AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 June 1926, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

ART UNION SCANDALS. SYDNEY, June 17. Art Unions in Sydney are to be conducted voluntarily in the future. As these enterprises are usually in aid of some deserving object or other, it should not be difficult to find voluntary workers. If it is impossible, the public will possibly assume that some particular object or other is not so deserving as it might be. Sydney welcomes the announcement that- the Government is setting its face against the professional promoter of art unions and, where these agencies are allowed to operate, is insisting on the entire elimination of wages. Even the somewhat phlegmatic politicians were shocked by revelations in Parliament not long ago, showing how disproportionate in many cases was the amount realised by art unions to the expenditure incurred.

While there was no question as to the bona fides of the promoters, there was the fact that most of the money subscribed by a generous public appeared to be swallowed up in expenses, and that only a comparatively small proportion of it found its way to charity. Sydney is a little tired of street begging, for that is what it all amounts to. On the ferries and in the streets one finds people at all hours of the day appealing to him to buy a ticket for this or that art union. Often they are boys, who ought to he at school, or men who might conceivably be follow ing some more dignified calling.

GAS REDUCED. CONSERVING COAL SUPPLIES. SYDNEY, Juno 17. There are- always tlifee parties to a strike. The third party, of course, is tho public, but it is only when a strike is brought home to it in practical form that it realises the part it really plays. It awakened to the fact, for instance, when a few days ago homes, representing at a conservative estimate half a million residents of the city and suburbs, had the usage of household gas forcibly and dramatically reduced by half in order that the available coal, the supply of which has been very appreciably limited bv the engine-drivers and firemen’s strike, may be conserved as long as possible. An ordinary phlegmatic public realised bow vitally it can be affected bv a strike when it was faced with the peremptory demand of the Coal Emergency Hoard to forward to it, under (he pain of a severe penalty, its gasmeter readings. The spectacle of householders storming the offices of the hoard, and of the Gas Company with its meter readings, or with all sorts of humble excuses for disobeying the order, was almost pathetic. Tl.e big northern side of the liarhour, which has so far escaped the edict of the board because of the more fortunate position of the company which serves it. is at present enjoying the discomfort of the bigger section of Sydney, but its turn will come if the strike lasts much longer. Sydney has been figuratively gassed because a comparatively few men refuse to work under what is known as the nibble award. It has been shocked into a. consciousness of the fact that even if if has nothing whatever todo with a quarrel, it may very easily he harmfully affected bv it.

IRRIGATION' ROMANCE. SYDNEY. June 17. With the recent death of Mr AY. B. Oh alloy, at Mildura, the Victorian irrigation township oil the River Murray, Australia, has lost one of her greatest pioneer'.!. Alildura is now a household word in Australia, for in that district are grown most; of the dried fruits uswd on Australian tables, and probably it is as widely known in Now Zealand. AYitli his brother George. Air AY. B. Cliafl’ey. who was Canadian horn, came to Australia from California in 1880 to answer a call to found irrigation settlements.

To his wise vision and lion-hearted courage Australia owes its first and most prosperous irrigation settlement. It was, too, the successful development of Mildura, through his faith ill and devotion to the practices of irrigation and dry-farming that set an example and stimulus in their practice throughout Australia. To hint might he given tho title of ‘'’father ol Australian, irrigation.” The story of the success of this vigorous Canadian’s devotion to his fulfilment of a dream of prosperity in his adopted country reads like a romance. Forty years ago .the country round Alildura was r. productive, rab-bit-infested land, with a 6-inch rainfall, worth but 2s 6il a square mile. To-day is it not far from fulfilling the prophecy of Mr Chaffoy himself—that it will he one of the world’s most pro dactive centres. To-day £6O an acre is the average value of the 42,000 cultivated acres at Alildura, which produce annually well over £1,000,000 worth of fruit. They support a population of 10,000 people, and produced last year 10,000 tons of dried fruits, as well as 0000 tons of grapes for wineries, 900 tons of canned fruit, and 160,000 cases of fresh fruit. 1

NOISELESS CITY. SYDNEY, June 10. If the ideal Sydney, as the ardent municipal reformer and town planner sees it, can be only an unsubstantial and visionary dream, an attempt is being made to bring about the consummation of at least one phase of a perfect city, and a perfect citizenship. The aim is to make it as far as possible a noiseless city, or to be more correct, a less noisy city than it now is. It is going to be a punishable offence, for instance, to run a motor vehicle through the city unless it is fitted with an effective device sufficient to minimise the noise of the exhaust. If that is effectively applied to motorcycles. and the reform is extended throughout the metropolis of Sydney, the community will he delighted. Furthermore, an internal combustion engine stationed on any premises in the city will not be permitted to he run between the hours of !) a.m. and G p.m. unless the exhaust lias been properly silenced. That also will cut out quite a volume of noise.

Again, owners of birds within the city which cause a nuisance by screeching or crowing—tn.s is a veiled reference, of course, to roosters—will either have to adopt a device for “ cutting their cackle ” or extracting from their throats whatever it is that make them crow, or get rid of them. Barking and bowling dogs within the city are also to he summarily dealt with. Under new by-laws it will be tbe duty of the Town Clerk and his officers to make tbe city reasonably quiet between Ibe hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. They arc going to have quite a busy time.