AUSTRALIAN NEWS BY MAIL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 307, 23 September 1919, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN NEWS BY MAIL

PRUNING KNIFE IN FEDERAL EXPENDITURE

A NEW GOLD MINE

Sydney, September 15. Federal Economy. Since' liis return to Australia the Prime Minister (Mr. Hughes) has been most insistent in pointing out thnt Australia lias now a huge burden of war debt to bear, that she must find largo suras for repatriation, and that the financial position generally is serious. His warnings (states the "Age-") will probably not bo without their effect ou the Federal' Budget, for which the "spadework" is now being done. It is understood that the Treasury is calling on those responsible for the estimates of expenditure for the current year to use the "pruning knife" freely. So far the Acting Minister of Defence (.Senator Russell) is the only Federal Minister who has issued a formal "economy edict" to the heads of branches in his Department. The position of the Dofenco Department, as the .great spending Department during the war, is eomewhat different from that of other branches of the Federal service. The PostmasterGeneral (Mr. Webster) for instance, claims that he has been economising throughout the war, and has succeeded in doing 38 per cent, more business with a smaller permanent staff than he had five years ago. But everywhere the heads of Departments, in framing the estimate of their requirements in money, are trying to reconcile the urgent need for economy with the claims and demands that would mean increased expenditure. In most eases they 'are finding it a very hard task, hut the net result generally will be a long way below the oriffinarrough draft. "With regard to loan expenditure, it has been officially stated that the Treasury does not intend to ask the people of Australia for another loan, apart from the Peace Loan "of ,£25,000,000 this year. A New Goldfield. Recent discoveries of gold on the 'Hampton Plains Estate, about 20 miles south of Boulder (W.A.), are exciting considerable attention (states the "Argus"). The Hampton Plains Co. in 1890 obtained 210,000 acres for .£27,000 in fee simple, with all mining rights, subject to 2s. per oz. on gold, which royalty was abolished under the Mining on Pnvato Property Act, 1896. Block 50, on which the main discovery in the Celebration lease has. been made, was acquired by the Hampton Properties Limited, a Scottish company, in 189 C. Block 48, further to the south, belongs to the Hampton Uniquay Company. Both have yield* ed a good deal of gold in the past, and were always regarded, as being in a likely Kold-bearing 'belt. An official report by. Mr. Mining Inspector Greonard to tho State Mining Engineer on the Hampton Plains "find," states:—"The Celebration lease of Block 50 is 22 miles south of Kalgoorlie.. The shaft has bee* sunk in the centre of a large ore formation. The east-west crosscut at 50 feet shows a lode formation 25 feet wide. The strike is from 5 to 10 deg. west of north. There is a vertical ore channel, which can be traced north and south through the adjoining leases. The , country rock has the characteristics of the Boulder belt, showing greenstone and hornblende schists. The formation is oxidised at 60 feet. It is composed of; ferruginous quartzette and soft lode formation, carrying high values. East and west walls nave been met in the crosscut <it 60 feet but it is not cleanly demonstrated whether they are the limits of the width of tho formation. The inspector eays: "Lam inclined to think there nr parallel ore bodies in close contact. Should developments continue as at,present, this will beoiiO;Of tho most important auriferous formations located in the State for many years." Costly Mistake—Naval College Site, The statement was made some days ago by the Minister of the Navy (Sir Joseph Cook) that the Royal Naval College should never 'have been established at Jervis Bay, butthat, as .£370,000 lad already been spent there, it was not proposed to change the site. Jervis Bay was decided on as the site for tho college by the Fisher Ministry, in spite of the fact that Admiral Henderson had reported in favour of a site at Middle Head, Sydney, and that the Naval Department's experts were almost unanimously against it. . For political reasons the college was established: at Jervis Bay. To-day (says tho "Argus") the authorities and the taxpayer are paying tho penalty for- that act. In his report for 1918 the then head of the college. Captain Grant, set the position out clearly as it appeared to him. His opinion of the site, was unequivocal. Hβ said: ''The site at Jervis Bay has been! proved by experience to be ill-adapted for a naval college. The bay, for a great part of tho year, is finite useless for boating purposes; there is no dockyard within reasonable distance which can be visited for instructional work; and I could instance innumerable other.disabilities/' " I

That is Captain Grant's view, and he urges that if. possible the site.should be given up and the college removed to Port Hacking. The Minister feels, however, .that the matter has gone too far now for a. chaiige to be made. As .£370,0 M •has been spent on the site, ihe is not prepared to begin afresh somewhere else. Meanwhile the transportation of every ton of goods required for the college costs double or treble what it would cost if the college were at Port Hacking or some other equally accessible .place. Coal, for instance, costs £2 a ton to land at Jervis Bay. Goods that do not come by sea have to be carried 25 miles by road from tho nearest railway station at Noivra. Jt is, estimated that it is costing upwards of £1500 for every cadet trained at Jervis Bay. •

Australia Misrepresented.

