AUSTRALIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 October 1945, Page 6

AUSTRALIA

s SYDNEY, October 23.; The threat of a revival .of the Bunnerong power station strike has been averted by the decision of the general manager of the Sydney County Council (Mr. D. J. Nolan) to engage three, men whose employment at the power-house was in dispute. . Earlier it was reported that a hitch had developed in the re-employment of a returned soldier and two other men, and it wa's feared by some union officials that this might precipitate another stoppage of work. Mr. Nolan said that as the men were not on die pay-roll of the County Council they had been overlooked. The three men were engaged for shift work on the day that the recent strike began. 40-houeTweek.

(Rec. 11.50 a.m.) SYDNEY, October 24. The Trade Union movement’s proposed 24 hour strikes to draw attention to its demand for a 40 hour working week are to be postponed until after a mass demonstration in Sydney and other New South Wales centres on Sunday, December 9. This decision was reached by the New South Wales Labour Council Executive at a meeting attended by more than 600 representatives of trade unions. It was decided to support the Australasian Council of Trade Union’s action in urging the Commonwealth Government to legislate for a 40 hour 'week. It requested that action be taken within six months of V.P. clay. PROF. COPLAND’S NEW .POST CANBERRA, October 17. ■ The Acting-Minister for External Affairs, Mr. Makin, announced tonight that the Prices Commissioner, Professor D. B. Copland, had accepted a senior diplomatic post abroad. The post Mr. Makin referred to is understood to be Australian Minister to China. Professor Copland was born in Timaru and is a graduate of Canterbury University College, where he took an M.A. degree in 1915. He has been Dean of the Faculty of Commerce at Melbourne University since 1924. Sir Frederick Eggleston, who was Australian fdinister in China, has been acting for several months as Minister in Washington. It is believed that Professor Copland’s appointment will mean that Sir Frederic Eggleston will be permanently appointed to the Washington post. Professor Copland is Professor of Economics at Melbourne University. He was released in September, 1939, to take up the position of Prices Commissioner. It was announced on September 28 by the Prime Minister, Mr. Chifiey, that he would soon be relinquishing this position. Professor Copland has been praised by both non-Labour and Labour Governments and Ministers for his work as Prices Commissioner. He has twice gone abroad, and his reports to the Government have been the basis for much of . the Government’s post-war plans. FOOD FOR BRITAIN MELBOURNE, October 23. The people of Victoria are giving gratifying support to an appeal by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne (Cr. Ray Connelly) to raise £lOO,OOO by public subscription to buy aha send food to Britain. Cr. Connelly’s aim is to get as much food as possible into Britain by Christmas with transport by all possible means. For instance, the first instalment will leave this week, when lire destroyer Napier which is returning to Britain alter service in the Pacific, will carry 150 tons of tinned foods. AU the food bought as a result of the appeal .will be sent direct to the British Ministry of Food for distribution as a gift to the British people from the people ol Victoria. Cr. Connelly’s idea is now being taken up by other States, in which meetings have ’been called to raise similar funds.

PROSPERITY PKB.iJiA_iruj SYDNEY, October 23. A 10-year period of the greatest prosoerity in Australia s history was predicted by the president of die Rural Bank of New South Wales (Mi. C R. MacKerihan) to-day. Australia, he said, had not “fallen for the cry of post-war credits.” She had conducted her economic controls during the war better than any other comparable country. Bv financing the war with taxation, the flotation of public loans, and the extension of credit, Australia bad kept her economical position within due bounds. During the Great War Australia floated loans amounting to £187.000,000 abroad, followed by another vast .sum to pay for the war. This time she had kept all this internally. , • x • “This is going, io be a big factor m keening Australia on the road to recovery and prosperity,” said Mr. McKerihan. “At the end of the last war the average interest rate was seven per cent. To-day it is 41 per cent.” He said it was the duty of the Government to provide money for all national undertakings, which would mean the broader development of Australia in the immediate post-war period. R.N.Z.A.F.’ BAND b SYDNEY, October 23. The band of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, which will arrive in Sydney to-night, already has raised more than £160,000 for war leans. Described by leading niusic critics as one of the world’s best, the band of 67 performers is touring Australia in support of the fourth victory loan. Its five weeks’ tour of Australia covers 3600 miles, and includes more than 60 performances. WAR BRIDES RETURN ' BRISBANE, October 23. More than 50 disillusioned Australian wives of American servicemen returned to Australia,.yesterday, on the liner “Matsonia.” They included divorcees, widows, and those who were just fed up with Americans. Many complained that they were made to feel like outsiders in America, and all were glad to get back to Australia. All were bitterly critical of conditions in the United States. They said that Americans were not always “like the movies or magazine advertisements.” NAZI SUSPECTS (Rec. 11.80 a.m.) CANBERRA, October 24. The Commonwealth will Conduct a judicial inquiry into the standing of all suspected Nazis who were interned during the war. The inquiry will determine who shall be sent back to Germany, and who, if any, may be permitted to remain in Australia. The Minister of Immigration (Mr. Calwell), said that not one act of sabotage was committed against the Australian war effort by persons who owed allegiance to the King or even by enemy aliens.