AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 92, 4 September 1912, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

BEQUEST TO CHARITY. By Cable —Press Association—Copyright. Adelaide, September 3. The will of the late C. L. Forrest hands £90,000 to trustees for charitable purposes. TRANSFER OF GOLD. Melbourne, September 3. The Federal Government fund was contained in 3875 bags, each holding £IOOO. It took nearly a week to remove them. to the new Commonwealth building. The weight was thirty tons. I THE MATERNITY BONUS. Melbourne, September 3. : The State president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, at tire annual meeting, said that the maternity bonus did not commend itself to the union. It seemed patronising and degrading to motherhood and almost a| premium to crime. It would be far better to spend the money in subsidising institutions that quietly succoured the needy. AUSTRALIAN PENSIONS. Melbourne, September 3. At the end of July there were 70,574 l old age and 10,985 invalid pensions I I operating in the Commonwealth. a ) . !i | THE POTATO FAMINE. | ) Melbourne, September 3. iMr. Tudor has issued a regulation that, owing to the scarcity and 'high price of potatoes, importations will be I permitted until the end of November. Shipments must be accompanied by a I certificate that they were free of disease at the port of origin, also a certificate 1 on landing from the quarantine authorij ties. The potatoes must have new Ibags, and bags, sacks or crates must bear the stamp of the port of origin. ] A SEA MYSTERY. | Brisbane, September 3. An .enquiry has been opened as to an incident which occurred on the steamer Devon, off the South African j coast. Captain Robertson states that ! he left Durban, and on July 20 he met' J with a_ rough sea. Twenty-two minutes later, just after leaving the bridge, he felt a heavy jolt. He did not know what the vessel had struck, as nothing was showing above water, but next day the saloon doors were all out of true and the pillars of the 'tween decks buckled. He .reckoned that there was twenty fathoms of water where the colj lision happened.