AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16979, 16 April 1917, Page 6

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

(FROM OUR OWN CoBMisroNDENT.) SYDNEY, April 4. Tlio echoes of tho State election lutvo not clearffd away—there are still some second ballots to takc_ place,—but already a new tribe of wrangling- politicians has descended bko a plaguo upon the country side, 'lho Federal election is a clear month away, l>ut oach side, aviclly seeking victory, is determined to liave tho advantage of an early start. The candidates pause now and again in their furious denunciation of tho other aide to urgo Australia to keep tho war in mind, to remember tho growing imperative need for every effort to secure victory. And then they dash oft' again into tlio alarums and excursions of their miserable party warfare. If tho politicians' insistence in bringing their petty wrangling under tho nos-M of the people were not so tragic it would bo p:t:ful: if it were not so pitiful it would bo comic. The " professional politician" is i held in utter contempt by .ill the better class of Australians, and yet persists in I taking liinjself so seriously. In tlio pros* porous, timo of peace, with only fair weather in sight, one could afford to laugh at tho little slaves of cliques and shibboleths, but tho spectacle these excited gentlemen, making control of thd national art airs in time of war a plaything over which to squabble, is arousing tho great mass of Australians to a dangerous pitch of exasperation. No ono outside of the P.L.L. wants, the P.L.L. to get control, and tho alternative is to vote for tho Hughes-Cook combination, on tho .principle that tho devil you Icaow is batter than tho devil you don't know. But there is a remarkable wave of feeling against tho Hughes-Cook combination sweeping through tho country, and it may conceivably char a trade for tho P.L.L. men right up to tho Treasury benches. It is difficult to see how Mr Hughes and Mr Cook could have acted differently. They coalesced', if with very bad grace, when coalition was tho only proper course; they were forced to the country by tho blind, bitter prejudice and lack of patriotism shown by the -P.L.L. party. Tho peoplo did not want an election—they sought only political peace and concentration on tho wax, —and their resentment in having it thrust upon them is being expressed not against the culpable P.L.L., but against Mr Hughes, whoso personal ambition and endless intrigues, they say, brought about this condition of public aitaira. INTERESTING LICENSING EXPERIMENT. One of tlio most interesting experiments yet attempted in liquor licensing legislation has just completed its first stage of 10 years in Victoria, and most people who havo surveyed tho results deem tlicih eminently satisfactory. Prior to 19U6. V ictoria had tho uncertain and inequitable local option law. As m New Zealand, the inadequacies of tho system wero pronounced, and something better was sought. So an Act was passed Having for its object the reduction of tho number of hotels, tho improvement of tho quality of those that remained, and the fair compensation of tho hotelkeepers forced out of business. Tho system, which was to be tried \ for 10- years from 1906, was roughly as follows:—The number of licenses in each district was fixed on a population basis, and all licenses in excess of tlio stipulated number were to be gradually cancelled. _ There were then 3448 licenses in Victoria, which total was 136S in excess of tlie_ number to bo permitted. The compensation payable to owners and licensees put out of business was based on tho value of tho hotel during three years prior to 1806. A compensation fund was created by an annual levy of 3 per cent, of the cost of the liquor purchased by each hotelkeeper. A.s many of the excess hotels wero to be wiped out each year as, the money thus made available would allow. A Licenses Reduction Board took charge of tho experiment. Tho 10 years expired on December 31. In that timo £545,045 was paid into the Compensation Fund, and with £540,851 of this, 1054 hotels were " delicensed." When tho board started operations, almost all tho districts were over-licensed, and as tho board's policy was to cut out the drinkingshop and the badly-conducted hotel, there was keen competition among hotelkeepers to appear pleasing in the sight of tho board. Tho effect, from a public point of view, was excellent. But as the board's operations continued, the number of districts not over-licensed increased, and these licensees, having no particular mducemcnt to be otherwise, were, in some instances guilty of unsatisfactory conduct. With tho expiry of the 10 years, Victoria was to revert to tho local option system, and the first vote was to bo taken at the first general election after January, 1917. The Licenses Reduction Board has become a licensing court. But, on account of tho war, the first local option poll has been postponed until the second general election after January, 1917, and the Licensing Court , lias been instructed to proceed in thp meantime "as if reduction had been carried in every licensing district throughout 'tho State." Tho Licensing Court is now proceeding, with enthusiasm, to deal with those licensees who have been conducting their houses in a disreputable manner, and defying the -Licensing Board because they thought they were safe in an under-licensed district. A MILITANT RED-RAGGER.

