AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 169, 5 April 1923, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

LATEST BY THE MAIL

The Labour controversy in New South Wales having simmered down pending a meeting of the Federal Executive on April 11, the most absorbing topic of discussion, according to the Australian mails'which arrived yesterday, is the present stalemate in the coal situation as the result of the award of the Coal Tribunal, which seems to have pleased nobody. There is an important forecast of the Federal Government’s intentions in regard to the defence of Australia. The Federal Government is also considering a new policy for ■ the settlement of the Northeim Territory. There are reports of plans for speeding up the Anglo-Australian mail sei vices. Sir Alfred Pickford, Deputy-Chief of the Boy Scout movement, has arrived with proposals for identifying the movement with Imperial migration schemes. The schools of New South Wales are stated to be in a deplorable condition. (From the “Sydney Morning Herald.”) -Sydney, March 31. .

THE COAL DEADLOCK . - Award of the Tribunal. l_ There are to be no reductions in the wages of the coalminers. , Mr. Hibble (chairman of the Coal Tribunal), in delivering his award, rejected the claim of the owners for a .eduction in the wages generally by 33 1-3 per cent. The chairman said -hat he could not. on the facts, award any reduction to the minimum wage hands. Ho declined to interfere with tho present pay of the remaining offhand employees. Ho further decided that the employers’ case for the reduction of the rates for all classifications of employees should not at vi esent be granted. Mr. Kibble’s award has been received with the greatest surprise by members of the State Cabinet and Parliamentarians generally. In view of the fact that the present rnc.e of coal (21s. 9d. per ton) is one of tho main factors in th® existing ■ur.employment and the high railway fares and freights. Ministers were hopeful that the decision would have resulted in a reduction. The fact that the cost of living had decreased during the past two years by 7s. per week was expected to have had some weight with Mr. Hibble in arriving at his decision, as was also the fact that the last award took into full consideration the question of intermittency of work. Whether tho State has power to interrene, and, if it has, whether it would be advisable to exercise it, are matters that will ■ have to be considered by Ministers. . “The recent award of the Coal Tribunal has done nothing to allay the troubles of the Now South AA ales coal industry in any particular,” says the “Sydney Morning Herald” editorially. “The public which pays the cost of an inquiry that extended over many months will go on paying heavily in every direction for the high present cost of coal. The colliery proprietors are in an entrenched position fiom which they will not budge-; until coalgetting labour costs come down there 1 can, they say, be no reduction in price to the consuming public. The miners, whose representatives (it is whispered) were quite prepared to hear tho tribunal decree a slight reduction in wages, are as they were. . . . The immediate policy is, all too clearly, to refrain from discouraging —to usg a mild expression—the men from treating the industry as their plaything, in so far as they break agreements and leave work on masse on the smallest pretext; and, over and above that, to agitate for shorter hours and higher pay in order to swell the numers of the union 10 the itmost, regardless of what numbers of workers tho mines can support. With the demand for coal restricted by false economic price conditions as it is today, there are evidently too many miners demanding that the industry shall support them. We believe the miners have some ground for dissatisfaction with the pooling system as conducted by the proprietors as sellers of coal; the present conditions permit the proprietors to ask almost any price they like for the commodity. The Coa] Tribunal has been a farce, in that, however righteous its intentions may have been, it has brought no peace to the industry. If the parties to the industry cannot compose tfieir strife, the tribunal may as well bo abolished. In any case, it endures to remind us of the interference of the Federal Administration in a purely State matter.” Constant stonnages at collieries on the Northern fields have brought about a shortage of coal cargoes at Newcastle. ’ Shippers have experienced great difficulty in securing adequate cargoes during the past few weeks, and owing to tho lack of coal a number of steamers have been laid up until matters improve. . Replying to a miners’ deputation, toe Federal Prime Minister (Mr. Bruce) said: . ' “The coal industry is, of course, tho key to the whole industrial position. The price of coal is undoubtedly high. I am not going to discuss who is to blame for that fact, but it is a very serious thing for Australia to have to ■pay so much for coal. I suggest to you that the coal trade is in a verv unsatisfactory position to-day,. There are far too many, stoppages in the industry and many other things are undesirable. Tho Coal Tribunal, which ■was created by sanction, has given an award recently, and that award must bo obeyed. It is a properly constituted tribunal, and its decisions are part of the law of the land. If the industry goes on as it is at present the. Government will have to consider whether it will continue to let the industry have a tribunal, while at the same time tho sort of thing that is now going on continues.” Mr. Bruce continued that tho great difficulty was that tho export trade was to a certain extent disappearing. He could not accept the statement that, the Ministry was responsible for that position, but whoever was responsible the problem was to ascertain whether it could be got back again. An ominous feature was the fact that nearly every State was making frantic efforts to make itself independent of the Nev' South Wales coal. He urged upon them the view that it was vital to the interests of the miners that the fields should run smoothly so that the coal trade might be in a stable position and give other industries an opportunity to thrive and prosper. Statistics regarding the lost working days in the northern district were interesting. The> figures were: —1919. 320 days lost, £183,960 wages lost ; 1920, 476 davs, 4- to 3 - 000: 1921, 1045 days, £465,600; 1922, 1187 days, £701,000. “This thing has gone too far.” he declared. In 1912 there were 12,915 men engaged in the Industry, and the average output per man was 535 tons. In 1922 there weie 15 200 men engaged, and tho average output waa 407 tons. [Those figures

