AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3657, 20 December 1920, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

SYDNEY, Dec. 18. * The usual ritsf<L of" legislation and protracted sittings of the Assembly at the tail-end of a session have beeii responsible "for scenes of unseemly disorder jand disgraceful rccrimina. tion. The Government forced a Bill I] for the breaking up of .large estates | through, Committee in a physically exhausted House. The Bill provides for the taking over of the greater part of holders' land for bonds car rying 4-1 per cent' interest. The Op position claimed that as bonds are : • worth only their face yalue, it meant j "disaster to the holders, and pressure by . financial institutions, throwing . much land out of occupation. j ' * SYDNEY, Dec. 18. ! The Select Pariamentary Commit! tee which enquired into the dangers arising from the carrying of con cealed ftfearins recommends ; that exceipt by specially authorised per * sons, the carrying of such arms be absolutely prohibited under the pen alty of imprisonment, ranging from one day to ten yeaTs; that the point ing of a weapon be made a statutory » offence; and that parents be made responsible for boys using pearifles and for the safety of other arms in' their possession. All sales of arms must be properly recorded. Statis tics showed that between 1913' and 1920, inclusive, there had been 417 deaths in Australia from criminal use-of firearms, and 208* deaths from/ the accidental discharge of firearms; besides over five hundred seriously injured.

SYDNEY, Dee. 18. An action as been commenced in which Phillip Newbury, the singer, is claiming £SOOO damages from the Triad Magazine, Ltd., of Australasia, in espect to alleged libel said to have been contained "in a* criticism of his singing. ' ' SYDNEY, Bee. IS. . The Government has decided' to commence building the North ' Shore bridge, and will proceed with the construction of the City railway,Uti lising unemployed foT the prelimin. inary work, which will commence immediately: : , ', SYDNEY, Dec. 18. The Inca entered the Heads at 1 a.m. She was kept afloat only by her timber cargo. ; Captain Winther had a thrilling narrative to tell. He explained that the vessel encountered a strong easterly gale' near Smoky Cape and began to leak. She soon •became waterlogged, and he thought she never could'survive such weather Tfie Cosmos first sighted wreckage and then the Inca, which caused the ibelief that there had been two wrecks. \ SYDNEY, Dec. 18. The Tisuaren, first vessel since •1914 to sail for Germany left with>a cargo of wool for Hamburg. . MELBOURNE, Dec. 18. The Tasmanian , Government has informed Mr Hughes that it is will ing to pay for three months if the strike is not s3ttled in the interim. Mr Hughes is consulting., the Com panies, incidentally promising to divert Commonwealth, shipping to Tasmania where practicable. The wharf labourers have complicated matters by submitting claims foT 5/3 per hour. SYDNEY, Dec. 18. A double tragedy occurred at Moss vale. Major Labarte, a returned soldier, shot his wife dead and also shot a policeman dead. A number of policemen were kept at bay for two hours before they succeeded in effecting his arrest. SYDNEY, Dec. 18. The stewards' dispute has become more serious in consequence of the Transporters' Council resolving to stand solidly behind the stewards in the fight for an eight hours' day. Received 9.55 a.m.

SYDNEY, This Day. When the police got into telephonic Communication with Labarte aftfer the Jh-agedy, the only information he woulg igive them was: "We have gone over thejjine." He repeated this several When the police fir9t arrived they searched the house, but failed to find Labarte, who on a secund visit Shot Mitchell. An exchange of'shots Was maintained till Labarte 's wnmnDi|ion was exhausted. Five revolvers, a rifle, and a shotgun were found in the nouse. Labarte, who is son of Canon Xabarte, Melbourne/was highly pupu. |ar. He won the Military Cro*s at the war. ; = His ~wife" was ,the daughter of a

prominent Melbourne lawyer, and the couple lived on affectionate terms. The only explanation of the crime is de. 'mentia.

