AUSTRALIAN NEWS BY MAIL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 44, 15 November 1919, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN NEWS BY MAIL

CHILD MAINTENANCE BILL STRANGLED MR. RYAN AND THE ORANGEMEN AUSTRALIA'S WAR DEBTS Maintenance of Children Bill.Strangled. Sydney, 'November 7. Tho main principlo of tho New South Wales Maintenance of Children Bill lias been rejected by tho Legislative Council folates''the "Daily Telegraph"). Tho result was that further consideration of the Hill was immediately stopped to onablo the Cabinet, to consider the position. Sir Joseph Cnrrut.hers' began tho attack immeoiatelv the Hill was taken into committee. b.y asking tho Minister to post'lione t.he first clause of tho Bill—tho the titlo. This was agreed to, the Minister having hnd'notico that if the amendments to be proposed wero carried (ho ■ title of the Bill would have no ■ meanin?.' Clause 3, as the Bill stood, provided for changing the basis of the living Wage from man, wife,' and two children, to man' and wife. The amendment pronosed to strike this out, leaving the basis man. wife; ano' two children, but in tho case of wages above the minimum (which are usually raised as a matter of course by the amount of the incrense in tho sew livinp wage), the'increase should be • diminished by one-sixteenth for every ss. above the living wago. He illustrated: A man fretting the living wage of ,£3 would get ,£3 l7s.;,but'one receiving ,£3 ss„ instead of getting £3 175., plus 55., would cot J!3 lGs, plus 55., or M Is. Sir Joseph Carruthoi's explained that tho increase would ■ gradually taper off until at ,a salary of J?350 a year it became exhausted. He nddetf that his amendment would practically cut away the whole ground of the Bill as it now stopd.' He foreshadowed two further amendments— oiie to hand over to the Commonwealth the matter of fixing a uniform living wage,-,and the matter of making' provision for.the maintenance .of children : the otliev to postpono the date nnon whioh the Board of Trao'e is to declare a living wage in respect of rural . industries. 1 Mr.. Ryan and the Orangemen, At' tho annual celebrations of the Loyal Orange Institution of New £k)utli Walo3 liu the Town Hall, Mr-. Frank Reed, whopresided, said that the people were on the eve of a Federal election; and he had a very pertinent question to-ask: Whether they were going to support the men who had been loyal to, the British " Empire or tlioso attached to an ecclesiastical'organisation that acknowledged no king save the Pope? Referring to the candidature of Mr. Eyan, whom lie described as an interloper, ivlio sought the leadership of the.Federal Labour Party, the speaker said it was an insult to Sydney and- to the State. , Mr. Eyan was a Bomin Catholic, and the Roman Catholics' had seized control of the Official Labour Party of- this State,'and were making a bold bid to secure command of ' the Federal Party. "Let us boware," warned Mr. Reed, "the motto of the Roman Catholic Church is 'Semper idem,' meaning 'Always the same,' ana we may in. Australia have to fight this tyranny if its political power gains the asoendancy." As a rule, loyal Orango lodges did not favour political parties; bnt there was only one course to pursue today: to support tho men they knew . -were true to the Constitution and to ' the Empire. Orangemen were not tyrannical,- and they must prevent the pernicious doctrine of Bolshevism. Price-Fixing Fallacy. Mr. H. V.' M'Kay, who lias just returned to Melbourne after a visit to England on the business of his firm, says that observations made abroad convinced | him that "profiteering" and high prices were traceable to two main causes. Tho first was price-fixing, and the second was industrial unrest. In nine cases out of ten. he said, the trouble was due to pricefixing, which put a stop to production. "You have only to remember our own experience," said Mr. M'Kay. "The exnort of butter was restricted, and the crice was fixed. Tho result was that the farmers 6old their cows to .the butchers. That was a local example, but it is typical of what has happened everywhere. lurtuetrial unrest also ..restricts ; production." Continuing, Mr. M'Kav said that production in England had. been retarded to a tremendous extent bv tho coal strike,'and by industrial unrest tronerally. Price-fixing had proved a failure, and men wero beginning to sefl that' the right principle was that which the Bank of England hatf followed for over fifty years. When the Bank of England required, gold it raised the discount rato: when it required trade it lowered the rate. Other systems had been tried in the past, but nothing more satisfactory than the bank's system had been discovered. , In America there was an enormous quantity of paper money in use. People were, living at an extravagant rate, ana' prices wen} very high. In fact, a wild, jamboree'of expenditure seemed to be in progress. But Americans, in spile of their rashness in .expenditure, were making a big bid for the trade of the world, and were both buying and building ships with that obiect in view. By guaranteeing the grownr (Is. aihuehol.for his wheat the United States had caused a great increase in wheat uroductiou. Anzac Memorial Bursaries. Before a meeting of the Educational