AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16190, 28 September 1914, Page 8

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

(Fkom Our Own ConiiEsroNDENT.) SYDNEY, September 18. Ono of tho very few subjects outside of tho war to which any attention is given is tiiat of tho new Commonwealth Parliament, just elected after a doubio dissolution, it is npw known definitely that, despite the hopes and efforts of the Liberals, the eko tors have, under our present electoral system, decided in favour of "swapping noises while crossing a stream." Labour has an ample majority in tho House of Kepresenl-a-tives and sueti an eclipsing majority in tho Senate as furnishes Liberals with material for urging a change in tfie basis of representation in this States' house, and Labourites with material for argument 111 favour of ti uni-cameral Parliament, today is expectcd to see tho announcement of the personnel of the new Labour Ministry, whictx is decided in caucus bo exhaustive balloting, and tho new Ministers will probably start work to-morrow. With war, drought, and unemployment to bo dealt with tliie work will be difficult and trying, and the capacity of Labour Ministers as administrators will be tested far more severely than in tho poriod of petico and all-round prosperity during which tho last Fisher administration held office. An outstanding incident of the oontinuaI tion of the counting of votes in conncction i with tiie Federal elections during tho past few days has been the disclosure of an error through which, tho wrong man would very likely have been declared elected for the representatives constituency of Werriwa, New South Wales. Thero was a close contest between tho retiring Liberal member (Mr Conroy) and his Labour opponent (Mr Lynch). From a couple of days after tho starting of the count Mr Conroy took a lead which showed his election to bo assured when onjy a couplo of hundred voted remained to be counted. Then, on account of a disparity between the Liberal votes cast in Werriwa for tho Senate and tho llouso of Representatives respectively, tho chief electoral authorities directed that a check count be made. This revealed that two bundles of a hundred votes each, which ought to havo been credited to Mr Lynch, had by mistake been credited to Mr Conroy. That made all the difference. Aoomplete recount was ordered. At latest the position is that with 13.0 absent votes still to be oounted Mr Conroy has a lead of only 18, and what ia known of tho political faith of most of the absent voters whose papers have yet to be tallied off makes it certain' that Mr Lynch and not Mr Conroy will bo the member for Werriwa. The electoral officials at Werriwa must feel very annoyed at the blunder by which Mr Conroy was almost declared elected. WAR PRICES. Side by sido with the enforcement of the Commonwealth proclamation forbidding the exportation of Australian wheat and flour and meat, except to tho United Kingdom and British dominions, wo havo announcements of tho intention of Stat© Governments, especially those of Now South Wales and Victoria, drastically to prevent speculators and others from extorting undue profits on necessary commodities in this period of national emergency. Following closely upon tho taking of evidence by a Necessary Commodities Control Commission, tho New South Wales Government has, under the powers vested in it by special emergency legislation, fixed the maximum prices at which sellers of wheat, flour, and bread aro to supply buyers. But on tho day of tho coming into operation of this decree, millers and bakers complained strongly beforo the Necessary Commodities Commission in this Stato that Sydney wheat merchants refused to sell at the proes fixed by tho Government. Tho merchants referred to reply that practically all the wheat in their stores which has not already been sold belongs to farmers who have fixed selling prices at considerably higher figures than those set out in the Government decreo. It is reported on what is said to bo the best authority that, by the further employment of its emergency powers, the Government intends to commandeer all the accessible suipplics of wheat and make the grain available to millers at tho price at which it has specified. According to what is stated in tho press aihout the wording of the enactment under which tho Government is proceeding, the attitude of holders of wheat and millers to intending buyers who are not legitimate retailers, tho disregard of the conditions of the world's .markets which properly entitlo farmers to ask more than the specified Government rate, and the upsetting of Now South Wales calculations bv heavy shipments to other States where higher prices can bo got, tho whole matter seems to Jbe surrounded by unforseen complexities. .Victoria, too, has a Necessary Commodities Commission hard at work investigating tho why and wherefore of priccs, and it intends to have an early conference with New South Wales with the view to uniformity in tho basis of action. As far as New South Wales is oonccrnod the Government does not hold ifeelf limited to foodstuffs and tho lilce in its power to cut down prices that seem to represent, improper exploitation of the consuming public. Tho two big companies which havo a monoply in the supplying of gas in Sydney and suburbs have suddenly announced increases in their charges to consumers, although they get thoir coal locally and are not concerned : with tho ruling price for gas anywhere else in the world. Consumers, especially thoeo who have to get along with smaller wages, complain bitterly about these increases bv tho gas companies, and complain also that the quality of the gas supplied has deteriorated. Well, the Government has got tho Necessary Commodities Commission to make a report, after hearing what the representatives of the two companies had to say in justification of tho increase in prices,, and it is gathered that in a day or so thero will bo issued a decreo forbidding the companies to demand more than rates considerably below those which are now demanded. NO GERMAN NAMES. Tho patriotic Russians who havo changed the namo of their capital to Petrograd for . anti-German reasons aro not to stand alone in history beoause of such an alteration in i conncction with the war. Tho principal , northern suburb of Melbourne has hitherto borne the name of Brunswick, and has been proud of it. But the example of the people of Petrograd has fired the Brunswiokians with a determination to also show their patriotism by abandoning a name with Ger- ; man associations. So, after keen discussion, I the Municipal Council of Brunswick has resolved by eight votes to seven that steps bei taken to attach some other name to their borough, and never mind the expense which ! the change will entail. Portion of the territory adjoining Brunswick (whose new name has not yet been decided upon) is called Coburg. Tho Coburg folks have a Municipal Council of their own, and some of them ! mean to show that they are just as patriotic as their neighbours. Thus tho Coburg Council will be asked at its next moeeting 1 to send tho German name of Coburg out ' to the rubbish tip and to adopt tho namo of Dudley, in memory of a former Governor- ' general of Australia. WAR INCOME TAX. Here, as elsewhere, the first thought of : some legislators at a time of difficulty is to impose stiff additional taxation upon a section, or all, of their own community. Western Australia is setting a striking example in the translation of this thought into action. The Government has introduced, and the Legislative Assembly has given the second reading to, what, is called a War Tax Bill. This measure provides for taxation of incomes at tho rate of 1 per cent, for incomes over £100, 2 per cent. . over £300, and so on, to 15 per cent, on over £1000 a year. The division on tho second reading 'was on party lines. Western Australia has no direct war expenditure. Our Australian share of this expenditure has to be provided out of tho Commonwealth Treasury. Therefore the money raised by the proposed tax. which will be perhaps the heaviest income tax in tho ' world, is meant for purely local purposes. Critics ask whether the Western Australian Labour Government, really believes that such a tax will help to keep wage-earners in employment or encourage local industries and trade. WATT v. THE AGE. Three libel or slander actions in connection. with the Federal elections of a fortnight ago have .already been announced. The first of these to bo mentioned in court came beforo the Supremo Court in Melbourne during the week on an application for an order for the amendment of the particulars of the defence in the libel action for £5000 damages brought, against the Melbourne Age by Mr W. A. Watt, ex-Premier of Victoria, and successful candidate for i.be Balaclava seat in the House of Representatives. The published matter complained of was an anonymous letter containing the following:—"I crave space to refute a gross slander which is being circulated by his opponents. This is that Mr Watt subscribed three-parts of tho money to pay for the portrait recently presented to him. This is a contemptible, falsehood, and, even if it were not, Mr Watt, is to bo congratulated for his great public-spirited-ness in maJcing possible such a splendid Liberal demonstration. Our only regret is that Mr Watt was r.nt presented with a silver coal scuttle, as this article would bo more useful in his home." This, as was acknowledged by counsel for the Age, in tho course of argument, was a, paraphrase of a passage in tho Pickwick Papers, a quotation from the Eatanswill Gazette, referring to a presentation to Mr Slumkoy:—"Our

