AUSTRALIAN.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 May 1922, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN.

AUSTRALIAN AND N.SL CABLE ASSOCIATION j INDUSTRIAL STRUGGLE.

i SYDNEY, May 25. I Advices received by the Australian j Workers’ Union from the country cen- ! ties state that the shearers intend to stand solidly behind the executive o I the A.W.U. for the same rates and e >i ll < itions as those allowed in the Queensland award. The Unemployment Relief Committee at Lithgow, N-S.W. are considering the adoption of a scheme providing for declaring Saturday a non-drinking day, and for placing collectors outside aL . tiie' hotels to endeavour to induce the ! habitues of hotels to give money for j the benefit of those who are in want of bread instead of spending it on beer. The management of the Wallsend Colliery have given the men 14 days’ notice and they intend to close down , the mine indefinitely, owing to slackness of trade. About 550 miners will be rendered idle.

| BANANA DISEASE. SYDNEY. May 25. Tbe spread of the bunch top disease ; threatens the wnolesale ruination of the banana plantations in tne Northern Rivers district of New South Wales. Many once flourishing plantations are being abandoned. Scientific investigation lias so far Idled to evolve any effective remedy, the only method of combating it being the destruction of tne dcseased plants. Amongst those threatened are a number of the soldier settlements in which much public money is invested, while other proposed settlements are held up rather than invest more capital in the threatened industiy. j Experiments in the direction, of elieek- ; ing the disease have achieved a cerj tain amount of success, but a | erman- ! cut remedy is not yet in sight. The cause ul the disease remains a ' mystery, though it is apparently related to the soil conditions, as. so far Queensiand and some of the New South , Wales plantations are not seriously affected. WRECKAGE FOUND. | SYDNEY. May 25. | A quantity of wreckage, including ; i portion of hatches, marked with the letter “M” lias been washed ashore at Port Maequarrie. The agents of the missing barque Manurewa state that they can offer no opinion, as thee do not know how the hatches of tho missing vessel were marked. Further wreckage has been washed ashore at l’ahn Reach and (’rowdy Head, but there is nothing to identify it with the Manurewa , THE SHEARERS STRIKE. ( Receive d l bis day at II .30 a.m.) SYDNEY. May 2Ci. Ii i- announced that the Pastoralisl and Graziers A s-ociat ions will piol.ibI. lake legal pioeecdings agailisl the Australian Workers I nion for advising

j a strike in the shearing industry. The j penalty under tbe Commonwealth Act | .s L’lftOO sterling. j PRICE OF WHEAT. | . BRISBANE, May 26. Government are gum antcing an additional shilling per bushel for wheat, bringing the total to Is. RATS AND MICE. BRISBANE,. .May 20. Over four hundred thousand rats and mice have been destioved in the metropolis since tile plague broke out in August, whereof 180 were infected. EXPORT OF SILVER COIN. MELBOURNE. May 25. A gazette notice revokes the proclamation issued ill December 1919, pn - uibiting the export of silver coin from tlie Commonwealth. HIDES SALES. •MELBOURNE, M.v 25. Tne bide market is irregular, and competition wa s not keen. Yalue s <L - elined a half jenny according condition.

THE BASIC WAGE. SYDNEY. Mav 26.

i Mr l’ldiliiigtcn K.(. led a deputnlion | to Sir ('. Fuller asking for the siibstij 1 lit ion of a child endowment scheme Ini' the basic wage. Mr Piddington said the basic wage was illegal and unlair. as it made no allov.anee whether a men had a number of children or none. '1 lie present system provided for a family of three children. In the Com moiiwealth and New South Wales they had legislated for two eliildren, the result being that average funiilies were pinned to the breadline whilst those with more than three were faced with privation. Statistics showed the're j were only nine-tenths of one child to • each employee in the Commonwealth. ! which meant that employees were payi ing for approximately two million eliildi ten not in existence, j Mr R. Meddy suggested a flat , mininnim wage for man and wife alone, whilst in lieu of an allowance ; for three eliildren, employers should , . pay into the Commonwealth pool sulli- ; : cienl foil the needs of all eliildren in ; the Coniuionweiiltli. Ftuler such a i scheme r. standard of comfort of Co Ifis : i could lie brought into the homes of : .-very worker, without additional bur- | den to industries or finanees of the ; < omit ry. j Sir (1. Fuller welcomed the solution I of the industrial unrest and promised 1 Cabinet would investigate the proI position. I 1 AMENDMENT PROMISED. , SYDNEY. .May 20. j i Mr Lev oromised a denutntion repre--1 sent ing builders and real estate agents! j that Government world either amend ; ' or recast the Fair Rents Act at an early date, to remove the irksome ■ building difficulties, without interfering : with the tenants l-i-rlit. of protection I against avarieous landlords. 1 I INFLUX OF wrr.l) DOGS. ! SYDNEY, May 21. | : Tt is reported from Broken Hill that !an influx ofi wild dogs is assuming alarming proportions, making it impossible for lease holders to persevere successfully with sheep growing west of | the Darling. ; A deputation of pastoralists is visitj ing Sydney to seek relief. O. make a cake! Bake a cake.! Baker’s ! man! Deck it with tapers as quick as you j can! | Dozens of kiddies arc- coming to tea, I Dear Little Cuddles has just turned ; j three, ' Poor little girlie! we thought slic’d d-c. j Dread croup is so prevalent in July; j Watching hor gasping was hard to endure Till she had Woods’ Great Pepper--mint Cure- /