AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

Otago Witness, Issue 3234, 8 March 1916, Page 31

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY

(From Oub Own Cobbespondent.)

•SYDNEY, February 9

Connected with the unprecedented war experiences of the present are situations which present puzzling problems to' a patriotically-minded person anxious to do what is in the interests of the country. During the past week or two prominent newspapers and public men have raised the slogan of the strictest cutting down of imports and the utmost self-denial as regards the purchase and use of nonessentials and things which may, for the time being at any rate, be regarded as luxuries. For instance, ftgures are quoted to show that we are doing great, wrong in importing lots of pianos, motor cars and cycles, liquors, millinery, clothing, and fancy goods. We are told that it is our solemn duty to get along as far as is humanly possible with things produced here. Into the middle of urgings to this effect conies an official announcement by the Commonwealth Minister for Trade and Customs to the effect that our peculiar position as a country dependent very largely upon the shipping abroad of our big superabundance of primary products makes it necessary to offer every encouragement to owners to send their ships to Australia, and that the checking of the importation of non-essentials would result in a reduction of ship earnings that would lead to may steamships cutting Australia out. It would not pay to send ships out to Australia in ballast. The effect would be that much of our produce would be kept out of the world's markets unless we were prepared to pay prohibitive freight charges. Thus the Minister makes it plain that it is to our substantial interest to keep on importing lots of things, essentials and non-essentials, to ensure ocean ear riage for our products. AUSTRALIANS WANTED. If there is one thing which the war has demonstrated it is that tremendous ad vantages Ho with a country which is selfcontained in the matter of supplies of fuel oil. It seems that in the Australian terri tory of Papua there are excellent prospects of tapping great supplies of oil that would be most valuable to us if only for the use of the Australian navy'. Consequently the commonwealth Government is going in for the thorough testing and development of the Papuan oil fields. It seems, however, that there are no expert oil drillers in Australia, and men have been imported from Canada for the work. But the Minister for External Affairs (Mr Mahon) is determined that Australians shall do the work in future. Consequently special arrangements are being made with our universities for engineering students t - be taught the practical side of the oil drilling business at Papua. The Government will pay the students £250 a year for the time being. Perhaps arrangements could be made for some of the bright, young, budding engineers in New Zealand to be included in this scheme. It appears to be worth while as far as the students themselves are concerned, because we arc authoritatively told that expert drillers are paid up to £SO a month. OUR WHEAT. Those of us who are disposed to look at the brighter side of things—and most of us are so disposed—rejoice in the magnificent Australian record wheat crop which has now been almost all harvested. It is estimated that the total value of the wheat harvest for the season is close upon 40 millions sterling at present market values, and that we will have an exportable surplus worth not far short of 30 millions, ot," roughly, about £5 per capita of our population. These are gratifying figures indeed. Of course, Ave are faced with unprecedented conditions as regards the world's markets, and normal estimates of values and their probable stability cannot be applied. As you know already, the whole of the wheat grown on the Australian mainland is being placed under a scheme wherein the Federal and State Governments are co-operating as sole controllers of- the selling of wheat abroad and of its shipment. Satisfactory and remunerative prices have been secured for the wheat sold abroad thus far under this scheme, and those responsible for the actual working out say that there is no reason why such prices should not continue. Interim advances are being made to the farmers by the Governments on the wheat thus dealt with. Final adjustments on an average basis are to be made before the end of the year. Through some jarring in the negotiations between the Federal Government, which plays the leading part in the big wheatpooling scheme, and the Government of Tasmania, the island State is not yet included in the scheme. This appears to bo very awkward for the Tasmanian farmers, who do not know exactly where they stand as sellers of wheat. According to the latest published correspondence the Federal Government told the Tasmanian Government that inasmuch as Tasmania was importing wheat from New South Wales it did not come within the_ scope of the arrangement for the sending of wheat abroad. But the Tasmanians retort that their wheat harvest is considerably later than that of the mainland ; that their wheat is soft and unsuitable for flour for bread without- an admixture of the hrrrd wheat of the mainland •, and that Tasmanian wheat, being specially suitable for flour for biscuits, has come to have a large export trade. Tims Tasmania export- as well as imports it. Another illustration of the oft-ouoted saying that things are not always what they seem. GERMAN NAMES. Amongst those engaged with much fervour in the current campaign for the elimination of everything German from our everyday life are people who demand the abolition of such German names as "Liedertafel,'' " kindergarten," and " lager " in regard to well-known institutions that have gained important places in our social affai v , especially lager beer. Mo.-t of the musical societies with the name of Liedertafel have borne it for years and have gained much honour under

