AUSTRALIAN NEWS. COMMONWEALTH.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 4, 5 January 1907, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN NEWS. COMMONWEALTH.

The date for the return of the writs in connection with the Commonwealth elections has been extended from 7th January to 7th February. The Electoral Department recommended this course, in oTder to guard agains-t the possibility of any failure of the electoial machinery' As the Federal Parliament is not obliged to assemble until thirty days from tho return of the writs, the Prime Minister ■was asked if there was any chunco of the meeting of Parliament being postponed until March. Mr. Deakm caid thsre was no sucli chance. Parliament would meet in Fobruaiy, but he could not at present indicate the precise date. The Comptroller-General of Customs has issued the following official decisions under the Commerce Act : — A question has been asked as to what marking must appear on an article of jewellery composed as follows : — Main body of 15ct. gold, Gettings of 18ct. gold or platinum, and pin of 9ct. gold. In cases of this kind the quality of the major portion of the gold would rule the description, i.e., the carat mark- of the principal kind of gold in the article (in the case quoted it is the main body of 15ct. gold) should be marked on it, if the article renders marking at all practicable. Such cases should, however, be dealt with with soine discretion. In Tegard to definitions of food and drink, a new order states that the terms "food" and "drink," as used in Commerce Regulation 5, shall include anything which may be taken by man, whether for nutrition or merely for gratification of palate. The references made by Dr. Riley, Anglican Bishop of Perth, during a sermon in 'St. Andrew's Cathedral, on Christinas Day, to the position of the Australian aborigines (writes the- Sydney Daily Telegraph) touch a Gubject to which it is the custom of a sensitive-nerv-ed civilisation to shut its eyes.. The question is a pathetic and a painful one. And what aggravates these aspects of it is the difficulty of cuggesting any practical remedy for a states of things which the white occupiers of this continent cannot look upon without a f&sling of bootless -Teinorse. The aboriginal remnant is moro considerable than most people imagine. No accurate statistics are obtainable, but the most reliable calculations ,set down the number of Australian blacks still living at not far short of one hundred thousand. The great majority occupy the northern regions, where white settlement is as yet only nominal, and primeval conditions still prevail. These northern aborigines aTe of a higher type than those known to the people of the more populous States, and this very fact complicates the problem which their existence presents to the white Australian. NEW SOUTH WALES. Darbarara and Aralabrad Stations, in the Gundgai district, have been sold to the Scottish and Australian Investment Company. The former went at the rate of £10 per acre, and the latter at £7 per acre. The combined estates total 9000 acres. A tragic accident! happened at the Wyalong Ilospital on Monday, 24th December. Hospital on Monday, 24th December, Christmas Eve festivities were in progiess, and ,Mr. J. Eooke, a wardsman, who lepresentccl Father Christmas, was distributing prizes from the tree, when his false beard and robes caught fire. Before the flames could bo extinguished Mr. Rooke was so badly bnrnod that he succumbed to his injuries in the course of a few hours. The New South Wales Minister for Mines is anxious to give the State the benefits of the Mining Act recently passed as speedily as possible, but the task involved is a heavy one. The Act rccrsts in important details and methods of administration, as well as bringing about distinct changes in policy. All existing lawc have been covered "by the new statute, and it is necessary to f rainc a comprehensive set of regulations which shall interpret the new laws for the full appreciation of practical men. Until those regulations are framed and receive Executive sanction, the Act will romain latent, because in view of Us complicated character it was specially provide*^ * ftat i* should not take effect as a live statute till on a date to be proclaimed. Mr. Moore proposes to appoint a board of experts, through whose hands the regulations will ultimately pass for revision before being presented to the Minister. The work will probably occupy two or three months. The demand of the Glebe Island slaughtermen for higher wages, shorter hours, and less work {says the Sydney Herald of 26th ult.) (-have caused an acute crisis in the meat trade, and there is a very strong probability of a considerable rise in the price of fresh meat, and a possibility that the public will have to subsist for a, few days on tinned meat and corned beef. The deadlock which has been created is a startling instance of how the convenience of half a million people can be set at naught by a body of seven hundred employees, more than half of whom are boys, who hays rejected the