this alleged surplus has been worked by buyers for all that it is worth, and, by ita means, they have probably succeeded in depressing the price of the whole crop by 3d or 6dper bushel. Even at 3d the loss thus caused to growers would amount to .£IOO,OOO, whereas the value of the entire surplus at 5s per bushel would- only be a little over .£60,000. It is evident, therefore, that it would pay handsomely to get this surplus out of the way by exporting, it, even if it involved some loss on the actual shipments themselves. In this case it i 3 not likely that there would be any loss. If it were judged in London that there was any real danger of war over the Chinese question, the price of wheas would at once jump ss, or even 10s per quarter. Supplies are barely equal to requirements, and, such as they are, have mainly been " cornered " by speculative operators. Besides, although an increased area has been put under crop, it is quite as likely as not that the next world's harvest will be as unsatisfactory as the last, in which case wheat would become very valuable. Bad seasons have an ugly knack of following one another pretty persistently, as we in Australia know to our cost. Under these circumstances it is pretty plain that wheat in New South Wales is much cheaper than- it ought to be. '