COMMONWEALTH.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 7, 12 August 1908, Page 5

COMMONWEALTH.

The South Australian vintage last year decreased by 434,000 gallons. The Commonwealth Defence Office is sending officers to India for periods of training. Owing to improvement in the I.ondon market, silver and copper shares have advanced in price. The death is announced of John Smith, a resident of Farnham, at the age of 104. The death sentence passed upon Frederick Green, the murderer of Lillian Bridge, at Maitland, has been commuted to penal servitude for life. The Commonwealth Minister for Agriculture has cabled to the Cape authorities that the sterilisation of recent shipments of hay having proved satisfactory, he will permit further shipments subject to the same treatment. Owing to the high price of butter in Melbourne, making it prohibitive to tho poorer classes, the consumption has fallen by one-fifth. It is believed that next month the Victorian production will increase sufficiently to meet the demands of ordinary consumption. .Shortly before noon on July 15 a mirage was observed to the south of Bairndale, Victoria. It reflected for a length of several miles an image of the coast- line and a large expanse of the Southern Ocean. The phenomenon lasted about an hour, and gradually disappeared. Taxi-cabs for Australia. A number of prominent Australians in London have formed a syndicate to place motor taxi-cabs in the streets of the Australian cities, commencing in Melbourne. Capital has been subscribed for tho purchase of Renault cabs. A company is to be floated in Australia. Hooliganism in Sydney. A bill has been introduced into the N.S.W. House of Assembly to tighten up the Vices Suppression Act. Amongst other things it provides for the suppression of shilling sweeps, and unseemly conduct in the streets on New Year’s Eve and other public occasions.

Sydney Tram Strike. The Sydney Tramway Employees’ Union has decided to give strike pay to 230 men and !>oys still awaiting reinstatement after the strike. The union adopted a resolution of confidence in Mr. Lawton, president of the union, and deprecating the attacks made upon him in connection with the strike. Progress of Sydney. The report of the New South Wales Department of Labour and Industry shows that there were 40 more factories, employing 4429 additional hands in the State last year than the previous year. The new buildings ere,ted in the city and suburbs were valued at bptween three and four millions sterling. The prospects of building and kindred trades are very bright. For Defence. Y.o .itsim n at Port Philip have offered to form a naval reserve for defence purposes. A body of 300 men who served in the Boer war has also been formed, and will bo known as the South Affiean reserves. Weeding Out the Barmaid. The Tasmanian Assembly passed the Licensing Bill, which alters the hours of closing to 11 p in., prohibits barmaids, excepting those at present employed. Wily Chinese. It is suspected that lately, despite the strictest precautions, Chinese are finding their way into Australia. On the arrival of the steamer Prinz Waldeinar nine were discovered cleverly stowed away, white two others were found on the steamer at Fremantle. Union Label. The High Court, by a majority, Justices Isaacs and Higgins dissenting, declared that clause seven of the Commonwealth Trades Mark Act, relating to ■workers’ trade marks, on what is known as the unionist label, is invalid, and the union label is not a trade mark within the meaning of the law. Chief Justice Sir Edmund Barton, in delivering judgment, declared that the clause was an attempt to regulate the internal trade of the States. It does not fall within, and is not incidental to any, express powers conferred on the Federal Parliament to regulate that trade, and except so far as these powers extend the power of the State is exclusive. The Court mad : an order restraining the Registrar from continuing to keep a register of workers’ trades marks. Blown to Sea. During a gale on August 3, a FrenchCanadian named Legros had a thrilling adventure, lie was in a small boat off Newcastle, and got blown out to sea, passing a terrible night. The look-out on the steamer Colae heard cries before dawn, when 20 miles to the east of Newcastle, and hove-to till daylight, when Legroe was discovered and rescued. Unprofitable Mining. The chairman of directors of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, referring to the low prices received for lead, said that it was impossible to make both ends meet with lead below £l3 15/-. ft was pretty evident, on the present outlook, that the whole 121 per cent, increase of wages granted when lead was £lB a ton would have to come off. If the men were not agreeable there was nothing for it but to close down the mines. A Pressless Parliament. When the We-tralian Assembly met, the reporting staff was informed that it was not intended to grant better facilities for Pressmen. The reporters immediately withdrew, and the House, sitting for a few minutes only, passed the Address in Reply and adjourned. Quite Erroneous. The attention of some of the Sydney opticians has been called to a paragraph appearing in a Wellington paper of July 13, stating that chemists there intend to ask the Government to introduce a Sight-testing Bill on the lines of the New South Wales Act of 1 900. There is no

such Act on the New South Wales statute book. The bill was introduced in the Legislative Council, but failed to get beyond the first reading. At the Call of Fashion. The Federal Government has promised action prohibiting the importation and exportation of certain skins and plumage in order to prevent the wholesale destruction of birds at the cal] of fashion. Food Adulteratiou. The Pure Foods Bill introduced in the New South Wales Assembly is substantially the same as the bill which fail’d to pass last year. The chief alteration provides for the prosecution of the manufacturer instead of the retailer of adulterated goods. Work and Wages. The" chairman of Millar's Karri and Jarrah Company, of Westralia, at the annual meeting, attributed the decline, in profits, amounting to £40,000, to the recent strike. The workmen now desired a. co-opera-tive scheme. The directors could not possibly consent to this, but offered an alternative scheme. The workmen were less blameable than the agitators, members of the Labour party, with political propaganda. Sweating and Child Labour. The report of the New South Wales Department of Labour and Industry discloses that a arge amount of sweating and child labour still exists, especially among young girls in dressmaking establishments and factories. The report instances that girl learners, after working six months to two years without wages, have then been turned off. girls have been employed making boxes at fourpence per thousand. The report further states that girls are employed in brick-yards digging clay and wheeling it in heavy barrows. Bad Eggs in Confectionery. A deputation to the Under-Secretary for Agriculture, N.S.W., asking for legislation dealing with the adulteration of bran, pollard, and other poultry foods and the regulation of the egg trade, declared that large quantities of bad eggs totally unfit for consumption, were used in connection with the confectionery trade.