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SOCIALITIES.
SYDNEY TOPICS. . I
BAVARD.
jAUHuuery continues to be the prevail
ing topic. To the majority his lordshin ,'r
topical, jure corona*., became he has inherit^
a coronet. To others because he is a iW
sentative Liberal of high culture who knows
his way about in English politics- and
who waB a big-a very big-subscriber (if
what one hears is true) to the Liberal Fund
The Earl and Countess are still piests at
Government-house, and may be seen of
afternoons " taking the air" in one of the
Governor's open carriages. His Lordship is
spare, of a dark complexion, and has a " cast
of thought" (not pale, however) in his face
which would at once arrest the attention
denied to his physique. It is easy to see that
the interest lie takes in our doings, out
public buildings, gardens, schools, political
machinery-in short, in every one of those
things which are evidences of civilisation,
and are called " institutions-is a natural
and intelligent, not an affected and unmean*
ing interest I suppose he is {hormco re
ferens) " affable," but I imagine from the
look and manners of the man, that he would
be slow to inflict his affability on any one.
He was first pointed out to me by a mos'
worthy sergeant of police, who sometimes
honours me with little confidences, but my
friend rather spoiled the charm by hi"
peculiar pronunciation. " Sor, d'ye see tha
little mail?" " I do." " He's an Ubbl, then,
and his name is Lord Ra'asberry." The
was, of course, no denying an official state
ment conveyed in the solemn brogue of
stern conservator of Her Majesty's peace, an
as to corecting it, such an impertinence w
not to be thought of. 1 would as soon hav
thought of chaffing the bronze effigy of G:
vernor Bourke at the Domain gates. So
blandly observed that his lordBhip must
the "real jam."
Lady Rosebery is a rather striking cont
to her husband. She struck me, at all even
in that light Her style of beauty is of th
semi-florid and voluminous order, and sh
seems to revel in bright colours. A daugh
of the house of Rothschild ought not to
stinted in her proportions. Nature ought
be as bountiful to her as her house. _
figure ought to be as ample as her fortune. I
iB of course quite needless to say that th
Roseberys have been "Zig-zagged. Eve
one who sets foot in this colony and is wo
showing about is Zig zagged-that is to sa.
is taken up the Blue Mountains to ad
Mr. Whitton's engineering triumphs. Th
Ministers act as guides, one or other of them
generally it is the Colonial Secretary or th
Secretary for Works, and the unhappy peop
who undergo the infliction of scenery an
statistics return to the Sydney terminus wi
ninch sufferingand a desire for early vengean
It is a miracle, under the circumstances,"
a member of the Cabinet is not some'
hurled from the train or otherwise sacrifr
to the just frenzy of bis unhappy vi *"
made desperate by the impossibility
escaping from an outrageous rehearsal
blue book. In bygone years, whenever
distinguished visitor showed his nose bettr"
the Heads of Port Jackson, Mr. Whittan
requested to Zig-zag him, as a sort ofpenan
for his own engineering audacity in c&rm
the iron roaa over tnose impassable B1
Mountain gorges. '1 Perrupit Ackeronta H
culeus labor." Thus Nemesis dogged him
many years, and the engineer was so o'
hoisted with his Own petard that his beaJ
and temper began to exhibit serious sy
toma oi derangement, and he had finally
surrender the cicerone business to t
Ministers, who have ever since acted as
tecs of the ceremonies to Mr. Whittonfl s«
work, to the intense satisfaction of tn
selves, and much more than intense deso
tion of their guests. Someday I suppose
shall abolish this Zig-zagging of our visi
just as shaving on crossing the line has
abolished and other time-honoured to
ties. But Lord and Lady Roseberr.
Baron Hiibner, and the member for i
mouth, and all the other notables wn
Mr. 6tnari conveyed to the mountains
Friday morning have had.to go througa
- . 3-v -f* 7Atf.9Aff DlCIllC, #
jr picmii .
"I tatoa«<=T
MBaaSajas'S?
yet fallen to the Jot ofony ° £ tbe Asaetw
them tothe^Speaker sgaUW , ftbletoh
andj there they ^Sfbutlhopenot
ihe£t'Elb»ne, onr He »'«.
nrRMntatave colonial sa "age; , --j^in
liai in
, .nee oTtbia occasion wm ^houte*
M* S^^S^rtifi^
«UMVM?rellway
TlUwana 01 mT
S355f
Itwaa«u
iands waafO*.0^
on each of his <

S^^Tnre was far beyond fi2 per acre,
4hecsPcn ? D Presenting it were at Coal
Ind l!iC W(!|' iptLr of the law had been

Cliff. So ^''ried out, and everyone saw that

...riifplv ..I ITn nprsistftd in his
jcfurnte j l Vr'Kihoiie. Jle persisted in uw

" truii s«c

rod ®ala
?s part "

public trea^'

^,ic traction but oflicial corrup
i" tllC ^"administration, and on Mr.
til® 8»d ^ ,,nfhin" but robbery of the
F^SrJSnd fraud on theiland avr

