AUSTRALIAN LABOUR

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 348, 8 May 1928, Page 14

AUSTRALIAN LABOUR

MOTORISTS TAKE ACTION THEATRICAL ENTERPRISE SYDNEY, May 3. The labour outlook is absorbing - much interest in Australia just now, and the amazing - feature of the whole situation is the prodigal manner in which the workers throw away employment, regardless of all consequences. We read in a London message that all the officers of tlie three “Bay” boats in London have accepted re-engagement on their ships under the new management that is, at English rates of pay—while the crews are to be brought back to Australia to swell the ranks unemployed seamen. Since many of these sailors who are to be repatriated are English, Scotch and Irish, there is something satirical about it all. If the Australian seamen wish to see what the future holds for them, if they continue in their reckless career, they have only to regard the poor coalminers, many of whom are asking for Government assistance. Yet they, and nobody else, killed Newcastle’s overseas trade in coal, and just as surely the Australian is steadily destroying the inter-State and Australian overseas shipping. That many seamen recognise the danger of their attitude Is seen in their earnestness to have the slims’ cooks’ dispute settled. Liner’s Captain Died at Sea The sudden death at sea of Captain T. C. E. Dayas, of the P. and O. liner Naldera, while steaming down the New South Wales coast on the way to Hobart, has shocked many people in Sydney, where the captain was wellknown and much liked. Old hands have been trying to recall other instances of the kind on ships when near Sydney. It appears that there have been few in recent years, though several overseas captains have died ashore in Australia. A tragic death on board his ship was that of Captain Williams, pioneer of the A. and O. Line, who died on the Changsha when steaming through the Great Barrier Islands on his way to China in the nineties. He was buried on an island near Whitsunday Passage, and on the return trip the Changsha brought a tombstone and railings which her crew erected over the grave, on the lonely island. Another suddent death was that of Captain Clinch, commanding one of the old Tasmanian Company’s steamers. He was Sydney on his last trip, when he dropped dead. The same thing happened to Captain Lowrie, of the Queensland S.S. Co.’s Archer. Just outside Sydney Heads he died on the bridge. More recently the first officer of the old Eastern collapsed as his ship entered the heads. Mother Finds Soldier Son The heart-rending discovery by Mrs. E. L. McQuay, of Stratford, New Zealand, that her son, whom she thought had died in the war, was actually in an asylum in Sydney, had a striking denouement on Tuesday when the mother arrived from New Zealand and identified the man as her son. After 12 years of uncertainty, since no report of his being missing or dead had ever reached her, it was comforting to her to know what had happened and where he was. But those who have attended him during all his mental sickness felt sad at the brave woman having found him in such an afflicted state. It is true that he seemed to recall her, vaguely, and to remember names of people whom he had not spoken of for years who were associated with his home. Still, it will be a great sorrow for her. When she arrived at Sydney she was very excited at the prospect of seeing her son, yet she was calm and courteous, though obviously anxious to step into the waiting car and end the suspense. ReDresentatives of the New Zealand

Government and the New South "Wales Government accompanied her, and are looking after her till she sails in the Maunganui in a fortnight for New Zealand, with her son. * * • Motorists Force Open New Roadway An extraordinary happening this week-end was the forcing of the barricades of a new road on the South Coast main highway, through private land, the resumption of which had not been gazetted. As the old road had been neglected, the motorists, after waiting for weeks for the new one to be opened, decided to take the matter into their own hands, and they pushed down the barricade and used the road. It turns out that the gazetting was held up by the action of one of the landowners, who after consenting to the resumption of a strip of his land, suddenly changed his mind and demanded that the road be made further away from his house. The matter then drifted along, as anything connected with law is apt to do, and all the time the old road was getting worse and the new one more tempting. Human nature could not stand the strain at last. What the legal aspect of the action will be has yet to be tested, Mr. Bruxner, Minister of Local Government, in explaining the matter in the House, said that the motorists actually forced entry into private property. In the meantime the road is said to be still open. • mm Another Opera Company Coming News of the arrival at Fremantle of Mr. Nevin Tait, with the Williamson Grand Opera Company, has caused much interest in Sydney, where the Fuller Grand Opera Company has just ended a successful season. Besides about 40 artists, over 150 cases of scenery and properties are being brought in order that 28 operas sha | be produced on the same scale as at the famous La Scala Theatre. Melba’s part in the handling of the season of this great company of singers will be an important one. Though her work will lie chiefly in selecting the singers who show promise for the chorus work, her name is giving added interest to the enterprise. Sydney is very well served with entertainments and new theatres to-day, and none of the shows of quality ever go short of patrons. The fact that this city is one of the world’s great theatrical centres is demonstrated by the never-ending throngs which seek admittance every night at the new Capitol Theatre. And apparently this attendance is all new business, since no falling-off in other picture theatres m Sydney is noticeable. Visitors from overseas declare that this “atmospheric” theatre is unique in the world’s theatres. r>J t f™ runnins expenses amount to ±.2,500 a week, and it is showing a profit of £I,OOO a week, a reliable report says. But then, who would not go to to a picture theatre where there is a blue sky overhead, light clouds floating across it, with the Southern Cross twinkling, while a warm breeze blows softly over the walls of the Florentine garden which is the setting? —WILL LAWSON.