AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 4881, 5 February 1903, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

CABLE NEWS.

EXITED nusss H V VIATIOK. Irt" EI.ECTi-.IC XiILECIIAEi,’. COI’VaiGUT.

THE VICTORIAN RAILWAYS. SAVING L'NUERIHE NEW SYSTEM. MELBOURNE, February 4. In the State Assembly, tho Premier (Hon \V. IE Irvine), in moving the second reading of tho Itaii .iay Commissioners Bill, said that tho saving already effected m railway management during the present, financial year amounted to £150.000. He urged that the railways must be managed on business lines, and where an employee was found to he incompetent ho should he dismissed, instead of his superiors having to formulate charges against him. The Bill proposes the appointment of three Commissioners.

THE LABOUR CONFERENCE. SYDNEY. February 4. Tho Labour Conference resolved that, as womanhood suffrage lias boon granted there should bo no reduction in the number of State members, but it recommended tho abolition of the Upper House. Resolutions were also passed in favour of trades unionist employers receiving preference in Government contracts, an extension of fulfc, civil rights to Civil Servants, and a minimum wage of not less than seven shillings per day in all Government employment. PAYMENT OF SUGAR REBATES. SYDNEY, February u. \s a result of a conference between tho New South AVales and Queensland Premiers, the former sent, a letter to Sir Edmund Barton, dealing with tho question of sugar rebato payments, suggesting that the basis of distribution Should bo the revenue of the various States, and outlining the anomalies under tho present system of paying -obates [l on sugar grown by whites. « ■ . | THE CABLE TO TASMANIA. } MELBOURNE, February 4. Tho federal Government is considering |i proposals to purchase the Eastern Exj‘ tension Comnany’s cable between Tasmania and Australia. The price quoted is between two and throe hundred thousand pounds. DECREASE IN THE FLOCKS AND HERDS. (Received February 4, 10.5 p.m.) SYDNEY. February 4. A progress report of the sleek returns to tho end of last year, which has just be en issued, gives some idea of tho disastrous effects Of the drought. , 1 The returns from tho Singleton and Co- oma districts havo nob yet been supnlhid, but tho final figures will not be iarcjeiy altered. . , . , , Tho number of sheep is stated to be 24,4 76,000, a decrease of 17,381,000 as coin pared with tho previous year. C< ittlo now number 1,400,000, a decree. so of 308,000; horses 393,654, a dcsreai 10 of 61,476. In 1891 there were 61,831,000 sheep, but- i since then there has been a steady yearly decrease. TR ADES UNIONS'AND JUDGES. SYDNEY, February 4. Au the Labour Conference severe comm ents were made on the utterances of Ju-sticcs Pring and Rogers while adjudicating in recent cases, wherein they t ,Ook occasion to condemn the tactics of' the Shearers’ Union in their la+e strike. A n(solution was adopted for presentation to tho Allorney-9encral (Mr B. R, Wise) declaring that the Judges’ remarks/ constituted unwarranted attacks o:tt trades unions, and showed bias which - vas unbecoming on tho part of the judicial bench, amVasking, in the interest b of justice, that tho Judges bo called i rpon for official explanations. THE GOLDEN WEST. (Root lived February 4, 10.3 p.m.) PERTH, February/ 4. The gcild yield in tho State for January was 210,450 ounces—a record for a month. Last year’s total yield was just over tn r o million ounces, Kalgoorlie contribu-t ing about half. Out of this half dividends were paid representng £1,214,00’0.