AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 February 1925, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

MELBOURNE RAI LAVAYS.

BUSIEST STATION IN THE WORLD.

SYDNEY, February 13. The majority of people in the metropolitan! area of Sydney conic in to the city, by trams and ferries, but in Mel- | bourne it is different. Most people there travel to the city by train and disembark at Flinders street station, the most important of the three central stations, the others being Princes Bridge, w hence runs the line to Heidelberg and other places, and Spencer street, the terminus of the interstate and country lines. It has has long been claimed l>v Melhourneites that Flinders street station is the busiest in the world, and figures which have just been compiled by the Victorian j Railway Department furnish valuable j evidence of its amazing activities. Special checkers were employed at the barriers to take a census of all inward and outward passenger traffic. The statistics were taken over a ied of four days alul every elloft was mads to obtain as normal conditions as possible. No attempt was made, for instance to take advantage of the holiday traffic in order to swell totals. For purposes of the census. Flinders street station and Princes Bridge station were treated as one. And. indeed, being not* only adjacent, but also joined to each other, with common means ol access. they are really the two portions of one huge station. Two years ago a similar census was taken, and the figures revealed a flow of 212,000 passengers through the turnstiles each day. The latest statistics show that the daily ■average . ha,s increased no 282,001). The figures for Spencer street station, however, reveal a decrease of 2000 passengers daily on the 192.3 average I 1.000. In the short space of six years the traffic at the three central stations has increased by 74,4 per cent,, the figures being, 1919, 10,708,121 passenger journeys; 1925, lsWhlhO.

SNAKE STORIES. SYDNEY. February 14. Here is a story from Port Kembla, quoted, without comment or elaboration, from one of Sydney’s leading daily papers:—" While rabbit-shooting on the tablelands at Port Kembla, F. Forrester put his gun on the ground w hile lie rested in the shade of a tiee. When he picked the weapon up again, he found a three-loot snake in •) - barrel,, with the tip of its tail protruding. Forrester carefully unloaded his gun and then killed the, reptile. Writing of snakes, there is pit,dished this week a story also, this time from Alhiiry, of " Digger Varlow. who is engaged :u the pleas.i-i. ‘ ll potion of collecting snakes in lie I all- - district with a to netaining a thoroughly representative collection of them and exhibiting them abroad. In one (lavs drne be secured “7 snakes, iuelu i ; ig a t'ger snake nearly oft long. I lie met hod ‘-'"l ><W ed was to beat the tussocks until a snake was found, when Marlow and his fox-terrier got busy. Marlow, "to is travelling by niotor-eara -mu, has already collected enough snakes to cause a dramatic exit from life of scores of people.

housing schemes.

C2,out I Jk). I FOR lIOMEN

SYDNEY, February 20.

The State Governnie.nl has stolen a march on the Labour Party, just when the latter is preparing all its ammunition for the elections in a few months, |,y coming out with the announcement tl'iat I>elwet;n LI .000,000 and 02.000,p.IVA will be made mailable at

the beginning of u“xt month for home building, through the State Savings bunk. It is intended later to advance a nether L I .iiifiU.W 1“ home •..coker-. The money which will he made available next month will, it is expected, cover the erection of at least 2409 houses and will directly benefit 12,001) people. The building of each home will he supervised by the Hanks expeit officers, in order that the best possible value may he obtained, and in order also to see that the cheap jerry builder does not make hay while the sun shines. Nor is it proposed to encourage traffic pi houses already built; the money will he advanced only lor the erection of new houses. '1 he scheme will give a wonderful impetus to the building trade, and to the proposal ol the Master Builders’ Association to seek Lite registration of all builders in the State, largely on the lines ol the New Zealand measure. This will virtusally mean the end of the “jerry builder.” It will also mean that all concerned in the erection of buildings, from Hie architect to tin* electrical (■infractor, will he registered experts.

“ BILLY ” HUGHES. MAY LEAD XEAY FEDERAL PARTY SYDNEA’, February 20. Mr AY. M. Hughes is still the mystery man of Federal polities. I here is a strong feeling that there was more in his speech recently at the ( haiuboi of Manufacturers’ luncheon than ap I,eared on the surface. In short, that it was the policy speech ol the leader of a new party that is about to arise in Federal polities. Mr Hughes is obviously dissatisfied with the performances of the Nationalist Government. The meagre Press reports of the speech before the manufacturers-—the afternoon papers dismissed it in paragiaplis —detracted from its importance in the eyes of tlie public: blit it was one of .Mr Hughes’s best utterances, and the fact that a 101 l report of it is to be broadcast in the form of a brochure is not without its significance. Apart from the statement that he intends to follow up the subject matter of the speech, “ and other things besides.” Air Hughes is oyster-like in his silence; hut there is a persistent rumour that lie will make a fresh bid for leadership under the banner of the Austra-lian-made Preference League, with the active support of the Associated Chambers of Manufacturers throughout the Commonwealth. In the words of Air Asquith—the Earl of Oxford and Asquith—we can only wait and see. Not a few influential manufacturers are convinced that Mr Hughes’s virile and magnetic leadership would be almost beyond value to them and theii cause; but the problem is to get him behind their standard without disrupting the Nationalist ranks. Anyway, Mr Hughes has mapped out his policy in unequivocal terms—a more vigorous and efficient migration policy, and the preservation and encouragement of Australian industries.