AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 31, 5 February 1903, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY.

I PER PRESS ASSOCIATION. I Melbourne, February 4. In the Sta'p A*s- mbly, the Premier, in raovirg the second reading of the j Railway Commissioners Bill, siid that the saving aleady tffected iu railway manag-merit for r.ho prr-sent financial year was £15,000. He. urged that the railways must be managed on business | lines, and where an employee was j found incompetent he should be dismissed ics'ead of bis superiors having to formulate charges against him. • The 8.1 l prop ses the appoin'ment of three Commissioners, j The Federal Government u consWerj Ing a proposal to pm chase the Eastern i Extension Company\j cable between I Tasmania and Australia. j . Tlm price in quoted at between two and three thousand pounds, j Sydney, February 4. ! As a result of a conference be'ween J the Premiers of New South Wales and Queensland, Sir John Sae rent a letter to Sir E. Barton <?ealii g with the question of the payment cf rebate. Sir Jchn suggests a basis for the distribution of thi revenue to the various States and outlines the anomalies ucde? tfce present syst-m of paying the rebates en sugar growa by whites. The Jjibour Oonfar-nee rasolvsd that as wominhood suffrage hid been granted, there need be no reduction in the number of members of the Legislativa Assemblies but recommended abolition of the Upper Hcuse. j I' slbd decided that employers of trades unionists should receive preference in Government contracts. It recom- 1 mended the extension o? i ull civil rig'nts to civil servants and that the minimum wage should pot be less than ssven shillings for all Government employment..

Received 4, 10.5 p.m. Sydney, February 4. Tbe Libour Conference severely commented on the utWarcs of Justice* Pring and Rog-rs while adjudicating on the recent case?, wher-in they took occasion tocondfmu the Shearers Union on its s-trike tactics. Trey adopted a resolution for presentation to the j Attorney General, dechricg that the j remarks cons'ituted an unwarrantable) attack on the tradrs unior g, r.nd showed j bias unbecoming of tbe judical bench, j also oskii.g tint, in the interests of] justice, tho Judges b3 called upon for; an official explanation, ]