AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1335, 12 January 1912, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN NOTES.

THE AUSTRALIAN FLEET. By the end of next financial year (says tho- Melbourne "Age") the Australian lleet unit' will bo complete,.' nnd will com'menco the task of policing Australian waters.- The naval subsidy will erase, the Admiralty will withdraw its squadron from -theso shores, and. the Australian naval station will bo left to Ihe. Australian ships to defend, ft-is anticipated by the Federal. Government, however, that from time to lime British ships from the' China station will visit .■Vitstriilinn waters periodically, and will be placed with the Australian (loot for training. In the discussions between the Admiralty and the Federal Government, it had also been practically agreed that the ileet units from the Australian, C'jina, and Canadian stations shn!.' occasionally rendezvous ut some point m the Pacific for combined training. HISTORIC DWELLING BURNT. • "The Grange"—a very well-known two-s-cry structure situated at the orner of St. Kilda Road and Domain Road, at the southern extremity of Government House ilon;a : i; (Melbourne), and recently converted to the uses of a boardinghouse— was destroyed by fire on January i. "Tho Grange" is a building "with a history that runs interestingly back 35 years. A handsomely-constructed place of 30. rooms, it, was built in 187G by the State Government as the residence of the commandant of the Victorian forces. Ten years later Mr. David M'Kellar bought and occupied the place. •" From him; it passed to' the lato Mr.. B. J. Fink, then on a mortgage to the late Mr. Jas. Robertson, of whoso estate it now forms a part. For many'years Mr. Robertson himself lived in tho place, and Sir.'Thomas-'Bent, when Premier, en-deavoured-to get it as a residence for the State Governor. Tho negotiations boro fruit. Later, the -trustees of the estate applied to tho Government for permission to cut up tho acres on which the building stands into allotments, but that permission 'was refused. -.■-■• The trustees denied the right of the Government to .refuse the permission, but at that the'matter stands. In point of situation tho block is really, part of the Domain. •' -.' The building was insured in the South British Office; but only for a smallamount. The contents were covered by. the Commercial Union. ' ; MR. FISHER'S MOTOR-CAR. The Prime Minister (Mr. Fisher) has gouo to Hobavt to attend the Federal Labour Conference as a delegate for Queensland (says the Sydney '-Daily Telegraph"). . He is accompanied by his ■ secretary, and has also taken with" him the Government chauffeur and the Government motor-car. For a long time tho dignity of Federal Ministers has been impaired, according 'to the expressed opinion of the Prime Minister, by the failure of the Commonwealth Treasury to mako a proper allowance, or, indeed, any allowance at all, to tho Ministers for - travelling expenses while on tour within' the .Commonwealth. It is true that Min-isters-havo large salaries, and had years ago when the question of expense" was raised. The retention of their salary: as member of Parliament, in'addition to their salary as Minister, was intended to recoup them • for travelling expenses. Mr. Fisher announced recently that the .Prime Minister/ when travelling officially, .would draw £i a day for expenses, and. other Ministers, who presumably travel in a less stately fashion, M ss.' a day. It is not to.be supposed, however, that this trifling allowance is intended to cover such items as tho hiring of motorcars, essential to every Ministerial peregrination. Mr. Fisher has left for Hobart as a Labour Conference delegate, not as Prime. Minister. But ho will be able to confer the favour of a run in the Government motor-car upon his less fortunate colleagues in the conference.

< HOBART LABOUR CONFERENCE. A very long and comprehensive agenda paper was drawn up for .consideration nt the Labour conference, which began its sittings in Hobart on Monday last. Tho object of the conference is to frame the. Federal platform of the party, and among the more important of tho sub' jects to be ■ discussed are defence, the tariff, policy of borrowing, constitution alteration, national insurance, initiative in the referendum, navigation laws, railways, the marriage law, national iron works, and public health. Besides the foregoing (says tho Hobart 'Tost"), the conference will deal with proposals for amendments of the Arbitra- ■ tion and Electoral Acts, and for an extonsiou of the scheme of old ago pensionl:. Other-items on the agenda paper relato to wireless telegraphy, deposits ot Parliamentary candidates, provision tor widows and orphans, land tax exemption, sugar bounties, and refineries. ' Altogether 206 propositions from affiliated bodies"have been set down for discussion at tho conference., Queensland has put forward 75 propositions, nescern Australia Gl, New South W«lfs 23, Victoria 22, Tasmania 11, and South Australia a. In view of the numerous questions that have been sot down for.' discussion, tho delegates to the .conference havo a hard week's work bet'oro them. DEATH OF A PIONEER. Tho Wellington correspondent of tho "Sydney MornuC Herald saysr-1 lie death has occurred of Mr.-B. T B. Gadon, who has beena resident of tho Wellington district (N.S.AV;). f°r half a, century, and was one of the pioneers .of-.the lar TVe»t. ■He took un Nalcoinluddie Station, on the Darling, before 1600, and, selling this 'property later, lie purchased Apsely, which included the whole ot the Loombah and Micketvmulga country,..now oiw ot tho -principal wheat-growing centres in tho State. Loombah ho sold to the late Mr. Kobert Bruce, and the otliex portion ot the leasehold was in timo selected and otherwise disposed of.' Tho deceased gentleman, who was 75 years of age, was a brother of Mr. Ciaden, for many years chief inspector of the Bank of .New South "U'ales, and Mrs. T. A. Dibbs. was his si=ter. He was appointed a justice of the .peace in 1801, and has for yoars -been ono of tho licensing magistrates for the district,..ind a member of tho local laud board: Ho was chairman of the Dubbo I'.l'. Board, and the first president of the Macquarie Shire Council. The late Mr. Ciaden. had: many stirring adventures in the back country in the early days. He leaves a widow, who was a member of the T'arnell family associated with the early •history of the Hunter River district, and a grown-up family of one son and four daughters living.

A CARPENTER'S TRIP.; A country carpenter who came to Melbourne for his holidays has left for home a sadder and wiser man (says an exchange). Ho camo to the city with pounds, and returned with pence. -According to the story told by him to the police, his monetary loss was due to robbery. He wove together a coherent tale, one sufficiently convincing to lead Senior (kmstable Byrne to formally depute Constable Shaw, and later on Detective Tognini, to make investigations. It was very early on tho morning of December 31, the carpenter told the police, that ho was going along Little Lonsdale Street, aiid when near Bennett Lane he was attack-; ed by four men, knocked down and rol>bed o-f -S.'3o. Tognini later, on the 31st, took the man to tho spot. "They knocked me into the water there," remarked the carpenter confidently, hut Tognini could <imt no trace of any such misadventure, cither in the .giittcrwny or on his clothes.

uickly concluding that tho story -was a romance, he ouestioned the visitor in man-of-thc-world fashion. Tho detective was soon his eonlidant. Ho elicited from him facts that soon dispelled the robbery theory completely. The carpenter, it proved, was quite indiscriminate a.ud very liberal in his bestowal o£ gifts. Ho made many friends in tho many hotels he visited, and gave pound notes to blind street musicians, who instinctively knew the valuo of them, and returned profuse thanks. Tho itinerant street singer- also camo within the'bounds of his liberality. But the chief items of expenditure, as Tognini learned, wa6 in relation to taxicab rides, for which the visitor showed a great partiality, no told all this frankly to the detective. Tognini added up tho probable expenditure, and brought the total to XIO. In the mrantitiic a man had bfen arrested on suspicion at being implicated in the alleged robbery. Tho'countryman, on rolumnig to the watch-hoitfc, withdrew the charge against him.