AUSTRALIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 May 1943, Page 6

AUSTRALIA

STORMY WEATHER (Recd. >12.20 p.m/sYDNEY, May 18. Gales and torrential rain have caused flooding and heavy damage over a large section of New South Wales. The rain was the heaviest for years, nearly 24 inches falling in some parts. Tremendous seas pounded the coast. It is estimated that sufficient rain fell in the catchment area to supply Sydney with water for at least five dry years. Hundreds of homes were damaged in the city and suburbs. Many roofs were blown off and the rain poured in, ruining furnishings. The flre brigades have been busy pumping out flooded basements in city stores. Thousands of tons of vegetables have been destroyed, but the rain is expected to mean an early increase in milk and butter supplies. TO STOP STRIKES. (Recd. 1.30 p.m.) CANBERRA, May 18. An indication that the full Cabinet will be asked to sanction drastic measures towards industrial stoppages affecting Australia’s war effort, has been given by the Prime Minister (Mr. Curtin). Political correspondents believe that he will ask Cabinet to declare all strikes illegal, and to sanction a call-up of strikers in protected industries. Questioned on the statement, in which he described the interruptions of war work as “treachery,” Mr. Curtin agreed that his choice of this word had special significance. He said: “Maintaining the offensive against the enemy involves stupendous labour, and much detailed planning. Schedules must be maintained if the project is to be carried out. Interruption to any detail can involve complete frustration of the entire project. The men who suffer are the fighting forces, because the full equipment, as planned, may not be available for them, as the result of delays in launching the offensive. The delay in turning a ship around promptly, may cause loss of life, because the ship may miss the convoy and become a target for the lurking enemy.” Mr. Curtin’s reference to wharves and coal mines is considered significant. Unrest on the Sydney waterfront and the serious loss of coal production are immediate factors which have forced the Government to consider disciplinary measures. VENEREAL DISEASE (X.Z I*.A. Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 18. “This is not a matter on which sensitive feelings should be allowed to stand before an evil which, if unchecked, will cause in Australia misery and anguish even 50 years from, to-day.” The above comment was made in the “Sydney Sun” editorial headed “Let us have total war on venereal disease.” The Churches, Press, politicians, and women’s organisations are co-operating with Australian military and civilian health authorities in an all-out d’five to quell war-time immorality, and the disease attendant upon it. This week the Commonwealth Health authorities will meet at Canberra to inaugurate a national campaign. The federal Government allocated £25,000 to initiate a fight, but the amount is generally regarded as totally inadequate for the task. “It is rather kke taking a teaspoon to fight a fire,” says the “Sun.” “Millions have Peen spent in cancer research.” The paper urges that the fight against destructive social diseases is not alone a matter for publicity, education and clinical research, but for stern legislation to ensure that infected persons may be detained and given no chance to transmit the infection.

The Church of England has issued an outspoken pamphlet on this subject, addressed mainly to men and women of the fighting forces. An intensified Army drive against venereal disease has been ordered by Australia’s Army Minister, Mr Ford. Newspapers publish day to day art.cles emphasising its cumulative evils. In all Australian cities, police vice squads are active. They daily arrest infected girls, many of them aged 15 to 18. Some have been even younger. Health and police authorities are urging wider powers enabling the ■.intention of older women who, like younger girls:, have bezn found - in t'ne company of servicemen, but who cannot now be arrested.

Newspapers also emphasise the dangers of Australia’s mounting juvenile crime figures, which the Melbourne “Herald” calls “a war problem of major proportions, demanding immediate study and prompt handling.” The paper says that many girls aged 11 to 15, taken into custody as “neglected children,” have been found “suffering from venereal disease.