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NISU'S OF TEE DAY.
Publio Works Department -
Since, the : retirement of -Mr. A.' B:
Mcrrin. the- State ;- Public: .Works and'
Mines departments- have been without a
permanent head, though Mr. Jamjeson,
the chief clerk, has been acting -as secre
tary. "As the salary of the permanent
head was £1230 a year, the Government
has therefore saved- just over £500 to
date; but applications: were recently in
vited- for -tbe vacancy at a salary of £900
a. year,. a reduction which is in accordance
with the Ministry's iiojicj-oi reducing tho
salaries of the higher State "officials when
the - opportunity presents itself by- retire
ments. There are four applicants for' the
position— Mr./Jamioson, Mr. Whitehead
(Director of 'Immigration). Mr. G. Moore
and Mr; N. H. Malcolm, , Both Messrs.
Moore nnd .Mqlcolm.. are members of the
Closer Settlement Board, which the Go
vernment has decided to abolish when its
term expires on Wednesday. A hill to
give effect to this decision is now before
the Legislative Apscthbly.
Commissioner of Police.
Twelve applications have been received
by the Under Secretary for the position
of Commissioner of Police. These include
Mr. T. A; Blarney, the retiring Commis
sioner, who was not reappointed by the
Government whom it decided to reduce the
salary from £1750: a year, including £250
allowance, to' £1250, including allowance,
and the period, of ( appointment from five
to three years. ' " The Premier has ex
plained in the Legislative Assembly that
this reduction was in accordance " with the
Ministry's policy of economy. Among
the applicants are : several officers of the
State service, including one who is con
sidered to have air: excellent chance, be
cause his appointment would enable the
Government to make a further substan
tial saving. Iu some Stnte circles, bow-
ever. it is thought that- Mr. Blarney may
receive an extension of his term. Seve
ral I military officials with , excellent cre
dentials have applied for the post. The
Ministry hnB some splendid material from
which to make a selection. Tho applica
tions will bo submitted to the'next meet
ing of Cabinet, which will appoint a com
mittee to- examine /the qualification of
candidates, so that nn appointment 'may
be made before 31st inst., when -Mr.
Blamoy'a term expires.-
Technical Education. .-
1 When Mr. Linton, ''M-L A., asked in the
Legislative Assembly last week for the"
production of the ' file . relating to tbe
amalgamation of the positions of Chief
Inspector of Technical Schools arid presi
dent of the Apprenticeship Commission,
ana nie appointment ot air. a. 1'. j'jitnam,
he was told that the later correspondence
on the file had been removed. The ex
planation given Was that the missing por
tions, which were regarded as personal
between the Director of ' Education and
tlie Public Service Commissioner, were iu
tbe .possession of - the Premier, who. was
considering them-. Mr. Linton will ask
in tbe House to-morrow if. the remaining
portions of the '.filo will bo laid on the
table of tho library, ami, if they 'arc not
available, whether copies of them will be
produced'. Members of the- Opposition
arc anxious for, tho production of these
documents, which, they. assert, will show
that tlie Ministry unduly interfered in the
administration of the Education depart
ment and in 'tl.ic filling of tlie vacancy of
Chief Inspector of Technical Schools.
Discovery's. Next, Voyage.
A meeting -of the co'mmiltee making the
administrative, arrangements for the next
voyage of -the. Discovery was held on Sat
urday, at' the Commonwealth offices. Sir
Orme Mnsso'n ; was in tlie chair. The
other .members present wpre Sir Douglas
Mawson and Rear-Admiral Kerr. Mr.
Strnhan, of : the Prime. Minister's depart
ment, was present in a secretarial and de
partmental . capacity. There was a num
ber of matters to ho discussed, including
the scientific personnel and the general
preliminary, settlements to bo made. Scnn-
tor Daly, ids tho controlling Minister, was
unablo to attend owing to his Canberra
engagements. . Another meeting of the
committee will be held at an early date. .
