The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 1

MiimliiMefall Lato Edition No. 45.957 First Published 1 831 Telephone: Editorial 282 2822; General 282 2833; Classifieds 282 1 122 30 cents' 52 pages Monday, April 15, Wreckers get the right street, wrong house mm Dr Runcie jgn .111 Yt By ERIC CAMPBELL Mr David Osborne was sitting in the rubble of his house at 58 Glebe Street last night after wreckers employed by the Housing Commission apparently went to the wrong address. Mr Osborne, a sub-editor on The Australian Financial Review. yesterday went to the home he was due to move into at the weekend. Ke found that every floor in the $58,000 four-room cottage had been removed, along with an antique fireplace and material he was using to renovate it.

All that remained was a piece of junk mail from a real estate agent slipped under the door. Police who inspected the house said the Housing Commission had "apparently had a mix-up with the The house is one of the few privately owned in the area and is ringed by former "squats7 which the Housing Commission is clearing for renovation. A spokesman for the Minister for Housing, Mr Walker, said last night an investigation would be ordered into the incident. He said he did not know if the demolition Picture by STEPHEN HOLLAND house "It's just unbelievable Osborne at his Glebe Street thought I must be in the wrong house, but the key fitted the door," Mr Osborne said. "Then I thought there must have been a fire, but as I walked around the house I saw it had been completely and thoroughly gutted.

It's just unbelievable." Mr Osborne said the woman next door told him eight men had worked a solid day on the demolition about last Thursday. Mr Hu and $5 billion worth of rock Family benefit targ tor Birth and the Resurrection. Page 13 Rebirth for the Georges River PageS Wealth: Why it rates Cricket Board hunt for rebels By PHILIP DERRIMAN The Australian Cricket Board last night promised strong action against any players who join a rebel Australian team touring South Africa later this year, and it called on players rumoured to be in the team to come forward and deny involvement. The ACB would not specify the kind of action it was planning, but there is a belief among the players that they will be asked to declare in writing their availability to play for Australia next summer, when, according to the rumours, the rebel team would be in South Africa. Players who refused would be dropped from the side due to leave for England in a fortnight If a rebeltour really has been organised and clearly the ACB thinks there is a good chance it has then an extraordinary confrontation between the ACB and its players seems unavoidable.

At least one player. Dean Jones, has admitted he was asked to join the team, and a number of other players, including Wayne Phillips arid John Dyson, have refused to confirm or deny it. iThe ACB's chairman, Mr Fred Bennett, said last night that the ACB was urgently trying to get to the bottom of the affair, and he expected it to decide on a course of action at its meeting in Perth which starts on Wednesday. He thought it likely any players who had signed to tour South Africa would be dropped from the touring side bound for England. The basis of our cricket is development for the future," he said, "and I can't see any percentage in sending fellows who would be unavailable next summer." -He thought it possible that the departure of the team for England might be delayed if late replacements had to be found.

So far the players have not revealed who is behind the proposed tour. The man most widely suspected the former Australian player Bruce Francis, who has long been an advocate of sporting links with South Africa refused last night to confirm or deny he had any part in it. Another sports identity with South African links, David Lord, who was in South Africa only a month ago, denied last night that he was involved but said he was very much in favour of the tour. "The Russian ballet and circuses come here, so why not play sport against South Africa?" he said. JllillV BILL POWER, of Killara, was amused, but not very reassured, when he.

saw the tag attached to his bags on an Indian Airlines internal. flight in India recently. We repro- duce the tag below: -si Cabin Baggage i PRAY AND LEAVE THE REST TO HIM ONE up for the locals. While iU seems almost a prerequisite for top ABC executives to be foreigners these days, SBS Television is advertising for a director of news and current affairs (salary close today. The advertisement specifies that "to be eligible for permanent appointment, applicants must be Australian citizens, or.

be in the process of acquiring Australian Exactly the same ABC job, at the same salary, advertised last November, had no such specification. A COLLEAGUE who is compiling a careers supplement interviewed the NSW Polices head of person' net. Executive Chief Superintendent Ron Wark. last week. The superintendent was asked what it took to make a good police officer.