All Red-raggers, no doubt, are militant, but Mr Percy Brookfield, the newly-elccted member for Sturt (Broken Hill) has in this respect won more tlian the usual notoriety. His case is attracting quite a lot of attention. Tlio I'.L.L., apparently, is going to use him to remove some ugly aspersions from its reputation.

Before tho election, the P.L.L., finding itsr-lf being associated to an alarming degree in the public mind with the 1.W.W., called upon Mr Brookfield to renounce the I.W.W. and all its works. Mr Brookfield comes from the nerve-ccntre of 1.W.W.-ism in this State —Broken Hill—and he receives the support of the I.W.W. adherents, and has promised to work " like the devil " to securo the release of the reoentlv-convicted I.W.W. "fire-bugs." But Mr Brookfield declared ho was not an I.W.W. man, and his candidature was endorsed by the P.L.L. Within a few hours of his election, addressing his constituents in Broken Rill, ho said that ho would not ;nill a drop of his blood in any war for the Union Jack or any other flag whilo millions of people wero allowed to starve, and whilo a few were allowed to mako a profit out of the war; but if any army came here to attempt to lower tho standard of living, lie would fight under tho red flag to maintain the conditions of lifo here.

This was too much for the P.L.L., already smarting under the knowledge that it suffered in tho recent. election because the people doubted its loyalty. It peremptorily called upon Mr Brookfield to repudiate his reported utterance, or appear before tho P.L.L. executive. Sir Brookfield replied by publicly repeating his statement. He was thereupon summoned by the P.L.L to Sydney. .

ilo started for Sydney, via Adelaide. In Adelaide he was informed l>y tlio Joint' House Committee of tho South Australian Parliament "thai the privileges in connection with the use of Parliament Buildings, usually accorded to visiting members of • Australian Parliaments;, cannot be extended to you until such timo as tho disloyal utterances reported to have been used by you. . . . have been repudiated or unreservedly withdrawn." .Speaking at Port Adelaide, aivl referring to Mr Brookfield. tho Prime Minister (Mr Hucrhes) said: " This man takes tho King's shilling, takes the oath of allegiance, and swears to be loyal to the Empire. Either he is a liar, or a perjurer, or a traitor to his country." Mr Brookfield will appear before tho P.L.L. executive this week. ' HUGE FIELD OF MOLYBDENUM. A company, registered in New Zealand, with a capital of 3120,000 in £1 shares, £60,C00 of which is required almost immediately, has undertaken a very important and interesting mining proposition at Yetholme, near Bathuret. There is there a huge field of low-grade molybdenum ore, and tho company has acquired throe properties -.tirrying this ore, which have been amalgamated in ono under tho name, of the Mammoth Molybdenite Mines. They comprise an area of 327 acres. Molybdenite has tzrc.it value in tho production of high-grade stool. Tho metal is rare, but already tho Australian deposits, quite inadequately worked, have provided an output greater than that from any other part of tho world. Up to the present, tho principal yield has come from Queensland, but the new Yetholmo mine is expected to rival this output. Before the war, Germany was quietly but thoroughly . buying up ali tho loose molybdenum in Australia. It was done in that peculiar Gorman way which disarmed criticism. We. wero told that the metal was required for tho purposo of giving a beautiful blue colour to porcelain, for which purposo it is adapted. But in tho samo manner that (he Australian grass tree prom was purchased by the Germans for its high explosive contents, and not for harmless varnish preparations, as was said, molybdenum was being obtained for steel-making at Enipp's great factories, whore the monstrous cannon which gave the enemy his first groat advantage were made.

The proposition may bo a. big gamble, says one critic, but those who have taken it up hsvo their confidoace backed by scion-

tific data and prospecting work, which has been carried out oxer tho whole of tho area, oome 1120 feet of drilling lias been done, and oil every part of the property tho do posit had been tapped. The precentage of uic ore vanes. It averages 1.7 per cent, of molvodersito, valued at £7 8s 4d per ton, or an o3 per ccnt. rccovcry. These figures do not ajj-pear high, 'but, taken in conjunciaoii tiio nature of the property, "which, j, IS claimed, will he very easily worked. a" 0 )S f>° . ground for confidence. A start will bo made with a ball mill, treating 40 tons of ore per day. Later it is intended to treat IOCO tons per day, yielding ~42.000 per week, and employing a large number of men. Even at that rate. ..He mine is estimated to havo 40 vears of life.