OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3452, 17 February 1912, Page 9

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

STRIKE TALK

(From our Own Cor respondent.) SYDNEY, February 6, 1911

! .Needless tsay the i'Msligine- strike is the, chief topic of conversation. Militant unionists talk grandly about “coming out” in Sydney and Melbourne. “Unionism will be crushed,” is tiie cry. Unionism, -according to its own account, is always going to be crushed if it is not allowed to terrorise and starve the whole, community at its sweet will and pleasure. So Jong .«s it observes the common law of respect for the general welfare, unionism is in no kind of danger, and cannot be. Its real danger is from the men whom Ramsay Macdonald, the English La- ’ hour leader, does not hesitate to oari “cranks and scoundrels,” who Labour has received with open arms because, like other criminals, they are at war with Society, and who, in return, are always impelling it to suicidal courses, because they find their account in fishing troubled waters. Nothing more scathing could be said against the mad and wicked idea of a general strike, than lias been said be Mr Macdonald and our own Mr W. M. Hughes. And yet (such is the fatal inconsistency that seems to infect all “'Labor” magnates) if they were on the spot, they would be expected to throw themselves heart and soul into this particular upheaval. Even among the rank and file, the most scathing criticism comes from the malcontents of the unions. “Call these- idots, leaders. Why, them, they’re not fit to run a dog show \” The plausible rubbish that is put into the mouths of unionists by the newspapers is not a bit like what they are really saying. The reader can fill up the blanks with the most lurid expressions that he can find in his vocabulary. And then they will not be nearly lurid enough. The malignity which finds appropriate expression in these explectives, is tire moving spirit of the strike. There is no loyalty in it, even to the leading men of its own side. Neither is there any coherence in it. So long as a strike is a brief holiday at the expense of others, it can and will produce chaos on the least pretext, or no pretext at all. But there is •no salvation in it for anybody. It is to men of a very different spirit that we must look for peace and security, and for the prosperity which attend them.

UNIFICATION. As the mouthpiece of the Caucus, which, in its turn, is the creature of the agitators who are causing the trouble. Mr Fisher is considered to be entitled to whatever commendation he may deserve, for shewing us plainly what we may expect under the unification which- his party desires to bring about. He Las refused to law and order the moral support which would have been afforded by the presence of the military, and has correspondingly encouraged the insurgents. Queensland, thrown on er own resources, is emerging gallantly from the ordeal. None the less, the refusal is regarded as in the highest degree disgraceful. It is now clear that every State, if it is to enjoy any sense of security, will have to organise a corps of volunteers to protect itself against those who plot to cut off its supplies of food and other necessaries. It has been wittily remarked that Mr Fisher, in this matter, has forgotten his responsibilities as Prime Minister as completely as tire young woman in Aesop’s fable forgot her metamorphosis at the sight- of a mouse. The story goes that a young man had a cat of which he was so fond that Yenus, always ready to do lovers a good turn, changed the animal into a blooming young woman. He m*-i----ried her accordingly, but one night a mouse entered the bedroom. Forgetting all- else, the bride jumped out oi bed andl caught the mouse! The goadess was so disgusted that she remitted her into the state which she never ought to have left. Much in the same way, the sight of a big strike seems to have obliterated from the mind of the titular Prime Minister all other obligations.

PILLS AGAINST EARTHQUAKE. Mr Beeby, the State Minister tor Labor, has been discoursing learnedly about a new nostrum which he proposes to embody in his Arbitration Bill to do away with strikes by means of conciliation. “But how,” it is asked, “are men who are full of aggression and fight to be made conciliatory?” The men, for instance, who would plunge Brisbane into the miseries which it is now suffering in order that a few firebrands may wear a bit of brass on their watchchains, and make that bit of: brass a pretext for harrying their mates and; making their lives a burden to them, what stock do they take of conciliation? The only way of “conciliating” men of this stamp is to allow them to ride roughshod oyer every one else. One critic summed it up tersely, “You might as well try put out a forest fire with a squirt, or try to tame an alligator with butter, as talk ‘conciliation’ to Labor agitators.” If Mr Beeby is as innocent as he wishes to appear, his lot, in this wicked world of force and fraud, is much to be pitied. And 1 , if not, lie is all the more to be pitied. But, in any case, he cannot reverse the law that the only effective mode of dealing with lawless force is to- meet it with lawful force, that shall bo : adequate to reduce it to order. The Australian administrator who will devise and put into operation a prompt and effective mode' of dealing with men who conspire against the country which shelters them, is th© man who will earn the gratitude of the Commonwealth. As for “smoodgers” and trimmers, there are far too many of them already. Not the sapient people who ar© busy devising “pills against earthquake,” but tbe

men who can be-trusted to keep things together when the earthquake comes—these arc the men who are needed. THE FITZROY DOCK.

