AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15271, 22 June 1923, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

GENERAL SUMMARY.

(Speoial to Times.) MELBOURNE, June 12. £400,000 In 15 Minutes. Four hundred thousand pounds were • subscribed within 15 minutes to the new loan floated by the Metropolitan Board of Works for the extension of water supply, sewerage, and redemption of maturing loans. Over 90 per cent, of this sum was subscribed by three wealthy Melbourne brokerage firms. The conditions of the loan—tern years at 5i per cent.—made a strong appeal to some financiers, and it was arranged that the applicants should form a queue at the entrance of the building. Representatives of the three chief subscribers took their stand at 4.30 a.m. It is said that, In order to be early off the mark, they occupied rooms at an adjacent hotel. When the dSors were open at nine o’clock some forty persons were in the queue. By a quarter past nine the whole sum required had been subscribed. Valueless Cheque Cheat. Confidence men are operating vigorously in Melbourne just now. The latest of the species is a one-eyed rogue who Is having a most successful run. Most of .his tricks are worked ill a similar way; the following is one Of the most recent of them. He called at the residence of a man whp runs two cars for hire, and, posing as an old friend of the car driver (who was absent) told his wife that he wished to pay a deposit of three pounds for the hire of a car for the following day. He tendered a cheque for five pounds, receiving in return a receipt for three pounds and two pounds in cash from the unsuspecting woman. The man was seen no more and in several days the return of the cheque bearing the stamp “no account” fully convinced them that they had been “had." Despite the publicity being given to this man, and the fact that all the detectives here know him and are on his .■tracks, fresh cases or fraud committed by him are being continuously reported. Domestic Art School. Some persons are under the impression that domestic art schools are a “fad,” but members of the Rotary Club, Melbourne, are of a different opinion. They chose the Bell Street School of Domestic Arts as the scene of their weekly luncheon. It somewhat taxed the school-girl cooks’ resources that day to provide for 60 guests. Cheese 'straws and salted almonds were included in a fourcourse meal of excellent quality. The guests expressed pleasure, and when they rose to depart they gave three cheers to the cooks. The course Id. domestic arts varies from two to three years, and the girls keep only enough patrons to “practise on." A “Hole In . the Wall.” Shortly after Cr Swanson, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne ordered a doorway t 0 be made in the west wall of the Town Hall to give easy access to the offices of the Metropolitan Hospitals Fund, a movement recently started by him, a perfect storm of opposition was raised by many of the city councillors and the work which had already begun, was stopped. Great was the dissension in the Council. Sides were taken, and the opposing party was under the leadership of the chairman of the Town Planning Commission, Councillor Stapley, who objected to the proposal on the grounds that a “hole in the wall’ would ruin the architectural beauty of the buildings, and that it had not been sanctioned by the council. Councillor Swanson avers that it was. It is thought that Cr Stapley’s real reason for. his objection is that the doorway is to give access to a whole suite of rooms given by the mayor for the Hospital’s Fund’s offices “at nothing a year,” and at the same time the mayor refused to give the Town Planning Commission any accommodation at all within the Town Hall. Cr Stapley resigned in indignation. A special meeting of the Council was held and in the end, it was announced that all misunderstanding had been removed, and that the opposing factions were united. Consequently the making of the door-way was continued. Although deserted by most of his followers, Cr Stapley refuses to accept the olive branch and is still at loggerheads with the Mayor. He intends yet to have the ‘‘hole in the .wall" filled up.

, Plight of South Melbournians,

Rats and rain are almost distracting many house-holders In a section of South Melbourne. On account of the faulty drainage system, the rain water lodges in certain low-lying places, and then flows in the front doors of the houses, and through the rooms. Rats, in numbers, flooded out from the lower regions, invade the houses. They scamper about the floors in the day time and over the sleepers at night. One man declared that every wet season he has to take off his boots and sox, and wade through a sea of water in the street to reach his dwelling. Shortage of houses prevents tenants from seeking homes in more congenial Quarters. Parliament, Councillors and agents have been approached from time to time but without success, and this state of affairs has continued for some eighteen years. When the ;water abates, a foul odour pervades the houses, furniture is covered with mildew and flooring boards become rotten. Rheumatism and influenza are very prevalent in South Melbourne. Doctors in the locality deplore the conditions and emphasise the grave danger of diphtheria or some other serious epidemic resulting from it.

Vloilant Police.

1 There has been a public outcry that the Melbourne police force is deficient in energy and numbers. Robberies and assaults are being committed daily and nightly, and the offenders arc still at large enjoying their freedom. The police, to prove their activity, have lately fined a number of youthful bicyclists for holding onto the back of tram cars and motors. They have also come down upon motor-cyclists for speeding, and market gardeners for not having sufficient lights on their carts. The public fully appreciate the energy of the police in this direction but the display of a little more energy in capturing thieves and assaulters would meet with greater appreciation. Police Court Abolished.

In one of Melbourne’s former 'China Towns,” Little Bourke Street, the haunt of opium eaters and thieves, the police Court has “gone out of business.” Some years ago, it, was not an uncommon record for one policeman to arrest an average of 000 persons per year. Now that the gambling halls and opium dens have been replaced by factories, the whole of the police staff does not arrest an average of 700 persons per year, between them. Formerly prison cells were filled to overflowing, but of late years there has been spacious accommodation for any inmates. So for the sake of economy the Little

Bourke Street prison has been closed and the reformed “underworld” boasts respectability.

Ideal Homes.

The ‘Herald’ is not only the most progressive newspaper in this state from the journalist’s point of view, but it has shown its general spirit of progressiveness and interest in the welfare, of the community by the “Ideal Homes Exhibition,” which it has just opened in Melbourne at Wirt-hs’ Park. Three houses have been erected at the respective prices of £750, £1250, and £2250, and are respectively suitable for the workman, the clerk, and the professional man. All the latest labour-saving devices and improvements in the way of furnishing and fltting-up are being shown to advantage in these modern dwellings. Thousands of people, consisting of housewives and their husbands as well as young people who have eager expectations of setting up housekeeping are flocking daily and nightly to get all the useful hints they can about domestic matters. Undoubtedly very much good will be done by this exhibition of ideal homes, for, after seeing all the modern ideas, few housewives will rest until they have introduced them into the home. “Back-Blocks” Endurance.

Recently, a nurse and six bushmen, proved their unfailing courage and strength of endurance, by an admirable action. In a remote part of Gippsland, Victoria, a woman lay very ill and in need of immediate medical aid. The bush nurse was sent for, and rode 40 miles, but on reaching' the patient found that nothing could be dono without a medical man. Delay meant death. It was impossible for a horse or vehicle to travel across such country, thick with tangled undergrowth and felled gum trees. Six bushmen in the vicinity volunteered; they placed the sick woman on a litter and carried her sixteen miles across this wild country at night amid pouring rain. For the full sixteen miles, bush nurse Dorothy Allmond walked beside the litter, attending to the sick woman’s needs. The party reached the doctor just in time to save the life of the patient, but at the end of the journey they themselves w-ere thoroughly exhausted. People of the town are collecting subscriptions;, to reward the brave party, and they look with admiration upon the courage and endurance bred by the “backbocks.”