21

A.—3

The following is the text of the Anti-Chinese Bill lately passed in California : — " Any officer, director, manager, member, stockholder, clerk, agent, servant, attorney, employe, assignee, or contractor of any corporation now existing or hereafter formed under the laws of this State, who shall employ in any manner or capacity upon any work or business of such corporation any Chinese or Mongolian, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the county gaol of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred days, or by such fine or imprisonment: Provided that no director of a corporation shall be deemed guilty under this section who refuses to assent to such employment and has such dissent recorded in the minutes of the board of directors. " (1.) Every person who has been convicted for violating the provisions of this section, committing any subsequent violation thereof after such conviction, is punishable as follows :— " (2.) For each subsequent conviction such person shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not less than two hundred and fifty days nor more than two years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Any corporation now existing or hereafter formed under the laws of the State, that shall employ directly or indirectly in any capacity any Chinese or Mongolian, shall be guilty of misdemeanour, and, upon conviction therefor, shall for the first offence be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, and upon the second conviction shall, in addition to said penalty, forfeit its charter and franchise and all its corporate rights, and it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General to take the necessary steps to enforce such forfeiture."

Secbetaby, Chamber of Commerce, asks that desirability of adopting Decimal System of "Weights &c, for selling Grain and Produce be considered by Conference. Sib, — Melbourne, Chamber of Commerce, 10th January, 1881. I have the honor, by desire of the Committee of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, to ask that you will be good enough, if you find it practicable, to bring under the notice of the Intercolonial Conference at Sydney the desirableness of a general adoption by the several colonies of the cental system of selling grain and produce. Tou are probably aware, Sir, that, when last a movement was made in this and some of the other colonies to initiate a less complicated system of weights and measures, the then Victorian Government regarded the attempt very favourably, and the cental was adopted at the Customhouse in levying the duties on grain and flour, and has continued to be so used to the present time. Some untoward circumstances prevented, at that time, the general adoption of the cental system on the part of auctioneers and grain and flour merchants, but it is thought that the present is a favourable time for making another effort in the direction indicated. During the discussion of the general question of a decimal system of weights and measures at the late Social Science Congress, it was suggested that the Legislatures of the several colonies should be appealed to, not only to sanction the adoption of the decimal system (by such denominations as might be approved), but to make the same compulsory after a lapse of two years. That in the meantime the several Governments should be asked to levy duties by these denominations, and to use them in Government contracts and railway freights ; also, that the metric system should be taught in the State schools, aud should form one of the subjects in the competitive examinations of the Civil Service. I am therefore respectfully to express the hope that the assistance of yourself and your honorable colleague will be given to this further effort to effect so desirable a reform as the simplification of our present complicated denominations of weights and measures. I have, &c, B. Cowdeeot, The Hon. the Chief Secretary. Secretary.

Sie, — Melbourne, 17th January, 1881. As the Conference for the consideration of intercolonial matters of national importance is now sitting, we respectfully take the opportunity of bringing before the honorable members the great and pressing importance of canalization for irrigation, &c, as the only sure means of securing for the plains of these colonies agricultural certainty of remuneration. Australia presents to the world a most anomalous appearance : that with a regular and plenteous rainfall, a splendid soil and climate, her farmers and graziers should suffer so severely from the periodical droughts which occur. The necessity for the establishment of a special bureau in each colony to specially supervise the conservation and distribution of rainfall, the canalization, irrigation, and drainage of the country, and regulation of rivers, so that no water should be allowed to enter the ocean until every reasonable means had been used to turn it to account for the benefit of the State. In carrying out national canalization in the respective colonies, provision should be made to harmonize the several systems, so that the main arteries of distribution should be constructed with a view to the great continental features of the several States, so that the surplus waters of one colony may be made available, if necessary, to supplement the deficiencies of another. But we need not go into particulars ; the necessities of the case are patent to all the colonies, and it is a subject in which all are equally interested, and if possible should receive the special notice of the Conference.