OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 292, 30 April 1889, Page 2

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

[from our own coumfondent.] Svnsxr, April 17. Politically tha events of the past week have been the Financial Statement and the Lend Bill. Both have been favorably received by the public generally. The Trea*urer naa imitated the waiting policy of his pre 'aoesaoro. He makes no attempt to alter ibe tariff in any way. This is a very wise abstention, both politically and commercially—politically, becau-e any attempt to carry Free Trade ideas into practice would mqlt in drf*4t—commercially, b> Cease whet is wanted e»we all things is a sense of roomily—a confidence that for some tune at least io ooms. Ibero will be no changes to baffle oaloulatiou ana indues perplexity. ' It is tree Mr MoMillan, at that convenient period described as “ next easaion," piopuare to remodel the tariff from a tree Irada point of view. But this is generally regarded ae a mere brutam fulmen— an empty threat. No one who io Cog .isant of tbe trend ot public feeling during the last year or two, regards it as at all probat e that the next move will ba in the direction promised by Mr McMillan who rallied the House to vote for their repeal. Rogarillng the Land Bill, a great deal ia expected from ii, tor it ie believed that nothing short of a measure which shall enable pastoralists to offer tangible security tor advanoee oan restore prosperity to the country. The measure introduued last week contains propositions which would have been deuounoed bitterly four yeara ago. The popular and democratic idea of land legislation then prevailing ie embodied in the minimum rents, arbitrary increases, confiscation of improveme>rts and general insecurity of tenure. The men who passed these curiosities into law, and tbe newspapers which aided and abetted them, are now somewhat frightened at the state of affairs which ttsir rash sad ncklroa experiment has brought about, and one looks in vain for a repetition of the ergumstaa by (A which they were justified. It is quite possible, indeed, that in their attempt to nt the protorsi interest on its lege once more, they will err as much on the side of liberality as #MF > formerly did on that of stringency. But that is the method of life. Tbe pendulum swings flrat to Onw «id«s t^e others . w . ert •ver to remain in the plumt vertical poeiuon to which it is always tending tha cloak would

,U> From time to time wo hear of oomplaiate of the degeneracy in pointed moral* or largo sections of the rising genareUon. There is too much reason to tear that these Ore railgrounded; Any doubt that asay be entertainadonthoauhleot will be dtepeUrt by the laet report of the Government “tati*tioian on the numbar of illegitimate births. In 1871, b* «ay». *ba total number was 387, an artreg. of 4.ffl F*~»t fb, Jter oantago, however, has steadily increased uatU In 1889 the numbers era given MO total ot 1047, or an average of 784 I At this rate of moral retrogression it is merely a matter of time When virtu* shall bsoome a .thing of the past. Of course this will never happea. The miseries of licentiousness Will so assort themselves that there will be a revulelon of feeling kgtdnst the vice, and th* pendaium will once more swing back again. Tbs foot, however, stands out prominently from these figures, and it is one which neither the patriotic statormau nor the phijan-hropto reformer can afford to ignore. It is that the advance of the mams in the suiaao* of the conduct of life—the only soienoe whioh brings happiness and prosperity, is by no means keeping pace with their advenes to the rathur bewildering, but not very pertinent list of subjects taught ia our primary schools. TbU hamiiistiag record of moral re-rogresstoa. of ignoraao-', passion, sin, sod misery, runs parallel with flourishing m. oounte of the ad van i« of " education, and boasts that very nearly the whois of the population is brought under its influence. There is food for thought here, and .he , sooner the matter is seriously taken in hand the sooner may it be expected that there will be a change for the better. The British squadron has arrived in Sydney. That is to say the fiagehip with the Admiral, is here. Their absence, not the ships, but the offloersand meu.ha* been pretty severely felt in many ways. First a oonflidcHiblo portion of the f*ir sax hire missed their sweethesrts. Secondly, aooasiderable number of publicans have been deprived of their customers. Thirdly, the varioua temperauoe organizations — Good Templar bdges and so on, have missed the presence of some of their most zealous supporters : for, strange to say, although not every Jack can be induced to ■' forswear sac. and to live ctenly,” Urge numbers of seamen, thanks to th* efforts nf mission■« aries like Mr Shearton and Mr BraUey, have become enthusiastic teetotallers. Last, bat not leas’, there ie the prestige which attack's to the port through the presence of the squadron, and tne by no means iacmsilerable trade expenditure which it <■otails. Their wi* a fear lest the Admiral would change the rendezvous to Auckland, but I iuuurine the claims of Sydney are too patent to be lightly passed over. Now we have pretty well got through with idolising our latest nautical hero, Captain Kane, for hie plucky escape from the -amoan hurricane, up bobs serenely tie nautical critic to pull the achievement to pieces, and to maintain, like Napoleon after Waterloo, that, by all the rules ot the schools, the affair ought to have ended very differently. The arch-brigand Corsioaa, vO'i remember, maintained the British were beaten, but th ,t unfortunately they did not know it. Our nautical critics are besieging the piptrs to show thaU so tar from man•ring very well, C iptai* Kaa* miuiaged vety badly, and that it was only by what so ne people called a*' fluke," and others a special As providence, that her hull i* not *4 the prrtpnt moment cal uly reposing on Samosa reefs, alongside those of tne French and Germans. " The wind so and so, the barometer so and »o. Every ship in the rqadstead ought to have slipped her moorings and stood rtt to »e 4 toe night before , the hurricane.” There ie a greet deal ef < force in reasoning of this kind, for one is very loath to admit that such wholesale destruction conld take plane without soma very grave neglect or blund ring. Bat ell’s well that end* well. If Captain Kane’s tactics were not perfect, they achieved the . end iw had in view. At eU events, he was the most successful of any of his oompeers, and we do him honor accordingly. The Assembly evidently means business—rather too much business in fact for the equanimity, of the Government. It has already, of its own motion, given instruction* to the Ministry in the matters cf th* dairy end kerosene duties, and of payment of members. Last night it took a freak in the direction of the amendment of the oan. stitutiqn. Mr Hurley moved the aecond reading of a bill to do away with the neoero sity of Ministers going to th air constituents for re-election after accepting office. There is a great deal to he said in favor of such a change, but certainly the initiative in a matter of suoh grave importance should come from the Government, not from an irres. ponsiblo private member As a matter at fact tha Government are not at all agreed on the matter. Sir Henry Parkes is altogether opposed to the change, and during the debate he took occasion to complain that some of his colleagues had taken upon themselvoe to support ths measure without 0.-multing him. The seoond reading was nevertheless serried by 40 to 25, four Ministers—Messrs MoMUlen, Gould, Smith, end Carruthers voting in the majority. The whole o<H no ot tha session, so far, shows that tha Government ere prao. tioa.lly povrerlete, and quite unable tq seaert the prerogatives whioh are generally supposed to attach to a party in power. They cannot dictate a poUoy. They areoompailad to tit -flown tamely and be dictated to. Every Tuesday this session has witnessed the pass- -a ingot resolutions on important points ot ’ policy quite outside tbe Government programme and in opposition to tbe view* ot its more important members. However, it is to bs hoped they will hold together long enough to pass the estimates, and some modification ot the Land Bill.