AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 149814, 30 May 1914, Page 6

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

(rKOM OVU OWS CORRESPOIfDEXT.) SYDNEY. May 23.

IN THE AIR

Tho air is full of aviation. Various interesting flying performances or intended big flights aro recorded daily On almost any afternoon during the past ten days people in Sydney hare seen tho French aviator, M. Guillaux. soaring over tho harbour and tho city in a hydro-aeroplane belonging to Mr L. Hordem, a gontleman with sporting proclivities and ample means' drawn from one of tbo biggest,'if "not the bisgest, retail emporium, south of tho Line. It was announced yesterday morning that M. Guillaux aud Mr Hordcrn have raado aiTangements for -i flight by them in tho hydro-aeroplano from Sydney to Melbourne. To be sun of keeping on thought track they intend to follow the/coast line, and they mean to cover tbo distance or about six hundred miles betweeu sunrise and sunset, with only two alightings for the purposo of replenishing tho fuel tanks. Two other aviators now here, Signer Bianchi, from Italy, and Mr A. B. Stove, from America, have also made known their intention to fly. between Melbourne and Sydney. It seems almost as if we are going to suddenly have competition in mail and passenger services by aeropiano between our principal cities. Alter a very long delay which gave rise to all kinds of sneering comments, our military aviation department is biiou "tg signs of effective animation ju&t i' the time cf the pubiioatiop of 4 '«o full text of the report by General' S.r lan Hamilton on Australian defences. To show that something substantial has already _ been done iv tho direction of Australia's mastery of her own air is urged by the Inspector-General of Oversea Forces, official statements are published to the effect that tbe Defence Department possesses £vo flying ma. chines ready for use. Two of these are Bristol biplanes in which the aviator, -i instructors at the Military Aviat-ou j School made successful ami interestins. ! fi-ghts tho other day at Melbourne, i Theso flights were pretty long ones to" There was an amusing incident. An officer who went up on ono ox tho aeroplanes as a passenger had intend" 1 to alight at Queenscliffe fort at the entrance to Port Philip, but findina thoro was not enough time for a visit dropped a noto of apology in a sandbag into tho fort. Tho keen eyed men of tho garrison, who were intently watching the aeroplane circling overhead, at onoo saw that something had been dropped. "It's a bomb" shouted "several, and all hands made a wild rush for. shelter. .It'was an instinctive if undignified scramble.

THE NEW GOVERNOR-GENERAL

Sir Ronald Mum - ©-Ferguson has reached bis Australian residence at Melbourne and has duly become GovernorGeneral of Australia on taking the oath whereby he pledged himself, in cbe terms of simple dignity, to "well and truly serve our Sovereign" and to "do right to all manner of people.after tho law and usages of tbo Commonwealth, without fear or favour, affection or i)l----will." The welcome givou to him was cordial and our first impressions of him have promptly induced tho belief tha* in Sir Ronald Muure-Ferguson wo have a Governor-General who will by reason of his character, endowments, appearance, and manner make himself liked and respected all round- On seeing hi n at closo quarters one receives at on;e a complete impression of ma lily strength and dignity, allied to high intelligence, decided winsomeness, and serene kindliness. Altogether one is convinced that his appointment is a very acceptable continuation of the happy selections of Govornors-General for this important Dominion. COST OF DEFENCE. In connexion with defence matters and Sir lan Hamilton's report thereon we eecui to bo faced with an inevitable heavy increase iv taxation that will bf very unwelcome. On all sides one hears an increasing rumble of discontent at the rapidly-growing lcvymad6 upon taxpayers for the initiation and fulfilment of State aud Federal projects. From day to day one hears more of the question "Haven't wo sone in for more than wo can afford?" This year the defence expenditure will reach the record figure of £5,74(5,853, and despite this there will remain unsatisfied countless claims, which if satisfied would cost "tjyicc as much." to use tho words of Sir lan Hamilton. To-day it costs the people of Australia £1 3s t>d per head of the whole population for defence. Apart from construction, the naval expenditure this year will be £1.453,166. It was originally estimated that tho fleei { unitof which we now boast would cost j £3.695.000. The actual cost will be £4,262.26(5. Then there is the great bill for maintenance. It costs us over £3,300,000 a year to run our army, and tho cost is necessarily progressive, for some years at any rate. "With Foder-al Ministers hesitating to cive themselves and Australia a bad advertisement by cutting out money-eating schemes launched with much crowing: with a. tremendous increase of expenditure neecssarv to proocrlv carry out the defence programme which cannot now be dronpod; and with neopte with increasing bitterness in times of nrosperitv about bof>vv taxation, one does not envy the Federal Treasurer his job.

