AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 14037, 19 April 1909, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The information gathered by Mr A*. Hunt, secretary to the Department of Externa] Affairs, on his recent visit to West Australia, supports the view that there is a continuous evasion of the immigration restriction laws in that State, ■ as in other parts of Australia. The principal object of Mr Hunt's visit was to inquire into this matter, and he has returned'with the conviction that' in addition to the occasional' batches of stowaways, some of whom are discovered on board steamers trading from the East, there has been for sometime a fairly constant influx of Chinese Into West Australia by north-western coastal avenues. It has been ascertained that most of the illicit traffic in immigrants is carried on by way of Singapore, and the men are landed at ports which are not protected by sufficient Customs staffs to cope with this evil. Mr Hunt has also found, however, that the prominence, which has recently been given to the matter by the Minister of External Affairs (Mr Bat chelor), as well as bv others, has re* suited in an increased vigilance on the part of the officers administering the law. Mr Gregory, chief of the General Post Office, Sydney, at the sitting of the Postal Commission, gave startling evidence with regard to the labor conditions in the service. H< said that since federation the revenue had increased 41 per" cent., while the salaries showed a decreasing percentage of the revenue. The department hac attempted to economise by starvingtha services, and at the expense of human effort. The revenue was increasing buf of all proportion to the expenditure There had been top much overtime Often lie, the sub-accountant, and men bers of the staff had. to workmen Sue days. It was a rare thing for Mr Gre gory to get off on Sundays. Then again, no overtime was paid when the men worked from five to seven o'clock. Sunday was not regarded as overtime unless specially ordered from headquarters. But often in the early days Defederation'special wires would be received on the Saturday asking for important information by the Monday. Sunday work was :ijien essential. Since June, 1908, no overtime had been paid. They were never certain that they ] would be paid. It was a rude shock to '■ the men when £513 was paid.te- the accountants' branch for overtime worked from 1905 to 1908. Mr Webster . asked if this was not a preposterous condition on which to get the labor of employees. Early on Saturday morning (reports . a Melbourne telegram dated 4th inst.) great excitement was occasioned at the Victorian Homes for Aged at Royal Park by the vagaries of an inmate, Robert Talbot, aged seventy, who escaped from the hospitnl quarters on the first floor of the buildings at about 2 a.m. Talbot, who had been nearly all his life a seaman, stole out of bed, and, creeping through the window," climbed up the spouting on to the roof.. A succession of hideous yells first attracted the attention olf'tbe warders, and on proceeding to ascertain the cn.use they saw Talbot, clothed only in his nightshirt, running about the Voof as if he were being chased by some wild animal. The man ran over the tiles of gabled roofs and along parapets with remarkable agility, every few moments letting forth an unearthly scream, and fears were entertained that he would fall to the ground, s distance of some forty feet. No one but a dexterous climber would attempt to descend there, and the wonder ii that he got down safely. Very shortlj afterwards the old man was found in an adjoining paddock in an exhausted state,*and shivering from cold. Shortly before Talbot had been taken ' ill with influenza, and he was only in the hospital for a few hours before losing his senses. When he was subsequently brought before the Carlton Court, Dr Ostermeyer testified that he was suf- v •fering from delusions. A sad story was told to the Ballarat City Bench a fortnight ago by Mrs Grandlaw, a recent arrival from West Australia. She came before the Court in connection with an application that her four children should" be committed to the Neglected Children's Department.- not to have them boarded out to her, but to hide them from their father, who, she believed, was looking for them to murder them and her. The woman told the Court that the fathei had resided at one of the goldfioldf townships of West Australia, and hac behaved in a manner that had terrifiec her. Once he had ill-treated her. When she took refuge in a neighbor's house he watched the place for davs with a gun, until,at last the police arrested him. He was fined, and bound over to keep the peace, but so terrified was she that the townsneonle subscriber! enough money to send them all to Victoria. Now her husband had found out where they were, and, she was afraid that he might follow them over and murder them all. The Bench instructed the police to see what could be done in the matter.