AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 127, 30 May 1914, Page 9

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

NOTES AND NEWS (noli OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) SYDNEY, 23rd May. IN THE AIR. The air is full of aviation. ' Various interesting flying performances or intended big flights are recorded daily. On almost any afternoon during the past ten days people in Sydney/ have seen the French aviator, M. Guillaux, soaring over the harbour and the city in a hydro* tteroplano belong to Mr. Lebbeus Hordern, a gentleman with sporting proclivities and ample means, drawn from one of the_ biggest, if not the biggest, retail emporiums south of the line. It was announced yesterday morning that JVI. GuillaitA and Mr. Hordern have made arrangements for a flight by them in the I hydro-aeroplane from Sydney to Mcl- , bourne. To be sure of keeping on the I right track they intend to follow the coast line, and they mean to cover the distance of about six hundred miles be- I tween sunrise tincl sunset, with only two j alightings for the purpose of replenish- j ing fuel tanks. Two other aviators now here, Signor Bianchi, from Italy, and Ml 1 . A. B. Stone, from America, have also made known their intention to fly i between Melbourne and Sydney. It seems almost as if we are going to suddenly/have competition in mail and passenger services by aeroplane between our principal ' cities. After a very long delay, which gave rise to all kinds of sneering comments, our military aviation^ department _ is showing signs of effective animation just at the time of the publication of the full text of the report by General Sir lan Hamilton on Australian defences To show that something substantial has i already' been done in the direction of Australia's mastery of her own air as urged by the Inspector-General of Oversea Forces, official statements are published to the effect that the Defence Department possesses five flying machines ready for use. Two of these are Bristol biplanes, in which the aviation instructors at the Military Aviation School made successful and interesting flights the other day at Melbourne. These flights were pretty long ones, too. There was an amusing incident. An officer who went up on one of thd aeroplanes as a passenger had intended to alight at Queenscliffe fort, \at the entrance to Port Phillip, but finding there was not enough time for a visit, dropped a note of apology in a sandbag' into the fort. THE NEW GOVERNOR-GENERAL. Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson has reached his Australian ■ residence at Melbourne and has duly become GovernorGeneral of Australia on taking the oath ■whereby he pledged himself, in the terms of simple dignity, to "well and truly serve our Sovereign," and to "do all right to all manner oS people after the law and usages of the Commonwealth, without fear or favour, affection or illwill." The welcome given fco him was cordial, and our fifst impressions of him have promptly induced the belief that in Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson we have a Governor-General who will, by reason of his character, endowments, appearance, and manner, make himself liked and respected all round. On seeing him at close, quarters one receives at once a complete impression of manly strength and dignity, allied to high intelligence, decided winsomeneßß, and serene kindliness. Altogether, one is convinced that his appointment is a very acceptable continuation of the happy selections of Gavernora*Geneial ios this important Dominion. COST OF DEFENCE. In connection with defence matters and Sir lan Hamilton's report thereon we seem to be faced with an inevitable heavy increase in taxation that will be very unwelcome. On all sides one hears an increasing ramble of discontent at the rapidly-growing levy made upon taxpayers for the initiation and fulfilment of State and Federal projects. From day to day one hears more of the question, "Haven't we gone in for more than we can afford?" This year the defence expenditure will reach the record figure of £5,746,853, and despite this there will remain unsatisfied countless claims, ■which, if satisfied, would cost "twice as much," to use the words of Sir lan Hamilton. To-day it costs the people of Australia £1 3s 6d per head of the whole population for defence. Apart from construction the naval expenditure this year will be £1,453,166. It was originally estimated that the fleet unit of which we now boast would cost £3,695,000. The actual cost will be £4,262,266. Then there is the'great bill for maintenance. It costs us over £3,300,000 a year to run our army, and the cost is necessarily progressive, for some years at any rate. With Federal Ministers hesitating to give themselves, and Australia a bad advertisement by cutting out money-eating schemes launched with much crowing; with a tremendous increase of expenditure necessary to properly carry out the defence programme which cannot now be dropped ; and with people complaining with increasing bitterness in times of prosperity about heavy taxation, one does not envy the Federal Treasurer his job. SUBMARINES. Yet another defence item. Our first two submarines are due to arrive to-day afc their homo depot at Sydney after their long and venturesome journey from tlie bunders' yards in Great Britain. These submarines, which are officially known as AEI and AE2, were commissioned at Portsmouth on 28th February last. They \ are the only type of war vessel needed | to complete our first naval unit. They are powerful specimens of their class, though since their departure from Great Britain a still larger under-water vessel, a submarine cruiser, has displaced them from the top rank. Each is of 800 tons displacement, and has engines of 1600 hoise-power. The type to which they belong is the latest. With the exception of France no other country has submarines so large and powerful in commission. To avoid disappointment | ii has been made known ivull in advance that tho tmbmaiiiies will' uot bo open io public inspection. Intending visitois •will be rigoiously " shooed " off. This is deemed to be neceh-wv, if only in ' recognition of tho goodwill of tho" Imperial Naval authorities who made available fuv tho benefit of Australia, their own latc«f 'it'crels and methods in connection with the construction and equipment of such crait. FISH FOOD. We know, through the operations of tho Federal Government's trawling vessel, that Lho seas around Australia teefi with edible, fish. Yeb it is only the comparatively well-to-do in our dties along the coa^t who can aJibrd to buy and eat fresh Jish. If it were not for importation of New Zealand blue' cod and other kinds of preserved fish many of the folks in our coastal cities would be unacquainted with fish food to a mo3v ridiculous extent. An announce- ; lufiit of a Socialistic project niudo by ! the Premier of New South Wales to a Trades Hall gathering meets wjth cordial approval even amongst anti-Socialists, ■ who complain fiercely of the Way in which combinations of agents and dealers squeeze fishermen on the one hand and bleed the public on the other. Besides, the cost of living and the striking advance in the prico of meat make it still more desirable now to have supplies at reasonable p/ices' from the illimitable, '