SUBMARINES. Another defence item. Our first two submarines are due to arrive today at their homo depot at fc-ydney, after their long and venturesome journcv from tho builders' yards in Great Britain. These submarines, which aro officially known as AEI and AE2. wero commissioned at Portsmouth on 1 cbniarv 28th last. They aro the only typo of" war vessel needed to complete our first naval unit. They aro powerful specimens of their class, though since their departuro from Great Britain a still larger under-wnter vessel, a submarine cruiser, has displaced them from the top rank. Each is of 800 tons displacement, and has engines of 1600 horse-power. The type to which they belong is th© latest,, with the exception of Franco no other country has submarii.es so largo and powerful in commission. To avoid disappointment ■it- has been made known well in advance that the submarines will not bo open to public inspection. Intending visitors will bo rigorously '"shooed" off. This is deemed to be necessary, if only in recognition oi the goodwill of tho Imperial Naval authorities -who mado available for the benefit of Australia their own latest secrets and methods in connexion with the construction. and equipment of such craft. A TASMANIAN EXPERIMENT. Becauso of a plea of peculiar hardupness the State of Tasmania is receiving from tho Commonwealth Government a special grant of £900,000 at the rate of 100,000 a year, to recoup it for Joss of revenue sustained by joining the Fedcratiou." Tho paying over of this money to Tasmania goes very much against the grain with the Federal Treasurer, who wants to save every pound ho can in order to keep-down the deficit. Ono can therefore imagine tho federal Treasurer's feelings when he learned a couple* of daytf ago that the Tasmanian Government, now in the hands of the Labour Partf had resolved to finance tho wo;king of tho Tasmanian gold mine, which tho English shareholders had decided to close down becauso they were losing a year, and anticipated much greater loss v they continued their expenditure. The decline in the quality of the ore, the progiessive increase in the cost of working at deeper levels, and the exceedingly high rate of mining wages

in Tasmania, made the shareholders resolve to shut -up. They also resolved that.tho reserve fund-built up Trith«ro- ! tits from richer ore won at higher lovels, should not be applied totho purchase of another mine in Tasmania but to mining operations in some other placo where the working expenses were lower. In order to provide continued employment for the workers (and Sectors) who wero iv tho service 0 f the company, tho Government has resolved to pay £50 weekly fur the rent o? the mino and machinery, and to pay for management, fuel, and stores nT connexion with this unprofitable mine. Tho men arc to work on tribute, aud to bo paid from the gold won. It is an interesting, and surprising, experiment. The shareholders in dozens ot Australian mines would liko it to be repeated. UNION* OF UNIONS. As regards the consolidation of industrial unions reforred to in previous writings, matters are moving steadily forward. It is tho avowed ambition of leaders in this combination of organisations to see all the industrial unions of Australia joined in ono huge union which will, in times of industrial crisis' bo obedient to one executive body* whilo able at all other times to operate more effectively against employers and in political affairs. A conference which sat in Sydney this week had drawn up a scheme for tho amalgamation of tho Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union with tho already very powerful Australian Workers' Union. It remains for the members of tho Meat Employees' Union to vote, on the acceptance or otherwise of the scheme, but the promoters are sanguine of accomplishment. Should this amalgamation come about it will mean that the Australian Workers' Union can speak of and for a membership of about ono hundred thousand. Nest Monday-Syd-ney will be the scene of another conference to consider tho proposals for the linking up of federations and unions of employees. Primarily this .conference will concern the big unions which had a committee at Sydney, and controlled the Australian aspect of the New Zealand strike, but tbe federation, when launched, is to be open to other unions. Are theso preparations for an industrial armageddon?