AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3331, 16 January 1918, Page 24

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

(From Oub Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 18. The excesses into which otherwise fairly decent men are led by this wearisome conscription argument was illustrated in court proceedings in Melbourne the other day, when John William Billson, deputy leader of the Labour Party in tho Victorian Parliament, was charged with making a statement likely to prejudice / British relations with France. It appeared'that Billson was addressing an anti-conscription meeting, and producing the usual arguments against the sending of men out of the country. He said that if too many Australian men were sent out of Australia, the same thing might happen as in Franco, where masses of Chinese labourers, having been introduced, were debauching the women of France. Even at the meeting this statement aroused a hostile demonstration, and the authorities lost no time in instituting a prosecution. , Billson declared emphatically that the wrong meaning had been taken from his words—that he was merely seeking to emphasise the danger of a coloured influx, and was not reflecting upon Frenchwomen as a whole. _,.,••»» \ The magistrate (Mr E. Notley Moore) found that the defendant made the statements attributed to him, but he did not think that tho statements were likely to prejudice our relations with Franco. fetich statements," proceeded' the magistrate "were a loatlisomo libel on the women of France, and offensive to the people ot China, and implied that not only wouldl the women oL Franco be unfaithful to their husbands, but that the women of Australia would be the same." Defendant: No, I did not. The Magistrate: It was a disgraceful and filthy lie. If a gutter snipe had used the language it would have been unworthy ot him. ' . ~ Defendant: Your language is unworthy. The Magistrate: Don r t you interrupt! For a member of the Legislature to utter such a wicked slander, to make such an abom.inab,le statement, passes my comprehension. Discharged. , , , The Argus, in a very warmly-worded leader, declared that, after such a tonguelashing, Mr Billson had no option—he must resign. . •■ Mr Billson is a man of flood reputation, both as a publio and private citizen. But this idiotio quarrel and clamour about conscription caused him, like many more, to get things out of perspective. ISOLATED GERMAN COMMUNITY. Right away in the very centre of Australia, tucked away in a valley of the Macdonnell Ranges, there is a little German community which pursues the even tenor of its way, maintaining an atmosphere purely German, and undisturbed by the clamour of a world at war. The place is called Hermansburg, and it is a Lutheran mission station. It is occupied exclusively by Germans, who were either? born in Germany, or are/ of direct German parentage. They have rarely been known to employ a white man of any but German nationality, and they depend largely for their labour on the natives, who are obtained free under the guise of their religion. The station is in charge of a man named Strelow. His chief assistant is a. German, and his stock expert is named Munnchenberg. Ostensibly, the Christianising of the natives is the principal business of the mission statioji, but cattle breeding holds a foremost place among its worldly activities. As the colony is at the extreme end of the mail route, and at tho southern extremity of the Northern Territory, it is rarely visited by other settlers,, and very little is known about it, even by Government officials. It depends for its supplies on Tanunda, a fiercely German little place in South Australia.

The land is rent free, because the place is a "religious settlement," and a paternal Government supplies it with a free mail—whereas other settlers have to pay for mail services. The Central Australian grazier who recently conveyed the foregoing information to the Federal authorities _ says of Hermansburg's Christianising activities: "These Germans have been in .occupation for 40 years, but little or no efT.ct can be seen among the natives who are alleged to have' received the blessings of Christianity at their hands. The natives may bo Christians while working for nothing at the mission, but it is quite plain to everyone around that when they leave they shed-their Christianity with their clothes."

These Germans have consistently refused to respond to Australian patriotic appeals. .lust before tho war, Strelow took his family to Germany to be oducated, and there is reason to believe that at least one of his sons is fighting witli tho Germans. It seems to be a harmless. enough little community, but the British residents of that wide region who are beginning to learn something about the German charactei-, are beginning to be rostless. and to ask that, at least, those Germans should enjoy no privileges at the hands of the Australian Government. THE COMMONWEALTH POLICE. Tho appointment of the Commonwealth Polio© Force—for, as some persist in calling them, "Billy Hughee's police"—has opened the door on a quit. Interesting field of speculation. It appears that every part of tho Commonwealth, is not to be Fedcrally pollced; the Common wealth men are to appear only In certaan localities, as tJiey are required." Thero one will be treated to the extraordinary eight of two kinds of policemen on patrol The new Commissioner says that there will be quite enough work to engage the undivided attention of the Federal Police. They will provide special guards and escorts. In the event of a troubled meeting, " it would depend upon whether it was a Federal matter, having a Federal bearing," before the Federal police would take action. If men in the street became argumentative, and developed riotous behaviour, that would hardly bo a Federal affair. Generally, the Commissioner's definition of the duties of his new force was vague.

The appearance of Federal police in any particular locality' will necessarily mean a conflict between FcdeiT.l and State authority ; because, under normal conditions, all poiice work ifl quite satisfactorily clone by the State police. Mr Hughes, for instance, would have had Federal police- with him on his recent visit to Queensland, whore his reception was hostile; and that might quite conceivably have led to a fight between the two classes of police. Therefore, it is to be questioned if the creation of this force is a wise step. In the hands of a hot-tempered, impulsive politician, it might quite, easily bring about a calamitous state of affairs.

DREADNOUGHT OF THE AIR

Mr G. H. B. Austin, a member of tine Victorian Institute of Architects, has invented an autontatic balancing airship which he regards as tho " future Dreadnought of the air," and as a vehicle of comfort and safety for .passengers, as well as a transport carrier. _ Models' of it, and photographs of a machine modelled on his plans and spreading wings through the air, wero exhibited in Sydney on Friday. Mr Austin eays that with an engine of 1000 h.p. and 10,000 square feet of wing, it will be possible, on his automatic .balancing principle, to ovolve an airship that .will travel up to 200 miles an hour and will lift 15 tons, or carry 100 passengers in carridorpars, heated and lighted with electrioity. The Defence Department is submitting the (plans to tho British authorities. Mr Austin claims that a machine on his principle- could outrange the guns carried by the largest superZoppelin.