AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1922, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS UNION. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Melbourne, June 9. The League of Nations Union passed a motion recommending that a woman be one of the Australian delegates to the league’s meeting at Genoa. SYDNEY HARBOR EMPLOYEES. Sydney, June 9. The Government is dismissing 400 Harbor Trust employees, as there is not sufficient work to keep them employed. Some of the men will be absorbed in other Government works. COTTON GROWING PROSPECTS. Sydney, June 9. Mr. Hughes states that after a tour of northern New South Wales and Queensland he is satisfied that cottongrowing has a great future and that cotton is destined to become one of Australia’s most staple crops. FOREIGN DYES EXCLUDED. Melbourne, June 10. The Minister of Customs states that the prohibition of the importation of foreign dyes will not be affected in any way by the withdrawal of the embargo on German goods on August 1. SHIPPING SERVICE TO EAST. Melbourne, June 10. The Minister of Customs had a lengthy conference with the manager of the Commonwealth Line of steamers on the problem of an improved service to the East, for the purpose of capturing the Eastern trade. No official statement was made. BRIDGING SYDNEY HARBOR. Sydney, June 9. A London company has cabled the Minister for Works an offer to construct a tube under the harbor instead of the North Shore bridge. The tube is estimated to cost £750,000, compared with £6,000,000 for the bridge. The Railway Commissioners reported that a tube would be totally inadequate to meet the traffic, and the estimate was much below the probable actual cost. The Minister, therefore, declined the offer. ARBITRATION FAILS TO PLEASE. Sydney, June 10The Amalgamated Society of Engineers and Australian Society of Engineers are considering a proposal to withdraw from the Arbitration Court because of Mr. Justice Power’s recent award decreasing wages, with which the men state they are grievously disappointed. TRADING WITH GERMANY. Sydney, June 10. ■Sir Charles Rosenthal, who served with distinction with the A.1.F., has given notice of motion for the next meeting of the Crty Council that in view of the official, announcement that the Commonwealth was permitting the resumption of trade with Germany, and remembering the disastrous effect upon the manhood and womanhood of Australia as a direct result of Germany’s declaration of war in 1914, and realising the possible ruinous effects on industries in Australia in consequence of the competition involved by the entry of German goods to the Commonwealth, the council resolves that it will not directly or indirectly trans-1 act business with German firms or their 1 representatives or in any of its departments use German goods.

THE COAL DISPUTE. Sydney, June 10. A sitting of the Coal Tribunal is considering the new log. The colliery proprietors are asking for the reinstatement of front and back shifts, and the reduction of miners’ wages. The tribunal was unable to effect a settlement of the dispute, and adjourned the matter to the 20th to enable the miners to consider further the owners’ claims. The application 'by the miners for a long adjournment to enable an appeal to be made to the High Court was refused, on the grounds that the matter was an urgent one and should be disposed of by the tribunal at the earliest possible date. As the result of a trivial dispute two collieries in the Cessnock district, in which the miners earned £2 daily, have been rendered idle. The owners of the Neath colliery put off twenty men owing to striking an outcrop of coal which it will not pay to work, and decided to place a few men in the Cessnock No. 2 colliery, which is owned by the same company. The miners then refused to allow the new com ers to start until two or three shiftmen employed in the pit were first put on. The coal management refused, and the miners struck. THE 44-HOUR WEEK. Sydney, June 9. The Minister for Works has produced official records showing the effect of the 44-hour week on the cost of rock tunnelling for the sewerage works. With the 48-hour and six-day week in vogue each man excavated 5.02 cubic yards at a cost of 32s 6d. When the 44-hour five-day week was instituted each man excavated 3.2 yards at a cost of 48s 7d. The Minister says that unless the lost efficiency is regained the work cannot be continued at anything Ijke a reasonable cost. LAW OF EVIDENCE. Sydney, June 9. Mr. Bavin states that he hopes during the coming session to introduce a Bill to amend the law of evidence as to communications between a husband and a wife. He proposes to make such communications generally admissible if voluntarily given in evidence, but not to compel a husband or wife to give such evidence except in cases in which they may at present be compelled to disclose such communications. ANTHRAX SUSPECTED. Hobart, June .10. A report has been received at Burnie of three suspected cases of anthrax among cattle at Natone. Further investigations are being made. Some years ago the disease broke out in epidemic form among the cattle in the same district. JAPANESE POLICY. Sydney. Juno 9. Mr. Suzuki, Consul-General in Japan, referring to the Herald’s article, said that, even if Japan was building as cabled, it

did not follow that she intended to raid commerce. In view of alarmist reports and ecares in the past he exhorted the public not to believe suggestions so foreign. to the Japanese national character. Japan intends to adhere to the spirit and letter of the Washington agreement, and there is no reason for doubting her sincerity. ANTI-DUMPING LEGISLATION. Brisbane, June 10. Mr. W. M. Hughes, addressing returned soldiers, referred to the danger from the dumping of German goods. He said anti-dumping legislation and the Tariff Board were the instruments through which German competition might be rendered innocuous, and if further need arose the Government would confer greater powers on the board to cope with the danger. POLITICAL PARTY UNION. Melbourne, June 10. At a meeting of the inter-State executive of the National Federation, the hope was expressed that some agreement would be reached between th Liberal Union of South Australia and the National Progressive Party, although the former has already indicated that it intends nominating candidates in apposition to sitting Nationalist members at the next Federal elections. DEFENCE ECONOMIES. Melbourne, June 10. The Minister of Defence has announced that, in accordance with the scheme of retrenchment in the defence forces, 95 officers and quartermasters, 240 warrant officers and non-commissioned officers, and 100 men are to be retired. The minimum compensation for officers so retired will be £2OO, warrant officers and non-coms, six months’ pay, and men three months’ pay. So far as the scheme is applicable to the navy the basis of compensation will be similar. AIRMEN’S REMAINS ARRIVE. Perth, June 10. The bodies of Sir Ross Smith and Lieut. Bennett have arrived at Fremantle on the Largs Bay. AMERICAN TIMBER. Brisbane, June 9. A deputation, representing the Queensland Timber Protection League, asked the Tariff Board to increase the duty on case timber and timber cut to sizes for making boxes. A witness stated that American companies were dumping timber in Australia at a lose of 20 per cent. If relief was not granted the case mills would be. compelled to close. A deputation later saw Mr. Hughes, who agreed that a strong case had been made out, and urged that all the facts should be supplied to the board, on whose recommendation alterations would be effected without delay. STEAMER HELD UP. Melbourne, June 9. The steamer Coolana, iof the Melbourne Steamship Company’s fleet, is held up by job control. The manning committee decided that six firemen were sufficient, but the Seamen’s Union wanted three more.