it, con&rpiently they are somewhat loth to enter upon a change which may mean some loss of identity. Apparently, however, it must be done. So the Sydney Liedertafel has just decided to change its name to Sydney -Apollo Society. Patriotic brains are hard at work trying to bring forward acceptable substitutes for "kindergarten" and "lager." That is as regards the names only and not tho things for which they stand, which can hardly be abolished, no matter how much of the German element there may have been in their origin. Some persona have even gone to the 'length of siy -esting that all words of German orig*v should be taken out of the English language as now spoken. Probably they do not realise tho amount of work that would be. required to find substitutes, and one cannot help thinking how changed the English language would be if on account of some future war all word.-; of French origin wero also dropped out. FLYING. Apparently the Premier of New South Wales is amongst those who hold that Australia is not doing all that could or ought to be done in the matter of aviation. No one can say that we have not many venturous and clever young men who only want a chance to show what they can do in the air as well as on land or water, and, goodness knows, Ave have any amount of open country for practice in' flying without fear of hurting any living thing on the ground. Mr Holmani says'that he has made arrangements for the early establishment of a school of aviation under' the auspices of the State Government. The work of preliminary training of students is to start right away under special arrangements made with the Sydney University and the Technical College. " No time is to he lost in getting complete machines and putting up tho necessary buildings. It is estimated that £II,OOO will cover the cost of buildings, and that cost of the annual upkeep of the school will be about £6OOO. February 26. There is now being experienced the inevitable aftermath of shame and punishment in relation to tho truly extraordinary outbreak of .vioting, pillaging, and destruction in which several thousands of soldiers in training engaged at Liverpool and Sydney on February 14. The damage done to hotels and shops has now been repaired, and the physical injuries received in the eondiets between the rioters and the sorelytried police have nearly all heak"*, but enough time has not yet elapsed to effaco the widespread feelings of indignation and regret. Over a thousand soldiers have been dismissed from the forces over tho affair, and in most oases the dismissals have been accompanied by the forfeiture of a fortnight's military pay. In addition, over a hundred men from the Liverpool and Casula camiM, whence the rioters came, aro being tried by court martial on charges of more or less serious military olfencc-s in connection with the memorable wild deeds of license and violence. Daring the week batches of men arrested by the civil police during the disturbances have been dealt with in tho police courts and punished uith fines ranging up to £5 or imprisonment for terms up to three months for disorderlincss and assault*. It seems that, excepting a few cases, all the men who shared in the outbreak are now heartily sorry, and admit that they have deserved the coldness of speech and manner in which they aro greeted by their military and others who know them One of the methods by which the military authorities aro seeking to lessen the possibility < of similar outbreaks in future is the splitting up of the military camps into a larger number of smaller camps in distributed situations. It is felt that by this means mischievous agitators, such as those who led in tho strike against an increase in tho hours of drill, will be deprived of,opportunities for working up serious disturbances. NO RAGES. . During the past year there have beer, published in the press regular resolutions of protest by religious bodies against tho representatives of the King in the persons of tho Governor-general and State Governors attending races in accordance- with the established practice of lending viceregal patronage to the big race gathering's which have gained a pronounced social character. Tho protestors have steadily asserted that it is not fitting that in a time of grave national crisis the King's representatives should officially associate; themselves with idle sport, as they term it. Tho Governor-general (Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson) is an amiable gentleman who does not at, all like to figure in any unpleasantness, but is over ready to. do what ho can to make folks feel at ease. He has now decided that he will no longer expose himself to denunciation by religious organisations as a wicked or thoughloss man who seeks pleasure in going to races during war time, and has caused it to bo niaclo known that he intends to forgo attendance at races during the currency of tho war. As reward ho is receiving numerous letters from church people, congratulating him upon his decision. His Excellency is, however, very careful to refrain from expressing any opinion about the people who previously. assailed him and are now equally fulsom<» in their laudation. SOBER SYDNEY. Compared with its usual aspect. Sydney is now at night time a strikingly sober, quiet city, with what would be a Sunday night aspect but for the theatres and tU3 picture shows. This is on account of tho proclamation issued by the Federal Minister of Defence (Senator Pearee) a couple of days after the sensational rioting in tho streets bv soldiers and others largely under the influence of drink. Under tho proclamation every house licensed for the sale ot liquor must close up at 6 p.m. In a place which boasts of so many hotels as Sydney, this makes a tremendous difference. Wi.no saloons, which are fairly numerous, have to do like the hotels, and clubs arc supposed to do the same, but it ia doubtful whether all the. clubs conform as rigorously to the proclamation as a few of them aro known to conform. Never was there such a demand for bottled Hejuors for consumption outside of hotels, and on every hand one can overhear men telling sympathetic friends bow dreadfully close they were to being without any drink from o o'clock on SMurclay evening till the following Monday. One might think from the rushes of men into hotels just before 6 p.m. that the purpose* was to share in the free distribution of sovereigns instead of to buy

