COMMONWEALTH CABLES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 84, 7 August 1915, Page 6

COMMONWEALTH CABLES.

United Press Association. Sydney, August 7

In view of the inroads on Labour through the war and in anticipation of a bumper harvest, the State Government is taking steps to organise all- available labour.

A conference of ministers of agriculture in Melbourne has been arranged. General Godley, who replied to Mr Holman on behalf of the Australians under his command, thanking New South Wales for the splendid sympathy to the wounded, adds: "Such assurance, coupled with the knowledge that the places of the fallen will be filled by a fsteady flow of reinforcements, is an enormous source of satisfaction to my troops." In the new agreement which the Federated Marine Stewards' and Pantrymen's Association of Australasia is seeking with the steamship owners, the Association propose to abolish tips by the insertion of a new clause which provides that no member be allowed to accept any "bunce" or "tips" under a penalty for the first offence of £5, for the second of £lO, and for third of expulsion. The Association members ' consider the acceptance of tips degrading, and prefer a fixed standard wage. Melbourne, August 7.

Mr Fisher states that preference of amployment in the Government service will be given to returned soldiers whether they are members of industrial unions or not.

In the House, Mr Pearce, in reply to a question as to. supplying more machine guns to the Australian troops, said the matter was being considered. The difficulty, was that all the English and American factories were working at the highest pressure for the Allies. The munitions Committee was considering the question of local manufacture. A new scheme for training recruits is to be adopted, involving the breaking up the present big camps and forming of a number of smaller ones. All the troops in future will be organised in infantry battalions of one thousand men under a headquarters staff each, the Colonel being solely responsilde for his own camp. Owing to the outbreak of cerebrospinal meningitis, and three deaths at the Liverpool camp, the recraits are not being sent to the camp for the time-being. This was the first death. The same disease is reported in the Victorian camp. .Mr Pearce. on behalf of the Imperial Government, has requisitioned all the supplies of molybdenite, wolfram, and scheelite, which is of vital importance for war purposes. The British authorities have fixed the price at 55s per unit for wolfram and 105 s for molybdenite. Mr Hughes conferred with representatives of the Amalgamated Zinc Corporation with a view to extended smelting operations, so that Australia will be able to deal with all her own concentrates and establish subsidiary industries.