AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Otago Witness, Issue 3869, 8 May 1928, Page 31

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

SIR HUGH DENISON. MELBOURNE, May 1. Sir Hugh Denison, who has just relinquished the High Commissionership in America, interviewed on board the Chitral, declared: “A mere Commissioner in New York has neither status nor authority. We must have a Commissioner in Washington like every other foreign country. Plenty of money is available in America on loan from 5} to per cent.” INDUSTRIAL UNREST. MELBOURNE, May 1. Dealing with the plaint of the Merchant Service Guild on the Arbitration Court, Mr Justice Detheridge declared that he would not allow himself to be dragooned or browbeaten by militant unions into giving preferences to unionists, because to give a monopoly, or what was substantially a monopoly, to a body of men was vicious. It seemed to him from Queensland’s experience that preference did not remove industrial unrest; rather did it elog discipline. THE QUEENSLAND FLOODS. BRISBANE, May 1. The flood waters are receding in all the stricken districts, and the train services are being resumed. The latest reports indicate that the cotton crop will not be destroyed, as was at first anticipated. STORMS IN BASS STRAITS. SYDNEY, May 1. Terrific storms are raging in Bass Straits, greatly delaying shipping. EMPIRE EXHIBITION. CANBERRA, May 1. The Federal Government has announced that the Empire exhibition will be held in Sydney in 1932, which is a year later than was originally intended. SPURIOUS BANK NOTES. MELBOURNE, May 2. Three additional arrests have been made following the seizure of 10,000 spurious £5 notes. The names of those arrested are: John Howarth, of Geelong, contractor; Ralph Miller, of Geelong, farmer; and Benjamin Thomas, of Geelong, tailor. Bail was allowed. TIMBER WORKERS’ AWARD. MELBOURNE, May 2. Mr Justice Lukin, in the Arbitration Court, in delivering judgment in the timber workers’ case, fixed the hours at 48 for sawmills dealing with Australian or foreign timbers. NEW SOUTH WALES FINANCES. SYDNEY, May 2. The State finances reveal a deficit of £2,655,000 for hte 10 months of he financial yers. The revenue shows an increase of £1,724,000. THE LABOUR PARTY. SYDNEY, May 2. The delegates of the Miners’ Federation at the Easter conference of the Australian Labour Party have prepared a report declaring that the Labour Party was never so reactionary or “ yellow" as it is at present. It is divided and split, they say, into job-hunting, intriguing scaremongers. PUBLIC DEBT OF COMMONWEALTH. SYDNEY, May 2. The Commonwealth and States raised between them last year £180,555,111, equivalent to £29 10s Id per head of the population. The Public Debt of the Commonwealth at June, 1927, was £461,000,000. MOTHER AND SON. SYDNEY, May 2. A pathetic reunion occurred between George M'Quay and his mother (from New Zealand) at the Callan Park Mental Hospital. M'Quay was formerly of the New Zealand forces, and had been miss--3 ing for 13 years, since the Gallipoli operations. They talked together and recalled past incidents. The doctors think that M'Quay’s mental condition will gradually improve. The mother and son are leaving for New Zealand on Friday. LABOUR SECRETARY FINED. BRISBANE, May 2. Herbert Carrigan, secretary of the Queensland Seamen’s Union, was fined £lOO, in default a month’s imprisonment, for a breach of the Federal Crimes Act, namely, inciting the crew of the lighthouse steamer Cape York to strike. He was also ordered to pay £l5O costs. The magistrate severely rebuked Carrigan, and said that it was only because it was the first prosecution of the kind that he did not send him to prison. THE FEDERAL BASIC WAGE. SYDNEY, May 2. The Federal basic wage in New South 'Wales has been reduced by Is weekly WARSHIP AUSTRALIA. LONDON, May 2. The warship Australia has been commissioned at Portsmouth.

THE RUBBER INDUSTRY. MELBOURNE, May 2. A Port Moresby radio message states that a representative of the rubber planters in Papua has sought a bounty from the Lieutenant-Governor, declaring that owing to the collapse of the price of rubber the plantations will be compelled to close if financial aid is withheld, resulting in the cancellation of native labour contracts and the dismissal of European employees. The Lieutenant-Governor has forwarded the request to the Minister of Territories. ■ THE DARWIN MURDER. DARWIN, May 3. Blanche Hill was committed for trial on a charge of murdering her husband. Evidence was given that Mrs Hill and Solomon, who is charged with vagrancy, were intimate friends, and a letter revealing the woman’s infidelity and her desire to do away with her husband was read. INDECENT NEWSPAPERS. CANBERRA, May 3. The Commonwealth is tightening the laws against indecent newspapers. The Senate passed the second reading of a Bill for the deregistration of any publication containing indecent, obscene, immoral, and seditious matter. TO ENSURE RACIAL PURITY. SYDNEY, May 3. The Prime Minister, replying to questions on foreign migration, in the House of Representatives, said that the Ministry’s policy had been to ensure racial purity, but that object was not being realised, consequently the Ministry was in negotiation with certain Governments, the names of which he was not at present disclosing, on the subject of further restrictions on migrants. MARINE COOKS’ AWARD. MELBOURNE, May 4. At the Federal Arbitration Court, Mr Justice Dethbridge suspended the marine cooks’ award as from midnight to-night. The hearing of the case lasted just over one minute, a representative of the Commonwealth Ship Owners’ Association stating that the position was unchanged, and asking the court to give effect to the warning previously given. Mr Justice Dethbridge, in delivering judgment, said: “It is manifest that the union and the members are still indulging in direct action, and my order suspending the award must operate as from midnight. NEWSPRINT INDUSTRY. HOART, ay 4. The Premier (Mr J. A. Lyons) announces that the site for the wood pulp and newsprint industry has been fixed at Burnie. The first section of the works is estimated to cost £1,000,000. The venture is receiving support from all the principal Australian newspapers. Mr Gerald Mussen, who takes control, is going to London to make final arrangements. SALE OF COMMONWEALTH LINE. CANBERRA, May 4. Mr Scullin’s censure motion in the House of Representatives condemning the Bruce Government for selling the Commonwealth ships was defeated by 36 votes to 21. Dr Earl Page (treasurer) declared that the seamen had ruined the opportunities of making the vessels successful. There were 27 waterside disputes in 1927, involving 27,620 men, representing a loss of 161,580 working days and £128,900 in wages. SIX DESTROYERS LAID UP. SYDNEY, May 4. Six destroyers belonging to the Australian fleet have been laid up and placed on the permanent reserve list. Each ship has a fine war service record. The Parramatta and the Yarra were commissioned in 1910, the Warego in 1911, the Hame in 1914, and the Swan and Torrens in 1915. UNEMPLOYMENT SERIOUS. MELBOURNE, May 6. A Trades Hall Council return snows that 15.000 unionists are without work. The largest section is carpenters* and builders’ labourers, with 2500. The total is the biggest the city has known for many years MOTOR VEHICLES COLLIDE. MELBOURNE, May 6. A loaded motor bus collided with a market gardener’s motor lorry at a street intersection near Parliament House. The bus was overturned, and three men and 16 women -were injured, mostly not seriously. The bus had the roof wrenched off, and the plate glass windows were smashed, while the occupants were spilled on the roadway. The wonder is that the casualties were not more serious.