AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15892, 11 October 1913, Page 10

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

FLEET RECEPTION.

(Fbou Oott Own Cobrespondent.)

SYDNEY, October 4. We are called upon to show to-day how proud-and joytul we Australians . aro" on Account of tho beginning which has been made in the ■ matter of naval defence by jneans of ships built with Australian money, manned (in part, at any'rate) by Australians, and stationed in Australian waters. This morning the first umt of the Australian fleet is steaming into Sydney Harbour. For a week Sydney is to be tno Beene of a variety of tunctions and events to mark the occasion, and especially to welcome the new flagship, 11.M.A.5. Australia. » e are particularly invited to be proud of tho ' our own" element. However, many peoplo find this disagreeable because they fear or believe that, regardless of our weakness and of our ties and obligations, we are moving in the direction of dangerous and ungrateful independence. There will bo dinners of welcome, church parades, a big procession of sailors through tho city, concerts, band performances, and illuminations. To-day has been proclaimed a public holiday for Sydney and environs. Special provision has been made for school children to see things, but on a restricted scale, and tho authorities here are not likely to be taken to task, as in ( New Zealand, {or alleged extravagance in this respect. Without doubt many persons feel a genuine patriotic enthusiasm—Australian or Imperial, or both. It may also be set down as certain that many others will appraise to-day's event almost entirely as an entertaining spectacle, and that some will afterwards speak of "the event in terms of disappointment. In themselves the presence of the vessels of the fleet and their general appearance will not .be much in the way ol novelty, because folks here have long been accustomed to seeing grey : paintc<l warships of about the same site and aspect in Sydney Harbour, where there is a constant abundance of big and more or less interesting shipa. But there promises to be a considerable amount of cordial, festive demonstration. What progress will be made in building up the foundation which has just been laid -remains to be seen, arid cannot be predicted with a great deal of confidence. Federal Ministers are talking rather discouragingly abont the financial future in view of the rery heavy expenditure to which Australia is already committed, and of the present heavy burden involved in our naval and military defence schemes. Expression is being given to the fear that we arc doing things a'-'bit'.faster. than we ■can afford. EYE DAZZLERS. Conspicuous amongst the waterside illuminations at Sydney in oonnect:on with tho fleet reception will be flaring electric 1 light 6igns wrticn advertiso wnisKy and wiie, saiioe, and suits. In • the matter of electric sky signs parts of Sydney, especially Sydney Cove, winch with its surroundings is covered by< the term Circular Quay, are fast becoming- air inferior, imitation :'.ofNew York' 6 Broadway.- Those signs - are-annuil-.ing the picturesque charm of Sy&ney Cove, with its dark waters, fringed at night by many mellow 6mail lights, the red and green and yellow lights of the numerous lerry steamers moving through tho dark space, with tho terraced lights of the houses on the North: Shore in the background. Now. the eyo is dazzled and irritated by great areas of fixed and intermittently flashing electrio lights which extol the . 'merits of. somebody's pickles or- trousers'/ ''The Institute of Architects has begun.-a campaign of protest against tho unassthetio appearance of such sky. signs in .all parts of the .city, and, if one may judge., from the remarks of his neighbours, the, bulk of tho citizens support tho protest. There is also the serious aspeot that the sky signs are becoming a danger to navigation on the harbour. The masters of the ferry. steamers who have much human life ;iri'- their keeping'find their .difficulties ;of/navigation m a Crowded/waterway; greatly increased.by a background of walls of electric flamtt truly bewildering in their crude garishness. -One can easily understand how difficult it is, for instance, to pick out the lights of tramp steamers which pass up and down the harbour at night right across the tracks of tho crowded ferry steamers.- Therefore, the authorities aro being told that if ugly materialism is to be permitted it should at any rate be confined to parts where it. will be less productive of danger. INCREASING INSANITY, This is a . young country, with all the advantages which are needed to build up a heaitUy race, Yet our insane rate is higher than that of Great Britain with its millions and its crowded cities, its 6lum lifo, and its long vistas of poverty. This is the unsatisfactory state of affairs disclosed in the annual report of the Inspector-general for tho Insane in Victoria. According to this, report 5579 persons were registered in that State in. 1912, which was 130 more than. in 1911. In proportion to the population tho ratio of insano is one in every 246 persons. Tho percentage is .405 compared, witfc Great Britain's rate of .371. Although it is suggested that the inoreaec of insanity here is more apparent than real on account of stricter'surveillance at the present day,' the importation of -insane immigrants is ' given in explanation .for the increase from one insane person in every 2?9 in 1891 to. one in every 246 in 1912. Da' 0. Godfrey,- the Victorian acting Inspector-general' for the Insane, asserts that during tho last three years 104 insane people have arrived in Victoria by immigrant vessels/ In some eases brought under i.is -notioo there has been clear information that the persons concerned had been'in British lunatic ,asylums several times before .they oame or were sent to Australia. Dr Godfrey asks, naturally enough, '-'Why are such peoplo sent out here?.".. It con at bo paid that Great Britain is -glad to get rid of them. Therefore. Dr Godfrey joins his voice to those which demand that greater caution shall bo exercised in tho selection of immigrants, and that the medical testa for admission to Australia be made moro stringent....

