COMMONWEALTH.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 19, 12 May 1909, Page 5

COMMONWEALTH.

Parliament Paramount. The Standing Committee of the Houst of Commons decided, despite the Government's opposition, by 15 votes to 13, that Parliament and not the Treasury shall fix the future salary of the Board of Trade, and the bill containing this provision was reported as amended to the House. A Common Ground. A movement is afoot to bring Freetraders and Protectionists into line to oppose the Labour Government The new organisation will be called the Commonwealth Liberal and Progressive League. Broadly, its planks are adequate protection, adequate defence, adequate immigration, a W'hite Australia, and equitable finance. Trade With the East. The first shipment of Australian-made wool tops is about to be made to Japan, and will be followed by regular monthly shipments. Less Wool. The wool shorn in Victoria for the past season was 10,189,7721 b less than for the preceding year, and the average weight of fleece was .071 b lighter. Cheaper Cables. The Postmaster-General intends to place a proposal for cheaper cables before the Pacific Cable Board. The schema is that the present 3/- rate should stand, but that a 1/6 rate for code and 1/for plain English be charged for delayed delivery cables. The Frisco Trouble. Advise hase been received in Sydney that the Weir Steamship Company has placed orders in Glasgow for the construction of four high-class cargo steamers for the Sydney-Auckland-San Francisco service. De Mortuis. The R.C. Bishop of Perth, Dr. Gibney, was sued for the recovery of £220, said to be due on promissory notes bearing his endorsement. The notes were issued by the late Father Keogh iu connection with a land transaction. Bishop Gibney stated tiiat he never saw the bills, and the signatures were forgeries. The Judge, in giving his decision in favour of the Bishop, said the conclusion to be drawn from his evidence was that the deceased priest committed the offence or had obtained the assistance of someone else. Engineers’ Wages. The conference between the Australian Institute of Marine Engineers and the Steamship Owners’ Association has arrived at a settlement in regard to engineers' wages. The conditions of the labour settlement nro embodied in a memorandum, which both parties have asked the Federal Arbitration Court to treat as an award of the Court. The settlement provides for the following rates of pay:— Steamers of 100-h.p.: First- engineers lo receive £2O; second engineers, £l6; and third engineers, £l4 per month. Ono hundred to 150-h.p: First, £2l; second, £l6; third, £l4. One hundred and fifty to 200-h.pi. First, £22; second, £l7; third, £l4. Two hundred to 250-h.p.: First, second, £18; third, £l5; fourth, £l2.

Two hundred and fifty to 350 h.p. i (First, £25; second, £18; third, £l5; fourth, £l2.

Three hundred and fifty to 450-h.p.: (First, £27 10/-; second, £l9; third, £l6; fourth, £l3. Four hundred and fifty horse-power and upwards: First, £29; second, £2O; third, £l6; fourth, £l3. The wages of fifth-class engineers were fixed at £l2, sixth-class £ll, seventhclass, £lO. The agreement, which is for three years, from May 1, is stated to be practically the same as that under which the engineers have been working for years, excepting the conditions regarding wages. A Moderate Fee. A Queenslander, describing himself as the discoverer of the first payable gold in Queensland, has sent a bill to Mr Fisher (the Federal Prime Minister) for £11,725,000. He claims £36,000 for nine discoveries of gold, £288,000 as interest on that sum since 1861, and £11,437,000 as his share of the minerals produced in the State since 1860. He asks for a settlement of the claim within 14 days, to save further' trouble. The Reckoning. The trials of the men charged with rioting and inciting the strikers at Broken Hill to violence in January last took place last week at Albury. Stokes and May were found guilty of rioting, the former receiving a sentence of three years’ imprisonment with hard labour and the latter of two years. The jury had recommended the prisoners to mercy owing to the excitement prevailing at the time. Mr. Justice Pring, in sentencing them, said that the men at Broken Hill had been misled by Tom Mann, and some day they would find out that he was their Worst enemy. “He lives,” continued the judge, “on keeping up strife, and the sooner you awake to the fact that this agitator, who lives upon your hard earnings, is your enemy the better for you.” Holland, a Socialist, found guilty of using seditious language at Broken Hill, was sentenced to two years’ hard labour. In sentencing Holland Mr Justice Pring said:—“You are guilty of a very . grave offence, and committed at n time when it was exceptionally grave. You possessed an eloquent tongue, and made the worst possible use of it in inciting the people to a state of rebellion. But for the coolness and tact of the police, matters might have been much worse.” The New Archbishop. The Synod meets on May 25th to select a successor to the late Archbishop Saumarez Smith. Among the names mentioned are the Archbishop of Brisbane, Archdeacon Wright, Canon Thompson, of Birmingham, Canon Alexander, of St. Paul’s, London, and Dr. Thomas, Principal Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Cremation and Crime. A deputation to the N.S.W. Premier in favour of cremation, pointed out that the cost to the Government for the erection of a eremartorium would be infinitesimal compared with cemeteries.

Mr. Wade, in a non-comraital reply, did not hold out any hope of the Government erecting a crematorium. One of the strongest objections to cremation, he said, was that it would interfere with the chance of the crime of poisoning being brought home to criminals, and might prove an incentive to murder.