AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3382, 8 January 1919, Page 36

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The Victorian maternity bonus claims to date represent 99 per cent, of the total births since the Act became operative. It is understood that _ the State Ministry is considering the limitation of the bonus according to the salary of the bread-winner. The annual war pensions liability of the Commonwealth amounts to £4,438,196. It is estimated that the pay of the Expeditionary Force will involve an expenditure of £12,000,000. The Government is relaxing the restrictions imposed on the investment of capital in new business. Up to date the authorities have handled 4347 applications for the registration of new companies, and_ sanctioned the issue of capital amounting to £59,585,000. The Government refused to register a company formed to establish aerial communication with Europe, stating that permission for such undertakings cannot be granted to private persons or companies. During the year 4998 buildings were erected in Sj'dney, at a cost of £3,726,896, compared with 5401, at a cost of £3.595.992, for the previous year. The jSTew South Wales Alliance announces that it has planned for 1919 the biggest offensive against the liquor traffic ever attempted. The New South Wales Minister of Education is introducing a Bill nest session

making the education of deaf, dumb, and biind children compulsory. The One Big Union scheme is meeting with considerable opposition in ..Labour circles. One union leader states that a movement is now being inaugurated in opposition to it, as such a wild-cat venture could never succeed.

The Perth tram strike continues, the men stating that, as the Government is bent on starving them into submission, organised labour throughout Australia has been appealed to for assistance. An explosion in Redbank mine at Ipswich, Queensland, killed two men and entombed 20. A third man was badly injured. All the entombed men were rescued. Two severe earthquakes were recorded in Sydney on January 1. REVENUE RETURNS. The Now South Wales revenue for the half-year was £10,504,796—an increase of £1,694,921 over the previous corresponding year. The Victorian revenue for the half-year was £5,367,170, compared with £5,208,000 for the previous half-year. The Queensland revenue for the half-year was £4,365,643, . compared with £3,780,571 for the corresponding ueriod of the previous year. ESCAPE AND CAPTURE OF CONVICTS. Rathurst district was in a state of alarm at the escape of two life-sentence murderers, Steiner and Leigh. They worked in a blacksmith'.? shop at the gaol, and thus secured and hid some tools. Steiner cut a hole- in the c eiling of his cell, and then made a hole i n Leigh's cell. The men squeezed through naked, some clothes and a rope in the workshop, and scaled the outer wall during the temporary absence of a warder. Steiner left an intimation that he would never be recaptured a'ive. The two escapees were reoaptured, without resistance, 20 miles' south of the town The captured men spent two years preparing to "escape from < prison, boring through cement roof 3 of the cells with improvised tools. ESCAPE AND RECAPTURE OF ; GERMANS. Another prison sensation is reported. During the night of the Ist four German internees named Siemen, Carre. Shallock, and Reiser, escaped from the detention barracks at the old Darlinghurst Gaol. They improvised a rope out of blankets, scaled the high walls, and got clear away. The mysterious part of the affair was that the doors of their separate empty cells were found securely locked and- barred, and also another door through which they had mad© their exit. Three •of the escapees were prominent athletes, and Carre had made previous escapes from detention camps. The three' German escapees were recaptured. They confessed that they used skeleton keys. A VIOLENT THUNDERSTORM. A terrific, thunderstorm, lasting for 20. minutes, accompanied by a high wind and a deluge of rain and monster hailstones, on Saturday afternoon, did great damage in Sydney and suburbs, particularly in the eastern suburbs,. . Windows and' skylights were smashed in a wholesale fashion, and roofs were lifted, so that the water spoiled large quantities of stock in the shops and warehouses Many sailing boats capsized in the harbour, and a woman was killed by lightning at Bondi. The storm cleared as suddenly as it arose, and eased the' intense heat prevalent for many days.