Australia.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 52, 17 October 1914, Page 5

Australia.

AUSTRALIAN DROUGHT. JUBILATION AT PROMISED BREAK-UP BY RAIN. NEWSPAPER ESTIMATES. United Press (Association. ■ (Received 10.35 a.m.) Sydney, October 1". Good rain is falling over a large portion of the State, and there is great jubilation at the promised break-up of the drought. The morning papers, reviewing the wheat outlook, predict that the crop will be largely a failure. The Herald says that according to reports received from various centres it is doubtful if more than two million gores .will be harvested out of three and a half millions on which it is expected to cut grain. That area does not promise to yield more than seven

and a half million bushels. As the local consumption of wheat amounts to eleven million bushels it can be realised that the outlook is very bad. The Telegraph estimates that at best two and a half million acres will be harvested. It considers that a yield of six bushels to the acre is a liberal assessment. On that basis fifteen million bushels will be the limit, but unless the crops are helped by the weather it is hardly likely to be realised. Seeing that home requirements for food and seed absord fourteen millions, there is not much margin for adverse eventualities. The paper adds: “Vast areas are still in the. balance to he made or marred by the elements. Any forecast at this 'stage must he more or less guesswork.” NEW SOUTH WALES ITEMS. Sydney, October 10. At the Industrial Court, an employer was charged with dismissing five German workmen without the requisite notice. He admitted that he dismissed the men because they were not naturalised, and the other employees objected to working alongside the Germans. Counsel for the defence pleaded justification, because the men wore alien enemies. The defendant was ordered to pay Is in each case. A meeting of the Sydney Labour Council opposed the idea of the prohibition issued relative to the export of coal to San Francisco, Honolulu, and the west coast of South America, to prevent it falling into the hands of the enemies. With reference to the Government’s offer to receive a number of Belgian widows and orphans, Mr Ooghlan, the Agent-General, cables the thanks, of the authorities, and states that the proposition will he submitted to the King of Belgium, who, since he has been in the field, has been practically out of reach of the,Embassy. He desires that the offer shall not bo withdrawn. The Premier states that the offer still holds good.