F.eviewofBeviews,l/il!l3. PROGRESS OF THE WO'^.LD. 



857 



fore. There have been reform mayors 

 before, too, but Tammany goes on cheer- 

 fully just the same. 



Australia's Fleet. 



On Trafalgar Day, October 21st, Ad- 

 miral Sir George King-Hall, Comman- 

 der-in-Chief of the British Fleet m Aus- 

 tralian waters, formally hauled down his 

 flag, and I-I.M.S. " Cambrian," the flag- 

 ship, sailed for home. Thus was severed 

 a connection which has existed for 125 

 years between Australia and the British 

 fleet. From now onwards the Common- 

 wealth will have ships of its own. They 

 will form part of the Imperial navy, it 

 is true, but they will be paid for and 

 largely manned by Australians. The 

 Admiralty does not consider the situa- 

 tion in the Pacific in any way critical, 

 and has not carried out its share of the 

 barpain made when Australia decided to 

 build a fleet. Should it ever become 

 necessary to strengthen the China squad- 

 ron, it would speedily be clone, but it is 

 unfortunate that the extra ships cannot 

 at once be sent out. Until they are, Aus- 

 tralians will not unnaturally feel that 

 they are not being quite fairlv treated. 



Sydney's Welcome. 



Much has been written, especiall)' in 

 Melbourne, about the chilling reception 

 given to the Australian flagship and 

 the other vessels of the fleet by Sydney. 

 Actuallv, immense crowds turned out to 

 watch the arrival, but this was not well 

 stage-managed. When the American 

 Fleet arrived the great ships, painted 

 white, steamed close along the shore. 

 When they reached the Heads they 

 swung out to sea, and turning in a 

 majestic circle, entered the Harbour m 

 stately line. Everyone of the hundreds 

 of craft awaiting them shrieked a wel- 

 come on whistle, siren or horn, and the 

 thunder of the guns added to the volume 

 of sound. The Australian ships were 

 flrst seen black specks far out at sea. 

 They steamed straight to the Heads, and 



hu<je crowds on the shore saw them not 

 at all. No welcoming whistles greeted 

 the battleships as they went slowly up 

 the Harbour. It was only as the "Aus- 

 tralia" swung to her anchor that the 

 guns of the " Cambrian " boomed out 

 their salute. The welcoming tugs, motor 

 launches and craft of all description 

 were there in their hundreds to welcome 

 the warships, but the use of whistle, horn, 

 and siren was expressly forbidden. The 

 greeting was to be very dignified. It 

 erred on the side of too much dignity. 

 The immense crowds cheered, it is true, 

 but it needs more than human lungs to 

 make much impression in a great har- 

 bour like Sydney's. The march through 

 the decorated streets was of the briefest. 

 The procession did not take five minutes 

 to pass. Part of the route was changed, 

 too, at the last moment, which did not 

 add to the success of the spectacle. The 

 enthusisarn was all right, but it had too 

 little opportunity of showing itself. 



Can She Get in? 



The "Australia" does not appear to 

 be coming to Melbourne, for some time 

 at any rate. This brings up again the 

 question of the depth of water at the 

 Heads. Even those who poo-poo the 

 need of hastening the deepening opera- 

 tions being carried on there, admit that 

 the " Australia " will only get in under 

 good conditions at high tide. The 

 15,000-ton " Ceramic " went to Adelaide 

 to complete her loading, the first White 

 Star liner to do so. The spectacle of 

 our Flagship hesitating to enter one of 

 our great harbours will probably result 

 in a speeding up of the deepening sO' 

 urgently wanted. 



Tiie Federal Parliamant. 



On October 2Qlh the Government was 

 defeated on a motion for adjournment^ ^ 

 moved to enable Mr. Fisher adequately 

 to prepare a reply to Sir John For- 

 rest's criticism of Labour financial 

 methods. Stung bv this rcxerse Mr. 



