AUSTRALIAN AFFAIRS

Evening Star, Issue 15892, 26 August 1915, Page 1

AUSTRALIAN AFFAIRS

HOTEL HOURS. Preeg Awociation—By Telegraph—Copyright. . ADELAIDE, August 26. (Received August 26, at 9.5 a.m.) In the Legislative Assembly the Bill giving effect to the six o’clock closing' of hotels passed its second reading. SHOOTING FATALITY. SYDNEY, August 26. (Received August 26, at 8.30 a.m.) A shooting tragedy is reported from Gosford. Two brothers, Frederick and Bert Ruff, went out wallaby shooting. They separated, and Bert saw what he thought was a wallaby moving in the thick underbush. ■ He fired, and was horrified to discover that he had shot and killed his brother. COMMONWEALTH POST OFFICE.. RED TAPE RAMPANT. MELBOURNE, August 25; Mr Robert M. Anderson will present his report on his inquiry into the PostmasterGeneral’s department on Saturday. Criticising some of the methods, he says: “The most circumlocutory method is the one that seems to be usually employed, and the cost is enormous.” He instances cases in which officers in adjoining rooms write long letters to one another, and even then do not hold "direct communication, but only through the deputy postmaster. A file relative to a dispute between telephonists passed .through the records,2o3 times. It comprised 539 pages of matter. Correspondence regarding repairs to a telephone line went into 488 pages, and passed through the records 56 times. Mr Anderson says: “This all seems wrong. The Postal Department’s want is what is known as business, management.” He suggests, amongst many other sweeping remedies, the appointment of a general manager »with wide powers. To make up a deficiency of £501,000 he advocates increased telegraph and telephone rates, a reduction of the commission on the sale of stamps, and an increase in bulk postage of newspapers. TELEPHONISTS STRIKE. SYDNEY, August 26. (Received August 26, at 8.30 a.m.) A mass meeting of the New South Wales Union passed a resolution to strike, as a result of Mr Spence’s (Commonwealth Postmaster-General) refusal to increase their wages and compensate men on night work. The carrying out of this resolution has been left in the hands, of the union’s executive. STATE BRICKWORKS. SYDNEY, August 25. (Received August 26, at 9.5 a.m.) The State brickworks show a profit for the year of £7,579. MENINGITIS. MELBOURNE, August 25. Five more deaths have occurred from cerebro-spinal meningitis. - Red feathers arc ««<•<? a v-■-•■/•n'-e for coin by spine of the. South Sea Islanders. The present Duke of Norfolk is the fifteenth to bear that title. He is premier duke of England.