"Well, you have to be able to resist temptations began. THE soldiers which Australia sen to the luu years ago became our first official returned soldiers but John Patterson-Kane, of Carl-, ingford, is honorary secretary of a committee which wants to honour the man who is believed to be the first Australian to fight overseas and return to his native soil. Andrew Douglas White, born in Parramatta in 1793, fought with Britain's Royal Engineers in France between 1812 and 1818. He returned to Australia in 1823, and -died in Parramatta in 1837. The Andrew Douglas White memorial committee wants to see something erected in the Parramatta area in his honour.

ANY form of physical activityj might become harmful in Sydney's polluted atmosphere. How- ever, a middle-aged cyclist ped-i dling up Broadway one morning last week might have discovered how to contend with it. He was wearing a gas mask. RIINDANOON is celebrating its annual Highland Gathering next Saturday. About people are expected to attend the festivities, and a steam train will be leaving Central Station at 8 am to take people to the town.

But one of the organisers, Pauline Dickson, says only one thing is missing: a piper to pipe passengers aboard at Central. Any offers? Amusements 37 Arts 14 Business 21-22 Chess 39 Comics, Crosswords 39 Computers 15-19 Editorials 14 Law Notices 39 Lottery 37 Mails 39 Puzzles 39 Shipping 39 Sport 38-44 Stay in Touch 20 Personal Notices Page 29 Classified Index on Back Page Classifieds: 282 1122 Metropolitan: Unsettled. Afternoon thunderstorms. Temps: City 1824 Liverpool 1725. Pollution: low Yesterday: City 1926, Liverpool 1725.

Pollution: low NSW: Showers. Local thunT derstorms in the East Milder; SW change developing. The Seas slight to mod-, erate on a low to moderate, swell. Tides: High 5.07an (1.5m); 5.36pm (1.3m). Lowt 11.52am (0.4m 11.43pm; (0.6m).

Sun: Rises 6.18, sets 5 J3. s' Moon: Rises 1.22am, sets' 324pm. Full details, Page 39. SMH 50 FR 70 "Recommended and maximum price only. Interstate by air extra.

(o) (o) forced their way into the house through the back door. The gate had been forced and the handle had been taken off the back door. Floorboards and carpet were piled up in the backyard. Mr Osborne said the Housing Commission knew he had bought the house, because he had told it a week ago that he wanted a common fence with a Glebe Estate house replaced. A commission officer told him an inspection would be made to prepare a quote on how much the commission was prepared to pay.

Mr Osborne is staying with friends, although he intends to ask the commission to provide him with alternative accommodation. Mr Walker's press secretary, Mr David Gleeson, said the Housing Commission had contractors working in the area "but we can't jump to the conclusion that it was Two Glebe policemen inspected the damage with Mr Osborne yesterday. "They said if it wasn't a bureaucratic mistake it was the weirdest crime they had ever seen," Mr Osborne said. lift its technological expertise to compensate for the high labour costs that blunt its competitive edge at present. Australian Government officials are still supremely confident that the Kwinana blast furnace near Perth will reopen because of Chinese demand for the semi-processed steel.

Talks between BHP and the Chinese over the reopening are continuing, with the main stumbling block being the high Australian price. But the cjovernment soon received a much sterner rebuke, in the form of the resignation of one of its own prominent members. Perhaps the most popular socialist leader in France, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Michel Rocard, resigned last week over the proposed changes, which he said endangered the stability of the executive branch of government Mr Rocard said the prospect of government by coalition, which was inherently more unstable than the present system, was greatly increased by the Government's proposed changes. While the socialists fiddle with the economy and the electoral system, the racial issue burns. France is now experiencing a sporadic stew of ethnic violence Anti-Arab violence (there are more than two million Arabs in France now), anti-black violence, anti-Semitic violence, violence committed by blacks and Arabs and, to round it all off, an incipient increase in Arab terror ism.

Continued Page 7 By AMANDA BUCKLEY PARABURDOO: The Prime Minister introduced one of China's most powerful men yesterday to the chunk of rock likely to make Australia $5 billion richer over the next 20 years. CRA's Channar site in the heart of the Pilbara is expected to yield 200 million tonnes of rich iron ore which both the Chinese and Australian Governments hope will help fuel China's second revolution its industrial modernisation program now under way. The joint development of Channar by CRA's Hamersley Iron subsidiary with the China Metallurgical Import and Export Corporation (CMIEC) will be the first international joint venture undertaken by the Chinese. The two corporations are thrashing out the final details of the deal. The investment in the development stage is expected to be under $200 million 60 per cent to come from Hamersley with the remainder from CMIEC Mr Hu Yaobang, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, second only in power to the Government Leader, Mr Deng Xiaoping, left no doubt during yesterday's visit to the Pilbara that his Government was determined to see the deal consummated.

