AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3430, 9 December 1919, Page 45

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The divorce boom in Sydney continues, and the 1200 mark has been reached. The Commonwealth note issue amounts to £54,643.232, and the gold reserve is £23,632,177. An expedition from the London Tropical School of Medicine has arrived at Sydney en routo to the and Ellice Islands to investigate tropical diseases. The Sydney university has created a new ohair, the Professorship of Medicine, to which Dr A. E. Mills has been appointed. The quarantine authorities are advised that there has been an extensive outbreak of smallpox in Canada. Precautions will be taken. The West Australian Legislative Assembly decided in favour of increasing members' salaries from £3OO to £4OO a year. General Birdwood is to arrive in West Australia on December 7, and is to leave Sydney for "New Zealand on January 3. The Federal Government has arranged to provide 285,000 tons of sugar to meet requirements to the end of June, 1920. , The Tasmanian Government is asking Parliament to authorise the purchase or construction of six "steamers at a cost of £500,000. The Royal Commissioner, acting as Administrator of the Northern Territory, and the new police patrol have arrived at Dar- j win. There was no demonstration,. i The Federal Government announces that it is" giving the Northern Territory a representative in the Senate, who will be entitled to speak and vote on all territorial questions. A paper store at Port Adelaide belonging to the newspaper Advertiser was destroyed by fire, 'the damage amounting to . £30,000. ; ! Mr Lawson (Victorian Premier) announces that he has received a message from Lord Milner (Secretary of State for the Colonies) that a new Governor will not be appointed to Victoria for six months, pending the result of* the Commonwealth Convention, which will discuss the redistribution of State and Federal powers. John Keep and Sons' six-storey hardware warehouse In Sydney, containing heavy stores, was completely gutted. The sparks lighted Bloomfield's five-story ship chand- i lery two streets away, and it was practically | gutted. The damage at Keep's is estimated at £250,000, which is covered by insurance. Besides Broomfield's. three other small outbreaks in adjoining buildings were subdued. Keep's insurances include £4OOO with the New Zealand Insurance Company and £SOOO with the North British. A new clause was added to the Victorian Health Bill empowering the employment of doctors as . Government or munWpnl officers, their duties to embrace attendance on persons entitled to it, under any friendly society whjph entered into an agreement with the Minister of Health or the municipality. Trie West Australian Legislative Council rejected the Constitution Amendment Bill, which had passed the Lower House, and provided for household suffrage as the franchise for the Council and the extension of the life of the present Parliament.

UNDESIRABLES CAUSE TROUBLE, There was a riot at Charleville, Queensland, where a band of .returned soldiers decided to clear the town of undesirables. Many conflicts occurred with the police, and several were injured. Further Woodshed was avoided by the police promising to clear the town. All hotels were closed. A DOMESTIO TRAGEDY; A domestic tragedy is ' reported from Sunny Bank, New South Wales. A Russian quarrelled with his wife. He produced a revolver and commenced shooting-. His wife jumped from a window and suffered internal injuries Th» husband then turned the revolver on the children, t of whom he shot five, and then shot himself. The mother rescued the baby uninjured, and another lad escaped. One girl died en route to the hospital. -The bodies of three children, aged 11, 13, and 16. were found in Richmond River, New South Wales. It is believed that the boy got out of his depth while bathing, and that his two sisters, in an attempt to rescue him, were also drowned.