are startling, and both sides in the industry must realise that the industry should be made to run smoothly.” THE LABOUR SPLIT A Truce Till April 11. A meeting of the Federal Labour Executive has been convened for April 11. In the meantime “all parties have been requested to stay their hands regarding further expulsions or publicity until a decision is reached regarding the request for the Federal Executive’s intervention.” It is held in certain quarters that whatever happens, Mr. McGirr will not be allowed, to continue as leader of the party in New South Wales. NAVAL DEFENCE Submarines May be Reinstated It is probable that this year efforts will be made to reinstate the submarine flotilla in its place in the Australian Navy. The authorities intend to establish factories for -the manufacture of munitions and maintain them on at least a nucleus basis. Many of the guns guarding the harbours are regarded as obsolete and will be replaced. It is proposed to establish a seaplane squadron, to be based probably at Rushcutter Bay. The Henderson naval base scheme is now regarded as obsolete. When the Estimates were discussed last year and the year before, the proposed expenditure was grouped Holder one or two main headings. This year it is possible that members will bo called upon to vote directly for or against certain of the proporals. For instance, when the Estimates were framed a certain sum of rccney was allotted for the Australian Navy, and members of the Navy Beard had to decide what best they cccld do without. They chose to scrap the submarine flotilla, consisting of six “J” class submarines, which have been paid off and placed in permanent reserve. ' It was sa question of the submarines or the cruisers disappearing, and the loss of the submarines seemed to be tho lesser evil. No further work will he done in the building of naval bases in Australia, until after the Imperial Conference Jia o considered Empire defence problems. It is expected that the Commonwealth will be asked to make a' contribution towards tho upkeep of a large base at Singapore, rather than that an important base should be established in Australia, the Henderson scheme being regarded as obsolete. Much deeper water is needed now an when tho proposals were framed. There is not likely to lie ary increase in civilian training during the next financial year. Universal training w’ill be confined, as at present, to the more populous centres, and to certain ouotas only. Dealing in a speech with the question of Australian defence, Mr. Bruce, the Prime Minister, said that it was one of paramount importance. It was useless to talk of wonderful Utopian schemes for bringing about individual happiness and comfort if they were not taking steps to ensure that they were going to hold their country and keep it for themselves- The future might contain some ultimate solution which would enable them to take no thought of their individual national defence The League of Nations might grow to such I power that none of them need trouble about their own security; but they had not reached that point, and until they did it was due to .them that they Should provide for their national security. It was not the soldier who liked big armaments. It was the man who had been away and who had seen the world who realised what Australia’s danger was. Australia’s national safety should be safeguarded. so long as the necessity for safeguarding it remained.

