AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8182, 13 July 1906, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

WARM WEATHER

Received July 12, 10.30 a.m. SYDNEY, July 12. Warm weather is being experienced throughout Australia. At Sydney the temperature is 67 degrees, and at Adelaide 74—a record for that city at this time of the yoar.

BRAVERY REWARDED,

Received July 12, 10.30 a.m. SYDNEY, July 12. The Shipwreck Relief Sooiety has decided to present Captain Watt, of the steamer Kanowna, with a piece of plate, to give the second officer a pair of binoculars and a gold medal, and to award five men of the boat's crew with £5 a- piece for their bravery in reHCuing the Glau ouß from a dangerous position during the late hurricane.

LABUUR PAKTY AND LAND TAX. Reoeived July 12, 10.30 p.m. MELBOURNE, July 12. The Federal Labour Party, at a caucus, discussed a graduated landtax. It is suggested that land under £5,000 value should be exempt; from £5,000 to £IO,OOO bhould be taxed a half-penny in the £, with an additional half-penny for every further £5,000 up to £60,000 and above that id in the £. ________ ' VICTORIAN VITAX STATISTICS. Received July 12, 10.30 a.m. MELBOURNE, July 12. The vital statistics of Victoria show that during 1905 there were 30,107 births. The natural increase by births over deaths was 12.73 per thousand. The number of deaths was 14,676, or 12.71 per thousand.' A MINING DISPUTE. Reoeived Jnly 12, 10L30 a.m. SYDNEY, July 12. The Rurwood miners have struok owing to the dismissal of a miner who refused to do seme wheeling in a different position in the mine. TASMANIAN POLITICS. Reoeived July 12, 10.30 a.m. dOBART, July 12. In the Assembly a motion has been moved disagreeing with the Government policy. Messrs Bird and Nioholls have joined forces and there is therefore some prospect of the Government'being defeated. WEST AUSTRALIAN STATISTICS. Received July 12, 10,30 a.m. PERTH, July 12. The expenditure for the year exceeded the revenue by £73,379, but it is lower than the Treasurer estimated. The amount of gold mining dividends paid in the State for the halfyear totals £974,288. "a" NOTHEITd AS G "OF "PEAQ'U!^" Reoeived July 12, 10.30 a.m. I SYDNEY, July 12. Another case of plague has been reported in the oitv. A STARTLING REPORT. SLAVERY IN SYDNEY. Received July 12, 10 55 p.m. SYDNEY, July 12. Ac exhausMve report has been issued by the speoial committee of the Labour Council on sweated labour in Sydney. Its findings set forth that slavery does exist in Sydney to-day. "Our women and little children are daily drawn out of the slums," says the report, "and made to pass under the hammer of an inexorable auctioneer employed by capital. The crack of the slave-owners' whip is legally forbidden, but daily thousands of unwilling slaves go to their allotted tasks to the ituntiug of their physical and raental°growfch, and often to the ultimate destruction of the body and soul. Many of the cases investigated, especially those instances in which children are victimised slaves, disclose suoh a hideous system of brutality as to almost [justify a denial of our boasted civilisation, while the term Christian applied to a city where employers thrive on downright slave dealing is an awful misnomor.

"Our eearcn disclosed heartless conditions in connection with the dairying industry, soap and candle works, and boiling down establishments, all of which loudly proclaim the presence of the sweater. The jam biscuit, lolly and pickle factories are dens under j»ud in the fniii-canning industries, potteries and kindred industries sweaters claim their toll. Your committee is appalled at the deep-dyed sweating that flourishes in various abhorrent forms. Girls were employed by certain firms for perioda ranging up to t-vo years for nothing, and afterwards were paid half aorown a week. There were inßtawces whom dismissals took place when the probationary period ended." One clothing factory is described as a place not tit for a pig to live in. The wages paid were 7s 6d per week for forty-eight hours work.

CABLE NEWS.

By Telegraph—Pies* A ■■■•..> :.uio i-Cooyi'?ht

A BRIDEGROOM'S FA'IHER 11 ANUS HIMSELF.

Reoeived July 12, 11.20 p.m. MELBOURNE, Jam 12. During wecTdiug festivities at Bairnsdale the bridegroom's father was fouud hanging i'roru a tree near the house. As the guests dispersed live of them crossed the river in a lint bottomed boat, which capsized in the darkness. A desperate struggle ooourred. A girl clutched a boy and dlagged him down. A rauu named Maoßrdau gallantly rescued them both. Tie others reached the bank safely. A PLAGUE DISINFECTANT. EFFICACY OF CRUDE PETROLEUM. Received July 12 ,9.45 p.m CALCUTTA, July VI. Doctor Turner, Officer of Health at Bombay, has successfully demonstrated the extraordinary elficacy of crude petroleum as a plague disinfectant.