AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1919, Page 8

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

■ , ■ DEFEAT OF LA'BORITES. 1 By Telepapb —P.-ess Assn.—Copyright. ' Perth, Nov. 28. All five Laborites were defeated in the City Council elections. , A VALUABLE PEARL. Perth, Nov. 2S. A pearl weighing 40 grains was found by a diver, who sold it for £4OOO. INFLUENZA AMONG ABORIGINES. Perth, Nov. 28. Influenza is prevalent among the pearling crews and aborigines at Broome and Darwin. There have been four deaths. LIQUOR LEGISLATION. Sydney, Nov. 28. In the Assembly the' Government Liquor Amendment Bill was read a first time. It proposes to extend six o'clock closing, to suspend local option, to reduce the number of licenses, on similar lines to the Victoria scheme, including compensation for dispossessed licensees provided by the publicans themselves, and a referendum on the question of prohibition.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. i OYSTER CULTURE. Sydney, Nov. 28. Mr. Ayson, New Zealand Inspector of Fisheries, has sailed in the Riverina. After inspecting the fisheries in various States he intends to recommend New Zealand to extensively adopt the New South Wales method of oyster culture. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. DANGERS OF THE PACIFIC. Sydney, Nov. 23. Sir Joseph Cook, referring to the Pacific, said that, although everything was apparently quiet, Australia could not close her eyes to the preparations being made by Japan and America in furtherance of their Pacific policy. America was building battleships as fast as they could be turned out; Japan had launched the largest battleship in the world and was building eight others. — Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. CHILD MAINTENANCE BILL. Sydney, Nov. 28. The select committee of the Legislative Council appointed to investigate the financial aspects of the Child Maini tenance Bill reports that the net cost i under the Board of Trade scheme, under which the livimr wn?e is fixed at £3 17s, would be £11,030,000, whereas under the Child Maintenance Bill the net cost would be only £6,520.000. The Bill will be again gone on with. —Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn.