AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81917, 23 January 1907, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

FEDERAL POLITICS NO NEED FOR ADJOURNMENT Sydxey, January 22. The Right Hon. G. H. Reil states there is uo reasonable excuse for Parliament postponing busines_s while Mr Deakm is visiting London,' Members would be too patriotic to make any party move during the Premier's absence on Commonwealth business.

RABBIT EXTERMINATION. SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS. Sydx .y, January 22. Dr. Danysz's experiments proved conclusively that animals aud birds are immune from rabbit disease. The majority of 250 rabbits on a. separate run died through contamination by affected rabbits. This is regarded as an important test.

PKElirElt OF N.S. WALES. Si'DSey, January 22. Mr Carruthcrs, the Premier, states that he lias no intention of resigning while ins health and the majority he possesses last. THE NAVAL AGREEMENT. Mkluoi'bxe, January 21 to Sir J. G. Ward's announcement that New Zealand intends to increase her naval subsidy, Mr Alanger, Acting-Minister for Defence, says that whatever New Zealand's attitudo may be, Australia means to possess a coastal defence fleet at an early date. The Commonwealth cannot afford to depend entirely on the British fleet, which may in emergency be ordered out of these "seas.

THE COOKTOWN DISASTER, £20,000 DAMAGE. Beisbane, January 22. Details of the Cooktown cyclone are meagre. It blew from 3 o'clock on Friday afternoon till 0.30 on Saturday evening. The Eoman Catholic Church was wrecked completely and the Methodist and Anglican Churches badly damaged. A number of business places were demolished completely, while all were [more or less damaged. The steamer Aramac quickly landed her passengers and put to sea for safety. Galvanised iron was blown into the harbour and quantities were entangled in the rigging of vessels in port. A little child in its mother's arms was struck with a beam of wood and killed. There were many narrow escapes. The lowest barometer reading was 2'J-l'J deg. The damage will run into over £20,000.