OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 523, 25 October 1890, Page 3

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

(non OCB OWN COBBBSPONDENT.) Sydney, October 8. Once more the week - r. core contains more misfortune than anything else. The biggest fire known in Australian history has swept away one of the most valuable blocks in the City. The dogged obstinacy of the strike leaders has compelled the Government to take into ita own hands some of tbe functions which are ordinarily performed by p'ivate enterprise, and, to wind up all, the pight-bour holiday was marked by an unprecedtntlv disgraceful riot, which resulted in about 40 hnli day maker* finding their wav to panl. Add to thia two or three t®nible and fatal railway accidents and dea'he by drowning and it famishes a sufficiency forbidding list of casualties. However, '* fo rife and a vague undefined discontent wi h existing conditions fo rampant, that it is not tnrprising that calamities occur, but rath.r that there are so few of them and that society so Boon recovers itee f. As regard* rhe fire, which swept away the Blocks of warehousemen and others, and wrecked the i-r-misea of banker?, dobs and a host rf smaller fry, tbe damage done is about a million. I fancy tha» many who gaz® upon the acene of devastation, which stretches from Gibbs, Sha lard’s to the City Bunk, begin for th* first time to have some practical conception how much is needed to make a million. Yet for years past we have been implicitly tsturning that certain holes in tbe ground out of which there has never comp enough to pay for digging them are worth each a million or so. In ’he la*t four weeks, the ten lending silver mines at the Barrier, only one of which is psyi« g a good dividend, and only three of which are paying any dividend at all, have increased ’n nominal capital valne (a* by th a market price of their shares) by three millions, and their total value is estimated at about eighteen millions. Eighteen such block* ss ’hit which was burnt down last week would leave very little behind of the cream of mercantile Sydney, But, in the estimation of the wire-pullers and mark6‘-rieg erP t '^ B *> n £ 3 bulls and bears of the big gambling bells, a much bigger fraction than that would kick the beams in oompsrison wi b those and burrows at tbe Barrier. However, great as wa» the miffortune, it eeeme to have well nigh passed from the public mind. How to retrieve it i* now the question. Almost before the fire was beaten back, and long before embers had done smoking, there were brains busy with their Fchpmes of reconstruct inn. The fire is bailed aa a blessing in disguise b csuee it affords an opportunity to the Government to continue Pop? Office street to street. Indeed, lam afraid that another fire is secretly prayed for by many enthusiast*, if it w< U’d nrlv futfiirh a pre’exr for continuing the Port Office approach to Macquarie street. however, thee* amiable rcoonstructors are not quite to bed as those who recently issued their manifesto from the Maritim Labour HaH. The one only propose to deal With Inanimft’ bricks and mortar in fartheraDCe of tbeir bmevo’ent idea’s ; and aesthetic fancies. The other propose to t-ke the sentient tbrbb’ng fi rm of a ciety itself, and cut and curve it> in Proorilstcs fashion, according to their no’ions of what it ought to be, But I fancy *s s< on as the haoki? g begins, if it ever does begin, society itself trill have & few very definite and pertinent remarks to m»ke. ** Frie’-d, thou art not wanted here,” says the Quaker in Uno’e Tom’s Cabin, and he pushes the slavehunter Over the precipice. We are beginning vaguely to wonder whethe- the labour agitator Is wanted. He brings discontent, idleness, discord and poverty, where there wag steady work and good nsv. He grow* fat by work which makes others starve, He gets sleek and insolent by their misfortunes and honndathem hark and hi’her, and tn dn hi* upstart bidding ss thoughh° was the rightful monarch nf all he surveys Even if employers wptp eg tyrannical as th®v are said to be, the wisdom nf inviting an a ddl tirnal tyranny, mnoh mnre unscrupuloa* and fx*etins. is very questionable, to say the laast of it.

