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A SYDNEY LETTER.

THE NEW INFLUENZA. [From Our Correspondent.] August 24. Whence the now influenza microbe arrived perbnps matters little. The really important, points about the animal aro that it is exceptionally able-bodied and has lately been ravaging Sydney with a thoroughness that is frightful. There are theories that tho stranger has been brought to us from Egypt. A medical friend explained to mo' tho other day that it is a cross between the old-time microbe of la grippe and tho later organism, which morolv gave us colds in the head. Then "ho went happily away from a stricken household to sco several prostrated neighbours- He may bo right, but the writer can assure readers of the “ Lyttelton Times” that; if iho creature reaches Now Zealand any of them who become its hosts will be less interested in pedigrees than in the revelation they are going to get of what influenza really is. The symptoms of this new form of tho disease may bo briefly described as consisting of prostration, dejection and demoralisation associated with fover, ill-temper, distaste for existence, nausea, emaciation, violent hoadacho, a. racking cough, sleeplessness, acute pains from the small of tho back clown to the knees, and a feeling of dark suspicion about the war cables. And by an ironical coincidence it happens that tho only really effective treatment of the pains consist© of doses of aspirin, which, being a Gorman invention, has, even sine© our chemists have manufactured it locally, called for faith and hope on tho part of the swallower. So you will sec this is a serious business. Thousands of cases of influenza havo been reported. Men bar© been away ill from every shop and offico in town. In some establishment© the staffs have been completely skeletonised. Mben the microbe invaded the office your correspondent inhabits, it waa found by th© survivors when they had time to count th© casualties that- 75 per cent of the force were down. Any citizen of Christchurch who feels a tickling sensation in his larynx those, times should bolt for the entrenchment of bed and there await what is coming to him. THE COMMONWEALTH BANK.

Started four years ago with “nothing.” the Commonwealth Bank of Australia now has deposits amounting to £40,000,000, nnd its headquarters in the finest block of modem buildings in Sydney. ITio foundation stone of these offices was laid in May, 1913. Tho opening ceremony took place on Monday. Th© building stands on the corner of Pitt Street and Mooro Street, immediately opposite, the. eastern entrance to the General Post Office. Built on a steel frame, faced with polished trachyte and freestone, it rises in ten storeys 150 ft from kerb to parapet. There is a floor space of about three acres, but all this will, of course, not bo used by the bank. W ithin the 'building there will be provided rooms for tbo Auditor-Genera! of the Commonwealth, a suit© for the GoverncrGenornl, and apartments for the Crown Solicitor, members of the Federal Parliament, Ministers and others connected with the administration of Federal affairs. The cost of the land on which the building stands (64ft by 134 ft) was £93,000; of the building £164.457. One noticeable feature of tbo interior is tho use made of Australian wood in ornamentation. Some remarkably fine effects have been achieved. TRAINING FACTORY GIRLS.

When the New South Wales scheme of technical education was reorganised in 1014 on a trade school basis, one of the features was the institution of advisory committees. These advisory, committees consist of representative employers and employees, nominated by their respective associations. Tbo object of these committees was twofold: Firstly, to keep those engaged in tho industries fully in touch with what is being dono to provido technical education ; and, secondly, to give the superintendent of technical education, the benefit of the advice of the members on all matters relating to the training of those engnged in a special industry. Concrete evidence that employers aro beginning to look to tho department to assist them in rapidly training those needed to make up any shortage in skilled labour was afforded last week. A largo Sydney firm, being short of oxpert blousemakers, arranged to send as many young women as the Technical College- can take for special training in this work, in the women’s handicrafts department. The firm has not only undertaken to pay tho college fees, but will pay the wagea of the girls, just, as though they were at work. The trainees will attend^at tli© college from 10 a.m. to 5 p.ra. every day for a month. The proposal has involved the department in certain expenditure for material necessary to give training in actual work. The Minister promptly approved of this expenditure, and the first batch of students attended for instruction on Monday morning. The technical education branch has also been requested to undertake the training of women to be expert shirtmakers. The Minister has asked the Public Service Beard to take immediate sijpps to appoint a teacher cf shirtmaking. • MR. HUGHES ANI) HIS MIGHTY SECRET.

Tho Prime Minister arrived in Sydney at tho beginning of the week, and it being his first visit to Sydney since his return from Loudon, ho has, of course, been made much of. Mr Hughes is just now guarded by official dragons and attendants, much after the manner of one supposes the Kaiser to he protected by loyal Prussian valets and statesmen. During the last few days' he has moved swiftly from seclusion to various functions, and speedily back again. Tho one thing on earth Mr Hughes wants to avoid just now is an interviewer. To an audi-. euce he can say what he wants to say, and that is nu end of the matter. A man with questions on his lips and a pencil in his hand is another institution altogether. An interviewer generally puts queries which must bo either answered directly or dodged, and in such cases the evasion is obvious. Mr Hughes is in possession of a great secret nnd is guarding it well. What is going to he his attitude on compulsory military service? He still is mute on that point, though lie spins words around the subject with bewildering dexterity. Personally, I suspect Mr Hughes of an elaborate pose. All this flambuoynnt speechifying and queer mystification of the public about his intention seems part of a scheme to get himself properly fixed in tho picture as a Great Strong Man. That he will pronounce tor conscription T bcliovo is now certain, but it will probably not be until he has settled with the Parliamentary caucus of liis party next week at. Melbourne. Meantime, somo of the oulogiums that are being passed on Mr Hughes aro such as few men but ho could endure without protest. But Mr Hughes’s toleration in this respect is now abnormal. At tho Town Hall tho other day lie was introduced by tho Lord Mayor as “ the most colossal personality in the British Empire,” and before tho staggered audience had recovered its breath tho further information was imparted that “ tho world has been illumined by two meteors—Anzac and William Hughes I” Very dreadful, you will say. Of course it sounds liko the anti-climax.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT19160902.2.99

Bibliographic details

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17263, 2 September 1916, Page 12

Word Count
1,204

A SYDNEY LETTER. Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17263, 2 September 1916, Page 12

A SYDNEY LETTER. Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17263, 2 September 1916, Page 12

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