a glass of drink or a bottled supply for the night. There are many and freo complaints by men about the present inability to obtain their accustomed liquid refreshment, which some of them declare to be a necessity, after working hours. The feeling amongst the wharf labourers of Sydney in this regard is said to bo so strong that they ■will probably decide to knock off work at 5 p.m., and refuse to do any overtime work while the early closing proclamation is in force. (A cable message has informed us that this proposal fell through). _ To the question as to how long this compulsory early closing under the War Precautions Act of the Commonwealth is likely to last, tho Assistant Minister of Defence (Senator Gardiner) states that the thing is intended to be only a temporary measure put into operation for a special period. This is generally understood to mean that the State Government has made known to the Federal authorities its intention to bring about early legislation for the earlier closing of liquor houses in substitution for the Federal proclamation. It is further understood that the proposed State legislation will provide for tho closing hour being made 9 p.m. instead of 11 p.m., as it is under the present State law. Quite recently a measure was brought before the State Parliament to bring the closing hour back to 9 p.m.. but for some reason not fully disclosed tho Government announced that the, hour must be 10 p.m. or the Bill •would bo blocked. Tho Legislative Council held out for 9 p.m., but the Government carried its threat into effect, and tho Bill was killed. Now lots of people are blaming the Premier (Mr Holman) and his colleagues for having brought about the 6 p.m. Federal proclamation by refusing to fall into line with public sentiment, other .States, and the desires of tho military authorities by agreeing to 9 p.m. So_ vigorous is the attack upon Mr Holman in this regard that his political friends are looking around for some striking manner of defence bo it is announced that at Friday night s meeting of the executive of the Political Labour League. Mr Meagher (president of the Legislative Council and also Lord Mayor of Sydney) will move a motion in effect censuring the Minister for defence on account of the injury done to the employers and employees in the liquor trade by his "precipitate" proclamation and denouncing the anti-Government campaign in connection therewith as primarily a Liberal scheme to make political partv capital out of the situation. One of the features of tho proclamation for 6 o'clock closing is that it applies not only to Sydney but also to all the territory within five miles of the site of a military training camp in New South Wales. Thus the position arises of hotels being compelled to shut at 6 p.m. in one town, while in another town only_ a little more than five miles away, and within easy access, the publicans can sell right up to 11 p.m., and the drinkers have five hours more m which to quench their thirsts. It is not surprising, therefore, that at several > places where military camps are located agitations have been started for tho closing of the camps. , , As to the Sydney pohco, they declare themselves greatly pleased with the 6 o'clock closing of hotels and its results. Prominent officers of the force have all along declared that it is the night liquor traffic which is responsible for most of the evils with which the police have to deal, last Saturday night was the first Saturday night.under 6 o'clock closing. Tho charge Bheet at the Central Police Court on Monday morning bore the names of only 38 alleged delinquents, while the ordinary averago for Monday morning at this court is about 100 cases. There were only a dozen charges of drunkenness, which is about a quarter of the Monday morning average before the early closing of bars. Of the remaining 26 cases the alleged offences were committed prior to the issue of Senator Pearce's proclamation. Since Monday morning the numbers of cases brought before the Central Police Court have been only a little more than half of what they were before the early closing. DRIVER'S HEROISM.

Amid the numerous stories of heroic deeds by soldiers at the front comes the tale of an Australian who in a splendid sense of duty as a Vorker sacrificed his life for the sake of fellow-beings. In the first accounts of the disaster through derailment which occurred to the Launceston-Hobart express train last week, and has been responsible for seven deaths so far, it was set out that the l driver of the train was imprisoned in the cab of his overturned engine, and there scalded to death by steam. But wo have learned since that tho driver, Phillip Goodchild, managed to get clear of the engine. However, anxious lest the boiler of the engine should burst and increase the disaster amongst those in the surrounding wreckage, he crawled back through escaping p.team to make the boiler safe. He was frightfully scalded from head to foot, and it was these injuries, deliberately submitted to, which ended his life. It (a pleasing to record that a movement has been started for a permanent memorial of hi 3 heroism.

GAS FOR PESTS

Recollecting that sometimes good may como out of evil, somo people have been looking around for a possible means of employing life-destroying gases for good purposes. One idea, which is receiving considerable attention, is that such gases might ibe tried on insect and animal pests that Borely trouble our farmers and orchardists. A proposal has been launched for the systematic use of gas for the wiping out of some of the hordes of flying foxes which have this season been phenomenally in evidence amongst our orchards, and have caused the destruction of many thousands of pounds' worth of fruit. The winged nuisance does its mischief at night, and during the daytime sleeps in rookeries in gullies and hollows. Endeavours havo been made to cope tvith the pest by getting parties of shooters to visit the rookeries, but the flying foxes are so numerous that this shooting method is slow and unsatisfactory. WAR BABIES.

It seems that we, too, have the " war fcabics" problem to deal with. Much of the time of the Victorian State Cabinet, at its meeting this week, was taken up with the consideration of the problem. It was decided that legislation should bo introduced to legitimise such babies. The Victorian Premier say 3 that the Chief Secretary's Department is being inundated _ with letters from soldiers at tho front asking that provision be mado for the legitimisation of their children born out of wedlock. In a good many cases the soldiers married the mothers before going to the front, but Begleoted to make the necessary applications to have their babies legitimised under the State laws. It ie being urged that action

on similar lines should be taken in the other States, but so far the other Governments do not seem impressed with the need for such legislation as is proposed in Victoria.