A strong protest against the misrepresentation of Australian, conditions and affairs by the newspaper Press of Europe was made in Melbourne some days ago bv the Prime Minister, in addressing the Federal executive of the Returned Soldiers' League (states the "Age"). Ho said that if a person obtained Ins impressions of Australia only from the newspapers abroad he would think- that this country produced only three things droughts, and influenza. Ho did not think anybody had' dono moru to belittle Australia than the men who were responsible for that. If, when reading the Press of other countries, he had not known what Australia was, and had not known what the Australian unionist was at his worst and at his best, he would hat;e belioved that this was a country that was at the bottommost'depths of industrial unrest. As a fact, it. w'as', not worse than anywhere else. As. for droughts and influenza, Australia hud them, but the facts were that Australia produced more wealth Der head than any country in the world; was the best place in the world "in which to invest capital, and was the best country in the w. rid. He vehemently denounced those who eaiil anything to the contrary. The Federal Capital. Tho question of the Federal Government's policy regarding the construction of the Federal capital is still attracting the keen attention of a section of the members of the House of Representatives, says the "Ago." Mr. Catts (N.S.AV.) asked whether it was a fact that tho appointment of Mr. Griffin, Director of Design and Construction, was just about to expire, and that the Government had extended his period of service only to January 1 next. Mr. Eiloy (N.5.W.),: Long enough, too. Mr. Catts: Did this mean that Ihe. Commonwealth proposed after January 1 to slacken up on the building of l!u' capital?

'j'he Minister of Works and Hallways replied that Mr. , Griffin's appointment would expire by eflluxion of time early in October. He had 6een Mr. Griffin and arranged for an extension of this time to the end of this year, the reason being that an announcement would be made by the Government in due course regarding the position of tho Federal capital. Benzine and Kerossne Prices. Questions arising out of the application before the Necessary Commodities Commission 6ome days ago for increases in the prices of benzine and kerosene were

asked by Mr. Briner in tho State Legislative Assembly (states the Sydney "Daily Telegraph"). He desired to know whether freights on these commodities from America to Sydney had been materially reduced during the last two months, and if any application had been made for tho reduction of prices? What causes, he further asked, were still operating which maintained tho prices of benzine and kerasene at 100 per cent, above prewar prices? The -Attorney-General, through' the Premier, furnished a reply thnt ho understood freights had been reduced about 50 per cent, since the signing of the armistice, but that no material reduction had taken placo during tho last two months. No application 'had been made for the reduction of tho prices of these commodities, but it was competent for any person to make such application. It had been stated by the applicants for an increase that the main reasons for the prices of these commodities now ruling were tho present rate of exchange, the increase in prices America, the high freights as compared with those before the war, and the increased cost of handling. Aliens in the Public Service. With the object of entering a protest nguiust the dismissal of a. postal assistant with a Uerinun iiame, Senator Barnes moved tjie adjournment of tliu federal Senate (states tho "Argus"). This dismissal was made on the recommendation of Mr. Burnett, ii.M., who, as a Koyal Commissioner, inquired into the employment of persons or , enemy extraction in the Federal Public Service. Senator Barnes declared that thb grandfather ot tno yuuug man in question came, to Australia 'front' Germany in 1851. Ht married an Au6traliau-born girl, and Iwcn the lather and mother of tho young man and tht young man himseh hail been born in Australia. It looked ,is if the dismissal were a. vindictive' act against this young man, because he was of military ago, and had not enlisted. Mis brothers and sisters had taken an active part in ah patriotic movements in their district. Tno Minister ior Hel/aliuition (Senator Milieu) strongly denied the suggestion of vindictiveness. He pointed to tho fact that of ?M) casts inquired into the commissioner had re--commended the dismissal of only 35, and tnat only 10 of those had ultimately been' dismissed, the remaining 25 being, given the benefit of the doubt. The commissioner had recommeuded the dismissal of the man in question "because of his deliberate and reiterated statements that ho had nothing to fight for." "It would be monstrous,"'said .Senator Milieu, "if wo carried in our Public Service those whose loyalty has been in doubt while returned soldiers, who have proved their loyalty; are looking for work." (Hear, hear,; The motion was formally negativea. Poster Censorship. Legislation dealing with the censorship of objectionable- posters, advertisements, and handbills, especially in connection with moving pictures, was urged by a. deputation to the Now South "Wales Chief Secretary (Sir Georgo Fuller). The deputation, which was under Oio auspices of the Council for Civic and Moral Advancement, was representative of. all the Protestant churches in New South Wales, the Jewish Church, tho Salvation Army, and , several organisations. Archbishop Wright compared the influenco of obscene posters to poison, and declared that of all poisons none was so bad as moral poison. If a pioture film was turned down by the censors, he said, it was not destroyed. That was most unfortunate, because ho had known certain things cut out of a film and then published in a maga- 1 zino. In his reply the Minister said the matter was one of vast importance to tho community, particularly in regard to tho rising generation. Some of the advertisements were of such a nature that they should not he allowed to 'bo put forward. "However, I will have instructions given again to tho Parliamentary draftsman with a view to haying a Bill, embodying practically bhe views you have put forward to-day, prepared at the earliest possiblo date. Tho Government is with you."