December, 1913. 



History of the Month. 



posits were ;^>87,ooo, and tlie entire deposits in the 

 banks of Australia scarcely excerdod a million and 

 a-quarttr. At the date of the last balance-sheet, the 

 def)osits in Mr. Dibit's own l);ink alone stood at 

 _;^2o, 8.23, 000. He recalls that owning sheep stations 

 arKl sheep in Australia in 1842 was synonymous with 

 ruin. Ten \<-ars later, so great was the change of 

 fortune, that sheej) sent from Xew South Wales to 

 Victoria nett'd from 30s. to 35s. per head, and big 

 fortunes wir.- made bv stock and st.ition owners. 



Strenuous 

 Politicians. 



seek to m.iki 



Politicians, like most people, suffer 

 from the spirit of procrastination. 

 They waste the shining hours in the 

 early part of a se.s.sion, and vainK 

 up tlie lost time when the sand in the 

 hour glass warns them that the days are running 

 out as well as the nights. At present the Common- 

 wealth Parliament is working overtime, and mem- 

 bers are feeling the strain. No Wages Board would 

 sanction sucli a profligate expenditure of energy. 

 Each day the sitting lasts from 10.30 a.m. till 

 nearly midnight. The Government, it is evident, 

 is straining .very nerve to make its calling and 

 election sure. The new year will bring them within 

 sight of a general election, and a heavy jjrogramme 

 of propaganda work will occupy every waking hour 

 of the vacation. Meantime .Ministers are se<^king 

 to i)ile up e\>ry bit of legislation that will enable 

 them to pres<nt what they hope will be a satisfac- 

 tory balanc*- siieet to the electors. Oppositionists 

 are equally on the alert, and the next battle of the 

 polls promis<-s to be one of the stifTest on rtx-ord. 



Few i>iople outside the circle of his 

 most intimate trieivls had any ink- 

 ling that Mr. Justice O'Connor was 

 suffering ftom a serious malady. 

 I iie annouiicment of his death, therefore, on 

 NovemU-r \>i. came as a shock. The late judge's 

 name was written larg<' in the pulilic lifeof his nativ<' 

 ;.ite. Whether at the JJar, or in politics, he was 

 recognised ,is fieing con.s<;ii-nlious, level-headed and 

 painstaking He was thorough rather than bril- 

 liant, and <eiiainl\ adorned the High Court bench. 

 \^'hen Ihtr Inderal Constitution was in the making 

 played a conspicuous part. The late judge was a 

 native of .Svdney, and a son of th<.' late Richard 

 O'Connor, ojn- time clerk of the New South Wales 

 l^'gislativo .\ssembly" and subsefjuently clerk of 

 I' irliaments. He was lx)rn in Sydney in 1851, and 

 eeived his e.irly education at Lyndhursi College 

 lid the Sydney Gramm.ir School. I.at<r at the 



Tlie Lite 

 Mr. Justice 

 O'Connor. 



Photo.] U.'lloiirllr. 



TIIK L.Vl'K, Ml!. .lUSTIOE O'CONNOR. 



Sydney University he had a brilliant career, se<_-iu- 

 ing the degree of B.A. in 1871, and M.A. two years 

 later. For .some time he occupied the {X)sition of 

 iourlh clerk of the Legislative Council. Mr. O'Con- 

 nor early developed a taste for literary pursuits, but 

 eventually forsook literature for the law. He was 

 called to the Har in 1876, and soon attracted atten- 

 tion. In 1896 he was raised to the dignity of 

 (Queen's Counsellor. He essayed to enter politics 

 as a nu'mber of the New South Wales Legislative 

 As.s*'mbly, but failed to secure election. He was, 

 however, apiwinted to the lx;gislative Council in 

 1888. When the first CommonweaWi Parliament 

 was elected, he was returned as a member of the 

 Federal Senate for New South Wales. In Septem- 

 ber, 1903, he was elevated to the High Court beach. 

 Mr. O'Coimor was married to Sarah Hensleigh, 

 daughter of the late John S. Hensleigh, of Uendoc 

 (Victoria), in 1870. 



The New SoutJi Wales Goveriunent 

 A Spealter's is paying a heavy price since it 

 Vagaries. .sought to save its [wlitical skin by 



offering Mr. Willis the Sjieaker- 

 ship. Parliament has gone from bad to worse, and 

 the s<'Ssions more resemble a zoologiail gardens at 

 feeding lime than a calm deliberative lx)dy legislat- 

 ing tor the public good. It is largely due to the 