LAST OF THIRTEEN. In compliance with a clamour for the employment of whites instead of coloured men in the pearling industry .which, flourishes along the northern toasts, 13 wtite"roeii were imported from Kngland to Broome, in the north-west of Western Australia, some two years ago. The last of the unlucky 13 has just died. Those of the others vrfhohad' not died befdro him cleared out to places where they had k bettor ahaiwo. of 1 living for a normal span. Nine of'the 13 - were divers. Throe of these died from,-the affliction whioh-.is oalled-divera' ;paralysk. The otlver six all suffered. .-form of tho'tome ill,' butrnaniged.tovrocovor.f The mortUity" of a l , third; of tho whitevdivers is heavy as compared with the death rate of ' 12 per cent.,' which is reoognised as the average amongst coloured divers. There lie in the little cemetery : at Broqmo the bones of hundreds of white men wild went under while gathering the occan harycet of pearls and shell. The death of d".e fet .of tho 13 concludes another heroic erperiment whose results are an eloquent answer to the offhand assertions of "White Aitstralia," enthusiasts that what, coloured men can do whites can do as well and M 'oomfortably in any form of toil in Australia. SMALLPOX. Although he admitted to something of an inclination to please the people ot his own State if ho could do so, the Prime Minister, Mr Cook, has felt himself obliged to say " iS'o to tho rcqucet mado by tho Premier of New South Wales* and the City Council and Chamber of Commerce of Sydney for tho sotting aside of the quarantine ■proclamation which described the territory within a 15 miles radius of the Sydney General Post Office as an infected area ou account of the smallpox outbreak. In tho explanation which accompanied tho refusal it was sot forth pretty plainly that tJioro was no valid substance in the contention that tho proclamation might well bo cancelled bccaiiso tho disoase was not moro ebvere in type than at the beginning of the epidemic, and because the people of the other • States wero sufficiently protected by vaccination, which had been compulsory there for years past. The Federal quarantine ollictaJfi hold to the doctrine that "smallpox is smallpox," and that no one can guarantee that tile diseaso may not at any time of its presence take on a very much more serious form. Tho negative reply to tho New South Wales request also contained j-oproacliful observations to tho effect that if the Stato authorities had at the outset adopted more effective restrictive precautions, including tJio passing of a compulsory vaccination law, as promised' by the State Premier in the first days of tho epidemio, tho quarantine restrictions in regard to Sydney would in all .probability havo been removed weeks ago—bofore the fleet reception celebrations and holiday visit season, whicfh begins with the spring racing carnival. The State Government has now introduced a Bill to make vaccination compulsory. but it seems doubtful whether the Bill will be passed as a truly effective law, if passed a,t all, hofore the impending end of the term of tho present Parliament. It is well known that some of the supporters of the Government fear trouble in their electorates if they asset in the passage of such a meaarro. And—well the Government cannot afford to lose a single supporter. We are now informed that not only has Sydney been disappointed in ite endeavours to itxraio the removal oi the quarantine re-

strictions, but that in addition the restrictions have just been tightened as regards persons travelling from Sydney to other places in the Commonwealth. " Unreasonable," and "Jealousy 'of. Sydney," are typical comments in this city, which has lost considerably in favour (and money) because of smallpox, as a Mecca of holiday makers. I WOMAN'S SCOPE.

