AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15482, 13 December 1913, Page 9

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

MISSING GIRLS. [from our own* corrisposdext.] Sydney, December 6. Stimulated by tb,e offer of substantial pecuniary reward, the police of New South Wales are doing their best to find out what has become of Miss Mona West. This young woman, a resident of the town of; Goulburn, where she and her people occupy a good social position, disappeared mysteriously on November 5. .She was at; the time staying with an uncle, Dr., Acland O'Hara, at Ekrlinghurst. She went out in the afternoon saying that she proposed to do a little shopping in the city, and then disappeared. .Much publicity has been given to the ease. Of late a good deal has been talked and printed about the possibility of the white slave traffio having been or being established here, and the idea that Miss We.* may have been kidnapped is persistently put forward amongst the dozens and dozens of possible explanations of the whereabouts of .Miss West which have been communicated to the police and to relatives. .Stories have been told of a motor-car scurrying through the city carrying two Women who had between them another woman enveloped in a blanket; of an apparently dazed girl having be.en seen in the intimidating grip of a man and a woman ; of a girl having been taken into an opium den, and other things of a like nature. Olhen supposed clues have referred to a girl like Miss West looking for lodgings in the city at night while apparently in a state o" mental distress. As the result of all manner of clues and suggestions the police say they are satisfied that .Miss West has not been abducted. This conclusion is bated on information supplied that on the afternoon of her disappearance Miss West was seen in the city in different! clothing to that in which she had left heir' uncle's house, that she seemed somewhat)' agitated and spoke about an important appointment to the acquaintance who thus met her; and soon after her disappearance friends received little presents which had apaprently been posted to them by Miss West. What is acutally more remarkable is the number of other cases of unexplained disappearance of girls which have taken place of late in cities like Melbourne and Sydney. y

A Matter of Dress.

Ever since his elevation to the County Court Bench in Victoria, Judge Box, a breezy bachelor, has had to deal with embarrassing questions in regard to feminine apparel. The first case brought before Judge Box was one in which he was called upon to decide whether a dressmaker had made a good job of a dress for another woman who declined to pay on the ground that the garment was a shocking misfit. The dissatisfied customer invited the judge to see for himself. "Good heavens!" exclaimed the judge in dismay, "what do I know about it, madame?" The latest of awkward questions of this class came before Judge Box this week when a lady lawyer —Victoria has several lady lawyersappeared in a case and asked to be allowed to dispense with the traditionally proper wig and gown. The lady, Miss Brennan, wore a neat whits costume with a big > white hat to match. The judge did 'not say what apparently first rushed to his tongue. What he said was, "I am in rather an awkward position, and I don't know quite what to do. As a matter oE practice it is customary for persons appearing in this court to be robed." "Well I'm in Your Honour's hands," replied Miss Brennan with becoming deference. After a short pause of embarrassment Judge Box added, "I am not going to interfere with you. I suppose that women will practice in this court,' and I think that the next time you come before the court you should wear the academic dress." Miss Brennan: "Thank you, Your Honour."

"Shall Die a Soldier." Death has dealt a severe double blow to the Federal Labour party within a fortnight. Before the members of the House of Representatives had had time to fix in their minds the fact that Mr. C. ,E. Frazer, representative for. Kalgoorlie, had passed away, they saw, stretched dead at - their fe,gt so to speak, one of the ablest of their number, Mr. E. A. Robert. 1 ', member for Adelaide. The nature of Mr. Roberts's death left his fellows stunned. Feeling ill in the atmosphere of the chamber, where he was taking a vigorous part in discussion, Mr. Roberts walked out into the Queen's Hall which separates the Senate from the House of Representatives. As he was passing the large statue of the late Queen Victoria in the hall he fell, and he died a few minutes later. It was an affection of the heart that ended the career of a man who had risen from the, position of a seaman before the mast to the rank of, next in succession to "Mr. Andrew Fisher for the Prime Ministership of Commonwealth. It is notorious that despite the expenditure of great sums .of money and the employment of experts, there is in the Representatives' chamber a distressing lack of proper ventilation, and that long sittings and strenuous application to business in such surroundings entail disastrous effects on the health of even the most robust. When Mr. Roberts started this session he complained of the ventilation. He said, "I entered this House as healthy as a boy. Now I am .i physical wreck." He knew that he risked a great deal when he subjected himself to the lot of a member of the House of Representatives. Not long ago he coasulted a heart specialist, who told him to ease off in work. "If I give it all up," asked Mr. Roberts, "can you cure me ?" "No," replied the doctor. "Then," said Mr, Roberts, "I shall die a soldier." He knew what a soldier's death meant, for he had been a soldier on active service, and although his life was not lost when he feught under the Queen's flag in South Africa he died, while fighting for a cause dear to him, alongside the marble statue of the same queen, who had signed the constitution under which he held his com* mission in the Australian Parliament.

Cost of Strikes, Of especial interest just now is a bulletin issued by the Commonwealth Labour Bureau which gives information regarding strikes and increases in wages. Sixty industrial disputes began during the quarter under review, April to June, as compared with 49 during the preceding quarter. No fewer than "35 out of 60 occurred in New South Wales. In the new disputes referred to 6734 persons were directly and 4939 indirectly involved, giving a total of 11,673. The number of working days lest during the quarter in both old and new disputes was 138,819, and the estimated loss of wages amounted to £245.058. There were reported during the quarter 58 changes in wages. Of these 30 occurred in New South Wales and 15 in Victoria. The total number of persons affected by the changes was 45,069, and the aggregate amount of increase in wages per week was £9242, or 4s Id per head per week. Sine© the beginning of the year there have been reported 188 changes in wages, all of them increases. By these 119,790 persons were affected., and the total amount of increases per week was £26,387. .