SETTLING THE NORTH ■ New Policy for the Territory. The Federal Cabinet has spent much time in consideration of proposals to develop the Northern Territory. Tho Minister for Homo and Territories (Senator Pearce) has now given out a summary of the new policy. In considering the general position, the Government, said Senator Pearce, proposed to give effect to a developmental policy which would include improved communications by means of roads, railways, telegraphs, etc., the provision of adequate water supplies on stoc.< routes, tho subsidising of a coastal shipping service, and the improvement of tho wharf at Darwin for the purpose of shipping- live cattle. The proposals were placed before the Northern Territory pastoralists, whtbh involved the surrender by them to tho Government of certain portions of their holdings, and the pastoralists have taken the matter up with enthusiasm and formed an association. Tho proposals have boon exhaustively dealt with by the Minister in conference with the pastoralists’ representatives, and generally have been unanimously adopted by them. The proposals have also been approved by the Government, and will be embodied in a consolidated lands ordinance, tho preparation of which is to be proceeded with without delay.

ENGLISH MAILS ' A Faster Service. Although larger and faster liners are under construction for the carriage of mails between England und Australia, with a view to reducing the time of transit, proposals for accelerating the service by another means have been ■ f

evolved in London. The acceleration of Australian mail services is a matter to which considerable attention has been given of late by tho London Chamber of Commerce, and extensive inquiries have been undertaken into the conduct of the services. The most gnportant finding was the saving of time that could be secured by despatching mails across the Continent of Europe to and from ports on tho south of Italy instead of the south of France, as at present. It is estimated that the time occupied for transit of the mails between London a pel Port Said could be reduced from 156 hours, as at present, to 115 hours. In order to gain 24 hours on the passage between Suez and Colombo, an increased speed of 1.6 knots would be required, and on the passage between Colombo and Fremantle an increase of 1.7 knots per hour would be needed. Although it might be possible in this , way tp reduce the time of passage by iwo days, or by practically the same time as is now expended by sending mails via the South of France instead of via the South of Italy, the cost would be’ vastly greater than that at which a similar gain could be secured by altering the overland route on the Continent. The building of ships specially to give extra speed involves a considerable delay, while the saving on the Continent could be effected immediately. Were both the economies introduced a saving of almost four days could be effected. BOY SCOUTS AS IMMIGRANTS Sir Alfred Pickford in Sydney. “The object of my visit to Australia,” said Sir Alfred D. Pickford on arrival in Sydney, “is to inspect the Boy Scouts of Australia, to invoke public aid in support of the movement, and to study the possibilitieis of migration of .Boy Scouts from Great Britain to Australia.” Sir Alfred Pickford said it was the original intention that this inspection should be made by the Chief Scout, Sir Robert Baden Powell, but he had to go to Canada at the same time, and so he came as deputy for the Chief Scout. The Lord Mayor of Sydney at a civic reception in the Town Hall said he hoped that the Deputy Chief Scout when in New South Wales would receive support and encouragement to bring or send members of the Boy Scout movement, as they were the class of new citizens that were most urgently needed to people this country. “We want,” the Lord Mayor repeated with emphasis, “the migration of the young people of our own race, so that Australia may remain the most British area of the Commonwealth of British nations.” (Applause.)

DEPLORABLE CONDITIONS IN SCHOOLS Minister’s Discoveries. The New South Wales Minister for Education (Mr. Bruntnell) in a recent speech said that while the Department was suing parents for failing to send their children to .the primary schools there were 1030 class rooms short. li> addition, thousands were being taught in corridors, sheds, and infested buildings that were a disgrace to civilisation and a menace to health. A sub-com-mittee had been apponited to investigate the whole position. He had insisted on a loan of £500,000, the money tp.be spent during the present financial year on the worst cases. Conditions in some schools (continued Air. Bruntnell) were appalling. One at Bondi, built for 865 children, had 2300 crammed in it. At the Giris’ High School at Kogarah the ceiling was falling in. The floor was nearly gone, and the rats jumped through the crevices on to the books of the girls while they were at their studies. Wherever he went he found an accumulation of the most disgraceful conditions he had ever seen, s and had made up his mind to put the primary schools in proper condition at" once, as they were the basis of the whole educational structure. He had been advised to cut out the kindergarten, and so save £96,000 a year. This would have been a crime/ and he refused to do it.