Sub-Committee of the New South Wales Anzac Memorial Fund, Mr. Peter Board, Director of Education, placed figures supplied Jiim by the Department of Repatriation, indicating tjie approximate number and the age of the war orphans in this Slate. These reveal the fact that there are 1641 boys and 1579 girls in New South Wales the children of soldiers who linvo fallen in the war. Tho grand total of 3220 represents over 30 per cenl. of the total for the Common- I wealth. It is now suggested that jbe money raised for the educational objective of this month's appeal be devoted to tho foundation of bursaries for any of the following objects:— (a) To assist towards the primary education of the holder; ' , (b) To assist towards the secondary education of the holder; (c) To assist towards education at the University; (d) To supplement any existing State bursary already granted; (e) To assist in tho technical education of the holder. These bursaries would be tenable during tlvj period necessary to complete tho degree of education for which they iu'o given. The campaign to obtain the necessary funds is now in full swing, and the. State lias been divided upon a population basis, so that the various' metropolitan and country areas will bo able to work to a. definite objective. Tho schools, primavy and secondary, are taking an active interest; in the movement, and se.veral have announced their iiitention of commemorating their fallen by the foundation of bursaries, Australia's War Debts to Britain. In Tound figures the Commonwealth at present, owes to the Briiish fiovernliient a sum amounting, to ,£87,000,000, of which .C"i0,00(1,000 is on ureonnt of direct loans advanced to Australia for war purposes. Tile balance is made up of amounts owing to I lie British Government for the maintenance and transport of the A.1.V., issue of guns and equipment to tho troops, and tho maintenance and repair of Australian war ships during tho war period In Hie Estimates which were presented to I he Commonwealth 'Parliament last month it was shown that the Commonwealth would in all probability still be owing to tho British Government on June 30, 1920, no less than .1:33,43!),000 in respect of theso particular payments According to cable messages published recently, Mr. 'Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the War, informed t.he House of Commons on Tuesday that owing to the financial difficulties of Australia lio would receive only JG15,000,000 out of the .1:35,000.000 which he had provided in the Budget, was due from, the Commonwealth for .the maintenance of troops in the field during war time. Commonwealth Treasury officials state that this sums up the position fairly accurately, although it was never contemplated that Australia should pay • the

wholo debt oil' in ono year. It. is ex- j pectcd, however, that not .1:15,000,000 will 1)0 repaid during tho present, liniinciat year, and, as Mr. Churchill remarked at tho conclusion of his statement in tho House of Commons, the other .£20,000,000 is a good debt, fran (ircat lirilnin',s point of viow, on which Australia is paying interest. i'ho amount of the Australian note issue on October 29, when tho last official return was nompilco', was .C'5t,0511,7(11, while the cold reserve held by tho Treasury on tho same (Into totalled ,£23,787,000, representing over -13 per cent, of the notes in circulation. Figures furnished ; bv t.he Treasury show that a big slice : of the issue is represented by 2.'1,815 notes i of .£IOOO denomination. This accounts i for .£23.845,000, nnd then there are i 13.5G6.525 XI notes, 4,1-19,74!) notes of the : half-sovereign denomination, 1,51)9,091 "fivors." not to mention tho notes of other denominations ranging from <£10 to .£IOO. £50,000 Copra Fire. An outbreak of fire in copra is always dreaded bv tho firemen, as this product ' is so inflammable, alio' the heat which it ; fives off so terrific. The damage by tho : fire at Glebe Ihiond is estimated at 1 <£50.000. . ' . 1 The blaze originated, it is ' believed, ! throuirh spontaneous. combustion, and 1 when tho watchman at .the stores gavo the alarm at a quarter to six the flames in one end of what used to be the beef nnd cattle shed wore doing speedy destruction. Tho copra will smoulder for. a verv long time. Flames ,aro likely to continuo to burst from it for a week or more. It is necessary to rake ano' turn the conra until thero is no danger of , further fire. The odour which burning , copra gives off is nauseating, and clings , for a long time. At (ire headquarters . some of the hoses which were used at ' coora outbreaks over five years ngo, al- ( thouirh they have been thoroughly scrub- ( bed hundreds of times, still give off a ( distinct smell of copta. The copra .was the property of Burns, Pliilp and Co., < Ltd.. except for a small quantity which j belonged to'Dalgeiy. and Co. The total ( insurance on that owned by Burns,' Pliilp , ano'' Co. is M,OOO, distributed amongst ; the following companies:—Guardian, j British Traders, Century, Northern, Gen- . eral. United, and Queensland Insurance, ] that owned by I'nlgety and Co. was in- ] sured for «E21,51a. Tho copra compris- . ed several shipments, and it wns await- ] ing shipping facilities to be sent to Great j Britain and also for local sale. >