An exhibition of women's work, held in Sydney during the past fortnight, has been freely opoken. of as a most iastructivo and convincing demonstration of the fact that there is open. to women a very -wide area, of agreeable and profitable employment. At the same time there is reported from Melbourne the case of a. young lady, holder of the degreo of Master of Arts, who lias been obliged to take a position as domestic servant becaUso of difficulty in obtaining employment in some other sphere in which her high educational attainments, embracing philosophy, classics, and languages, would serve to give her a livelihood. This young lady, a Master of Arts of Edinburgh, complains that she was grately misled as to tho prospects of obtaining employment in Australia. Silo say 6 that tho Victorian immigration officials in London assured her that on arrival in Melbourne sho would be provided with a suitable appointment. But when she reached Melbourne and presented herself at the Immigration Department's headquarters aad asked about the promised position she was treated disdainfully as one suffering from a delusion. She hopes to bo able to transfer shortly .from service in a suburban kitchen 'to tho occupation of a nurse. A girl native of Victoria is solving for herself in an 'uncommon direction the question of how a woman can best work for a living. She has attached herself to the staff of a trainer of racehorses, and may bo seen in the cold grey light of early morning riding horses in exercise work. She is quite at home amongst horses, has a fine seat and hands, and thoroughly enjoys gallops. WADE AND GRIFFITH. High expectations of interesting evidence •were raised when the Premier of this Stato (Mr Holman) announced last Tuesday that Mr Justice Sly had been appointed under a Royal Commission to invcetigato forthwith charges made by the Leader of the Opposition in tne Legislative Assembly (Mr Wade) against the Minister of Works (Mr Griffith). Put broadly, the charges were to tho effect that Mr Griffith had i'&ed his position to tho actual or prospective pecuniary benefit of himself or friends in connection with dealings in lands. Mr Griffith declares that these accusations are only malicious slander. Mr Justice Sly was commissioned _ to' inquiro into live out of Mr Wade u six . accusations. Regarding the. sixth, in eomicction with which a lady's name had been mentioned, Mr Holinan (Premier) said that it did not represent any allegation of maladministration, and was hot of a nature of something which concerned the puolic. However, when Mr Justice Sly proposed to start the inquiry on Thursday Mr Wade, who was present, announced that he would not go on with any of the matters because the scope of tho commission excluded the sixth matter, whioh was one that he had put first on his list as boiu;r of great importance. Tho proceedings of tho Royal Commission thereupon came to an end. Mr Holman said afterwards that- Mr Wade deserved to be expelled from.Parliament, and that if Mr Wade did not enjoy traditional immunity as Leader of the Opposition his expulsion w'ouldi be moved for. Mr 'tVado replies that lie dares Mr Holman to move for his expulsion, and says lie does not want any immuni'tj because he is Leader of -the Opposition, since that only makes matters worse if what Mr Holman alleges against him'is true. The man in the street wants to know whether there is really anything in Mr Wade's, charges agamst Mr Griffith, or whether Mr Wade is a man who worries but little about the truth. But, instead of certainty on this pointy he has the spectacle of leading legislators snarling at each other in the manner of schoolboys: " Come on, you hit me." ''Yon don't dare hit me." DRINK BILL. Official statistics show that the average annual expenditure on intoxicating drink in Australia for the past live years was £14,766,800. This works out at £3 7s per head of population, or £5 19s 6d for adult individuals over 21 years of age. These figures aro regarded as fairly satisfactory, except by temperance advocates, who believe that the average would be too high if it ran to 7s' per head a year for intoxicants. Tho rest of Australia is watching, and in part imitating, the system in operation in Victoria for the elimination of unnecessary licensed liquor houses. Under the Victorian scheme a Licenses Reduction Board determines what licensed house ought to bo closed, and in arriving at its determinations it takes into account convictions for selling after hours or other offences by licensees, lpaality, suitability of buildings, and public requirements. Compensation is paid in all cases, in which the board takes away or accepts the surrender of licensee. The hotel people themselves furnish the compensation fund by tho payment of fees at tho rate of' £3 for every £iOO of purchases of liquor, the owner of the premises being chargeable with two-thirds and tho tenant with one-third of the fee. In five years the Licenses Reduction Board lias either closed up or accepted surrender of tho licenses of 703 hotels. Compensation had at the time of compilation of • the official report been paid for 617 hotels to the amount of £297,000. The board does its .work quietly, and everybody concerned seems to be more or less satisfied.