Series 01 Part 02: Hughes family correspondence, 3 April 1917-22 September 1918 - Page 191
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 191]
4.
Holman came back to Sydney in the same ship, the "Sonoma". It was rather funny last week in Parliament, as the Government was obviously most anxious to close up before Holman arrived, so we met early & sat late on nearly every day of the week, & finally the Government "got the shutters up" at about midnight last Friday. Holman arrived today (Tuesday). Verbum sapientibus!
The first thing he has to explain when Parliament meets again at the end of January is a scrubby little scandal arising out of the abuse of motor cars provided for the use of Ministers of the Crown for official work only, & actually used during the past six years of Labour rule not only for their wives & daughters to go shopping & to theatres in, but for week-end & even longer country trips – not only for Ministers & their sisters & their cousins & their aunts, but also for friends who seem to have got the loan of a government car whenever they wanted one badly enough. Now that Australia, & New South Wales in particular, is getting hard up, these things are attracting attention.
Cranbrook, next door to us, is in the market at last. The house has had five acres reserved around it & the rest of the land is cut up into allotments & the whole of it is to be put up to auction on 1st December. Garland brought me down a plan of the subdivision on Sunday last, & today I got another from Raine & Horne. The road is to be widened to 100 feet from our boundary to the far end of the Cranbrook land near Rose Bay pier. This will make the side line of our place, next Cranbrook, jut out at a sharp right angle to the road for about 33 feet or so, & of course