j resources of the sea. Mr. Holman says I the Government intends to establish suitable fish markets which are to bo kept supplied wTth fish secured by Government trawlers. The details of this project have not yet all been worked out, but Mr. Holman states that it is intended to make a start soon. TASMANIAN EXPERIMENT. Because of a plea of peculiar hard-up-ness the State of Tasmania is receiving from the Commonwealth Government a special grant of £900,000 at the rate of £90,000 a year to recoup it for loss of revenue sustained by joining the Federation. The paying over of this money to Tasmania goes very much against the grain with the Federal Treasurer, who i wants to save every pound he can in order to keep down the deficit. One can, therefore, imagine the Federal Treasurer's feelings when he learned a few days ago that the Tasmanian Government., now in the hands of the Labour Party, has resolved to finance the working of the Tasmanian Gold Mine, which the English shareholders had decided to close down because they were losing £3000 a year, and anticipated much greater loss if they continued their expenditure. The decline in the .quality of the ore in the mine, the progressive increase in the cost of working at deeper levels, and the exceedingly high rate ot mining wages in Tasmania, made the shareholders resolve to shut up. The\ also resolved that the reserve fund, buil* up with profits from richer ore won at higher levels, should nob be applied to the purchase of another mine in Tasmania, but to mining operations in some other place where the working expenses were lower. In order to provide continued employment for the workers- (a-nd electors) who were in the service of the company, the Government has resolved to pay £50 weekly for tho rent of the mine and machinery, and to pay for management, fuel, and stores in connection with this unprofitable concern. The men are to work on tribute, and to be paid from the g_o_ld won. It is an interesting and surprising experiment. The shareholders in dozens ot Australian mines would like it to bo repeated. UNION OR UNIONS. As regards the consolidation of Indus* trial unions, referred to in previous writings, matters are moving steadily forward. Ib is the avowed ambition of ' leaders in this combination of organisations to see all the industrial unions pf Australia, joined in one huge union, which will, in times of industrial crisis, be obedient to one executive body, while able af, all other times to operate more effectively against employers and in political ■affairs. A conference which sat in Syd' ney this week has drawn up a scheme for the amalgamation of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union with the already very powerful Australian Workers' Onion. It remains for the members of the Meat Employees' Union to vote on the acceptance or otherwise of the scheme, but the promoter* aro sanguine of accomplishment. Should this amalgamation come about it will mean ' that the Australian Workers' Union can speak of and for a membership of about 100,000. Next Monday Sydney will be the scene of another conference to consider proposals for the linking op of federations ana union* ol employees. Primarily this conference will concern the big unions, which had & committee at Sydney, and controlled the Australian' aspect of the New Zealand strike, but the Federation, when launcheUj is to be open to other unions. Are these preparatione for an industrial Armageddon ?