44 A treasure house," Mr Hu said in his halting English as he stood 300 metres above sea level with Mr Hawke to unveil the plaque marking the visit. "We share it together," was Mr Hawke's reply. It was Mr Hu's first official engagement since arriving in Australia with about 30 Chinese journalists and similar number of officials on Saturday. This visit to the Pilbara was particularly sought by the Chinese leader, marking the importance with which he viewed the joint trade relationship. Hundreds of Pilbara residents flocked to the Paraburdoo Airport and other parts of the town where Mr Hawke and Mr Hu and their caravanserai of media and staff visited after the helicopter tour of the mine site.

Both leaders looked as if they were thoroughly enjoying themselves as they visited Mr Mervyn and Mrs Cheryl Bagnall at 96 Pilbara Street, Paraburdoo, as a "typical" mining family. Mr Hawke and Mr Hu were photographed in the Bagnall's back garden under the rotary clothes line with the couples' two children on their respective knees. Mr David had been done by the Housing Commission. Mr Osborne said he would sue the commission for break and enter and theft "1 couldn't believe it at first, I et cuts from the devaluation of the dollar. Mr Keating is due back in Australia this morning from the meeting of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and-Development in Paris and is due to go straight to a Cabinet meeting, then a meeting of the review committee later in the day.

Mr Keating might also have talks with Mr Hawke about ways to limit the inflationary effects of the fall in the dollar. One way would be to prevent the dollar's increase in the Consumer Price Index being passed on in wages. With Parliament resuming this week, the Opposition is preparing to exploit the political problems created by the falling dollar and the drop in business confidence. In his weekly radio broadcast, the Opposition Leader, Mr Peacock, said last night that the sharp increase in unemployment and the rise in home loan interest rates' showed how fragile the recovery was. To get unemployment down and become more competitive internationally required not just wage restraint but also the kind of discipline the Government had failed to show in the past two years.

"The current high interest rates are largely a result of the extravagant government spending in the 1984-85 Budget and of the Government's loose monetary policy," Mr Peacock said. His deputy, Mr Howard, said the Government was floundering in the face of the falling dollar because Mr Hawke had exhibited abject weakness in response to ACTU pressure for further wage increases. "There is not much point Mr Hawke making statements around the country about Australia's economic position unless he is willing to stand up to the bully boys of the ACTU," Mr Howard said. The Government should indicate immediately it would argue for full discounting of the price effects of devaluation at the next and all subsequent national wage hearings and that it would oppose any attempt by the ACTU to obtain past productivity gains this year. "These statements of Government policy can be made today," Mr Howard said.

PAGE 3: Left's wealth tax plan. PAGE 21: Ross Gittias on the trilogy. mentality inflation, without unemployment'. Now bis successor, the 59-year-old Mr Ramiz Alia, looks likely to hold fast to the Stalinist course of ideological purity steered for 40 years by Mr Hoxha. Albanian diplomats in neighbouring Yugoslavia expect bim to reiterate condemnation of both superpowers and restate Albania's purity during a funeral oration for Mr Hoxha today.

Full reports. Page 8. "She complained to the police and to the Housing Commission that they were too noisy and then that they were wrecking part of her garden," he said. The wreckers appeared to have in China with Mr Hu as one of its main salesmen. Hamersley officials at the site yesterday predicted that the Chinese could be taking more than 20 million tonnes of Australian iron ore by the end of the century compared with the five to six million tonnes now exported annually to that country.

The potential for exporting semi-processed steel to the Chinese was also good, according to the officials, so long as Australia could At the next election, President Mitterrand's Government will institute a system of proportional representation to replace the present first-past-the-post system, which is the system common to most democracies. Seats in the National Assembly, where the socialist Government holds a large majority, will be apportioned by the percentage of votes each party wins in each of France's 99 administrative districts. To qualify, a candidate will have to win a minimum of per cent of the vote. The Government also intends to increase the National Assembly's size to 577 members from the present 491. The Interior Minister, Mr Pierre Joxe, in announcing the proposed changes, said the new system would be "equitable, just and The Opposition parties attacked the proposal, calling it cynical and charging that it would lead to a paralysis of government because it would inevitably give the balance of power to minor parties.

