AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 14634, 2 August 1911, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

- • __ i-., »■- 1 — s•- ~ . Tho Premier of South Australia told s a deputation that he was in favor of 3 introducing a Daylight Saving .Bill into 1 Parliament. i I Tho Australian Church, in Flinders , street, was offered at auction at Mel- - botync last week. Though there was , a large attendance, including represen- , tatives of several church organisations, - no bids were received. It is probable 1 that the property will be sold privately. j The body of a handcuffed man was - found floating in the bay (Mel--1 bourne). It is believed to bo c that of Adolph Molandor, aged 30 years, b a Swede, who deserted from the Gorf man barque Yole. He was arrested by 1 the Melbourne police and returned to 1 that vessel. In order to prevent Mo- > lander escaping, the captain had him } handcuffed. On June 20 he disappeared, f and it is supposed that ho jumped over- . board. Miss Green, aged 18, daughter of Mr » Bearefov' Green, owner of Lake Cowal '. West Station, while participating in a f fox hunt, was thrown from her horse 1 and her skull was fractured. She died in a few minutes. Deceased was a ; daring horsewoman. The accident . occurred in a very wild place, and the t party had to carry the corpse for five i miles to a motor car. A shocking burning accident occurred at Elmore (Vic.) last week. Hilda Dyer, eight years of age, had been given a bath, and was standing in her flannelette nightdress near tho kitchen lire, when "her garment became ignited. She was soon enveloped in flames, and before assistance could be rendered tho ? child was dreadfully burned about tho ' legs and back. The little sufferer was J taken to Kchuca by train and con- ■ veyed to the local hospital. The child, '■ however, died next afternoon. r —Australian Naval Base.— , Orders have been issued for H.M. • ships Psyche, Pioneer, Pyramus, and I Cambrian to leave Sydney on July 31 for Colombo, for tho purpose of being | recommissioned. The four ships will . proceed via Torres Strait, calling at Thursday Island and Batavia for coal- ' ing operations. H.M. ships Crescent " and Gibraltar will leave England on ; August 10 for Colombo, with the relief ; crews for the four ships, which will be ' rccom missioned about the middle of September, afterwards returning to ' Australia. The flagship Powerful is duo back at Sydney from i'iji on August 2. —Soldiers Collapse.— While the guard of honor paraded for the formal opening of tho Queens- • land Parliament awaited the arrival of I the Governor (Sir William MacGregor) , a sensational incident occurred. One , after another five men of the Moreton ' Regiment, who formed the guard, , dropped to tho ground unconscious. Whether they had fainted, owing to tho \ warmth of the day and of the! scarlet ; tunics and heavy helmets they wore, or ' had been poisoned by tinned food, reL mained an open question. Some fell" forward as if shot. They were picked '. up, and carried off by their comrades . and the ambulance brigade. In all nine 1 men were affected, and some seemed seriously ill. All were lads from 19 to ' 20 years of age. It is said that some ■ of them had paraded at 10 o'clock with- ' out breakfast. Eventually practically ' all of the sufferers rejoined the ranks before the regiment was dismissed. [ —Saved by Telephone.— The residence at Parramatta of Mr George Clarge Soouller, the engineer at the Prospect reservoir, was destroyed by firo early one morning last work. | Mr Scouller, who was the only occti- \ pant, had a miraculous escape. A neighbor saw the house alight, and endeavored to rouse Mr Scouller, but couldn't get near the house owing to tho fire. It was then decided to use the telephone, and the ringing of the hell had tho effect of awakening Mr Scouller, who managed to fight his waythrough the flames. —Convict Attacks a Warder.— A notorious convict named " Ginger" Robs ni ado a violent attack-on Warder Ryan in Pentridgo Gaol, inflicting , severe injuries. Ross, since his arrival in Pentridgo to complete a long sentence, has given the authorities considerable trouble. Some months ago he ■ figured prominently in an attack upon , a negro convict, (King), when a dispute occurred between the two convicts 1 over a bet made in tobacco regarding '. the result of the Johnson and. Jeffries I I light. The visiting Magistrate sen- ' tenced Ross to an additional six. I months' imprisonment with hard labor, and also fined him £l. —Works in New South Wales.— ; The total cost of works in hand. > authorised or immediately contemplated by the New South Wales Department of ' j Public Works, is.estimated at no less • i than £T),500,000. The total amount of I | work actually in hand is over £5,000,000. i , It is doubted whether any construe- • tional body south of the Equator 's :, expending so much money annually. > The biggest items are :— lrrigation and > water conservation. £1,041,954; railway • construction, £1.529,876; Fitzroy Dock, i iron work of all kinds, £808,630; water . supplies. £740,480; buildings (city), £267,636; buildings (suburbs), £362,542. i The three sections of the North Coast > raihvav in hand under contract system [ total in cost £1,627,340. The estimates , j for two sections about to be begun by I ! the department with clay labor total ; |- £661,306. The More.o-Mungindi rail-- ! way, also dav labor work, is estimated! , to cost £285,888. With regard to tram- . I ways construction the department pur- i . I poses to cany out the following works i by dav labor:—Darley road, Randwick, > I to Little Coogee (estimated), £62,913; I Loichhardt to Balmain, £7,250; Mar- : rickville'to Undorcliff (excluding bridge ' i at Marriekville railway station), j £13,915. The above figures indicate a I total of £1,051,272 in day labor works | in railways and tramways alone. j —A Policeman's Error.— 1 I A remarkable case was heard at the I Caulfiold Court, when William Waters, I a young man, was charged with having : no lawful means of support. Constable M Guinness said he saw the accused in 1 Dandenong road acting'in what he considered to be a suspicious manner. Tho accused went into a bicycle shop on the Derby road, and demanded a bicycle, which ho said he had left there. The occupants of the shop said they had no machine of his. Witness then arrested accused, but subsequently found that ■ the accused did have a bicycle at the shop. Mr Lloyd, J.P.: I don't understand this. Do you mean to say that defendant did have a bicycle there:-'— Witness: Yes. Tho accused had been in gaol a week.