AUSTRALIAN ITEMS

Waikato Argus, Volume XV, Issue 6044, 18 September 1903, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS

nEAVY RAINS. Sydney, September 17. HEAVY rains have falleu in the Broken Hill district, the streets being flooded. The creeks are bank high. There has been a useful fall over a large portion of the interior, spreading to the coastal districts. Rain began in Sydney yesterday night, and still continues. Queensland reports good rain in the south-eastern districts. In South Australia it is very heavy in the far north. Brisbane, September 17. Heavy rains have fallen in the southern and central divisions of the State. The Mitchell River is rising rapidly, and a big flood is expected. The Porcupine Pluins are flooded, and the water is over the central railway in several places. SMALLPOX. Sydney. September 17. If no case of smallpox is reported before Saturday next the Tasmanian Government will remove the vaccination restrictions on passengers by rail and steamer at Launceston. The outbreak in Tasmania has had a deterrent effect on the usual -tourist bookings for the ensuing season from this State and caused an enquiry for passages to New Zealand, but the quarantine delays imposed by that colony are likely to affect the stream of tourists in that direction, unless modified, diverting visitors to the New South Wales summer resorts. QUEENSLAND POLITICS. Brisbane, September 17. The new Ministry was sworn in as follows:—Premier and Chief Secretary of Railways, Mr Morgan ; Minister for Mines and Works, Mr>Brown : Treasurer, Mr Kingston ; Minister for Agriculture and Home Secretary, Mr Denham; Minister for Lands, Mr Bell; Attorney-General, Mr Blair; Minister for Education and Leader of the Government in the Upper House, Mr Barlow. SEAMEN AND EMPLOYERS' FEDERATION. . Melbourne, September 17. The secretaries of the seamen's unions in Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide, in a joint letter, have asked the Steamship Owners' Federation to renew the existing agreement for another year from January next. It is understood that the request will bo complied with. THE GAMBLING EVIL. Sydney, September 17. Giving evidence before the Select Committee inquiring into the gambling evil, a well-known turf agent estimated that the Sydney bookmakers' annual turnover was £3,408,000. He advocated the licensing of bookmakers and ten per cent, tax on their turnover. TASMANIA'S CENTENARY. Hobart, September 17. Lord Ranfurly cabled to the Governor congratulations on Tasmania's centenary. A FATAL BRAWL. I Sydney, September 17. During a drunken ' row among the crew of the French barque St, Louis, a sailor named Ducroix fatally stabbed another sailor named Sohier. THE FLAGSHIP. Sydney, September 17. The Admiral ia sailing in the flagship for Singapore to-dny. AS OTHERS SEE US. Svdnev, September 17 The Sydney Daily Teh graph, commending Mr Seddon's proposed curtail, ment of public expenditure to the attention of the New South Wales Government, says : Production continue* to expand, and New Zealand is ahout the most prosperous of the Australasian group, and might, more safely than most, if,not all others, financially anticipate the future. Instead of doing that and taking the chances, Mr S-ddcn adt.pt3 the course of so trimmirjg his expenditure down that the country can almost live within its income. That is a patriotic courte, inasmuch as it evidences the Premier's sturdy determination that the country shall show its ability to live on what it earns, and is commendable for the further reasons that it indicates the will and capability of the Government, which hitherto has largely fallowed a policy involving liberal expenditure, to grapple with the ta»k aud take the eeponsibilities of thrifty administration.