AUSTRALIAN POLITICS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1748, 6 September 1905, Page 52

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS

SYDNEY, August 29. The Legislative Assembly has appointed a Select Committee to inquire into the statement made publicly by the Rev iWoolls Rutledge that Mr Hall, Actingstatistician, was unable to obtain reemployment in the public service until he joined the Catholic Church, and that immediately upon his doing so he was re-employed at a salary of £IOOO a year. SYDNEY, September 1. The '‘ Daily Telegraph,” commenting on the class trend of the Federal legislation, expresses the opinion That many people in the States would gladly join a capably led secession movement. New 'South Wales, since entering the union, has suffered loss and humiliation, with little or no compensation. The journal asks:—ls it reasonable to suppose that this will go. on indefinitely ? Genuine friends of the national union deplore the petty provincialism, and, what is worse, the class tyranny, ,which lurk in so much of the Commonwealth legislation and administration. It is possible to build too recklessly upon the assumption that, the Commonwealth is indissoluble. MELBOURNE, August 31. The military estimates have been tabled'. They total £591,000 —a small decrease compared with last year. The estimates provide for a military establishment of 23,750, composed of 136 Q

permanents, 16,640 militia, and 5850 volunteers; and a naval establishment of 175 permanents and 1100 volunteers. The Minister of Defence promised a Trades Hall deputation that the military equipment would be locally purchased, even at an increase in the cost. MELBOURNE,* September 1. A bill to amend the Naval Agreement Act on the lines of the measure now before the New Zealand Parliament will shortly be introduced in the Federal Parliament.