The Fitzroy Dock is one of our ! great .spending establishments. It is ;ilso oil's in which the ‘'Government stroke,” with all its humiliating ne cessities for keeping “solid” with the operatives, is beih£ pitted against private enterprise. Great interest is, 'therefore, being taken in its progress, ft was hoped, on the occasion of the annual picnic of the employees, that something definite would have been said about certain disquieting rumors that have been current. Usually, in such eases, it turns out that, where there's smoke there’s fire, and a good deal of it. It was infcrentially gathered, from remarks dropped by various speakers—members' of Parliament, by the way, mustered very strongly—that the contract for building the warships still hangs fire, not having being signed by the State Minister. Hints were dropped about “difficulties” and'“disorganisation,” and complaints were made of lack ,of Sympathy on the part of the metropolitan newspapers. Every faddist, unles he is taken unquestionably at his own valuation, makes the same complaint. Like the prisoner, who was congratulated on the fact that he would he tried by a just judge, they prefer a little leaning to their own side. In the absence of details, it is imposible to say whether the compia’ints have ground or not. But the uneasy impression that there is something rotten in t-lie state of Denmark remains, and can only lie removed by categorical explanation. One of the advantages of Government enterprises is always said to be that they are amenable to public opinion. Almost invariably, however, the most significant facts are sedulously concealed from the taxpayers. In this case, one Labor .Government is on its guard against another. This, probably, is the cause of the hitch.

WHY NOT HULL? Others, fortunately, besides the strife mongers and the red flag enthusiasts are hard at work endeavouring to make history of a more peaceful character than theirs. Mr Austin Wilson, for instance, a special trade commissioner from Hull, is visiting Australia for the purpose of opening up a new trade route by which produce, notably wool and frozen meat, might be shipped direct to this port, instead of going first to London or Liverpool. He is able to make out an unanswerable case, and, when competition among shipowners once more reaches the point.at which they will be willing to move out or the ordinary course, we shall doubtless see the establishment of a new line, or per, haps new lines, of steamers* to the Yorkshire port. Mr Wilson tells us that Hull is the cheapest port in the United Kingdom, because the railway companies own the docks, and charge a consolidated rate for handling and conveying produce. Navigable rivers and canals radiating from Hull serve one-sixtli of tlio total area, of England, giving a finer service in water navigation than is enjoyed by any other port. London labours under many disadvantages. There is a long river to ascend, and, to reach the interior, railway carriage has to be resorted to. Frozen meat has to be lightered a considerable distance to the cold stores, and the delay and the handling woefully derogate from its appearance. In Hull, on the other hand, the cold stores are on the dock quays, so that the meat simply goes into them from th© freezing chamber direct, without lightering, and without unnecessary mauling. Ships can come alongside and discharge into the cold stores right away. This freezing accommodation was erected for the convenience of Argentine shippers. For some reason or other they haw not made use of it. This seems a weak point in the commissioner’s brief, for the Argentinians are shrewd, business men, and there is some reason, which needs explanation, for their holding aloof. Stil, so large a proportion of Australian wool is taken by Yorkshire houses, and Hull is so plainly the most convenient port for Yorkshire towns, that one wonders that there should be any need for special effort to make known its advantages. MR, DACEY.

Innocent amusement will not be lacking so long as Mr Daeey holds sway at the Treasury. He is so unmistakably sincere, even when he is most outrageously mistaken or misled, that it is 1 impossible. to condemn him harshly. If his original mode of estimating revenue and reading the actual figures had not resulted in burdening a large number of settlers with heavy and harassing taxation, there would he few dissonant notes to- mar the general chorus of laughter. The Treasurer’s Latest is to tell us that the increase in the revenue is no more than the official forecast. How unreasonable, therefore, it is to complain that the next taxation is almost wholly unnecessary! Well, the forecast was for an increase in ordinary sources of income of £383.000 for the whole year. The actual increase, ■*' seven, months, has been £534,000. Most treasurers are prudently pessimistic in making their forecasts, so that an error in an estimate is nothing out of the common. What is amusing, however, is the utter unconsciousness of Mr Daeey as to the hearing of actual results. ‘ With a little tightening of the rein on his more extravagent colleagues, who seem to wish to scatter the public money broadcast among their day-labor friends, ho could dispense with the increase in the income tax and still shpw a business-like surplus. The new treasurer, however, is not built that way.