AUSTRALIAN POLITICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 155, 7 December 1914, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS.

WANT OF CONFIDENCE MOTION. THE LOCAL NAVY HUDDLE. By Cable—Press Association —Copyright. Melbourne, December 5. In the Assembly on Tuesday the Opposition will move a vote of want of confidence, over the suspension of the fixed prices of wheat, flour, bran and pollard. Sydney, December 5. In the Assembly the Motor Tax Amendment Bill and the Income Tax Amendment Bill were introduced. The Premier tabled a return showing that a contract for 225 locomotives, costing £1,335,707, had been placed with the Clyde engineering works. Melbourne, December 5. Mr. Peacock, in reply to Mr. Denham's complaint that the other States had not advanced the price of cane sugar, conforming to the price .fixed in Queensland, said that the Victorian board, having regard to the profit earned by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, as revealed by the balance-sheet, considered that any advance in the price of the cane to which growers were entitled might reasonably be expected to come from the profits of the company. In the Federal House Mr. Cook, criticising the delay in the completion of the launching of the cruiser Brisbane, stated that if ordered in England at the same time as the other vessels, there would have been a saving of £IOO,OOO, and the cruiser would have been in commission two years. It appeared that 'the boat had been built on the side of a hill without provision for floating licr, and now required a costly dam to get it out. 1