AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2645, 16 December 1915, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

— WAR EQUIPMENT. MADE? IN AUSTRALIA .WHAT'HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. By Telegroph-Prres A.wooiationiooprriicM Melbourne, December IS. The Defence Department states that 'Australian manufacturers are able to turn out full infantry equipment. The Department has designed and produced purely Australian equipment, of which •15,000 sets have been issued. They are so satisfactory that a further 100,000 sets have been ordered. One-fourth of the rifles for the' Expeditionary Forces have been manufactured at the'Lithgow Small Arms Factory, and i&emanufacture of machine-guns' -will '■ shortly bo undertaken. .. . Since the war began. 81,627 horses, lave been' obtained, 28,988 being pur- < chased at'a cost of £560,968, and the remaining 2638 donated; 24,270 were sent • tna forces. TVo thousand five hundred vehicles, 10,000 sets of harness, and 15,000. sets of saddlery were also provided. STIFFENING THE MEDICAI, TESTS FOR RECRUITS. • . , Melbourne, December 15. * The military authorities, in addition to stiffening the tests, propose holding a monthly medical examination at tile ' camps, in order that few men shall be •' returned from Egypt as unfit. • . < FOR the new army. FEDERAL PREMIER'S APPEAL'- ' (Reo. December 16, 1.5 a.m.) Melbourne, December 15. The Federal Prime Minister (Mr. Hughes), in a personal appeal for fifty thousand troops for the new army, adds: ; "Sis thousand recruits per month are required for reinforcements. Had < the number of our forces been doubled the Australasian Armies long ago would have been .camping at Constantinople, and the war- would have been practically over." ' . WAR TAXES IN NEW SOUTH WALES. (Reo. December 16, 1.5 a.m.) 1 ... , Sydney, December 15. ! In the New South Wales Assembly Mr. Holman (the Premier) introduced measures reimposing the super tax 'of threepence in the pound on incomes. . The mo'tor and bookmakers' tax was ' passed through Committee, all stages. ITEMS IN BRIEF. . THE DEAD-HEAT RUN FOR r SYDNEY. MAYORALTY. c Sydnoy, December 15. c The Premier (Mr. Holman) is intro- 11 during a Bill to. overcome the difficulty . arising out of the dead-heat in the election 1 of . the Lord Mayor. IThe election for the position of Lord Mayor of Sydney took place on December 9, when the same number of votes were oast for- Alderman Hagon, the choice of the Independent section of the • counoil, and Alderman Meagher, the . ' caucus'nominee.] a STATE ENTERPRISES-PROFIT AND f LOSS, Sydnoy, December 15. "t The returns of the main State industrial, undertakings show the following profits: Concrete Works, £7786; Brick Works, £7579; Building Construction, £6589; Metal Quarrios, £6332. . The loss on the timber yards ,was £25,145, leaving a total loss on all undertakings of £2668. STRIKE OF SYDNEY WHARF WORKERS. (Rec. December 15, 8.35 p.m.) Sydney, December 15. r , The wharf labourers at Darling Island t iiavo struck, owing to tho wheat agents' refusal to pay extra wages for loading j special cargoes. ,j SIR GEORGE REID HONOURED. ° (Rec. December 15, 8.5 p.m.) v — London, December 14. . Tho King has conferred upon Sir George Reid (the retiring High Commis- 'fr sioner for Australia) the Grand Cross of ji .the Order'of the Bath (0.C.8 n ,) ; IJk