—Waters said he had been placed in a very awkward position. He had been working for his father, who was very angry, and had practically given him the sack. —Mr Lloyd : It seems pretty hard that a man cannot go into a shop and ask for his own bicycle. There is no case against the accused, and he is discharged. —Mixed Marriages.— The Committee of -Privileges appointed by the New South Wales Methodist Conference have unanimously resolved to offer their indignant protest against the pretensions of the Church of Jlome to determine tho validity of marriages solemnised in accordance with the law. They resent the intrusion of the ecclesiastical discipline of a foreign Church. They regard the promulgation of the Ne Temcre decree as directly conflicting with the law of the land, and inviting to broaches of the law that can only be attended by the gravest domestic unhappiness and social disorder, and consider that it constitutes such a distinct . and serious invasion of the sphere of civil government as to demand that the Government require tho withdrawal of the decree. —Proposed Legislation Outlined.— The Acting Prime Minister (Mr Hughes) said last week that all Bills to be introduced in the coming session of the Federal Parliament would be ready in plenty of time. Several of the measures would be rather lengthy. Tho Bankruptcy Bill jrowkl bo one of the j longest. It wouX4 fa© rstf/r* oujre than

a consolidating measure, because there was a very great deal to be desired in the State of the legislation which .existed at present. The new measure would be on tho lines of the British law. Another Bill of some magnitude would bo one dealing with banking. The measure would- be in tho nature of a consolidating Bill, and it would make a uniform banking law throughout tho whole of the Commonwealth. It would be a separate measure from one dealing with tho Commonwealth Bank, which was also to be brought on in the coming session. An amending Electoral Bill would deal with more than tho postal voting question, but it would contain no new principles. —Prosperous Western Australia.— The Acting Premier of Western Australia (Mr Gregory) attributes the improved state of the finances to the policy of settling people on the soil. Jn, 1903 the State received £1,255,000 from tho Commonwealth, and the amount had previously been reduced until last year it was only £569,000. Despite this the deficit of £312,000 for the year 1908-09 liad been steadily reduced, and the Government were starting the current financial year with a surplus of £13,298. Last year produced a record revenue of £1,858,000, which showed a profit of £622,000 over working expenses. The revenue for lands and harbor dues also showed substantial increases. In the course of an address Mr Gregory said that large quantities of rolling stock were required, and would, with the exception of a few locomotives, all be made in Western Australia. Ho foreshadowed early legislation to substitute a wages board for the present Arbitration Court, 'and empowering tho State to lend money to workers to build homes. Last year Parliament authorised the construction of 600 miles of railways, and tho Railways Advisory Board had since recommended the construction of 100 miles more. —A Fatal Saveloy.— A married woman named Alice Roke (20), who lived at Glebe, Sydney, died in the Prince Alfred Hospital on July lb'. On the previous night she was found in a state of collapse on the ground. She stated that she had eaten a saveloy, and had immediately become ill. She was removed to the hospital, and, becoming delirious, died without regaining her senses. The woman had been a patient in different hospitals recently, and only throe weeks ago had been discharged. —Methylated Spirits as a Beverage.— In the Melbourne District Court last week Mr Dwyer, P.M., gave his decision in the case brought by tho police to test the legality of the sale of methylated spirits on Sunday by chemists. Gertrude Westbury, the wife of a city chemist, was charged with having on April 30, site not being the agent or servant of a person authorised to do so, sold liquor of an intoxicating nature without license authorising such sale, the liquor being methylated spirits. Mr Dwyer said that methylated spirits had apparently become a common beverage, especially on Sundays, and the Court therefore had come to the conclusion that methylated spirits had become a beverage and spirit within the meaning of the Act. A fine of £25, in default two months' imprisonment, was imposed. —Committee for Protection of Tenants.— A committee has been constituted jn Sydney, entitled"the Building and Land Subdivision Committee, Which consists of local government men, builders, and architects. Iks object is tho-better-ment of the housing conditions in the city and suburbs. The committee aim at protecting tho unwary.or unthinking tenant from occupying houses that are insanitary or built on unhealthy sites. They will endeavor to prevent building on" land that has an unhealthy situation, and in this way will aim at the .prevention of disease. The committee also will classify building sites. —Death in a BrawJ.— Patrick "M'Cormack, George White- . man, Walter Ernest Miller, Richard Denis Roche, and William Roche, all residents of Burrangotig, left Young by tho 11.25 p.m. train one clay last week, and on arrival at Burrangong siding some heated words occurred between Richard Roche and Patrick M'Cormack. It is alleged that M'Cormack struck at Denis Roche, and that Wm. Roche and M'Cormack remained behind in the room ; that after the altercation Roche called out to the others ahead to come back, as he had hit "Paddy," and he was dead. The other three came back, and found M'Cormack dead, with blood flowing from n severe cut on the left temple. Wm. Roche was arrested on the charge of wilful rnnrder, and in connection with the affray a blood-stained stone picked up by Sergeant Hanna Roche is alleged to correspond with a wound on the deceased's temple. The arrested man is 18 years of age, and the deceased was 30.