conciliatory proposals of their employers, and are determined to have all or nothing. On being informed' of the decision of the Slaughtermen's Union not to resume work to-mor-row unless their demands were acceded to, the Carcase Butchers' Association held a meeting and resolved to make whatever arrangements are possible to meet the difficulty without giving in to tho claims of the men. A motion was passed — "That tho services of outside slaughtermen bo immediately invited." Several members of the association expressed a determination to do them, own slaughtering rather than submit to the arbitrary demands of their employees. VICTORIA. I A man, whose name is supposed to be [ Edward Wareham, fell dead in the Melbourne Opera House during a performance on the 26th December. A lady who was with him stated that he was subject to heart trouble. Mr. Da.vid Gaunson, who lately resigned his seat as representative of the publio officers, and Mr. Henry Weedon, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, have been nominated for tho East Melbourne seat in the Legislative Assembly, rendered vacant by Sir Samuel Gillott's retirement. Mr. Peter Kierce, ; bootmaker, Clifton-hill, has been nominated 'by the Labour Party. The Victorian Minister for Lands (Mr. Mackay) is considering whether he should not insert, in all Crown grants of future alienations, a provision requiring owners for all time to do a certain amount of tree-planting on their boundaries. He is also considering whether the Lands Department should not offer prizes in different districts for the bestpkuited homestead, by giving premiums in money and gold medals. It might, he thinks, be possible to introduce the competitive element, and stimulate the interest of settlers. On Christmas morning a crowd at Prince's Bridge and the congregation leaving St. Paul's, Melbourne, were considerably astonished by the appearance of a very red-faced man, lightly costumed, wheeling a barrqw^uj^ St.. Kilda road A

at top speed, followed by a crowd of cyclists. When he reached the intersection of Flinders-street he stopped, and the crowd of followers cheered him, while he mopped the perspiration from his forehead. The barrow -wheeler was Walter Wright, holder of the barrow-wheel-ing championship. He had just accomplished the task of wheeling a barrow from Sandringham to Melbourne, a distance of ten miles, in lhr. 54£min. The reward was £3, accompanied by a Bide wager of £2. Considerable amusement, and some indignation, has been caused by the action of the Belianne Shire Council, Victoria, which has raised the cry of retrenchment. At the December meeting' the council struck a general rate of Is 3d in the £, this being an increase of 3d The overdraft stands at £1500, and it is necessary that this should ba reduced before any new works are undertaken. Councillors were informed that " retrenchment " must be the watchword, the shire president (Councillor Pacey) remarking that only the most urgent works should be considered during the coming year, Mr. S. Le Cocq, secretary and engineer, having resigned his offices. At the meeting held to accept his resignation an effort was made by a minority of the council to have the salary attached to the office reduced from £225 to £200. This was defeated, as also was the motion for the first-named sum, and amendments fixing the salary at £210 and £215 per annum, the shire president finally moving that the salary bs £224 per annum. This was carried by five votes to four. Thus, after a meeting which lasted over three hours, the council were able to announce to the ratepayers that they had effected a saving of £1 per annum. The Railway Standing Committee has submitted a report to the Legislative Assembly of Victoria on the proposed railway extension from Ultima to near the junction of the Murray and Murrumbidge"e Rivers. The report recommends the construction of a line twenty miles in length towards Eureka via the ' twenty-sbo-mile tank at Waitchie, at a cost not exceeding £44,000, with £450 added for rolling stock. The recommendation is mado on two conditions, — firstly, that Parliament provides that two-thirds of the goods traffic brought to any station on the new line more than ten miles from an existing railway station is to be considered neAV traffic, and the line is to be credited with the net revenue arising from the carriage of that traffic over the existing railways ; secondly, that all lands within the area benefited by the proposed extension, except lands in possession of the Crown, pay for twenty years an annual loading rate which will be sufficient to produce the £1200 a year required to meet the railway deficit, such loading-rate to be on an acreage basis and to vary according to the distance from the nearest railway station or siding. Should the railway, with assistance of the annual contribution of £1200, earn sufficient to pay yearly working and maintenance expenses and also the interest charges, the contribution is to be diminished from lime to time as the Railway Commissioners may deem necessary. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Mr. Pryor, railway stationmaster at Smithfield, South Australia, had a narrow escape on Christmas Day. He was crossing to the other side of the station, behind a train which had just stppped, not knowing that the express was passing through in the opposite direction. At that instant he had just placed one foot on the track, when the Broken Hill express dashed past, and four of his toes were cut off. He was afterwards sent to the Adelaide Hospital. The body of the late Mr. J. Z. Sellar, M.P., was cremated in accordance with his will, at West Terrace Cemetery, South Australia, on tho 22nd December. This is the tenth cremation since the building was erected four years ago, and the crematorium had remained closed for the past 10 months. The first cremation in Adelaide took place in May, 1903, when the Adelaide Crematorium Society carried out the ceremony upon the body of a Sikh, Bishin Singh. At about that time the crematorium became the prpperty of tho Go\crnment. The late Dr. H. M. Shand was the first person cremated under the auspices of the Government officials, and the late Dr. R. T. Wylde was the next. There were two cremations in 1904, only one in 1905, and three within the first six weeks of 1906. The South Australian' Premier has written to the veteran official, Sir Charles Todd, who lately retired, in the following terms: — "I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th November, tendering your resignation of the post of Government Astronomer of this State — an office under Government which you have held for over fifty years. I am deeply sensible of tho eminent service which you have rendered during your long official career as Postmaster-General, Superintendent of Telegraphs, and Government Astronomer, it is permitted to few men to fill such Offices, and to initiate and carry to completion such important public undertakings without a single failure, and always with the approbation and to the satisfaction of the Government." In November the jury in the Civil Court, Adelaide, which investigated what has become known as the Scottish Corps case awarded £350 damages to William Archibald McEwan against Thfemas Hyland Smeaton, M.P., George L. Reed (Acting Commissioner of Police), James Murray, Archie A. Thornton, George Wald, Norman McLeod, and Stanley Shannon. It is now stated that drastic steps have been taken against two of the defendants to recovor the amount of the verdict, and that in one case one of those who was liable under the verdict had proved that he had no estate. It was also stated that the Government had agreed to pay the damages and then recover the amount from the Commonwealth Government ; but tho Treasurer (Hon. A. H. Peake), in reply to a question, asserts that the Government has taken not acrtion whatever in the matter. Tho Franchise Bui was finally laid aside in the Legislative Council of South Australia on 20th December. Representatives of' the two Houses sat in conference for forty minutes, ~ut failed to agree. The Assembly offered to allow a consultative referendum on the Government Bill, but the Council would not accept this and when the report was made to the Council tho President, in accordance with the standing orders, ordered that tho Bill should be laid aside. When questioned after the House rose, the Premier said he was not preppred at that moment to make any definite statement as to what would be done to exercise the rights which the Government held under the Constitution. The whole matter would be thoroughly gone into, and a decision reached at an early date. It is generally understood that the promise previously macte lyy tlxe Government that no election would take place before March will be observed. Members generally said that they were given to understand that a double dissolution would take place, and that the election would be held early in March. Tho last session of the eighteenth Parliament of South Australia, cut short bj^the 'dissolution .(sEtyj_tho.Ob-

server), was remarkable for the fact that no really fresh legislation was enacted, only two Supply Bills, necessary for carrying on government, having become law. A much better record 'has been achieved during the four weeks' session of the nineteenth Parliament. l<or some years the average of new Acts has been twenty-five and although only eleven fresh Acts have been added to the Statute Book, they represent a variety of useful legislation. A definite scheme of electric tramways for Adelaide, and a Factories Bill largely extending the principle of Wage Boards have bcuomc law. The creat'on of trusts for dealing with reclaimed swamp-lands is also a useful measure, and the abolition of compulsory vaccination has been proclaimed for another five years. Other Bills passed were: — Marine Board Amendment, Surplus lievenue, Railways Commissioner's Amendment, Companies Amendment, Constitution Amendment, Crown Lands Amendment, Governor's Deputed Powers, and Appropriation. Tho only Bill actually rejected was the Council Franchise, while two have been temporarily shelved.