reptile contemporary, wo say, has made itself merry at the expense of a superbly eniWsed plated coal scuttle which has been presented to tuat g-ionous man by his enraptured constituent, and towards the purenase of which the nameless wretch insinuates the. Honourable Mr fcSlumkey himself contributed, through a confidential friend of his butler's, more Ulan threefourths of the whole sum subscribed." It was con tended on behalf of Mr Watt that what the Age reaJly meant was that Mr Watt had paid three-fourths of the cost of his portrait, r.nd that his conduct was similar to tliat of one of the characters in the Pickwick Papers. The whole thing was, according to Mr Watt's counsel, a libel, couched in ironic terms, mnant to convey that, the "contemptible slander" referred to in the letter w;ls not a falsehood. On behalf of the Age, and in support of certain of the pleadings in defence, it was cour tended that the matter was of the nature of fair comment, and that the whole keynote- I wuk ridiculing of people who had exaggerated ideas of their own importance. There had been exaggeration of the merits of Mr Watt's resignation of the very unsafe seat for Essendon in the State Parliament for the safe Federal seat of Balaclava. As to tho contention on behalf of Mx Watt that the word "scuttle" could be taken to refer to Ids leaving of Essendon for Balaclava, that was, said counsel for the defence, of the nature of legitimate chaff. After liotening to considerable argument Mr Justice Hood directed that the particulars of defence should bo struck out, | and allowed costs to Mr Watt I "BRITISH MADE." j Following upon the urgings made by prominent eommercia.l men in Great Britain lor the development of British industries in directions in whicil dependence has hitherto been placed upon iho manufactures of countries with whom wo are now at war, our chambers of commerce arm manufactures are entering upon a " British made" campaign. It is pointed out that with our resources in the way of raw products, especially wool, metals, and leather, wo have splendid opportunies for the development of industries to the advantage of Australia and the whole Empire. In tho midst of the exchange of such inspiring observations we have just read an announcement wliich seems a little out of tune. It is to the effect that a well-known firm has responded to a request through tho press with a gift of a dozen pairs of field-glasses for tho use of Australian officers who are going to fight the Germans. Tho gift is appreciated because the firm has noted the suggestion that our officers ought to be given the best glasses, not second-rate. The dozen pairs accepted by the Defence Department with much pleasure as complying with this, suggestion arc "Made in Germany." BELGIAN WIDOWS It is announced that in order to afford relief to Belgian widows tho Government of Victoria has agreed to assist such widows to come to that State, and find employment for them, at the rate of 150 a month until the end of this year. It is stipulated, however, that the women must be prepared, to accept domestic service at places in the country. In making this announcement the Ministers point out that up to the present the immigration officers have been unablo to meet the demands of country mistresses, who find that domestic servants much prefer tho conditions of city life. It is expected that tho first batch of Belgian women will shortly have England for Australia nndor this arrangement. The announcement of the Victorian Government's action in this regard may be taken to indicate a generous desire to help the afflicted widows of our allies, but the officials' statements made in connection with it seem to suggest that perhaps tho action would not have been taken but for difficulty experienced in getting British women and girls to enter into domestic service in country places here.