Australian News.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 43, 15 February 1923, Page 7

Australian News.

-■ - MOTORIST’S NARROW ESCAPE.

Melbourne, February 4,

A motor car containing a party of Beudigonians was run down by a light engine while crossing the railway line near Diggers’ Rest station, and the four occupants were more or less seriously injured. The front of the car was a few feet over the eastern rail when the impact occurred. The under car was hurled clear of the line in a crumpled heap.

Mr Aunmack, th e driver, had an extraordinary escape. H 4 was projected on to the front platform of the engine, and carr’ed to the north end of the station before the engine was brought to a standstill. Although dazed and severely shaken, he was able to go to the assistance of the other occupants of the car. HOTEL RECORD. AFTER 87 YEARS. West Maitland, February 4. After being in the hands of the Risby family for "87 years, the Falls Hotel, in Sempill Street, West Maitland,) has closed, the license having been transferred to Cessnock. The license was first held by Joseph Risby, and upon his death his widow carried on until 1893. Then the son, Charles Risby, held the l.cense until his death, in 1919, since when his' wife, Mrs F. Risby, had conducted the hotel. During the !whole period of 87 /ears not one conviction was recorded against the hotel, nor was there a single prosecution. The name of the hotel was derived from small falls on the Hunter River, Just opposite the building, which served as a crossing-place for many years. BENZINE DEATH. WOMAN FATALLY BURNED. Brisbane, February 5. A Rockhampton message states that Mrs Rebecca Allen Ford, employed as housekeeper at the single men’s quarters at Cullinlaringo station, died in Bpringsure .Hospital early on Saturday afternoon, as the result of serious bums. Before retiring ofl Friday evening she bathed her feqt, .with- benzine as a cure , for corns. She then walked into her bedroom and struck a match to light a candle when her clothing ignited. Her screams attracted John Edward Goodman, a station employee, and he rushed to her assistance and endeavvored to put out the flames with his hands, at the same time calling for help.

FAIL INTO HARBOR. GIRL AND BABY. Sydney, February 5. The departure of the steamer Ulimaroa from Darling Harbor for New Zealand on Saturday was attended by considerable exc tement, owing' to a t,he sightseers on the water hotwhei£,thh Reamer and" tHe shore. Miss ltda in had-come 'dbwfT'hh' the vri&ti to watch the departure of some friends. She carried in her arms a six-months-old baby, Eileen Padsten. In the excitement she missed her footing, and plunged, with the baby still in her grasp, over the edge of the wharf into deep water. Her mishap was noticed at once, and Steven John Loveridge, a fireman on the ship, plunged over the side to the rescue. He was followled by Joseph Parle, a trimmer on the steamer Gallic, who was on the wharf. Although the girl could not swim, sh(| managed to support herself and keep the baby’s head out of the water until her rescuers got to her. She was < pulled on to the wharf, not much ■ the worse. The Civil Ambulance took the girl and the baby to Sydney Hospital, where they were attended to by Dr Flattery, Miss BenneKt for shock, and the baby for slight injuries to the head.

“CONVICTS’ SETTLEMENT.”

LIFE UNDER PROHIBITION,

“An echo from the far-off days of cold and bitter puritanism,” is how Rev. Harry Bryant, rector of Burwood, defines th e prohibition movement. In the parish magazine of St. Paul's, Burwood, Rev. Bryant takes the prohibitionists to task for “Instilling a puritanism that would endeavor to eliminate from life its every joy and solace, from every voice the sound of laughter, and from every face the brightness of u smile.” “Reform is indeed imperative with regard to the liquor trade to-day,” h e states, “but the prohibitionist refuses to work for temperance or reform; he will have nothing hut compulsory sobriety, oblivious to the fact that compulsion robs sobriety of every trace of the Christian virtue of temperance and self-control of every penny-worth of moral value. Were existing legislation to be rigidly enforced and breweries and publicans compelled to consider some other aim than that of growing fat on tb e weakness of their fel-

low-men we should be spared much of the shame and suffering which is directly due to excessive drinking.

“God made the world that His sons and daughters might be happy,” Mr Bryant submits. “The prohibitionist is seeking to turn it into a convicts’ settlement.”