From Our Own Melbourne, July 16, Seventeen years ago when the American sailors last visited Australia, the people hailed them with expressions of welcome of unbridled fervour. Indications point to similar ebullitions of joy during the present visit. The Fleet is expected to arrive on the 23rd of the month; the cruisers. are to Hivide on reaching Gabe Island; tone section will proceed to Sydney, white the other will come to Mel Bourne. In these cities active pre Parations are being made to wel-ome them, and numerous forms of entertainment are being or-Ganized to give the bluejackets a royal time, during their stay in! our ports." It has been decided that the jeans shall travel at the tax; expense upon the Australian trains and trams. Me. Allan, the Premier of Victoria, was among those who welcomed Mrs. Coontz, the wife of Admiral Coontz, on her arrival from Sydney, where she has been staying for the last week or more, A. wireless message from the Admiral states that facilities enabling the men to see the country adjacent to the cities would"be much ap-Preciated. The motorists are consequently busy arranging excurions to beauty spots and popular week-end resorts ne: native and tate slump is for the The only fly in the Seamen's Union, and the possibi ity of curtailment of gas an electric services. Fortunately the men have not a great many ipathizers or partisans among other unionists with th ception of the tambo: extremists of Whom the Australian worker is becoming heartily tired. It is recognized by all sections of the community that it would be a breach of hospitality should the festivities be damped by the wet Vlanket of industrial troubles.
The Golden Harvest Australia's wheat production has grown in and bounds beyond the expectations of those engaged iti -the industry in its pre-war days. The great cultivated was in the year 1916- when 12,484,512 acres were put idea crop. "This was followed by cline owing to drought con ditions prevailing in many di tricts, but in 1921 farmers again increased the area sown and have '"continued to do so. In Western Australia this year the total area for the State will be in the neighbourhood of 2,200,000 acres. view of this fact it is not remarkable that the gre of phosphates, Commission—which the islands of Nauru and Ocean and supplied to the agriculturists throughout the" w "hi to" Australia. In" the "compet wealth there are' over. 16,000,000 acres under gri on artificial manures almost entirely, these having proved to be more expedient to the majority of farmers than other forms. of, unre. The Australian representa tive on the Commission, Mr- Pope, has been in Melbourne recently. He says, that the early surveyors estimated the presence of 56,000,000 tons of phosphates on the islands, but that more recent surveys had Proved that the deposits were at Toast 112,000,000 tons, and maybe nearer 200,000,000 tons. During the ast five years some 1,962,000 tons have been taken of which Australia received 1,298,000 tons. It is pected that our producers will require for their crops this year an aggregate of 670,000. tous which the Commission can: now jand ere at 45/9 per ton. - Wheq treated one ton of phosphates makes two tons of superphosphates for the farmers, in which form the Australian cereal producer. uses it. If the output remains in the vicinity of 600,000 tons per year we may look forward to obtaining supplies from these islands for the next 200 years.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.