AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8491, 20 July 1907, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

VICTORIAN FACTORIES, .Received July 19, 9.52 a.na. MELBOURNE, July IS. 'TTlie State Inspector of Factories in ihis annual report, states that :the number of factories in existence in Victoria is 4,736, employing: 617,545 hands, as compared with 4,623 factories and 63,270 hands in the previous .year. I/ABOUR FOR THE SUGAR PLANTATIONS. Received July 19, 9.52 a.m. MELBOURNE, July 19A .deputation to the Federal Government protested against the importation of labour for the Queensland sugar plantations, as tending to reduce ;wages. DEATHS FROM ALCOHOLIC EXCESS. Received ,July 19, 9.52 a.m. SYDNEY, July 19. The City .Coroner stated that of six hundred deaths reported last year, a very large proportion was due, directly and indirectly, to excesses in alcoholic liquor.

STEAMER WRECKED. Received July 19,a11.48 p.m. SYDNEY, July 19. The steamer Fido, bound from Ocean Island to Sydney, with a cargo of phosphates, went ashore, last night, on a reef outside Cargo Island, near Tweed Heads. The crew and two passengers were landed safely this morning. The latest report is that the steamer is hard and fast and full &f water. The sea is breaking over the vessel, and she is likely to become a tgtal wreck. VARIOUS CA3LS3. THE RAND STRIKE. Received July 19, 10.15 p.m. CAPETOWN, July 19. The Executive of the Miners' Association at Johannesburg decided by a large majority to declare the strike off. though the announcement of the fact was postponed. GERMAN REFUGEES. Received July 19, 10.16 a.m. CAPETOWN, July 18. Cape Colony is claiming <£6,000 sterling from Germany for the sustenance of refugees from German South-West Africa. Germany refuses to recognise any liability, but the Cape Government is persisting in its claim.

A WATERSPOUT. N. DEVASTATES TWO SUBURBS. Received July 19, 8.2 a.m. VIENNA, July 18. A waterspout devastated Neuwaldegg and Hernals, suburbs of Vienna. The Fire Brigade rescued many people from the houses. "OUIDA." Received July 19, 8.40 a.m. ROME, July 18. The Italian Minister of Education, Signor Rava, has directed the Prefect of Lucca to visit "Ouida" (Mdlle. Louise de la Ramee), the English novelist, who has lately been in adverse circumstances, and suffering from illness, and express the readiness of Italy to assist her.

BRITISH RIFLE TEAM FOR AUSTRALIA. Received July 19, 10.15 a.m. LONDON, July 18. Sergeant Ommundsen, gold medallist, will be a member of the British rifle team for Australia. (Sergeant Ommundsen belongs to the Queen's Edinburgh Rifles. He won the King's Prize at the Bisley meeting in 1901, scoring 310 points out of a possible 355.)