AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 120, 17 November 1909, Page 11

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

BOXING AXD BETTING. A Queensland Bill dealing with police ofi-snees has for its basis the old Towns Police Acts of New South Wales and the Vagrant Acts of 1851 and 1863. Provision is inserted by which boxing can only be carried on under the auspices of a club or association, whose rules are approved by the Governor in Council, and then only under a permit granted to the club by the police. Power is given to the police to stop an unlawful contest, and arrest tho oiienders. With regard to gaming the Bill contains provisions similar to those enacted in the Southern States. Fan tan, pakapu, twoup, and hazard are declared to be unlawful, and the establishment of lotteries, and the gale of lewspapers containing advertisements in connection therewith is prohibited. The use of any house as a gaming-place is prohibited, the keeping of gaming places, and betting thereat, are also offences punishable severely. Drastic restrictions are r placed upon newspapers publishing ' information in re'"spect to batting on horse races or betting ' odds, and advertisements by tipsters are prohibited. Street-betting is debarred. Special provisions are inserted preventing betting with persons under 21 > years of age. .OLD AGE PENSIONS. According to the latest returns, issued on the Bth inst., by the Federal Commissioner of Pensions, there are now 58,390 l persons in the Commonwealth receiving j old aga pensions, the amount disbursed 1 being at the rate of £1,459,750 per an1 num. ibe particulars of the new claims 1 for ach State are as follows : —

THE DIVINING ROD IN A GOLDFIELD. In connection with the opening of the , new alluvial gold field at Enh'eld, in the 1 Rokewood disn-ict, it is stated (reports a telegram from Ballarat to the Melbourne Age) that the divining rod has been used on the shallow diggings near Enfield, and at least one co-operative party of miners profited by the experiment. This was on Hewitt's claim. The rod, it is stated, indicated thai three lea Is converged into the claim, and on the strength .of its direction the party put down theii' shaft without even safegiiarding themselves by means of a bore. The shaft, as it happened, did not bottom on wash, but the gutter proved to be close at hand. In another case, the use of the rod resulted satisfactorily, and the true believers are lejoiring. The scoffers, on the other hand, assert that the experiments have been mere guessing, and not even good guessing, seeing that they resulted in egregious failures on a score of other occasions. MELBOURNE CUP. The Melbourne .Cup was the subject of a discourse delivered in the Methodist church at Goulburn, New South I Wales, by the Rev. J. H. Lewin, who claimed that horse-racing,' more than' any other amusement, was the devil's opportunity. He said that the Melbourne Cup marked the flood-tinm ofbetting. Almost everybody betted. Shop-girls, who had never seen a racehcrse, and would not know one from ;l mule, discussed the charees o£ horseg., "He impeached the sport because of "its' following. It might be patronised by the highest in the land, but it was to their discredit. Every year an army of shady women emigrated with an army of spielers from this State -to Melbourne. Small betting, dabbling in office sweeps, and church raffles laid the foundation of the gambling habit, which had lured multitudes to crime, suicide, and ruin. 1 GROSS FRAUD AND LYING. { In the Insolvency Court, Adelaide, last week,. Commissioner Russell gave judgment in the case of Robert Johnston,' trading as J, and R. Johnston, importers, of Adelaide.*- Johnston's liabilities to fifty-two creditors amounted to £10,500. " His realisable assets were £2736, and the deficiency was £7700. There were twenty-two creditors for money borrowed, and thirteen were personal loans unsecured. Thirteen charges had been actively prosecuted. Commissioner Russell said the only act ot insolvents which merited approval had been his full admissions of his wrongful conduct to his creditors. He obtained credit for goods, and borrowed money alike from money-lenders and friends, pledged other people's goods, incurred large debts by means of gross fraud and lying. He misappropriated moneys which came to him as trustee of his- father's estate, and obtained iorbearance from trustful business creditors by systematic and shamefully false representations. He had been partiou larly impressed with the systematic frauds perpetrated on Messrs Pfaff, Pinschoff and Co., of Melbourne. His Honour awarded insolvent a second-class certificate, and ordered 18 months* imprisonment, with liard labour. SENSATIONAL BALLOONING. A sensational double balloon ascent took place on the sth inst at Prince Alfred Park, Sydney, where the building exhibition is being held. Captain Penfold and "Professor" Holleway had set themselves thetask I of racing over Sydney in the air. "Professor" Holleway got away first. Rising quickly, his balloon had attained a high altitude when ' Captain Penfold gavo the order to cut loose his balloon, which immediately shot upwards. His balloon, when at 120 ft altitude, seemed to swerve, and Penfold was, pitched out of the trapeze. There .was a shout ■ of horror from the spectators, and everyone expected to see Penfold" dashed to pieces. As the balloon arose, however, it appeared as if the aeronaut had managed to grip one of the ropes supporting the trapeze, and that, he was struggling desperately to get into a safer position. When the balloon had reached about 400 ft Penfold was still seen struggling to get on to the trapeze, and most of the people expected him to fall at any moment. When about 800 ft up Penfold was observed to have got one foot on the trapeze, and a thrill of reliei went through the assemblage as he pulled himself into his original seatingplace. He waved his hand to show he was safe, and he landed by parachute at Surry Hills. Meanwhile, Holleway had disappeared. He also got to earth safely. When Penfold returned to the Exhibition Grounds he said :—"I: — "I had a nasty time. When the balloon was going up I was swinging on the trapezo, but when I said,' 'Let go !' the trapeze bumped some live electric wires, and I was knocked stupid. Forgetting momentarily that I was attached firmly to the trapeze by a wrist strap, I grabbed the wires, and never will I forget the pain. I saw the balloon snap the wires, and then we mounted. For several seconds I was nervous, but the cool air as I rose soon brought me to my senses, and I struggled fiercely to get on to the

trapeze. I became at first so exhausted that I decided to rest a little time ; then realising," when about 800 ft up, that something must be done, I made superhuman efforts, nnd got one foot on the trapeze. After that it was easy." SOLAR OBSERVATORY. It has been decided by the Federal Government that Parliament shall be asked to grant assistance to the oroposed Australian Solar Observatory. The Prime Minister (Mr. Deakin), on the Bth inst., according to the Melbourne Argus, made the following statement : — "To-day the Cabinet considered the question of establishing a Solar Observatory in Australia, recognising the obligation of the Commonwealth to take its part in this great scientific ,work, which is of world-wide interest, and possesses also some special interest in its inferred relation to climatic changes. The Cabinet has approved of a proposal, for submission to Parliament, which will provide for the maintenance of such an observatory situated at a suitable spot in the interior of the continent. "The idea of the Government is to maintain the institution, but the cost of construction and equipmput, if fully adequate to the task of researcn, would probably amount to about £10,000. It is considered probable that one or rurre of the wealthy men of Australia n lght undertake this cost, in order to secure the establishment of such an institution. "The cost of conducting the observatory, it is calculated, will be about £1500 annum for the earliest years, with probably an expanding tJutlay as the work developes. The advice of the best experts of the Mother Country would be sought in connection with the appointment of a capable director. In connection with a possible offer of the constructional cost by a publicspirited citizen, which was mentioned by Mr Deakin, the suggestion has been made that a fitting recognition of such a gift would be to nnme the observatory after the donor. This, however, is a matter wjiieh has not occupied the attention of ministers, and any proposal of the sort would naturally await further developments.

Received Granted Rejected New S. Wales 3937 ksk;2 433 Victoria ... 7628 6801 592 Queensland ... 1431 1077 214 South Australia 5835 3595 385 Western Australia JsiOy 1560 219 Tasmania ... 307S 3636 127 Totals ...24,219 18,191 1970