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NEWS OF TEE DAY.
Increased Taxation.
Hopes that after all tho Government
could sqe its way to balance the State
ledger without recourse to additional, tax
ation were rudely shattered yesterday
when ; the Premier-Treasurer -presented to
the Legislative Assembly a small bill em-
bbd'ying the income tax increases as out
lined in his 'budget '.speech a few weeks
ago. The lender of the Opposition, Sir
Wm. McPhcrson, secured the adjourn
ment of the debate on the bill until Tues
day next. There is little doubt that the
Legislative Assembly will agree to the
increased taxation, but there appears to
bo some doubt as to the fate ox the in
come tax proposals in -the Legislative
Council.'; Further -consideration was; given
by ; the .-.Assembly -. to the Highways and
Vehicles Bill. Members of the Opposition
indicated they would seek to amend, the
bill in various ways in committee if there
was support on both sides of the House
for the suggestion that the load limit for
motor .vehicles should" be -ten tons, And
not eight tons, as. -provided in -the bill.
The necessity for the establishment of a
Ministry of Transport was also stressed
by members of different parties. A mo
tion by the Premier that the standing
orders be suspended in order that- Govern
ment business might be brought on at
any hour was agreed to without debate.
State Government House.
Tn further reference yesterday to the
proposal to build a new residence for the
State Governor, the Minister of Public
M oiks said that hetore the new building
fas finally authorised tho Ministry would
definitely ascertain from the Common
wealth Government the extent of the fur
ther period it proposed to make use ol' the
present State Government House, which
was now occupied by tho Governor-Gene
ral, and the amount it would pay in rent
for the continued use of the building. So
far, nothing definite had been settled, but
it appeared th'at the Commonwealth would
desire to retain the building for some com
eiderable time, and, as already stated, tho
lease of the State Governor's, residence at
Stomiington would expire next April; .It
would ho more economical, in his
view,- to- erect and- maintain . a
new building'- than-; to take over
the Federal house, which cost more than
£10,099 a year to maintain. The position
that had bec'11 reached when the present
State Ministry took office was that the
previous Government h'ad asked £10,000
it 'year from the Commonwealth as rent
for the building, and the Commonwealth
had offered' £2000. In the opinion of tlie
present State Ministry,, £10,000 was too
high a rental, but £2000 was not. suffici
ent. The whole subject' would be further
discussed with the Federal authorities be
fore definite action was taken. The State
Ministry would proceed carefully in th'e
matter in the interests of economy. Re
garding the question of site, the Minister
said he 'was considering only land in the
Government House reserve. He was not.
considering at present uny portion to
which the public hud access.:'
Progress of Federal Loan.
Tlie secretary to the Federal Treasury,
who is on a brief visit to Melbourne,
announced yesterday that an appreciable
increase in volume of subscriptions to
the war conversion and redemption loan
bad been shown by progress returns. Ou
the first two days of this week the loan
subscriptions amounted to £425,190 miu
£447,600 respectively, and there was evi
dence, Mr. Heathorshaw said, that a
-quicker rate 01 conversions wag being in
duced by the immediate payment of the
cash bonus of £1 10/ for each £100. On
tho other hand, the offer to redeem at
onco up to £4,000,000 of the 1927 wur
loan had been accepted to only a limited
extent. In the five days since this offer
was first made, bonds of a total value of
£378,000 were presented for repayment.
The relatively, small response to tli®
latter offer suggested thnt very many
)027 loan holders intended' to renew their
old securities, and tliey were now given
a definite inducement to act promptly.
Tho number "of applications received was
now- 7195, of vfhitli 4478 were cash sub-
Bcriptions and 2717 conversion' applica
tions. Of these applications, 81 were for
sumB of £10,000 or more, the average of
these large subscriptions being £24,500.
Town Hall Aeouities.
Notwithstanding the fact that ilia new'
Town Hall is supposed to represent the
latest in modern ideas, and that consider
able attention was paid to all details
to ensure that it would be aa perfect an
experienced and much travailed officials
could possibly contrive to make it, its
acoustic properties, instead of being im
proved. are far below the standard 01 tlm
old hall. It was pulnfully evident to 1
most of the 800 people who attended the
Lord Mnyoijs banquet . Inst Right, nnd
ninny, after making a futile effort to,
catch -nu utterance or two. loft the room
in disgust. Others eranad their necks,
or held their bunds to their ears in an
effort to intensify tho Bound. ' On one
occasion when the speaker was only a ,
few yards away, representatives of the
press experienced the utmost difficulty in
hcarlug connected words. It waa the first
banquet held in the hull. It proved a
shocking -return t'or the £250,000 spent
in endeavoring to make it a modern
hall. . .
