AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 361, 9 April 1912, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The New South Wales Minister- of Labor (Mr Beeby) said he was satisfied that it was possible to put chemists' shops m the same category as ordinary shops m the matter of compulsory early closing, with the proviso that any prescription marked "urgent" by a doctor should be excepted from the rule. He proposed shortly to .introduce legislation m this direction.

—Strange Diet for Rate.— It has been estimated that rats do damage to the extent of over a million pounds annually m Australia. In addition to the tremendous inroads they make ou food and material, they are known to be the chief agents m spreading various diseases. Now they are doing a friendly turn for the plumbers and attacking leaden sewer pipe 6, and the Sydney Water and Sewerage Board have m consequence decided to have these pipes made from wrought or cast iron m future. Two badly damaged pipes, almost completely eaten away by rats, were submitted to the Water and Sewerage Board at a recent meeting. The engineer-in-chief said that though cases of rats eating leaden pipes were rare, they were on record, and had occurred even at the board's offices. The samples on view suggested that all sewer pipes should m future be made from wrought Or ca6t iron.

— Naval Matters. — The Lord Mayor of Sydney. Sir Allen Taylor, had an interview with the Federal Prime Minister last week, and informally discussed with him the naval scheme and other matters of interest to Sydney. Sir Allen Taylor is one of the trustees of the New South Wale's fund of £40,000 which was subscribed to present a battleship to the Imperial Navy, but which it was subsequently decided to devote to the building of a Federal Naval College on condition that the building was established near Sydney. When the Government decided to locate the college at Jervis Bay the question arose as to whether the. contributions Viould be returned, or the money handed over to the Federal Government or put to some other use. This subject was discussed last week, but without any definite result. Mr Fisher said that some of the subscribers wanted the money returned, but he understood that most of them thought that it should be put to some good purpose. The attitude of the Government was that they had no anxiety whichever way the decision went.

— Wife's Divorce Story. — In the Divorce Court at Sydney iast week John Cribb sought a dissolution of his marriage with Elsie Leonore Cribb, formerly Madden, on the ground of desertion. The parties were married on October 1, 1903, according to the forms of the Church of Christ and the Latterday Saints. The evidence of the petitioner was that his wife left him on several occasions, but he induced her to return. She, however, finally left him m 1905. Some three years ago he met respondent, when she informed him that she had got a divorce fro nihim, and that he had been ordered to pay costs amounting to £15. She also said that if he paid her the amount that would end the" matter. He gave her the money. Mr Justice Gordon : " Did you make any inquiries?" " No; I took her word for it. She said she wa6 married, and Jiving with another man, and I took it for granted." Witness said that he subsequently married again, but was proceeded against on a charge of bigamy. Respondent . had told him that she had married again. The case wa6 ordered to stand over, so that petitioner could satisfy the Court that he really believed that he had been divorced before he married again.

— Whirlwind m Adelaide. — An extraordinary phenomenon was witnessed m Adelaide on the afternoon of the 3rd inst., when a willy-willy swept along the street and took off the whole of the front part of the roof of a house. Sheets of galvanised iron were hurled about m the street like thistledown, and caused wreat consternation m the vicinity. A woman occupying a shop opposite said: — "My husband was having a bit of lunch m the shop at (he time, when I heard a great noise outside, and he yelled out to me: 'Give me my trousers, here comes a whirlwind.' I gave him his trousers ancl ran to the window just m time to see the disturbance. It advanced with a long Avhirr, blowing up dust and leaves all over tlie place. A tramcar was coming along at the time, and

ali the passengers crouched down m front it> if that could help them. Just when ;he wind reached tlie house opposite it s:emed to get something, ancl the sheets of iron began to fly. My word I did scream, and so did a lot of others. The wind seemed to double back after it struck the house, and took the rcof iron with it. By gum ! I thought whirlwinds were kid stakes, just bits of games, but I don't want to see another."

— Lady Denman's Escape. — It would perhaps be rather unfair to m any way aissociate the establishment of bush nursing centres with an accident that did actually happen and an accident — it might have been a particularly serious one — which nearly happened on the 4th inst. (says a Melbourne paper). After opening the fh'6t centre m Victoria, at Beech Forest, Lady Dudley and party were rcj turning, when at Colac Junction the conductor of the train slipped on the wet platform and broke his leg. Yesterday when Lady Denman was returning from Meeniyan after performing the initial ceremony m connection with the establishment of a. similar centre, the special train conveying the party nearly ran into a platelayer's turnout on the line. It seemed the more6t chance that there was not a serious smash up. When the train was brought to a standstill by the sudden application of the Westinghouse brake the front of the engine appeared to be actually touching the trolly on which the platlayers had been riding. There were three or four of the men, and, judging from what could be seen from the train, the men had, on seeing the advance of the train, been, making frantic endeavors to -get the trolly off the line m time to allow the special to pass. They were not apparently quite quick enough, and had not the driver of the train applied the brake as he did serious consequences might have resulted.

