ASSORTED AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 14, 15 January 1913, Page 5

ASSORTED AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

(From the Sydney Daily Telegraph.)

THE BABY BONUS.

Altogether 2007 applications in the Commonwealth for tho maternity allowance were received last week, an average of 334 for each of the six working days. Only 1580 were paid. The remainder were held over on account of informalities in the claims. So far £85,440 has been paid for 17,088 claims, and 2293 are at present under consideration. In New South Wales 6319 have been granted, 45 rejected, and 906 left for examination. INSANITARY DRINKING CUP. Experiments have been made for some months past with a view to abolishing drinking cups from the drinking fountains in the Botanic Gardens and Domains. Faucets have been installed on the sandstone fountain in the Domain opposite the Botanic Garden gates, and have been so appreciated by the. public that it is proposed to abolish the insanitary drinking cup throughout the gardens and parks as soon as arrangements can be made. SHE—AND THE MAN. ’ Rev. S. J. Hoban, preaching at Ballarat (Vic.), exhorted mothers anxious to see their daughters marry money or position not to attempt the business of choosing husbands for them. It had not- been done for themselves. Their daughters did nob want it either. He did not blame the daughter, for it was she who had to live with the man.

STILL ALIVE .

A paragraph in some of the newspapers recently declared that an oldage pensioner in a New South Wales provincial town had died, leaving £2OO to the Roman Catholic Church, and £BOO to the Irish Home Rule movement. The Old-age Pensions Department has since learnt from the police that the person referred to is still I alive.

TRANS-PACIFIC RECORD TRIP.

The American mail steamer Sonoma had a record trip of 18 days and 18 hours from San Francisco. The Sonoma landed English newspapers in 23 days from the day they were sold in streets of London, tending to show the value of the Oceanic Steamship Company’s service. ABSENT-MINDED BEGGARS. During the year just clospd, the dead letter branch of the General Post Office dealt with 1,662,897 articles the owners of which could not be traced. This is an increase of 614,492 over the preceding 12 months. Included among the articles were 3176 letters of value, containing £17,392, which, having been unclaimed, will pass into the revenue. During 1911 the department benefited in a similar manner to the extent of £14,869. lAb-sent-minded individuals posted 82 letters without names or addressee, containing £709, while insufficiently addressed letters numbering 43, and of a cash value of £242, have also helped to reduce the postal deficit.