The shearers’ strike has ended. The men having demonstrated their obedience to their gelf-pppointed slave drivP’-p, hv breaking their Bgreemen’B. the latter suddenly discovered, ns they had in fact been fnM al] along, that they were tn* 1 ing a gigantic blunder, and <hev fnr prefaced fhr>m®plvrg F*ti fi=d with thia displav rf allegiance and ordp-pd them back ag*in 1 Th® miners, esnne'al’v thnep nf the West, rtp beginning tn *pk whv th*v C*nDot demonstrate their loyalty in a Fimi’ar wry AH fyr*nn r ®a begin tn ♦n't o ** a* soon ns the sublet® r f them begin to a®k qn®*Hnnp. In thia ca«e<h° unrea*nnah’p’-e*= nf’bn s'ritn leader® mn«t become manifest tn the tn°n themsrlvea as soon as th® mis's of rappion olear a way. One g’enm nf puneh’” o ahnwa thrnunh out this miserable effair. Tn Melbourne a mnvemert han been ppt on font to e«t*bli b co-operative ?rdns‘n®« by wTib-h th® m»n can in some measure he their own employer® The least mnvement towards ennatrnctinn h more promising than any conceivable amnnnt. of deatrnotion. Any fool can destrov if he is only sufficiently violent and nnscrnpnlnns, but construction demands the pxerciae of virtue, instead nf vices, The cc-nnerator® wi’l find that they can only surc°ed hv th® exercise nf patient spnli®atinn. civilitv. and adaptation to ‘h° requirements r.f tbe pnhlic, Bnt if they had put the®e in*o practice before rtHHng they oonld not have failed to better their pnsbinn, wh°rpas bv Striking they have pxnnped themiip’ves tn gre®’ hardships a r d are r off considerably worse off than when <hev commenced. This is evident from their own statements Although no emnlnver h«s said a word against the right nf tbp men to combine nr has expressed any intent inn tn increase the hours of’ahnr or reduce theratpnf rav, the strike oratnra now d®c-ar® *hey are HghHng for the verv existence nf Unionism and tn preven* a general lowering of w ges. The owners, as a matter rf f*ic*. ar® offering the s*me'w®pp**nd the same hours of work *■ hefnra the strike. W® a’l knnw rhit Unionism or wages were nn* considered in any danger before the trouble began. The Besmen’s Vnlnn engined in *hp combat wi*h aaHghta heart as Lenh in the conquest of Germany “W® mean tn hav® Peter Magan hack in the Corinna, or Captain Sharp® sh»l’ ft*ver ship another c*ew ’’ This was the burden of their err, Ro far from Unionism being in danger, it thought Jtge’f pnnngh tn un«et th® PX'sHng conditions nf snnfal ’if® and tn dictate i*s nwn vagaries m b’e laws, not nn’y tn individna 1 pmnlnx’prs bn* tn the community it«®lf, Whn*. th®n, h*»s brought, it, in*o danger ? What, indeed but the rash fo’ly of its leader*. can see cleanly enough that they have ir-flieted snob a b’nw upnn Australasian industry and commerce tha* it is dnnbHu 1 , whenever they may dpign tn permit th®ir de’uded followers tn go to whether emp’ovment can he found for half of them. The remainder will constitute the greatest danger tn Unionism and to the current rate of wages. Tn their efforts tn obtain employment they will consider ha’f a loaf is better than nn bread. Thus Unionism and wages will be in danger f r om th® enmpetitHi nf its own members, through the incapacity of its nwn leaders. Ab a mere nf tsnfics, when they fnund th a Tnse’ves confronted by a solid enmof cmnUvars, Instead nf hv a single firm, they should have that their OUs’cmarv wesnnns were pointless a® arrows Bgeinst an irnrciad. Th*? might hive retired in coed order, h«vc py’endpd and < o®Boli' , B‘ed th*ir and in a short time might have been able to make some headway against npno«ing fore®?. As it is. thev have failed tn move th»m ore heir’s breadth. However, I think that gneiaty may eougratulste it<e T f that th® attack was premiture and will therefore prove abortive.