— Hotel Robbery. — As the result of a robbery at the Grand Hotel, Spring street, Melbourne, two ladjes have lost jewellery valued at about £275. The victims of the robbery are Mrs Jackson, the wife of a well-known squatter from the Albury district, and a daughter of Mr Justice Isaacs. Information Concerning the robbery v,as given to the police on Saturday week, but so far no trace of the tliieves has beeai obtained. Both Mrs Jackson and Mies Isaacs attended Madame Melba's farewell matinee the previous day, but before leaving the hotel neither lady locked the door of her room. Having returned to the hotel, Mrs Jackson " discovered that several articles of jewellery which were enclosed m a case were missing from her room. The stolen jewels she valued at £250. Miss Isaacs, whose room was on a different floor, also discovered that her jewel-case, containing jewels to the value of about £25, had been taken from her dressing table. Several hotel robberies occurred m Adelaide recently, and it is thought that interstate thieves were engaged m the present work. Many precautions are taken at the Grand Hotel to prevent the occurrences of robberies m bedrooms, and consequently it is contended that the thieves must have made a careful survey of the establishment before attempting operations.

— Wireless m Melbourne. — A report upon the working of the wireless station m the Domain has been received by the Acting Postmaster-Genes al. (Senator Findley) from the Commonwealth wireless expert. It deals with February 14 and March 1. The station is stated to be working satisfactorily, but no information is available about the extent to which the public have utilised its services. Paid traffic has, however, it is stated, taken place between the Domain and Macquarie Island, a distance exceeding 1,000 miles, and the maximum which has so far been arrived at. In fair Aveather the station, it is claimed, could, under fair, good, or very good atmospheric conditions, get into touch Avith ships at distances from 1,500 to 2,000 miles at night and 600 miles m the day. Owing, however, to the limited power of the ship installations, the station could only take messages from ships during the daytime at distances up to about 350 miles. This was not owing to any weakness on the part of the Domain apparatus, bat to the relative weakness of the installations on the ships.

— Petroleum m Papua. — 'Information about the alleged discoveiy of petroleum on the Vailala River, Papua, ha- a reached the Department of External Affairs m the shape of a report from the Resident. Magistrate for the Gulf Division (Mr L. Henderson). On his arrival at Kiri, some 15 miles up the Vailaia River, Mr Henderson went with Mr G. H. Thomas, who had reported the discovery, to a place about four miles east of tbe river, and Teached some low hills with a clayey formation. Here the indications were found which first attracted Mr Thomas's attention. These consisted of a series of minute craters at intervals of a few yards for about a quarter of a mile. The mud and water m the craters was churning, but was quite cold, and it appeared as if there were some great pressure from below. Mi* Henderson found that the gas which exuded ignited readily, and gave a red and bluish flame. There was a slight odor faintly resembling kerosene, whilst the smell of the fumes resembled that of methylated spirits. The natives told him that this phenomenon had been known for many years, and they called it Havila. The next morning the party proceeded further for 30 miles up the river, where m the bush Mr Thomas pointed out the second series of indications that he had found. These resembled the others, but were on a larger scale. One of these craters was about oOin by 50in m extent. The whole of the surfa.-e was bubbling and giving up gas, which also ignited. The same characteristics with regard to the smell were found, and, once lighted, the jets of gas would burn brightly for an indefinite period. A hoe was sunk Bft on a large fissure, and such a powerful jet of gas resulted that when Jit it became veiy difficult to extinguish. The native police and other natives were much frightened, and wanted to run away. Whilst not professing to be qualified to give an expert opinion, Mr Henderson concludes by -saying that there can be no doubt of the existence of a phenomenor., the true value of which could only be ascertained by practical tests. In his opinion, there was a possibility of a very valuable discovery having been made, which would justify any layman m concluding that a deposit of petroleum existed on the Vailala River.

— Ofi to the Argentine. — Mr Kenneth Clift, one of the wealthiest farmers m the Quirindi (N.S.W.) district, is leaving Australia because there are too many taxes, and going to the Argentine to settle. At . - i public farewell at Quirindi last week, Mr M 'Master, the chairman, said it seemed a pity that men of means like Mr Clift felt compelled to go away from Australia to invest their capital, when vast areas of land m Queensland and West Australia were unoccupied. Mr Clift said he had a large amount of money available, but could see no safe investment m taking up more land m Australia when 30 per cent, went to pay taxes of various kinds. He was going to South America, where land taxation was unknown. Large areas were plentiful and easily acquired.