AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22064, 21 September 1933, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

FIRE AT MILLER’S POINT,

COOPERAGE WORKS DESTROYED.

„ SYDNEY, September 20. Fire swept Rasmussen’s cooperage works at Miller’s Point, near the city end of the harbour bridge. It destroyed thousands of pounds’ worth of material and levelled the buildings, but the machinery was partly saved.

NEW SOUTH WALES BUDGET.

REDUCTION IN WAGES TAX.

SYDNEY, September 20.

The State Budget will be delivered next Tuesday. It was considered by a meeting of Government parties. Mr Stevens indicated that the main points will be a reduction in the wages tax on a graduated basis from 60 per cent, on lower incomes to about 25 per cent, on higher salaries. The endowment tax will be abolished. Railway fares generally will be reduced and the child endowment scheme will probably be amended by reducing the qualifying income to £IOO per annum. At present between 60,000 and 70,000 people receive endowment payments, totalling £2,100,000.

UPROAR IN ASSEMBLY.

THE CASE OF DR ANGUS.

MELBOURNE, September 20.

The Presbyterian General Assembly, after a stormy session, decided to remit the case of Dr Angus back to the New South Wales Presbytery. Motions and amendments succeeded one another rapidly, and 50 members, chiefly from New South Wales, walked out amidst uproar. The Victorian moderator (the Rev. Mr Macaulay), in an outstanding speech, .finally brought about order again, and paved the way for agreement. He made sensational disclosures concerning the evidence submitted against Dr Angus, which, he declared, would be valueless in a court of law. He said that_ Dr Angus had been judged without a trial.

VICTORIAN MINISTRY DEFEATED,

MELBOURNE, September 20.

The Ministry was defeated by 27 votes to 26 on a motion to adjourn the House to discuss the retirement of two members of the Geelong Harbour Trust and the appointment of two others. The Premier (Sir Stanley Arple) regards the vote seriously. Cabinet will consider the matter to-day.

A DOMINION DAY BROADCAST.

SYDNEY, September 20. ' (Received Sept. 20, at 10 p.m.) By courtesy of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Mr L. J. Schmitt, New Zealand Government Commissioner, will deliver a 20 minutes address from Melbourne over the national network, of stations on September 26. at 9.15 p.m. (Australian time) on the occasion of Dominion Day. His subject will be a brief history of New Zealand, Prior to the address station 2BL, Sydney, will put over one hour of New Zealand music.

MR WILLIS’S SLANDER ACTION.

MR J. T. LANG DEFENDANT.

SYDNEY, September 20. (Received Sept. 20, at 10 p.m.) Mr Albert Charles Willis, the former Agent-general, has begun an action for slander, claiming £20,000 damages from John Thomas Lang, Leader of the State Opposition. The suit arises from the Bulli by-election campaign, plaintiff alleging that Lang addressed public meetings at which he inferred Willis was under the domination and influence of political opponents of the Labour' movement, which seriously prejudiced his candidature as a Labourite, and that an attempt was made to hound him out of public life. Plaintiff’s counsel made frequent references to Lang’s debenture of £13,000 over the Labour Daily newspaper, and said he would prove by cheques that £SOOO which Lang said he had advanced to that newspaper had been draw from party funds. The hearing of the case was adjourned.

BOMB UNDER BEDROOM,

OCCUPANTS ESCAPE INJURY,

TOWNSVILLE, September 20. (Received Sept. 20, at 10 p.m.) A bomb which was placed under a bedroom at the house of Mr J. P. Quinn, Crown Prosecutor, overnight exploded and blew up the floor and the bedstead in which were Quinn and his wife, who escaped injury but are suffering severely from shock.