Lord Somers on Mural Art.
Mural art. such as that displayed on the
wnlls of the new hall nt the Melbourne
Town Hall hath its civilians. But iii order
that there should bo 110 unfortunate mis-
UHlIfil'Kf.nndillff I# rilftui) innnnnLiAii-' iu n.eo..
tial at times, and one -of the most con
spicuous scenes in the new. hall cries aloud
for just such a careful scrutiny. Lord
Soiners --confessed at the Lord Mayor's
dinner' last 'iiight that lie was' filled witli
vague apprehensions wheii ho entered the
hall. At first sight it hud seemed to iiini
remarkable that, in a -place ; where pence
and. harmony prevailed, there should be a
displny of undoubted belligerency. On'
closer inspection, however, ho 'was re
lieved to find that tho weapon clasped so
firmly by the mail in the picture, was for
tunately cut short, and. was not doing the
damage to the other person's anatomy
that' it appeared to be doing. I11 an airy
way lie waved to the design iu question
and it was some lime before the ' general
laughter permitted him,' to proceed ' with
his spcceli.' .!
Tho Sources of Our Population. .
Tables showing tho permanent... move
ments of , European peoples to hnd from
Australia are issued quarterly, by the
State Statistician. In the list made- avail
able yesterday 30 nationalities arc men
tioned, and tho figures showing the per
manent. not gain to the population of
the Commonwealth from each race foftri
an interesting comparison. During the
nine months ended 30th September 25,410
persons of the total permanent gain of
35,222. were British,- tlie -next on the list'
being -Italians, with- 4930 migrants. Greeks
are third with 1024, and Jugo-SIavs fourth
with 880. Polish, with. 393, are fifth;
Maltose, with 377,' sixth; and Germans,
with 492, seventh. Most other races show
comparatively small interest in tho Com
monwealth, and only 1 Turk, - 4' Por
tuguese, and 9 .Lithuanians settled per-,
mnnently. From the United States, which
is not included in the European list, 21-
Americans became permanent residents.
iMoises and Logic.
Until Cr. Baron Marks rose from his
place in the City Council chamber yes
terday matters were quiet, almost som
nolent. Cr. Marks protested , against tho
noises made by motor ear horns during
the early hours of the morning, and he
moved that the attention of : the police
be_ directed' to those noisos which made
the "wee sma' hours" go hideous. Mem--:
hers then woke up. -Cr. Listou declared
that a load motor horn was absolutely
essential during the early 'hours,, of .the-
morning. A home-goiiig reveller.', required:
a good deal of awakening.- The matter
was referred to tho traffic .Vcommitteq.
Then followed the logic upon the noises.
Cv. Kane, said- that whilst they -were
on ( this matter he would request the
members of the town hall and baths com
mittee to Investigate the possibilities of.
installing chimes in the Town" Hall clock
on tho tower. "More noise,'' called out
sevei'al members. The mention of the
Town Hall started another logical train
of thought in the mind of Or.- Wcstlu.v,.
who rose and proposed that too Town
Hall be henceforth known; as the City
Hall, and the Town Clerk'' as the City
Clerk. Cr. Kane 'said it was nn anomaly to
address a letter to. the .Towjt Clerk, Town
Hall, City. He was in.fuvor of tho three
. C's. Alderman Stapley declared that town
clerk was a good old English term, 'and.
he thought it sliotiid not bo altered.'; Of
course, -they eould change the., naiqe of
the Town Hall to the City Hall, tpffc it
would be rather an Americanism. It
was decided to ask . the , town hall and
baths committee to consider tho. advis
ability of changing the name of the Town
Hall to the City Hall, but it wijk- decided
not to alter tho title , of the "Town Clerk.
Lord Mayor and Aldermen. ;
When the Melbourne City Council i asi
sembled yesterday the Lord Mayor-elect,
Alderman Sir S. J." More!; formally as
sumed office for a second year. The retir
ing aldermen l'or the Bourke and Lonsdale
wards respectively, Aidermen W. A.-
Cabana and G. H. C. Crespin, . were
unanimously re-elected; ;
Deputation Postponed.
Tho Chief Secretai-y (Mr. G. M. Pren-
dergast, M.L.A.) was suddenly , called
away yesterday forenoon , from his office
on public business elsewhere.., .-Conse
quently tho receiving of a deputation from
th -Trades Hall Council 011 the VForkers'
Compensation Act bad to be postponed,
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