OUR SYDNEY LETTER

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3488, 30 March 1912, Page 10

OUR SYDNEY LETTER

THOSE BOYS

(From Our Special Correspondent.) SYDNEY, March 19.

There is generally a rumpus when one boy is missing. ' But the Federal Government is exercised about some '20,000, who ought to he on hand at roll call, but are not. What has .become of them? No one seems to know, least of all, the Government which lias undertaken the responsibility of instructing them in the “glorious art of war.” The plain and simple fact is that the registration of binding itself to carry the whole business through on similar peremptory and autocratic lines. ./Voluntary service would have worked automatically, and nothing would have been easier to do such things. But they can’t all have run away. Puzzle: Find the missing boys! It is a very ridiculous and humiliating position for the Government. When it yielded to the pressure of a violent section of its supporters, and made the training compulsory instead of voluntary, it evidently failed to realise that it was than to stimulate the zeal of the young aspirants to the point necessary to ensure efficient service. But the typical “labor” man takes no stock in voluntary action. Even his recruiting for the unions is mostly done by dragooning and terrorism. Some of them may, it is true, have “run away.” Boys have been known boys who will attain the stalwart age of 14 this year, and who, therefore, are required to come to the front as defenders of their country, fall short by something like 50 per cent of the number shown by the census, re turns. Therefore, the training must be compulsory, or it would be worthless. If the parents of lads of training age were numerically as weak as the large landholders, the problem would present no trouble whatever, \_ery short work would be made of them, even to the point of confiscation. But they are very numerous. They have votes. And they have relatives, and they have votes also. If there is one thing that the Government dreads, it is that it should make itself unpopular by any unpleasant exercise of power against people who are in a position to retaliate. Therefore, it is a very serious tiling to inaugurate a compulsory system of juvenile training that shall really compel. The outcry that would be raised, and the resentment that would be aroused, if legal proceedings were taken against the recusifaits, would be so serious that some people who profess to know do not hesitate to predict that the Government will let compulsory service go by the ooard, rather than resort to real compulsion. That is hidden in the future. Meanwhile, the troublesome development is being met by a policy of inactivity which may prove to be “masterly,” but more probably servile.

CAPTAIN AMUNDSEN.

Capt. Amundsen is more modest and candid than many of those who desire to do him honor, and who have ascribed to him a distinction which he does not yet claim. Some of his countrymen in Sydney, who have been trumpeting his praises as leaving been trumpeting his praises as having been the first to reach the South Pole, are disconcerted to learn that he himself says that it is necessary to wait till Capt. Scott has been heard from, for it is quite within the range of possibility that the latter may have reached the coveted spot first-, although he had left no trace of his visit- The position, therefore, is that although the Norwegian explorer claims indubitably to have reached the South Pole, he does not claim to have been the first to reach it. His reserve in this respect is certainly not wholly without warrant. But, as he says, we must wail till we can hear from Capt. Scott.

THE POOR PLAYER

The “poor player” is to be poor no longer, if the Actors’ Union can make out its case before the Federal Arbitration Court. Its claims include a minimum wage of five pounds a week. In the times when Dickens drew his picture of Jingle, the strolling player, in the Fleet prison for debt, such a salary would have been regarded as “wealth beyond the dreams oP avarice.” There have been stage-struck mortals, ’ too, who, instead of asking pay for their services, have been content to pay to be allowed to display their abilities and their charms before an assembled audience. But times have changed for the better in this respect. If it is really practicable arid workable to fix wages and salaries by the fiat of a Court, by all means let everybody liave equal rights in the matter. Mr Titheradge has spoken strongly against the intrusion of unionism into histrionic circles, which lie regards as of so highly artistic a character as to be above such sordid expedients. But, after all, it is a bread-and-butter matter, and if the State, in its wisdom, has decided that these processes are necessary to the obtaining of the bread and butter aforesaid, then by all means let us resort to them for all that they are worth;. " One thing is . certain, and that'is that the union will receive a careful and patient hearing.

