AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24, 30 January 1911, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

DOCK FOR NEWCASTLE. It was announced in Sydney recently that the- New South Wales Minister for Works had expressed himself in favour ot the construction of a dock at Newcastle, but he had pointed out that before the work could be proceeded with legislation would be neceesary. Mr Griffith stated last week that he had not yet decided whether the original proposal of a graving dock should be c ? m ?°- ,° vt > or whether a floating d< ck should bo constructed. In any case, the matter would have to come before tha Cabinet for final determination. It may be mentioned that in 1903 tha Public Works Committee reported in favour of the construction of a graving dock at Aewcaette at a cost of £190,000. A careful consideration of the evidence in the. enquiry, and the information gathei ed during visits of inspection led the committee to the conclusion that the proposed dock should be constructed. Ihey recommended that the site should be at the southern end of the dyke, Carnngton. ! i TO PAY OLD DEBTS. The Minister for Home Affairs has discovered a new way to pay old debts, remarks the Sydney Daily Telegraph. One of the questions which is to engage the attention of the visiting State Premiers relates to the arrangements for finally dealing with transferred properties. The amount involved has already been de te-rmined at £9,648,449. Mr.' O'Mdlisy expressed the opinion tost week that the States should agree to accept as part payment for these properties the £6,059,000 which, under the Braddon. section of the Constitution, was paid to them in excess of three-fourths of the Customs and excise revenue. He calls this "a very equitable means" of setling the question. The balance of over £3,500.000 might, he thinks, be met by the Commonwealth redeeming that amount of loan obligations. ABMY REMOUNTS. Authority was given to the Federal Minister for Defence in the last Federal session for special purchases of horses to be made i'or field artillery in place of the contract system which now prevails. The department has been making preliminary investigations through the State Commandants and also through a special board which was appointed to report on the feasibility of the scheme. Sufficient information has now been obtained to enable the department to purchase all the horses which are likely to be required. Colonel Wallace, the Chief of Ordnance, has bsen directed to inaugurate the system. He will be directly responsible for the purchase oi" the necessary horses, and he has been directed to use such expedition as will enable the Easter camps to be supplied. It is estimated that New South Wales will require 423 horses, Victoria 364, Queensland 174, South Australia 99, \Vest Australia 75, and- Tasmania xoO. This means that in the course of the next two or three months no fewer than 1285 horses will have to be purchased and trained for the work of field artillery. Lieutenant-Colonel C 4. Lee, of New South Wales, and Captain W. Robertson, of Tasmania, have been detailed to assist Colonel Wallace in carrying out tht> scheme. The idea which the Minister has in view is that in each State members of the permanent field battery shall be the caretakers and trainers of the horses. As, however, provision has been made on the Estimates for a permanent field battery for New South Wales and Victoria only, th& work of training and preparing the horses in the, other States will be let by contract. /Tenders are to be invitpd" immediately. Contractors will have to provide their own material for breaking in the animals. Instructions nave been issued to commandants to arrange i'or depots. The department has already some land in New South Woles, but it may be found necessary to acquire more. Orders i'or whatever additional harness is required have already been given. "AN INTOLERABLE NUISANCE." The Lord Mayor of Melbourne stated a few days ago that he had taken action to have the streets cleared of all people begging, whether they were blind or could ccc, whether halt or could -walk. Under the present laws, he added, ©very man and woman could obtain a pension from the Federal Government, and it • would apply to the majority of mendicants on the streets of Melbourne. Mendicants were an intolerable nuisance. ASSOCIATED AMATEUR BODIES. The New South Wales Rugby Football Unions, the Australian Rives Football League, the Soccer Association, the City and Suburban Football Union, and the New South Wales Hockey Association have combined under the heading of the Associated Amateui Bodies, with Mr. W. W. Hill as secretary. The union has been brought into being to arrange the allocation of grounds for the exhibition of the various winter games. Under the old •system, the bodies who have now combined tendered individually for the various grounds available. They will in future no longer " cut ono another's throats," but will combine for their own protection against the common enemy — the Rugby Football League. So far as can be gathered now, neither side will have a corner in grounds, the probabilities being that matters will be much the same as they were last year. OUSTING THE PAPUANS. The Secretary of the Federal Department for External Affairs. Mr. Atleo Hunt, was askeu what reasons had actuated the department in precluding em--ployment to Papuans in the pearl shelling industry. Ho replied that one reason was that the Papuans were wanted for plantation and other development work in the territory itself. Another reason which impressed itself very much was that it was one of the objects of the Government to keep intoxicating drink away from the Papuans by every possible means. It had been found that natives of the Western Division who were employed as crews on pearling vessels under the charge oi Japanese divers, were supplied with drink 6,n board. Large numbers of these natives had obtained drink at Thursday Island, and carried it back with them. Whan they returned to tne territory they desired to get more. It was, therefore, best to remove them from possible tomptation in this direction, and the Minister decided upon the course which the pearl shellers nave been notified of. ISLANDS OF HYACINTH. A recent fresh in the Clarence River gave some idea of the vast increase of the spread of the hyacinth on the Upper Clarence. Huge masses of the- plant were freed by the rising waters, ana carried down stream, accumulating against wharves, and lining thb banks right along the frontages. They were ft menace to navigation and the running of the ferry steamers, aaid the various punts were hindered by the large volume of hyacinths which drifted with the, current. The punts were obliged to cease running at an early stage of the freshet, and after it had "subsided considerable difficulty was experienced clearing the accumulation of the weed from the guide ropes, round which It clung with wonderful tenacity. One of the ropes of the Hanvood ferry parted by nu&on of the strain put upon it by the tons of rubbish washed against it. The hyacinth problem is fast becoming a serious one, and if this difficulty is encountered in so largo a uvgr as the

Clarence, what must bo the result in the smaller rivers on the coast.? A few years ago the upper river was free from the pest, but the .fresh ...has shown that vast sla-etchos of the river and tributaries have been covered with the pest, and viewing the quantity that was sent seawards past Grafton tor a couple of Jays no one could have, believed without that evidence that the hyacinths had made such progress in co short a time. While the flood cleared to a large extent the growth from the oreeTcs anc* tributaries on the upper river, it had an opposite effect below tidal influence. The creeks on the Lower Clarence back up with a flood, and did so in this instance, with the result that floating islands of hyacinths were diverted from their seaward course and carried up these" tributaries, providing a setting for further trouble, and disseminating the weed over watercourses that were previously free.