AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 87, 12 April 1912, Page 4

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

NEWS AND NOTES. [FBOU OtTB OWN CORRESPONDENT.] SYDNEY, ,6th ,April. AN IMMIGEATION AWAKENING. So scarce is labour in Australia at the present time that many works, Government and private, are held up for want of workers. So long as the State Government was able to get all the labour it required — and what is said of New South Wales in this connection applies also la most of the other States — it was content, and blinked its eyes to ihe requirements of manufacturers and others. ' Now, however, a general awakening i& taking place, and in the case of the mother State a radical change in the immigration system is to be brought about, with a view to overcoming the acute demand for' artisans, farm labourers, and domestic servants. The Government thinks that the selection of workmen itrr whom definite occupations can be found, without displacing local labour)' w.ill be preferable to the nomination system. _ Although nomination will not be dispensed with ill making a selection of immigrants prefernce will be given to men for whom permanent work is guaranteed. The Domination of farm labourers will not be interfered with beyond, insisting upon a rigid examination as to fitness of these offering. In regard to the domestic servant problem, which is at present most acute, mistresses will be asked to pre-pay the passage money of the girls, viz., £6. The girls will come out under agreement, and the money advanced for their passage will afterwards be deducted from their wages. Houses of sufficient dimensions to accommodate the assisted and unassisted immigrants on arrival in Sidney are *o be established forthwith. No restrictions will be placed on the natural tendency of new population to flow into the S,tate, but" no immigrant who has a tendency to reduce the wage standard will be introduced. Mr. Percy Hunter, Director of the Immigration and Tonrist Bureau, is to proceed to London in a few days' time to inaugurate the new system. The Minister for Works (Mr. Griffiths), discussing the subject, said : "At every turn my department is hampered for the want of skilled labour. The iron-bridge construction in connection with the Moree-Mungindi railway is hnng up. Three tramway lines in course of construction in Sydney are at a standstill because the contractor for the supply of points, and crossings cannot get men to do the work. Several months ago the department ordered a number of motor-tractors from the Caldwell-Vale Company at Auburn, and the firm has written to say it is unable to supply them because it cannot get the men to make them. Meanwhile the works for which they are required are retarded. I am not overstating the case in saying that every one of the works now being carried out is delayed and hampered through the want of skilled workmen. Bridge carpenteis are almost unobtainable." In Queensland new regulations in regard to immigration have also just come intojoree, charges for passages being made uniform with other States. In future the rates for nominated immigrants will be :—: — Males, 12 years and upwards, £ % females, 12 years and upwards, £3; children under 12, £1. The maximum age for men, married women, and widows is 45 years, and for single women 35 years. ,2° Jo° immigrants by the Bimutaka all left ior employment in various parts of Queensland immediately on arrival. Evidence taken by the Shortage of Labour Commission in South" Australia showed a great dearth of labour in many branches pi industry, and the same thing applies to practically all the States. THE POLE DISCOVERER. Captain Scott's narrative from the Antarctic places it beyond doubt that CapAmundsen was the first to reach, the bouth Pole— supposing that Scott has succeeded in reaching it, Amundsen planted the Norwegian flag there on 14th December, whereas on 3rd January— which is the date of the last communication received from Captain Scott— the British explorer had yet to cover a distance of 172 statute miles. The Pole discoverer has been lecturing to large audiences in Sydney this week, the Gov-ernor-General, Lord Denman, introducing him on his initial appearance, and Professor David presiding over the'second lecture: As a lecturer, Ajnundsen is not great, but there is something about the man's personality which makes np for his foreign accent, and the pictures that are thrown on the screen— some of them showing -the members of the Japanese expedition climbing the Antarctic barrier— are extremely interesting. The Norwegian appeals to be in the gink of health; life in the Antarctic regions does not seem to have.incommoded him to any great degree. Among the interesting things he has to tell us of is the existence of a "polar calm," about 260 miles in diameter near the Pole itself. The existence of this .calm spot, which hae often been predicted on theoretical grounds by meteorologists, but neve* before 'proyed,\-indicates that here the wind is blowing "straight downwards, instead of horizontally. For the last eight days of his journey Captain Amundsen experienced clear and sunny weather, and he considers this is the general rule in the vicinity of the Pole. Commenting on the work done by the two graduates of Sydney University, Messsrs. Griffith Taylor and Frank Debenham, geologibts, Professor David says that the existence of. a great coalbearing area pi" economic value has been proved. "In fact," "he say*, "it is not at all unlikely that this Antarctic coalfield is the largest unworked coalfield in the -world. A large area of it in still covered under a thick casing of ice, s-> that accede to this portion would at present be costly and difficult, but a large strip of the coal measures, some 50 miles wide and 1000 miles long, is nearly free from ice and snow, and the coal would be readily accessible by tunnelling. Probably it comes nearest to the tea, or at all events the coal-bearing formation does, at Mount Nausen, towards the north end oi these Antarctic Andes. The outcrop of the measures there would be perhaps 20 miles distant inland from the sea coafat at the nearest point.'' 20,000 CADETS MISSING. Somewhere in Australia there are 20,000 Cadets who cannot be > found, and the Deferice Department is at a loss to account for it. "Despite the keen attempt* -by- the -military- authorities to solve the mystery of the decrease of 20,000 registrations of Cadets who wure born in 1898, as compared -with the average of the registrations of lads born in the preceding four years," says a message from Melbourne, " the huge discrepancy has not been accounted for." In reply to questions, the Acting-Min-ister for Defence (Mr. Roberto) said that an effort would be made to provide for a more effective registration than had been accomplished in January. The fact stared them in the face that, whereas they had expected the lads born in 1898 would be registered iv January to the number of 37,000, approximately only 17,000 had been registered in that month. No part of Australia can boast that it is more amenable to registration than another, for the 50 per cent, decrease is general throughout the Commonwealth. Although approximately 50,000 males were -born in 1898, ihe registration, as stated, has onlj amounted to 17,000, so thai, there is a

screw loose somewhere. The missing 20,000 Cadets are not spooks ay ghosts, as has been suggested by certain critics of the department. They are bomewhere in Australia and well distributed throughout the bettled portions. Acoess.to the census papers might solve the difficulty, but tlip Minister for Home AJTaire (Mr. O'Malley) steadfastly docline* to place the ceusu.s papers at the disposal of the Defence Department, on the gronnd that the census papers are private and confidential and that faith .must be kept with the public. Meantime test Court cases hea-rd in Sydney and elsewhere have resulted in a deritsion that compulsory drill is not enforceable under the Act until ihe end of the financial year in June next, so that^ there may be a considerable falling off for a few months in the number of Cadets who turn uo for drill purposes. The muster of nearly 20.000 Cadete, who were reviewed by the Governor-General on Saturday last, was something of a revelation to the people of Sydney, and showed what a fine fighting force we shall have in a few years.