AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 February 1925, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

[by telegraph—per piiebs association.] .SYDNEY WEATHER. SPDXEY, February 23. The weather is fine and warm for the cricket. | I FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED. ( SYDNEY, February 23. • -Mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of .Mrs Eileen Alariott Sheriff, aged 49. who was found in a dying condition at the foot of a cliff at Alilsou’s Point are being investigated by the police, who suspect fold play. Late at night two men- heard a man shout help and saw a woman fall over the cliff. They ran to the spot whence the cry came and saw a man who was walking briskly away. The men climbed down the cliff and found the woman lying in a pool of water, with her neck dislocated. A resident nearby said she heard a man and woman quarrelling in the vacant allotment at the top of the olifL Deceased leaves a. family of eight ranging from, three months to nineteen years. BRISBANE CITY ELECTIONS. BRISBANE, February 22. The election of an Alderman for the Greater Brisbane Council resulted in a sweeping win for the United Party candidates. Labour being badly defeated. In the contest for the mayoralty \Y . A. Jolley, of the United I arty, defeated the Labour candidate by over eight thousand votes. ( t HEAT WAVE DEATHS. 1 BRISBANE, February 22. ■ A heat wave in Brisbane has been re- ’’ sponsible for three deaths. The maximum temperature was one hundred „ and six.

WAR TROPHIES DESTROYED, i .MELBOURNE, February 22. Six aeroplanes captured from the ‘ enemy during the war and other mat- ; erial forming part of the Australian war museum have been destroyed by fire. OBITUARY. MELBOURNE. February 22. The death has iceurred of Christopher Simeon Rouse, son of Lord and Lady Stradbroke. aged nine. NOT MURDERED. SY'DNKY', Fe hr nary 23. Hie police state the death of Mrs Sheriff (cabled yesterday) is not a ease of murder. COMMONWEALTH LINE. (Received this day at 10 a.m.) SYDNEY’, February 21. Mr Bruce (Federal Premier) made available the balance sheet of the Commonwealth Line of steamers from Ist September, 1923 to 31st March, 1921. It showed a loss of £215,474; the estimated Result for the period Ist September, 1923, to 31st August, 1924, was a loss of £480,909. exclusive if dcnrcciaticii. The report stated the present position was due to the high running costs compared with those of 1 competing companies, and to labour troubles to which the line was contin- | ually subjected. It was of opinion the ships could not run without serious loss, while covered by Australian in-

dustrial awards. Mr Bruce stated the Government intended to invite tenders from prospective purchasers for the line as a going concern subject to conditions requiring the maintainciicc of ail efTec„.ve and regular service between Aus-

tralia. Britain, and Continental ports. No increase in freights and the passage rates, unless under certain conditions, would be stipulated ; also, no entry unto any 'arrangement with a ring or combine. A UNION FINED. SYDNEY'. February 23. In the Industrial ('null the N.S.\. . branch of t!: - federated Metal Y\ o.■Tiers’ Union was fined £.io on each of two charges of taking part in a goslow strike at Metiers Foundry. In imposing the penalty the Judge said the strike was continuing, which was ail offence. It the men did not resume work and if further proceedings were instituted they would he liable for a fine for each day it continued and tho amount would he increased. . CRAYFISH ERS NOT GUILTY OF ASSAULT. HOBART. February 23. The trial of William .McKay, P. Maynard and James I'irth, the crew of the Ketch Dauntless, the jury returntd a verdict ol not guilty and the accused were discharged. 4'he .fudge

in summing up said the regulations prohibiting tin* use ot crayfish pots were held to he illegal up to Bth of December hut on that date a validating hill was passed and on the 1 Ivn the use of pots was again made ilhgal. The accused, being at sea were not made aware* ot the validating set and it seemed to him that reasouaale notice should have preceded the action. The alleged assault occurred on the 11th.

A FOfLK'l) ATTEMPT. Received tms dav »l 9.25 a m I PERTH, Feb. 24. An attempt to procure the- death of Doctor J. Anderson (Inspector-General for the Insane) was revealed at Claironic tit by the merest chance. § A patient why attends the car noticed the tyre was Hat and removed the seat to get a. pump. As he did so a piece of wood fell out to which a detonator was attached. Half a stick of gelignite was lying an the cross-pieces whereon the seat rests. I lie doctoi said it wfj so arranged that when he sat down on the seat, the cap of the detonator would come into contact with a nail on the wood, whereto the detonator was attached aiul so make contact and explode. A further half stick of gelignite lav in the tool box, the idea evidently being that the vibration of the car in motion would cause aw explosion through the detonator coming into contact, with the tools. WIRELESS MASTS. SYDNEY. February 13. .Many of Sydney’s suburbs are now simpi v forests ot unsightly wireless aerial masts. »it was with a certain amount of complacence at lirst that the municipal authorities witnessed these masts shooting up everywhere ; hut now, like a noxious weed, they have spread everywhere, without regard for appearnnee. or the susceptibilities of the man next door, who may not he a wireless fanatic, and some of the local Councils have been spurred to action. They have protested to the Postmaster-General's Department against the unsightly masts that arc disfiguring the landscape, the Department, however, cannot help the Co unci is. It says it has no power to control the masts, nor has it any pnver over what is erected in private dwellings. The local authorities, dissatisfied with this, propose to ask the next Local Government Conference to obtain the necessary power tor Councils to control the masts. The protest is based on good premises. Clothesprops, long boughs of trees, and other uusightlv contrivances are to he seen everywhere, in cases where the wireless enthusiast cannot.swing his aerial from neighbouring trees or cannot afford the outlay for a proper mast.