AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 66, 1 November 1911, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

IMMIGRATION. Sydney, October 31. The steamer Pakoha arrived with 1128 emigrant:-. She also carried fourteen of the crew of the wrecked Papanui. UNION'S APPLICATION DISMISSED. Sydney, October 31. Judge Scholes dismissed tho application of tho Furniture Trades Society, asking for power to enforce a levy on members in support of the women and children: involved in tho coal strike, on the grounds tiiat the raising of strike levies' was against the spirit of the Industrial Arbitration Act, and any contract made to pay levies being void, as against public policy. WILFUL DAMAGE. Sydney,-.October 31. Four pictures valued at £2OO, hung at the Society of Women Painters' exhibition, were destroyed by scratches and cuts. Deliberate vandalism is apparent. "0 N.S.W. DRINK BILL. Sydney, October 31. Archdeacon Boyco's annual estimate of tho' drink bill of New South Wales for 1910 is £5,724,984, or £3 10s Gd pei- head, as against £3 Cs 9d in 1909.

(Received 1, 8.5 a.m.) Sydney, November 1

Archdeacon Boyce attributes tho increase of the wonderfully prosperous year to the continued enlargement of the spending powers of the people. Last Vear they benefited only to a anall extent from the reduction of licenses by the local option poll. , The majority of the voted-out hotels are still open, but many private immoral bars and bogus clubs have been closed. The bars were shut on election clays, and Sunday closing was fairly complete. Convictions for drunkenness on Sunday had decreased from 1350 to 326. Local option had already done much to keep down the" drink bill. A remarkable feature'was the growth of the consumption of colonial beer—the workers' beverage. One million and seventy-seven thousand gallons more was drunk than during tho previous vear, while the consumption of spirits increased by a hundred'- and twen-ty-eight thousand four hundred .and seventy gallons. , >•■..■;..

ENTERTAINED. Sydney, November 1. Mr. Jackson, 'manager of the Union Company, was entertained by members of the Steamship Owners' Federation, prior to taking an extended holiday. FEDERAL DRINK BILL. Melbourne, November 1. The drink bill of the Federal Parliament, including visitors and-func-tions, is less than a penny pei- member per day. BOUND FOR NEW ZEALAND. Fremantle, November 1. General Sir S. Dorward is a passenger by the Orvieto. He is proceeding to Zealand.