AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15498, 27 January 1916, Page 9

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

(Fr.Oil OUR OWN COKBESrONDEKT.) , i SYDNEY, January 19. NO SHARES, NO LAND. Just before his departure for London to tako part in Imperial consultations about tho war, the Prime Minister has given further proof, in striking announcements, of his fiery hatred of anything German and of his determination to remove as far as he possibly can what he terms tbo German canker in this community. He tolls us that all persons of enemy origin must be struck off the share registers •of Australian companies, and that in future no transfers of land will be allowed to be made to such persons. Every company registered in Australia has been officially notified that it must arrange for tho removal of German shareholders l'rom its register within threo months. 'Where no provision is made for doing this under State laws, the necessary authority for the ordered removals is to" be considered to bo given under a special regulation about to be issued under the Commonwealth War Precautions Act. It is intended that the enemy shareholders shall be paid by the companies tho market price of tho shares on the date on which Iho purchase is completed by the companies. In tho absencc of details of this sch'emc of dispossession, ono can only speculate as to the possible consequfnocs to the companies themselves and British-born shareholders from tho sudden forcing of shares on the market, but several of our leading newspapers point out that there is need for care lest in tho present stato of the market results very serious for innocent persons are produced by loss of capital. As regards the prohibition of transfers of land, to Germans, it is 'ntended that this shall npplv not only to private lands but also, with the cooperation of tho State Governments, to Crown lands as well. 'INDUSTRIAL TROUBLES. Tt is gratifying to bo able to report a very substantial abatement of tho remarkable wavo of industrial disputes and strikes which came along with tho beginning of the year. Settlements have been reached of the two extensive strikes of colliery employees iu New South Wales—on the South Coast and Maitland fields respectively—the strike which was holding "up the manufacture of munitions at Newcastle iron and steel works, and the strike of wharf labourers which was seriously interfering with the shipment of "wheat in Victoria. A number of strikes of lesser importance, including that at the State brickworks at Sydney, have also been got over. In most eases work has been resumed ( on assurances that tho complaints of 'the employees will bo dealt with by oithei" the Federal Arbitration Court or local tribunals. However, the strike of miners at Broken Hill continues. It is fortunate that this strike, in insistence upon a demand for a forty-four hours' week for mine employees, is a sectional mic, and that two important labour organisations, those of the carpenters and engineers, have, despite gross abuso from tho .strikers, refused to stop working. At the same time engineers and carpenters aro being denied .access to the mines by the strikers' pickets, and this holding back has, as far a.s tho engineers are concerned, caused the stoppago of the renentlystartcd munitions works at Broken Hill. So far there have not been any notablo acts of violence in connexion with the' strike, but the miners are iu an especially ugly mood on account of the way they have been turned down by unions from which they expected support. 'Yesterday the 'strikers' executive had before it ii telegram in which the President of the Federal Munitions Committee asked whether thg making of munitions would not fcio allowed without prejudice to the matr tors in actual dispute, and pointed out that the stoppago of the making of munitions was benefiting the enemy. Tt was decided to renly that the making of munitions could bo resumed when the mine proprietaries granted tho demand for a forty-four hours' week. LIQUOR LEGISLATION. With support in the form of the earlier closing of hotels on tiio mainland, tho Reform advocates in Tasmania have succeeded iu' securing the enactment of a. new law, under which licensed premises must, close at 10 p.m. The sale and consumption of liquor in clubs is supposed to cease at the same hour, but, despite, the new legislation, this abbreviation of bur business depends mainly on the clubs .themselves, because, under tho Tasmanian law, the police havo no right of cnti*3- in regard to clubs, excepting such as they have in relation to private houses. The outstanding anomaly in connexion with the now early closing legislation is that it has been discovered that .theatre bars arc licensed under an entirely separate law, which has not been repealed. Liquor mav bo sold in theatre bars from half an hour after a performance begins until half an hour after it ends. Naturally, those interested see to "it that there is no breach in tho series of theatrical performances, and that the performances are not too short. It is equally natural that the liquor traders who do not run theatre bars are protesting indignantly against the late-hour monopoly which tho thcatro bars at present find exceedingly profitable. DISORDER. "Since Friday, Melbourne and so vera I of its suburbs havo been made the scene of nightly riotous disturbances of tho same kind as took place repeatedly in Sydney until tho Inspector-ueneral, Major-General McCay, came across and did some plain talkipg. Groups of soldiers, not large in themselves, but reinforced by great numbers of riot-ously-disposed civilians, have indulged in smashing-up attacks on business places kept, by Germans, or supposed Gerinans, and have caused a lot of damage to windows, shop-fronts, etc. In some cases the proprietors of the places attacked are not (Jermans at all, and havo no sympathy whatever with Germans. In the endeavours by the civil and military police to prevent and check such outbreaks, there has been somo severe "scrapping," and a number of tho poHce ariv nursing injuries inflicted with pickets, bottles, and stones. The police do not now hesitate to use their batons vigorously on the worst of tho rioters, and a .goodly proportion of th;> persons arrested by them show signs of the effectiveness of the police as a fighting power. Dozens of oersons havo been arrested in connexion with these outbreaks, although the lenient view of such cases taken by some adjudicating suburban Justices of the Peace is rather an inducement to the police to act on the lines of "take no prisoners." One of the_ most disapDointed men in Melbourne in relation *o these disturbances is the military officer who fills the pretty trying role of Provost-Marshal. At a great attack made on. Saturday night on a merry-go-round establishment at St. Kilda he sought to restore order by a breezy, manly appeal +o the soldiers amongst the rioters. ✓ Bv way of reply, h 6 received violent blows on the head with pieces of wood._ One piece was studded with nails, which tor*» and rashed his scalp. Ho was disabled, and for a time it was feared that his skull had been fractured. It does not. seem of much avail to point out to the nersons who r-nrtieiopte in these riots that practically all the loss caused by tho of windows aii'l shoo-fronts falls, not noon Germans, Australian insurance companies.