Mr Hu and Mr Hawke at Channar "a joint treasure By MIKE STEKETEE. Political Correspondent CANBERRA: The Federal Government is considering paying family allowances at a flat rate for each child a move which would reduce benefits substantially for large families. The family allowance for the first child is $22.80 a month, with an extra S32.55 for a second child, S39 for a third and fourth and S45.55 for fifth and later children. But the proposal due to be considered by Cabinet's Expenditure Review Committee this week is to pay the same rate per child irrespective of the number of children. The rate would probably be more than $22.80, but the plan envisages saving money overall, so the increase would not compensate large families for the reductions they would suffer.

Opponents of the proposal are likely to include the Minister for Social Security, Mr Howe. Because poverty is higher among large families, the move is expected to meet strong opposition. About 4.3 million children under 16 or dependent students between 16 and 24 benefit from family allowances totalling $1.5 billion. Social welfare is one of the few big spending areas still to be considered by the review committee, which is due to finish its work this week although the timetable could slip because of other commitments. Other options for saving money in the welfare area include means-testing the spouse rebate and means-testing or taxing family allowances.

These proposals have been considered and rejected in previous years. However, Mr Hawke and the Treasurer, Mr Keating, are now particularly conscious that cost-cutting is vital to the Government's ability to cut the deficit and restore business confidence. The remaining review committee's meetings will establish the scope for announcing major Budget savings in an economic state-' ment in May or June. The Government is looking at the option of cutting the Budget deficit below the figure of S6 billion it has signalled previously. It would do this by not spending the additional revenue it expects allowed to travel abroad, own a car, or practise religion.

Yet Mr Hoxha believed socialist Albania was "envied by the whole world" because it was the only country "without external or internal debts, without taxes, without This melting pot called Paris The joint development of the iron ore mine is an important part of the Hawke Government's plan to play key part in the expected huge expansion in the Chinese steel output over the next 20 years. The Pilbara iron ore is of the high quality necessary for the type of steel production which will be undertaken in the new Baoshan steel plant near Shanghai. It is part of Mr Hawke's plan to ensure that Australia benefits from the massive industrial modernisation program a growth in crime and a growth in racial incidents, has also coincided with a growth in the. conservative vote. An opinion poll by Paris Match found that many people intended to vote conservative in the next election in March.

There is no conspicuous national right-wing leader, yet more than 55 per cent said they would vote for the conservative parties. Twenty-eight per cent said they would vote for the socialists and 1 1 per cent for the communists. The poll reflected the ground-swell of resentment against the socialist Government's economic mismanagement and its failure to address the race issue. Little wonder that President Francois Mitterrand is now tinkering with the electoral laws. Unless he does something, his socialists face almost certain parliamentary defeat next year.

Last week the Government announced that, for the first time since the Fifth Republic was formed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1958, France's voting system would be changed. By PAUL SHEEHAN A few days ago, on the Paris Metro, a robbery took place right in front of me. It was a symbolic event, and an increasingly common one. As the train doors began to close, a black youth, about 17, leaned against a door and held it open. A second youth, also black, leapt from his seat and in -one movement grabbed a woman's handbag and vaulted out the door, which then slammed shut.

The train departed, leaving the two youths laughing and strolling along, the platform, while the woman and her husband still sat with their mouths open, emitting no sound. The robbery took about two seconds. Perhaps three. Another blow to France's race relations. Maybe another vote for the conservative parties.

Paris used to be a white city. It is no longer. It is now white, African and Arab. A true melting pot But melting pots usually become boilr ing pots, and enlightened Paris is no exception. The growth of France's non-European population, coupled with A nation with a siege Tke psychology of a besieged fortress and ferocious defiance of and eternal vigilance against anseen enemies permeate the writ-lags of the late Albanian leader, Mr Enter Hoxha.

And all over the country of 2.9 million people there are thousands of, pillboxes and sunken sentry posts. No Albanian citizen (except a select few on official business).