Political Notes.

. A movement is on foot to. present Mr. Reid with a requisition to contest Hume at the general electionsagainst Sir William Lyne. _"

, The Melboarne Chamber of . Commerce wrote to the Townsville chamber recently regarding reports made to Becure the repeal of the subsection of the Post and Telegraph Act prohibiting the employment of colored labor on mail steamers. Members of the Townsville chamber strongly condemned the legislation, .and the view was expressed that the result would, be- that German and French steamers would carry our mails. . :

A notice of'motion has been" tabled" in the Tasmariian "Legislative Assembly expressing the desirability of taking . possession of all unclaimed, moneys held by Tattenall, and investing them for the benefit of the,Now Norfolk Hospital fur the insane,, the legal rights of the ticketholders for refandswhen applied for, to be safeguarded by a legal enactment.

A paragraph appears in a weekly paper stating that the Hon. T. B. Cribb was about to retire from the position of Treasurer, and that his position was to be taken by Mr. Jas. Forsyth, *nember for Carpentaria. When questioned on the matter, the Premier said there waB absolutely no truth in the statement.

That the. estimated cost of. holding the Federal elections will be much exceeded

is already beyond doubt. Near ballot- j boxes have to be provided of a certain! shape specified in the Electoral Act, and samples were submitted to Sir John For* rest on Saturday, made of pine wood, and costing 27s. fid. each. Some 5000 boxes will be required, entailing a probable cost for a useless experiment of nearly £7000.

The State ballot-boxes could be fitted to i the necessities of the Act for about £1000, and this course will probably be adopted, provided the consent of the State authorities can be obtained.

Mr. T. H. Hassall, erstwhile Minister for Lands in New South Wales, is interesting himself in racing affairs in "South Africa, where he has been settled for the past year. Mr. Hassall, in conversation with a newspaper representative, said he had no intention of returning to Australia. " New South Wales," he remarked, '' is a very good place to keep out of; it is dominated by the Labor crowd, and I have come to- the conclusion that I can

forward the interests of Australia perhaps better by remaining in Africa, and helping to open up trade for her, than by returning and again taking an active part in the public affairs of New South Wales."

Experience in woman's suffrage in New Zealand has proved that the other sex are strong against the drink traffio. Local option has been brushed away in favor of prohibition without compensation, and, therefore, those who were interested in the trade are sadly bemoaning the day they voted for women suffrage. These results should be carefully noted by those in Australia who are interested in the drink trade. Full preparations should be made for anything which the day may bring forth. Results similar to those noted in New Zealand have taken place in South Australia ; so that the warning

shoald be heeded.

Mr. 6. H. Reid, in conversation with reference to the policy, that he foreshadowed in a speech that be delivered at Heidelberg (Vic.) recently, said : " Understand me plainly, £ have said over and over again, and I repeat it, that . I have no intention of tinkering with the tariff,

but I will fight the December elections on: the principle thateome of the duties which 1

weigh onerously on the people of the {

Commonwealth, without contributing to! its revenue, must be cut down. I think i the people of Australia will be with me; but, if they are not, I shall be prepared to loyally acoept the present tariff as a settlement of Australia's fiscal policy."

In the Assembly on Wednesday Mr.; Browne complained of the non-appoint-' ment of two Queensland Federal members, of Parliament as magistrates of the State. I Their names had not been put on because, as the Chief Secretary said, they were publicans. Bat as a matter of fact, they were not publicans, and even if they were, the Chief Secretary knew that there were many publicans on the list. [Mr. Philp : No, not one.j—Mr. Jenkinson asked for information as to the' mode of selecting justices. He had made six recommendations after the Fassifern election, four tfeiog of political opponents, but not one of the men he had recommended had been appointed.

ThUB Mr. Watson, the Federal Labor leader, when the Election Bill was passing through the House of Representatives some months ago : " One of the best features of the measure is that it fixes abso

lute equal quota right through the Common wealth as to thel principle of persons required to return a representative to this House. .The whole principle for which the Labor party' has been fighting is that the power of government shoald be shared by the people in absolutely equal proportion." And yet the divisions embodying the principle were thrown out by the Government and its labor supporters.

In addition to Mr. Reid, two others 'have been nominated for Hast Sydney— namely, John Blake, laborer, Darlinghurat; William Edward John M'Guire, estate agent, Harris street.. As both the Government and labor party expressed their intention of not running a candidate, the fact of two opponents coming out against Mr. Reid is a distiuct surprise. .Neither Mr. Blake nor Mr. M'Guire is the nominee of any organised political party, but the former defines himself as a liberal, and the latter as a protectionist. Neither of them will have any chance of being returned against Mr. Reid ; their nomination is regarded very much in the light of a joke. Both of them hare been prominently identified with the unemployed agitation, bat apart from that they are unknown to public life.

The Federal Ministry will have to be reconstructed this week or early next week (says Thursday's Melbourne Idraws.) Senator O'Connor purposes relinquishing his position as leader of the Senate on Friday, and on Monday next he will again apply himself to the practice of his profession. This means that Senator Play-, ford (S.A.) must formally join the Ministry before next Tuesday, but it does not follow that Senator O'Connor will leave the Government at onc9. He will be relieved of the responsibility of piloting Ministerial measures' through the Senate, bufc he' may still remain an honoraiy Minister. It is taken for granted that he j will be promoted to the chief seat on the High Court Bench, If he is, then, of

course, he will immediately resign his seat In Parliament; and even if he does not become first Federal Chief Justice he will ' not: offer bimself for re-election in De

cember. Ministers,readily admit that but for Senator Q'Cpnnor'a wonderful tact,patience, arid resource several of their bills would have been aadly inntiliated in the Senate. * Members of all shades of

political opinion ^ regret his retirement, .from active Ministerial work, and Senator Playford has no'light task before him in endeaVoriug to .fill his place.

. Mr. G. H. Reid addressed an open-air

meeting on Friday night, arid had a j splendid reception, and a resolution ap- | proving of his action was carried. Mr.

Reid, in his speech, quoted returns re- j

ceived of nine Federal electorates in New I Soutb Wales—the electorates which~suf- i fered most from the drought. In these

the number of male electors in 1901 was ! 96,510; in 1902-3 they had decreased to j 88,815; and in the present month the; number had gone, up to 94,104. These j figures, he thought, quite disproved Sir ! Win. Lyne's statements as to the exodus of people from the country; and when he

returned to Melbourne he promised that ] Sir Wm. Lyne would J»e properly called j

to task. He would dot say that what

Sir Wm. Lyne stated was absolutely false, | but there had been a diabolical piece of i deception somewhere.