AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 149, 13 June 1930, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

UNEMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION £1,000,000 SET ABIDE. DEFENCE EXPENDITURE REDUCED. [United Press Association—By CableCopyright.] (Received 13, 9.55 a.m.) Canberra, June 13. The Federal Ministry makes provision for £1,000,000 in the estimates for the next year to aid the State Governments in their efforts to assist unemployed. Mr. Green. Minister for Defence, explained the means whereby expenditure on defence is to be reduced by £500,009. In the army there will bo enforced leave without pay, varying from one to eight weeks for all members drawing £221 a year. The navy will have a reduced personnel of approximately 700 officers and men, while the naval reductions will amount to £326,368. There will be no dismissals from the Air Force. FAMISHED PRISONERS RECAPTURED. [United Press Association—By CableCopyright.) (Received 13, 9.50 a.m.) Melbourne, June 13. Half-famished,' two of the prisoners who escaped from Beechworth gaol on Tuesday have been recaptured. The third man is still at large. When caught the men were still wearing their prison clothes and had had nothing to eat since the time of their escape.

ALIEN INVASION POSITION IN QUEENSLAND. CANE-CUTTING DIFFICULTY. [United Press Association—By CableCopyright.) (Received 12, 0.55 a.m.) Brisbane, June 13. Although 200 Britishers offered for employment as cane-cutters at Goondi Mill not one was engaged. Thirty-two gangs signed on and of the 277 cutters employer over 200 are Italians. The position is tense and the police are watetyng the situation closely. A message from Townsville, Queensland, states that derisive comment has been occasioned by Mr. Forde’s statement concerning the proportion of Italian and British labour in the Northern Queensland sugar fields. Local statistics disclose that the whole of the sugar industry north of Townsville is in the hands of aliens. As an instance of the steady growth of alien population in Northern Queensland, it is stated that in the Ayr district 43 cane farms valued at £1,500,000 have passed from British to Italian control or ownership. The Italians are working on a community basis. Sixty farms in the Tully district which hitherto had been leased to British subjects have also passed into the hands of aliens. IRRITATION IN ITALY. “EGOTISM "OVERSEAS.” ("Times" Cable.; London, June 11. The news from Queensland has naturally caused some irritation in Italy. Writing in the “Popolo d’ltalia” under the heading “Egotism Overseas,” Signor Arnaldo Mussolini, the Duce’s brother, declares: “The agitation against Italian labourers is symptomatic of the attitude of the dominions. Australia is a big country and work in the interior is disliked by Australians. nor will they allow other people to do it. British unemployed do not care to go either to Australia or Canada. They prefer to remain in England and receive the dole. This. is contrary to the old noble traditions of Britain.”

Mr. Forde, acting Minister of Customs, declared that there was no risk of Northern Queensland becoming Italianised, for at least 75 per cent of the mill and field workers were British. Mr. Forde added that there is no danger of the embargo on imported foreign sugar being lifted. The Government’s policy was adequate protection for the local sugar industry, which would enable the white race to settle and develop Northern Queensland. Mr. Forde expressed . the hope that employers would give preference in employment in cane-cutting gangs to Britishers. AUSTRALIAN LOAN THE TEN MILLION ISSUE SIX PER CENT AT PAR. [United Press Association—By CableCopyright.) Canberra, Juno 12. A statement by the loan council relative to the £10,000.000 Australian loan emphasised the impossibility of raising loans for Australia in London at least before next December. Hence the decision to .raise £10,000,000 on the local market. The accounts for the Commonwealth and State Governments for the current financial year disclose a deficit of approximately £9,000 vOO. Loan expenditure, which in the last financial year amounted to £44.000,000, has been cut down to £24,000 000.