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By Sydneysider

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Sinful Sydney is repenting in a big way for Dr. Billy Graham, now in his Last Big Week at the Showground. Over 75,000 attended the rally on the first Sunday in May, bringing the total attend ances to that date to 670,000.

They’re hoping to do better than the Royal Easter Show and top the million before the Crusade ends, May 10.

About 50,000 have come out in the open at meetings and made Decisions for Christ; 100 prison ers in the State’s gaols have not come out in the open, but have also made Decisions—by remote control, as they heard the Dr. on radio.

Cost of the Sydney campaign, £77,000, was met from collections after 19 of the 26 meetings.

STOP PRESS: Final attend ance figure was 983,000. * * * VIA STINKO: Mascot inter national air terminal is a dis grace, according to Sydney Lord Mayor and his Councillors. They are annoyed, too, that the De partment of Civil Aviation is spending £500,000 on an inter national terminal for Melbourne (which has only five international flights per week), while facilities at Mascot (60-70 international flights a week) remain “like a country airport”.

Aromas along the route into the city (boiling down works, hides and skin curers, fertiliser factories) don’t create a good im pression on overseas visitors either, they think. A new, glamour route is suggested. However, Sydney airport and the route thereto and from has got some thing few overseas airports have got—a short 3 h miles separating it from the heart of the city. For busy people, that’s worth any amount of stinks by the wayside.

Lonely Hearts: Us Heavy

Cruiser Bremerton, in Sydney for Coral Sea Week, which co incides with University Com memoration Week, was lit up like Times Square during her stay, and Water Police patrolled a few yards off in their launch, with search-lights full on. All to keep off Uni. pranksters who in recent other Coral Sea Week visits have penetrated US de fences to the extent of setting off the gas-warfare alarm on the bridge and running up odd flags to the masthead. This years precautions have been so effective, reported one newspaper columnist, they’ve even kept the

Sydney girls away. Result: Lonely US sailors. (If you can believe columnists, and most people can’t.) * * *

Operation Drain-Pipe:

Police have got the Kingsgrove Slasher—or they have charged a 29-year-old clerk with the Slash er’s crimes, which may or may not be the same thing. The Slasher has been terrorising the Kingsgrove-Lakemba suburbs since 1956, breaking into bed rooms, slashing bedclothes, and sometimes their female occupants, then disappearing like a well greased ghost. Probably the psychiatrists have got a different name for it than the Police, who have trailed suspected Slashers over more back fences, through more storm-water channels, and more suburban swamps than they’d care to point a pistol at.

For weeks before the night of May 1 they had been hiding in the suspect district, equipped with walkie talkies and other aids.

Even so, the alleged Slasher, David Joseph Scanlon, led 100 of them on a merry chase through a couple of miles of ditches be fore they nailed him. * * *

Does N’T Know I T’S

LOADED: Stanley Yankus, dis gruntled US farmer who wasn't allowed to grow as much wheat as he wanted, and who was brought to Australia by a Chicago newspaper to see if we do better here, has made a De cision. But not for Christ—for NSW. And may the Lord help him. Back in the US in early May, he said he’d be leaving again for Australia in a couple of weeks. His wife Mildred, when asked, said: “What is there to be happy about?”

Arrivals And De

PARTURES: Into Sydney, Gen eral L. S. Kuter, C-in-C, US Pacific Air Force, as official Coral Sea Week guest. Out of Sydney, the Rt. Hon. R. G.

Menzies, Dame Patty and party, on Orcades for the US and points east of there. * * •

Ancient History Dept:

Before he departed Stateswards.

Prime Minister Menzies had the satisfaction of knowing that all increases in salaries and allow ances for Federal politicians had passed all stages in House of Reps, and Senate.