SYDNEY, Tlrls di»y. With the decks awash, and enly kept from sinking by her timber cargo, the Inca's crew ware huddled on the poop and the captain's wife and Laby saved from constant wetting by fixing a few boards on top cf the gangway. After two days of this, the captain ordered the crew, with h's wife and child aboard a lifeboat to seek help He, with the donkeyman Boss, who refused to leave Captain Winiher, lived till picked up and throughout the tow in a small boat at the stern of the Inca which was then practically under water. The Cosmos' rescue and tow were a piece of seamanship. , Eceived 10.15 a.m. SYDNE'f, This day. The Government builds the railway first and the North Shore bridge follows, > I j j-J MELBOURNE, This dr.y. The Resident Magistrate of the Eastern Division of Papua made a special investigation in the North-East (.'oast districts itb a view to determining the causes of the decrease in the Native population. He reports that the outstanding features are a large number of childless marriages and * scarcity of marriageable girls as compared with men of the same class. There are not nearly enough marriageable girls to go round but amongst the growing children the sexes are better balanced, and the future looks more promising. Ho adds: "Girl life is at a discount, as it m<=ant that tribes with a supply of girls had to face trouble from raids. They therefore specialised in ■ who develop into warriors. There were no signs of decadence among the Papuans, and it is hard to account for childless marriages, there being no apparent reason why they should be so numerous.

Received 12 Noon. PERTH This day. i In the, Kalgoorlie bye-election, Foley has 6788 votes and Mahon 6368. About four thousand votes are yet to be counted. "'"'-. MELBOURNE, This day. Justice Higgins has issued a warning that the Arbitration Court will not hesitate to withdrawn protection from the Union which takes all the award gives and then strikes for the rest. ' ~ THE JUTLAND BATTLE. PUBLICATION OF DETAILS. LONDON, Dec. 17. The narrative continues:— ''The loss of the Queen Mary and Indefatigable was unpalatable, and was due part]y to the indifferent, and mour of the British battle cruisers and to the disadvantages as regards light, but the German gunnery was of a very high standard. It falls off when- they are hit, but even then is very accurate. The German organisation at night time is very good, and recognition of the signals is excellent, whereas ours is practically nil. We have a good deal to learn from'' them.

"The German tactics were as antL cipated; the enemy's turning away movement under cover of destroyer attacks is difficult to counter. It has been closely studied,"but there is no Teal counter except ample time and superior speed. Thus a fight to a finish is almost impossible unless it begins early in the day and would be rendered still more difficult by minefields and submarines. : » "A feature of the action was the 'number of I torpedoes 'which crossed the British line, while only one ship was hit. It was supremely important not to let the enemy know that tracks were visible, because it would not be beyond German ingenuity to prevent a track being left. Certain lessons were learned in regard to the dispositions and tactics."

BRITISH PRESS COMMENT. Received 9 -a.m. LONDON, Dec. 19. Lk, ? an 3 rep ° rt will » ot help Jn ****** the impression that it was a B ri tißh "too voluminous and too mechanical to public understanad ?& 7 VS only result raay ■» *o add /resh fuel and to fan the flames of those interested in the eontro versy.

CONCERNING VITAL SIGNALS. CRITICS GIVEN NEW GROUND FOR DISCUSSION. LONDON, Dec. 17. Among the signals is one much discussed, which was sent from jßeatty to Jellicoe at 7.40 in the evening of the 2lst and received seven minutes later: "Urgent—sub. mit that van of battleships follow battle.cruisers. We can then cut off the whole enemy's battle fleet." Lord Jellicoe, at 8.14, ordered Jer. ram, commanding the second battle squadron, to follow Beatty, but Jer_ ram reported at 8.45 reported that battleships cruisers were not in sight. Another signal from flotilla leader Faulner, at. 1.52 on the morning of June Ist announced that he had sighted enemy battleships, giving the position, but the Iron Duke, Jellicoe V flagship, did not receive the message, "which probably was jammed by the Germans, This was viewed by some alarmists as a tragedy, as Jellicoe's battleships were then spee. ding southward to cut off Von Scheer. Faulkner's- message, if re. ceived, might have prevented 'enemy reaching home. It would have showed Jellicoe that Von Scheer about that «time was crossing his track. . *

Critics are busily reconstructing events in the light of the signals. The two schools.are still sharply di. ivded; some declare that the signals uphold tlie previous contention that Jellicoe, by turning away, lost the chance of a decisive victory. Others say that Jellicoe took the less spectacular but logical course of avoid, ing toipedoes. They direct attention to the fact that Beatty did not sig. nal before Jellicoe manoeuvred and that Jellicoe completed his, manoeuvre at 7.35.