OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 379, 19 November 1889, Page 2

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

(FROM OUB OWN OOBBISPONDaXT.) Writ with tbe Cup and the recess and the general uneventfulness in matters religious, politioal and social, there is little to write about. Of course tbe uneventtuloeu is more apparent than real. Under the seeming dead level of conventionality and routine, momentous decisions are being arrived at—decisions none the less momentous because silent momentous also for weal or woe to many others besides those who are making them. But although thus real, and the very ground work and basis of tbe state that is to be, they don’t serve tbe purpose of the journalist. He only sees them in their outward re Hilts, and only then if they are of extraordinary or abnormal nature.

Politically, one section of the Press is still harping on Federation. We all, I think, are prepared to admire Federation in the abstract, but I question very much whether any of the colonies are prepared to make any tangible sacrifices to secure it. “ I pity her five shilling, friend; how much does thee pity her ?’’ aaid the benevolent Quaker to the knot who had gathered round a distressed woman. Haw much are we prepared to give for Federation, or are we really convinced at tbe present juncture that it is- absolutely nec*aaary to make any sacrifices at all ? The maiden aocepta it as an unquestioned article of faith that some day she is to marry. But she need not be io any burry to select ths favored swain from among her admirers or to name the day after she has selected him. Still less does the queatlon trouble her in has girlhood, before ehe ia of marriageable age. It may well be doubted whether th* Aus. tralian colonies are of marriageable age, still more whether they have reached a point of experience and maturity which will enable them intelligently tn decide the terms and conditions on which they will surrender their individual liberty. Of course it no question of surrender io involved, all is plain sailing. Victoria is very ready to federate it all tbs other colonies will submit te Victorian ideas. New South Wales 1s very ready to federate it she will be allowed to lay down the law to all the rest. Four of the colonies have already achieved some small measure of federation, but Now South Wales stood proudly aloof, Now we are inviting the four to adopt our notion of federation and abandon their own. This " childlike and bland ’’ proposition seems to me to reverse the old fable of Mahomet and the mnuntain. The table says that after Mahomet had vainly invited and exhorted tbe mountain to oome to him, h», like a wise man. went to the mountain. But in thia case Mahomet has for years bsen vainly invited to oome to the mountain, and now, feeling the need of a view from the summit, and perhaps a draught of fresh air into the bargain, he suddenly wakes up and beseeches tbe mountain to oome to him I

It may, however, be seriously questioned whether anything would be hoard of federation just now, it it did not carve on altogether distinct political object. The Protectioniste have the ear of a large and apparently increasing section of the publie and it is deemed advisable, seeing that tbe old time, honored doctrines and assertions are proving powerless, to distract attention from the issue. But here again fable comas to my help—the fable which describes how the cat, with her one good trick, saved her life, whilst the fox with his thousand bad ones was ran tn earth at last and ignominiously dug out. - Tbe oat escaped by climbing a tree where tha dogs oould not follow. Tbe fox turned and twisted and doubled and shuffled, but all in vain. Tbe lesson to me appears to be this: Criticism is powerless in face of a real public need. The public need a flourishing agriculture, employment for their mechanloc, a choice of occupation for their children, a chance for infant industries to grow to maturity. The Protectionists have the wit to see this and it serves them in good etead. In the public mind they stand associated with a vital and living cause, intimately connected with the public good. The progressive portion of the public say to the Freetraders, "AU your statistics, all your assertions, all your invocations of great names don't help us one iota. If Protection be not the beet way to attain our object show us a better way. All your arguments really resolve themselves into clever and specious pleading in favor of the existing state of things.” The party that accepts this frame of mind and declares itself ready to do its utmost to satisfy its aspirations is secure. The party which attempts to juggle with it, to oheat and cozen it, to throw it off the scent by any fictitious and suddenly-oonoeived cry such as this of federation, is not secure, and io certainly doomed to exposure and defeat, Even if for a short time it apparently succeeds, the real need of the country is certain to assert itself sooner or later, and the worth, lessnees and unreality of the elaborate edifies of mystification will be apparent to ail, Two or three important criminal oaaes have been before the oourta lately. It would be unwarrantable to assume the guilt or innocence of the parties accused before ths proper tribunal has announced its verdict but even in their present stage the ouet present some interesting features. The first ie that of Mr E. H. Taylor, whe has been brought back from Colombo, charged with obtaining money on false prefences from a bank. A few months ago, Mr Taylor, like the self made man in the old joke, wm an unknown clerk. Now he owes —I should be afraid to say how much, but it is certainly well on the way for a quartet of a million. And his biggest creditors are the banka, the same institutions whose managers assume each magisterial airs and put on such forbidding looks when an honest trader requires a little temporary accommodation to tide him over a tight place. No wonder that men who are honest and who wish to borrow no more than they can see their way to pay, feel tome indignation when they reflect on a case like this. No wonder, also, that roguish and thievish men take heart of graoe, seeing, as they cannot but see, that even in the astute bank manager there is a vain of credulity, whioh, if properly worked, may yield astonishing results. It remains to be seen whether Mr Taylor has done anything for whioh the law can punish him. But the salient facts remain, and teach their own lesson, no matter what may bo the result of the legal proceedings. ' The second case 1s that of l(r T. W. Thomae, second toller in the Bank of Now Zealand at Sydney. There were sharebrokers among the customers of tbe Bank, and the rage for what is euphemistically called ’’ mining speculation,” which'too often moans sheer gambling in mining scrip, penetrated within the Bank portals. The teller wai bitten by it. He " epooulated ”or <’ gambled,' or whatever you like to call it, with ths Bank’s money. The resalt is, aooordini te one statement of bis own oonfession, a loss of £BO.OOO, to be borne by the long-eoftorine shareholdere of the inetitution. The Bank authorities place their loss at £lB.OOO, whioh is sufficiently serious. Although Taylor and Thomas are now in custody and may be found guilty of the offences with with which they are charged, I should be loath to say that their moral guilt ia any greater than that of hundreds of other men who manage to keep themselves out of tbe meebes of the law. Tha fact ie that the whole tone of the oommeroial world ie woefully lax. Staid men Of business stake all they are worth—very often more than they are worth—on contingenaloe whioh have not the remotest connection srtth legitimate btjelneea. Jf they win, society w“reh7ps them. H *h«y l®»®. i» >»Mde them over to the pblioe—that ia to say, it they have been more then ordinarily olnmsy, Yat their metal desert ie the eameja ,eilhtf aH<!» fl