AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3487, 11 January 1921, Page 36

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

The South Australian general election will be held on April 9. The date of closing the New S-outh Wales State loan of £3,000,000 has bec-n extended to February 1. The New South Wales Fair Rents Court during the year reduced rents in 146 cases and increased them in 243 cases. The New South Wales Government Statistician reports that at the end of 1920 food , prices were 85.8 per cent, higher than in 1914. Regulations have been issued to prohibit the use of the word “Anzac” in trade, business houses, boats, or vehicles. New buildings in Sydney and suburbs during 1920 cost £9,273,659, compared with £4,788,804 for the previous year. The gold yield of West Australia for the past year was 617,842 fine ounces, 111,221 ounces below the previous year. The Federal income tax authorities are seeking returns from tho English cricketers to ascertain whether their incomes are taxable. After a conference between the Sydney University Council and the Government, the Hon. J. i. G. M’Girr announced that it had been decided to appoint a professor to a new Chair of Psychiatry, at the University. A head-on collision between a motor ear and a steam tram at Parramatta, New South Wales, resulted in the death of the three occupants of the car. A motor containing six persons was run down by a train at Woywoy bridge, New South Wales. A man and a woman and two children were killed. The transcontinental railway during the past- year was run at a loss of £42,640. The total loss to date on the line, which cost over £7,C00,0C0 to construct, has been £746,000. Eire destroyed the mill yard and portion of the Australian Timber Company’s premises at Haherfield, New South Wales. The damage is estimated at £IO,OOO. Mrs Mort is still in hospital. She is slowly recovering. The hearing of the charge against, her of murdering Dr Tozer has been further postponed for a week. It is anticipated that- the Victorian wheat harvest will exceed the estimate of 42,000,000 bushels 1m 3 COO,OOO bushels Mr Con Wallace, who resigned the West Sydney seat for Mr Evan at the Federal elections, has resigned the position of shipping master at Brisbane, to which he was appointed by the Queensland Government, on the grounds that the salary is inadequate. The New Smith Wales Treasury officials estimate that during the past financial year the betting transactions with bookmakers on racehorses amounted to £l-5,000.000. An estimate of the totalizator investments for the same period amounted to £10.000.000. it- is suggested that Riverina. following the lend of the Northern Tablelands, should agitate for a separate State or become attached to Victoria. A section of the Melbourne press is giving prominence to tho question. The bankruptcy net-i Pons in New South Wales for 1920 totalled 344. The statement of affairs showed liabilities at £204.593. and as-T-t-s at £139.549. Labourers, miners-, and t iidd-rs w.-re tho occupations of most of the bank ru.nts. FIRE TN SYDNEY. A fire in Elizabeth street. Sydney destroyed the top-storey above Little’s furniture emporium, including the Church Missionary Society’s rooms, with an exceptionally valuable library and collection of curios. Tlie Pit-s Club and Journalists’ Association’s rooms were badly damaged. The fire

spread so rapidly that a number of pressmen barely escaped. Two were trapped, but the firemen, with a ladder, rescued them from a window. The damage is estimated at £IO,COO. TRADE PROSPECTS FOR 1921. According to a Sydney softgoods retailer’s opinion a general decline in jurices is expected during the coming year. The warehouses regard a fall as inevitable. Boot manufacturers state that there lias been a 20 per cent, fall since July. COAL OUTPUT. The New South Wales owners are concerned at the continued reduction in the output. The 1913 output was 12,500,0X30 t-ons; in 1919 it was 9,000,000 tons, though tho number of men had increased by 1267 during the same period. The output per man m 1913 was 553 tons; in 1919. 549 tons; and m 1920, 490 tons. The working hours average six daily. The output is 6,000,000 tons below the market requirements and 1,000,000 below the Australian consumption. Mr S. president of the Illawarra Coal Miners’ Union, replying to the charge of. reduced output, stated "that the Australian miners produced considerably more daily than the American miners, and twice as much as the British miners.