AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 4038, 4 August 1931, Page 24

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

DESPERATE HOUSEBREAKERS. SYDNEY, July 28. After arresting two housebreakers redhanded at Vaucluse, Constable Ulrich commanded the pair to ride in his sidecar to the lock-up. He had just started his machine when one man seized a revolver from the constable’s holster and shot him in the breast. The side-car collided with the kerb and the robbers escaped They held up a motorist and compelled him to drive them io SurryHills, where they stopped the car and disappeared. Constable Ulrich’s condition is serious. UNEMPLOYMENT MENACE. CANBERRA, July 28. The Commonwealth Statistician’s figures show that the rate of unemployment has increased since the beginning of 1929, when it was 9.3 per cent., to 27.6 p?r cent, during the second quarter of this year. It is estimated that the total number of unemployed in the country is 4G3,400. DEATH RATE IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY, July 28. In presenting his health report for June to the Health Department of the City Council, Dr Purdy said that Sydney had had a phenomenal health record foi» the first six months of the present year. The general death rate for the metropolis was only 8.4 per 1009 of the population. Sydney has the record for the lowest death rate for the past 10 years of any city with a population of more than half a million. GALE IN THE TASMAN. SYDNEY, July 31. A westerly gale developed almost to cyclonic force over the Tasman. The steamer Kartigi, from Auckland to Sydney, has been delayed about two days with her engines set at full speed ahead battling with the wind and waves. She has only been able to face the gale at three knots. A radio message from the captain stated that the ship struck the full force of the gale and could make little headway. TASMANIAN POLITICS. HOBART, July 31. The Government suffered a reverse in the Assembly, when eight of its members voted with the Opposition against the Wages Board Bill, which sought to reduce all wages prescribed by the Wages Board by 10 per cent., making the figures at June 30, 1930, as the basis. A motion for shelving the Bill for six months was carried. TWO MEN BURNED TO DEATH. SYDNEY, July 31. A motor lorry containing two families which were going for a week-end in the country overturned on the southern road. The two wives and seven children were thrown clear unharmed, but the husbands—John Milligan, aged 25, and Seymour Dyke, aged 35—were pinned under the driving compartment of the lorry, which took lire. The men were burned to death in the presence of their wives, who tried in vain to extricate them. COMMUNISTS ARRESTED. BRISBANE, August 2. Two attempts by Communists to celebrate International Red Day in the city were frustrated by the police after scuffles with the Communists. Several persons, including a woman, Were arrested. THE SYDNEY PROCESSION. SYDNEY, August 2. The Communists’ march through the city streets to the Domain to-day passed off quietly. The procession of men, women, and children, many of whom came from the suburban areas, did not exceed 3000, the members carrying banners bearing extremist devices. The police were reinforced, but were not called upon. THE POLICE DEFIED. MELBOURNE, August 2. The leaders of the Communist procession declined to follow the route indicated by the police to avoid interference with the busy traffic in the streets. A clash followed with the police, whose swinging batons soon induced the members of the procession to abandon their defiant attitude.