, Lord llosebery must have
"On tl'e visit immensely, and consider
fnjoyed l',b ,pXDerience of the working

y f""rfl itutions And when he is
'ffltf he »one, whose bellow
") . lie Legislative Assembly of New
W,in,ffe8 he himself could bear wit

goatli "" ® irishman by descent, he
ncM ,<°' fllb]e to draw his own ronclu
ffi» rP6necting the degradation of Par
8ions tre^_ irishnien all the world over,
liament Ur be perfectly true that
H i, are the chief sinners in the British
^Tof Commons, and perhaps in some

How* « . it ig }jy no means true

otherii v Are the only sinners. We have had
11141 prominent offenders ourselves who
B0IDern/irishmen, and at the present mo
fffntB0»e of our brightest and wisest states

n iirp lri^hmen or descendants of Insh
«°en tndeed Lord Hosebery may have been
Iwo save himself from a hasty generahsa
4ble to bu . j t expenence. He

Second visit to the representative

last week, and on that occasion it

an6 Irishman but a Scotchman who
ws ^neiness of ^grading ^bothJParha

ad
t if

a c

did (''Ld" himself^ Possibly" that member
Si,Jft Euldbe regarded by Lord Rose
K a delicate compliment to his order if
He his appearance in that advanced

jna exclusive glory of a " lord. At all
e«Dts. be made his practical opposition to
wMtalism bo painfully manifest that his
gSnZd to care for him or else
the suggested compliment would have
Meloiied into a breach of decency too
Ariiii: even for a colonial parliament
lit us hope that ue remembrance of these
wrors will not lo.;g or unpleasantly haunt
Lordiiosebery. If 1 hey were not zig-zagged
rat of memory on Friday, perhaps they were
tlown a«av by the strong north-easter of
Saturday, or gently spirited into the Limbus
of phantoms by the pleasant garden party
*hich Lady Luftus gave on that afternoon.
To-day (Monday) Lord and Lady Loftus, Sir
William and Lady Des Vmux, and a galaxy
of notables, including Mr. Smith, M. P. for
Tmemouth, accompany Lord and Lady Rose
tayon a trip to the Upper Hawkesbury, so
mcged that nobody will have the chance of
being seasick, as the who e party will be con
vcyed from Manly to Pittwater by carriages,
an(i tfcenie by Mr. Thos. Dibbs's steam yacht
Eva to Wiseman's Ferry. At that stage they
nil transhipped into a small steam Tanned
belonging to Mr. M'Quade, and will con
tinue ibenp-river voyage as far as Sackville
Jifacl), whence they will proceed to Windsor
if land conveyance. The Government
fleainer Ajax, with the Parliamentary staff
(iiairionstrators in gastronomy, will meet
lie brilliant and esurient tourists at Broken
lav, the embouchure of the Hawkesbury,
ttd the thoughtfully devised dinner of Pro
fessor Cassidy will be the first thing on the
bnsincss-paper tobe discussed, with in sniffing
distance certainly, but quite apart from the
terribly disturbing influences, of the South
Pacific. The customary rites, I suppose, will
follow, for it goes without saying that Lord
Rosebeiy will be obliged to unmuzzle, and
tint the rest will follow his lead.

The debate on the Land Bill has brought
up five additional speakers, in the following
order-Messrs. A, G. Taylor and Lyne, Sir
Patack Jennings, and Messrs. Buchanan and
O'Connor. Mr. Taylor's contribution to the
derate was made-as he very truly admitted
Hinder depressing circumstances. He fol
lored Mr. Garrett and was apparently suffer
ing from ill-health. His speech was-with
me intervals of very ineffective criticism of
tbe bill-simply a diatribe of insulting im
(fltationB levelled against the Premier and
certain members of the Assembly, who he
wertea had sold their votes for various

of pottage, a statement which, how
T, was afterwards indignantly denied by
tte persona concerned. Indeed, so little did
*wT?r?.5miciBni8 touch the bill itself,
wmwitof his speech might have been de
wedIon a motion for adjournment, or on
bkwhfpn f0'' Th?,main motive seems
tanta rt?n«?kge- nd,of a few feeble at
wnpte at antithesis, and to parody a well

tu£Tge ? ''The DesertedVillage,"
ol JtL e 8 ui>ld, calumnies in the hope
ifi. f tbe mnd to 8tick. and to
Sl1tW»Kdlneni ?a second read
*2 M# rii day six months,
.Homthp® ijati. 1 tor movinK that
1*11 be k i ^ave moved that the
kiMiMn ^y- e ^ands of the common
&ilfeg6a?ith^ Mr- Taylor sat

taring n?- the consciousness
It need tn* ^toet^lnK very naughty: but

lTelled 80 iax for a
W nearly eo^imoa hands are

®Lu!e ^ jn«"»y others which he

the burning busi:
People don't * betterleftoutaltogether.

