GLEANINGS

Horowhenua Chronicle, 12 February 1915, Page 4

GLEANINGS

LIQUOR, TRAFFIC IN AUSTRALIA

A proposal entirely new to Australia as regards the liquor traffic is to be put into practice shortly In Australia (says a Sydney correspondent). On the day of the general Parliamentary elections, a State-wide referendum will be taken on the question whether hotels ought to be shut at 6. 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 p.m. The rote will bn continued on the cumulative system, ;>u:l if there is not a majority for (5 o'clock, the votes cast for that lioiur will be added to those for 7 o'clock, and no on until a majority is arrived at. The effect of the referendum is not to be mandatory, but to give an indication to Parliament as to what the p?ople desire. The temperance party sr bounces with satisfaction that the South Australian Premier has said that the- Liberal party will give effect to the wishes of the people as expressed at this referendum, while the Labour party has embodied the earlier closing of hotels in its platform.

THE DROUGHT IN AUSTRALIA

When all eyets are turned to the war,

lesser struggles and disadvantages arc apt to Lo overlooked, through at ordinary times they would attract a lot of attention. Victoria is at present the ■scene of a long conflict against nature. The back country is suffering the worst drought experienced for years, and the results are devastating. Writing to a friend in Palmerston North, a i-esident of Ararat (Victoria) says:—"W]e are having the worst drought ever experienced in Australia, and it is playing up with trade. lam not boing half my usual trade. I have had. all hands off some time; in fact I cannot find enough work to keep myself employed. If things get worse T may consider th« advisability of closing up. Our town is short of water, which is turned on for six hours a day only. Tn soma cases is is cut off altogether. The railways have to bring; train loads (30,000 gallons) daily to supply the engines from Beaufort. 32 miles distant. Last year we only had twelve inches of rain. Tn the Mallee- and "Wiminora districts at New Yeak the ground was as bare as the centre of the streets for hundreds of miles. There was neither grass nor crops, the seed sown in many parts having failed to come up. There

w/as n|ot enoiugh moisture to start, growth. Still we are haping for the best, although the country is in i terrible state, with thousands out of work.