Dofaulting Solicitors,
As a result of the increasing number
of cases in Which solicitors have misap
plied Or misappropriated their clients'
money, some members of the Law In
stitute are anxious to have legislation
introduced compelling every solicitor to
keep a separate trust account nnd to
file a fidelity bond : with the prothonotnry
of the Supreme Court. The suggestions
will be considered nt a meeting of the
Law Institute to be held nn 14t.li Ann-.
list. Another proposal is that the coun
cil of the institute should control an
indemnity' fund constituted by a compul
sory annual payment .of from £4 to £10
by every practising solicitor. An alter
native suggestion is that annual .subscrip
tions . could be graded every year accord
ing to the extent or trust money received
by solicitors in tho yenr previous to the
payment of the last subscription. Such
a fund could be applied to reimbursing
clients unfortunate enough to have suf
fered through the dishonesty of the soli
citors, nnd the couricil4 of the institute
could be empowered to insure contracts
and pay premiums out of the fund. It is
considered tlint no solicitor should be re
quired to conii-ibiite more than £50 in a
lifetime to this fund, and that no con
tributions. would be- accepted after the
fund amounts to £100,000.
Kcop to tho Left.
Complaints ore increasing ns to the
confusion and congestion on city path
ways caused by failure of soma pedes
trians to observe tlie kccp-lo-the-left rule.
Though the City Council lius control of
the pathways, ns of the streets, and is
empowered to inflict fines up to £10 for
offences of this kind, nothing appears to
bo done to enforce observance of the
law. . Some time ago traffic, officers of the
council curried out a kccp-lo-the-left
campaign, but since the cessation of these
activities the position has become nt
lon6l ns bnd ns ever. Allowing for the
fact thnt those who wish to approach
shops "on tlie right-hand side of the pave
ment must necessarily break through tho
opposite stream of pe'destriuns, and that
for other reasons the rule cannot bp
maintained with exactitude, yet it is ap
parent tlint for the : most - part non-
obsdrvancc can be ascribed to indiffer
ence, carelessness or,' on the pnrt 'of n
very small minority, a spirit of. wilful
.non-compliance. The; advice, g'ven by a
police ' inspector' - was that the pedes
trian oil his correct side should not
give way to offenders. But ns this some
times requires force, and might lead to
an altercation, the solution is not one
thnt will appeal to all. Judicious police
action - would seem to be indicated.
Value of .Statistics.
It lias often, been remarked tliiit official
statistics are interesting but sometimes
misleading, writes our special Queensland
'correspondent. 'That lins been raised in dis
cussions' on "the reintion of Queensland's
exports to imports. A rough calculation
made ' lamely, however, on- relative ; pur-
chasing power of Queensland aqd West
Australia— which is quite a - proper eco
nomic method . of approximation— shows
tlint .taking inter-Stnlc movement into
account, the exports of this State continue
to be above the imports. .Without, con
sideration of inter-State movement,
our-, exports , are very - largely above tlie
imports. . We : must, however, remember
sticking to elementary economies, tlmt of
our oversea export of . sugar, roundly
£2,000,000, represents a loss spread over
the whole of that industry. We. are jiist
a'1 little concerned -about the statistics pre
sented by our own chief of that depart
ment, relating to ; live stock imports end
exports, ' For the year .1927-28 .intcr-btate
exports -of 'horses', -cattle', and shc'cp are
given at £1,824,609 above the imports,
nnd in 192329 'the; imports were £511,607
above the exports." The discrepancies in
tlie movement, it has been explained, were
largely due to migration iu 1927-2S to
cg'eape.. our- drought trouble, and. in the
later year to tlie return of such ns wore
unsold or otherwise disposed of over. the
border. .-
Mr. roreiv.il Srrle will deliver n free guide
Itir-HU'c' on Stiver und Sheffield Piute at the
National Gnllery -at 3 p.m. to-day. Visitors
should wuit in the lluvofot Gallery (or the lec
turer.
llev. George Cox will give a lunch-hour talk
at tile National Museum (rom 12.30 to 1.30 p.m.
to-morrow. I-'rom 2 to 2.45 p.m. he will, give
short- talks on the .exhibits in the Children's
ltoom. near the Swanston-street entrance to 'the'-
l'uhttc Llbrurr, and at 8 n.in. he will deliver
a cuido -lecture in tho National Museum on In
sects, ' ; . .' ' - ...
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