Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

Our Adelaide Letter.
(?pO oY OW n coRREsPONDENT.)
ADELAIDE, January 26.
The Salvation Army
HAs been somewhat in evidence dur
ing the past week or two. I don't
mean that the noisy, if well-moaning
evangelists are not well in evidence
Sundays and holidays alike, but that
public attention has been drawn to
them by General Booth's scheme, and
by the attack which has been made by
the Victorian police on the Prison
Gate Brigade. Mr. Playford and his
Cabinet, after turning over the ques
tion of the "Submerged Tenth" in
their minds, and listening to the
opinions of the other Premiers upon
it, had determined to back-up Sir
Henry Parkes, and repudiate the
alarmist views of Mr. Munro. They
did not come to this resolution until
both the daily papers had taken the
same side. It is not likely, at any
rate, that the General will try to
settle any of the lambs of his flock in
South Australia, and the Territory
would be too hot even for the soldiers
of "blood and fire" to find it a com
fortable home. There has been a
distinct growth in the army during
the past year or two in this colony; in
fact it has been a salvation " boom."
It was here they made their
first efforts for the conversion of
Australia, and for a while the
chariot was kept rolling gaily
along. Then a dullness seemed
to fall upon the procoeedings, and the
divisions (if that is the correct word)
posted in the suburbs and in country
towns dwindled from dozens down to
a decrepit bugler, a captain banging a
drum, and one Salvation lass with a
tambourine. Since then, as I have
said, there has been a recrudescence
of vitality. Perhaps the renewed
popularity of the service is due in
part to the fact that the younger
"lasses" have been permitted to wear
straw hats in lieu of the hideous poke
bonnets, in which their attractions
were formerly doomed to be hidden
away.
Early Closing.
A really substantial victory has been
gained by the Early Closing Associa
tion. With only three exceptions, all
the shops in the city now close at
6 o'clock every evening, and probably
the force of public opinion will soon
bring the three recalcitrant firms into
line. From time immemorial, it has
been the custom for the youth of both
sexes to promenade Rundle-street
from 7 o'clock on Saturday evenings
till 10 or 11, when the slouch-hatted
but comparatively harmless larrikin
is left in possession of the pavements.
Somebody hs said that the woihing
girl's drawing-room is the street, and
no doubt a great many meetings are
arranged for Saturday evening, and a
corresponding amount of flirtation is
indulged in. The streets do not look so
gay as in the old days, when the bril
liant shop-fronts formed a background
to the throng who idled up and down;
but, on the other hand, there is the
assurance that those who were for
merly toiling in the heated atmosphere
behind the counter are now free to
enjoy the fresh air with the rest.
The change can scarcely be less plea
sant to the employers, many of whom
at first bitterly opposed the early
closing movement on the ground that
it would be impossible to get all to
agree to it, and that those who gave
the concession would suffer in trade.
Both employers and employees inust
feel the benefit of a system
uniler which all business is over
by six each day. I hear the
shop assistants are not going to let
things stagnate after this success, but
that their next move will be for a half
holiday on Wednesday. This ar
rangement is said to work well in
many English provincial towns.
The Australian BrIndisI.
SA much-used political "gag,"
heard session after session, is to term
Adelaide the "Brindisi of Australia,"
because all the Australian mails which
come via the canal are landed or
shipped here. The worst of it is that,
while in a general way there may be
some claim to the title, the authorities
have never been able to definitely
make up their minds which is the
best spot for connecting with the
ocean liners. Miss Cornwall can't
float her outer harbour scheme in
London, and, this being the second
failure in that direction, people have
given up the idea of erecting a jetty
(with breakwater) large enough for
the mail steamers to come alongside.
Thus the old system of taking passen
gers out in steam launches must be
retained; but the question at once
arises-From which jetty ? There
are over half-a-dozen jetties on the
six miles of coast nearest Adelaide,
but the struggle is now narrowed
down to three competitors-Glenelg,
the Semaphore, and Largs Bay.
These are three separate watering
places, each pulling hard at
the Government on behalf of
its vested interests. The Semaphore
railway and jetty belong to the
Government, but in both the other
cases the railways and jetties are pri.
vate property. It would, therefore,
seem the clear duty of the State to
support the Semaphore; but here the
difficulty comes in, that, in days gone
by, some wooden-headed surveyor
placed the local jetty on a sandbanlrk,
which is rapidly silting the whole
structure up. The only pity is that
he was not built into it as a pile. Boe.
tween the three competitors, the
Government have a task which I don't
envy them, as they will be heartily
blamed whatever they do.
Generalltles.
So far, this summer has been almost
the coolest on record--taking it in
bulk, that is-but to-day the glare
which accompanies a hot wind is
upon everything, and the thermometer
has danced up close to 100.
We have had an Austrian warship
-the Saida-amongst us, for a few
days. A glance at any dozen of her
crow was an object lesson on the
mixture of races in the dual Empire.
Many of the officors and men-short,
swarthy, black-moustached fellows
one would have termed Italians at the
first glance; others wero sturdy,
big-built fellows, evidently belonging
to the Germanic section. All the
uniforms seem to follow English
models closely, and many of the
middies were exactly like awell-born,
gently-nurtured English lads, with
healthy, innocent, rosy faces. Several
belong to noble families. The Saida
has gone east, and I daresay you
will see her in Newcastle waters.
Owing to the heat, the Theatre
Royal is closed until February 9.
A set of offices in Grenfell-street,
known as " Cowra Chambers," which
have been cleared away to make room
for a more modern style of building,
possesses a small history. The first
Presbyterian Church was built there
in the early days. Then, as land
grew valuable, the " unco guid" sold
their church and site at a big profit,
and put a new conventicle up where
land was cheaper. The dreary-look
ing edifice, with its whitewashed
walls and little mouse.trap windows,
was cut up into offices, where worldly
men dealt in scrip, and a brick front
was put up to take away the ecclesi
astical flavour. Now, kirk and front
have both been cleared away; and, it
is said, a music-hall is going up on
the vacant spot. This last transfor
mation is enough to make Calvin turn
in his grave.
The Port Piri.~trike has collapsed,
and was from the first hopeless. The
Port Adelaide wharf labourers work
ten hours a day-it must be a long
day in torrid summer weather-but
some of their brethren in the north
ern port had somehow got the figure
down to eight. It was evident that,
unless this was repressed, there was a
liability of an eight-hours' outbreak
on the Port Adelaide wharves; and,
to prevent this, all the force of capi
talism was brought to bear to crush
the Port Pirioe men. Shoals of "free
labourers " were drafted up by each
train, and the local labour market
quickly swamped. Trades unionists
have to admit that the outlook is very
dark, but they are not losing courage,
and are turning renewed attention to
the political side of the question as
offering the real solution.
$