THE NORTHERN TERRITORY,

Tlie acquisition of the Northern Territory .lias opened a very wide field of official patronage, and a great deal of curiosity is, of course, being evinced as to the manner in which the Government is going to exercise it. It

was rumoured that it was intended to bestow the post of Judicial Officer of the Territory on Mr D. R. Hall, a young barrister who is a member of the House of Representatives, and a staunch supporter of the Government, .. When approached on the subject by a newspaper interviewer Mr Thomas, the Minister for External Affairsj was so emphatic in denying that there was any foundation for the rumor that, the knowing ones are already declaring that it has all been fixed up, barring the “official” announcement. Whether this is so or not we may bo comfortably certain that the officer appointed will bo a gentleman of “the right color.” EDUCATION. When the Commonwealth Government demanded supreme control over the industrial and commercial affairs of the States, it was fondly thought that there was not anything else of very much importance to which it could possibly lay claim. There is still, however, the “unconsulered trifle” of education. Concerning tins outstanding factor, Mr Fisher is kind enough to saj' that the difficulties surrounding it do not by any means appal him. . In other words he is as ready to take charge of our education as of any of our other belongings, as ready as was the late lamented Lord Brougham to take charge of the Channel Fleet, or to conduct a caesarian midwifery operation. The trouble is that confidence, no matter how overweening, does not necessarily bring a corresponding degree of competence or proficiency. The Commonwealth is already suffering so severely at the hands of mushroom smatterers in the art of administration and government, that it will hesitate before it knowingly widens the field for further disastrous experiments of the same description. However, it is to be clearly understood that if the people wish; the Commonwealth (which means the Caucus, of which Mr Fisher is the nominal head) to assume control of education, in addition to its other responsibilities, lie will be quite delighted.

THE BIG “STEAL.” The vicious determination with which members of the Assembly are grabbing for an increased emolument suggests that they have very grave doubts about doming hack again, and that if they do not get a couple of hundred pounds or so out of the present Parliament, subsequent proceedings are likely to interest them no more. A minority, respectable in numbers as well as in regard for principle, take the ground that it will be indeent to vote this money to themselves, and that, even admitting that the present salaries are insufficient, members ought not to dip their hands into the funds which it ill their duty to safeguard, until the electors have had an opportunity of voting upon the question. The most remarkable figure in collection with the discussion has been cut by Mr Lovien. But for his length of service, which entitles him to be called “the father of the House,” he would hardly have been taken seriously. He argued that because once upon a time a large number of members had asked that their free passes over the railways should be made available for life, therefore it must necessarily be right and expedient- that they should now vote themselves £2OO a year additional salary, without consulting the other party to the agreement. As a matter of fact, the railway pass, even if the request concerning it had been worthier than it was, bore no sort of Comparison to “the big steal” now contemplated. Therefore the production by Mr Lcvien, of bis portentions list- of members who had put their names to it was beside the question. At tbs very best tbe argument could only be made to. run, ‘Because in a previous Parliament we so far forgot ourselves as to try to help ourselves -to life passes on the railways ; therefore- it is new incumbent on ms to help ourselves to two hundred s year.” .As. a inattei o-f fac-t it ; was pointed oufotliat, happily, the railways had been so efficiently safeguarded that an alteration of the Railway Act would have had to be made before members could extend their benevolence to themselves in tins genet,':ius fashion. It would lie all the better if the revenue could be as effectively protected against similar depredations. Members natuially hanker after ‘perks-” It is the part of the Government, however, rathervto restrain the- hankering, than to hold the candle for its indulgence.

THE IRONWORKS. The Australian manufacture-of iron, suspended for the present by the Lit-li-gow strike, is not altogether dormant. The Blythe River deposits of iron ore, in Tasmania, have long been in the view of the authorities, and they are now being 1 reported upon by Mr Paul, the engineer who, at the instance of cur town State Government, so sweepin.gly condemned the management at Lithgow. It could not be made to appear that Messrs Hoskins 1 had bad any adequate opportunity of rebutting the charges made against them, and the report, though it was believed to reflect the views of . Ministers-, has not been lacted- upon. It mould lie in ae-co-rd -with the irony of fate if the gentleman- who was brought out to repoiton our own ironworks were to prove instrumental'' in removing tlio manufacture to another State. One achievement in collection with the manufacture oif iron wc have certainly accomplished. We have discovered bow “not” to make it: Works completely equipped, ore and coal in abundance, are- all atdiand. But nothing is be-

ing done, because a handful of men have been allowed to assert a. claim to a monopoly of employment, and have made claims which are unconscionable. The present position j.s that they will not go to work unless all the men loyally stood 1 by their employers at the time of the strike are dismissed. The dispute bias now, therefore, resolved itself into a matter of sheer vindictiveness.