SZ2T^meb ^ ao

ffiMed ont of an in18 ®peec'1 a little fun was
"which it ia ^ ^T a ^

S'oneyB may nnr^V w ' ^''Bters and
fc. sSbefore the land boards!

the boHinic. ? ,nember who oom
?«fith that^Tr Preacher and uudar

^ehonourable

Ereat^nnfU1®-!4 \* mU9t
w'rPe settlS^J, *Mbonty on the land

&S" Mri J»e did^T to be

Sf*UB8ion to i!i?H ^ n.ot eeem to enjoy
i occBpatb^M

ttorriy^ 4e»wye8

~3' fts it yaa asked, to the

a sensible, and in many respects a forcible,
speech. lie is supposed to represent a very
strong free-selection constituency, and may
therefore, be credited with a correspondingly
Btrong grasp of the bearing of the bill inthe
selectors interests. His condemnation of
Sir John Robertsons acta was complete and
conclusive, and be announced his intention
to vote for the second reading of the new bill
on the ground that it was right in principle!
Mid where defective or unjust in detail could

be amended in committee.

On Thursday night Sir Patrick Jennings,
one of the representative squatting members
of the House, delivered himself in a compact,
quiet and very effective speech, which for
breadth of view and grasp of detail is not
likely to be surpassed duiing the debate, ; He.
also condemned the existing land laws as
utterly pernicious to the interests of all classes
of tne community, and announced his intention
to vote for the second reading of the bill, with
the same reservations .a# Mr. Lyne, adding
that if as amended j in committee it should
still appear to him obiectipnable be should
vote agamBt the third reading. Sir Patrick
was followed by Mr, David Buchanan, and
he gave the House a specimen of oratory
which would not have , been at all bad, but
for the strong internal evidence it afforded
that Mr. Buchanan had not read the bill
whose provisions he defended with such a
torrent of rhetorical commonplaces. Never
theless, he declared himself a strong advocate
of Mr. Farnell's proposals, especially of his
proposal to "abolish" auction sales-a pro
position, by the way, which is not in the bill.
But this is not the first, and it is not likely
to be the last, time that our great rhetorician
has proved himself a successful debater in
describing a measure which he has never
read, or having read, has not understood.

Mr. O'Connor (the O'Connor Dan) closed
the debate, at least for the week, in a speech
of vehemently Hibernian logic. He held
every provision of the bill up to public de
testation ; he proved to his own satisfaction
that every class would receive its deathblow
in one or other part of the infamous measure,
and juBt as everybody was expecting a brilliant
display of pyrotechical expletives, in which
Mr. O'Connor would announce to the ex

pectant nations his intention to die on the

flure " voting against the hateful and wicked
abortion, be said he meant to vote for the
second reading.

It is pleasant to record the agreements of
law and common sense. Such an instance
occurred a few weeks ago, but unfortunately
the Supreme Court would not allow such a
dangerous precedent to exist many days. It
happened thusThe prothonotary (Mr.
Chapman) was required in due course to set
about taxing the costs in the famous slander
case of Davies v. Harris, wherein, my readers
will remember, the jury appraised the damage
done to Mr. Davies's character at a farthing.
Accordingly, he declared that his taxation
would be governed by a certain ancient
statute (to wit James L), which fixed the
costs in slander actions, where the plaintiff
recovers less than 40s., at the same sum as
the damages-that is to say, in the case be
fore him, at a farthing. Of course, there was
an indignant appeal to the Supreme Court
from tnis most discreet, equitable, and
wholesome decision. And of course their
honours sustained the appeal, and ordered
the prothonotary to tax in the usual way.
This means that Mr. Davies's bill of costs
(say some £1,600 to £1,800) when taxed is to
be paid by Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris, I. am
glad to hear, has appealed to the Privy Coun

cil.

"Garden" Island, long a misnomer, will
soon be an utter solecism, for the work of
levellijig its pretty hillocks has begun, and
before long the most beautiful islet in our
" beautiful harbour " will be a hideous naval
arsenal The graves of Judge Bent and (I
think) Major Ovens are to be respected, but
otherwise the island is to be raseed like
another Pinchgut.

Continuous dry weather has begun to parch
up all vegetation, not only in the country,
but in the gardens about Sydney. The mayor,
at the instigation of the city engineer, has in
voked the citizens to abjure plunge baths,
and confine their abstersive efforts to sponge
or shower baths, and thus economise the
Botany supply. It appears that plunge baths
represent an expenditure of about ten million
; gallons every week. I was ever afraid of

those florid sunsets. They portended (I
now Bee clearly enough) the abandonment of
my favourite exercise and my favourite food :
a kick-up in fresh water-cucumbers.

The convention, as you call it, the con
ference, as we prefer to call it, will soon be a
circumstance, as Jonathan says. The
Queensland delegates have just arrived. The
New ZeaJanders arrived before them, but
went away to Melbourne to be present at a
sort of preliminary intercolonial symposium,
in which Tasmanian and South Australian
delegates will also chip in. I suppose Mr.
Griffith and Mr. Garrick will be there too.

$