THE ITALIAN DEBT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 263, 6 November 1925, Page 6

THE ITALIAN DEBT.

The American-Italian Debt Funding Commissions have made some progress in the negotiations and have appointed two joint sub-committees to go into details of a possible settlement. The Italians, while not seeking to repudiate their liability, have emphasised the present economic distress existing in their country, and have asked for lenient terms both on this account and also because of the sacrifices which Italy made in men during the war. The French and the Belgians, as well as the Italians, in their negotiations with America in regard to debt settlements have not failed to point out that the United States ought to be willing to look upon a part of the money advanced as a contribution to a common cause at a time when America was not able to send men to the front. It is thought that Senator Borah's views will have considerable influence in regard to the terms which Italy may be able to arrange, and it is said that he is not unfavourable to lenient terms for the first few years, in view of Italy's present unfavourable economic conditions, but he thinks, that Italy ought to pay more in future if her position improves. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Borah undoubtedly has some influence, • but in the opinion of many of his colleagues this influence is not as great as is commonly supposed. One member of the Washington Cabinet said of him that though he has a wonderfully large audience throughout the country, he does not exercise much control over actual voting, and that sometimes after a long discussion even he himself did not vote as he had talked. The fact that the Belgian settlement has met with approval in Washington augurs well for some lenient treatment of Italy. The Italian debt to the United States, together with accrued interest, amounts to about £400,000,000, and, in addition, Italy owes over £500,000,000 to Great Britain. The Italian industries are in great need of capital for their development, and as. this capital must come from the United States, some settlement of the Italian debt is necessary. This will probably be ■an important factor in the negotiations. In view of the great sacrifices Italy made during the war, and the fact that she had to buy even the coal -for her factories at an enormous figure, it certainly 'would seem that tbe debt terms should be made as lenient as possible and that little should be asked for till Italy's economic position has -heen placed on a sounder footing.

Two Auckland youths have suffered blood poisoning in the last few weeks as the result of spider bites. In both cases, it is stated, the spiders were an imported species that arrived in packages of goods. Accustomed from their experience with New Zealand spiders to regard the insect as a harmless thing, neither of the youths feared any harm from the innocent-looking spiders that came from abroad. One of them was bitten on the leg and the other on the arm. The lastmentioned was that of an employee of a firm of importers. He was unpacking a case of whisky when be noticed a nest of little spiders, like miniature daddy-long-legs, brown in colour, among the straw. Not regarding them as dangerous, he allowed one at least to get on his arm; and the result, though it caused him -no pain at the time, was a bite, similar to that of a mosquito, which soon caused a painful swelling and led to a minor operation.

Until the burning of gunpowder loses its fascination for the juvenile mind Guy Fawkes will always be caricatured annually on November 5. If they do not have a Guy Fawkes as an excuse other nations have their fireworks days, and in the United States; a large crop of accidents is expected as a result of the bombardment, which is The Glorious Fourth. In Auckland this November the great day was honoured enthusiastically and the darkness was punctuated last night by many more fires than usual. There were some rather fine rockets, and as the sky was black under the influence of an approaching storm from the northwest the effect was rather fine. These large rockets are the feature of the modern way of keeping up the old custom of honouring Guy. ln the old days a youngster would be content with a few packets of crackers, a squib or two, a few Catherine wheels, and something that made a good "bang." Nowadays the fire Worshippers think nothing of putting a match to ten shillings' or a pound's worth of rockets. No accidents were admitted to the hospital, so it must be assumed the local youngsters are either more careful or more skilful pyrotechnieally than their cousins in the States.

People use less coal now than in the winter, and this has caused a noticeable slackening oft* in the operations of ,two colliery companies operating in the AVaikato district. The coal trade is a seasonal trade, and this means that, as soon as the warm weather comes the mines work below capacity and continue so for about six months. Added to this, there are instances of factories installing electrical power; and that, is another unsettling influence to the coal trade. Meanwhile exhaustive coal tests are being made by the Railway Department to determine whether Waikato coal may be successfully used on the New Zealand lines. If the tests are successful (and the results will not be known for some time yet), the three companies, Taupiri, Pukemiro and Glen Afton, will share the advantages between them. Glen Afton is, at present, the only colliery that continues working at full capacity all the year round. Its demand, being largely for butter and cheese factories, make? it to a groat extent independent of seasonal troubles.

"You may work a man to death but not so a woman." was the remark of an Auckland employer to-day in pointing out the difference between the award controlling men and women factory workers in New Zealand. His own practice was far from bearing out the first part of the statement; but as for limiting the work of women, he considered it" a sound humanitarian principle. Of course, there were cases of apparent hardship; and he cited that of an industrious young woman in bis employ who was keeping herself and.her mother on f2 10/ a week. It was a bard struggle for them; and the girl wished to earn more by overtime employment. Under the award she was* allowed 120 hours' overtime a year. She had worked that out three or four weeks ago and would be able to earn no more overtime; pay until next year. She was strongand healthy, and he thought a case like that might be specially dealt with by the particular union and, possibly, a special permit granted. Another case in tbe same business was that of a girl keeping herself and an invalid father.

To plunge over a cliff 200 feet high and be totally wrecked at the bottom was the fate of a motor lorry, belonging to Petty and Company, of Hawera, at Oeo on Saturday. Nobody was in the lorry at the time, but the driver, Mr. J. Blake, of Hawera, made a desperate and risky attempt to save' the vehicle as it rushed backwards to the edge of the precipice. He succeeded in seizing the wheel and swinging the heavily laden lorry around, but the wheels reached the edge of the cliff and the lorry toppled over. The driver told a reporter that the lorry was standing fully laden with its back towards the high sea cliff. The engine was fitted with an impulse starter, and when Mr. Blake turned the engine over to start it tbe vehicle began to move backwards, for by some mischance the reverse gear was meshed. Down the slight declivity before the brink of the cliff was reached the heavy vehicle quickly gathered speed, and it was then that Mr. Blake made his risky attempt to board the lorry, but, as stated, he was only able to reach the wheel and swing the lorry round, just too late to save it from destruction. The lorry was insured for £400 in the New Zealand Insurance Company, but it is understood that this will not cover the loss.

Specimens of a special postage stamp to be issued by the Post and Telegraph Department in connection with tho' New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition, 1925-26, have .reached Dunedin. The design consists of a Maori border enclosing a view of the bead of the grand court and dome of the festival hall and the hills beyond, with lettering and numerals below. The values are |d (green), Id (red), and 4d (mauve.) The stamp was designed by the well-known artist, Mr. H. Linley Richardson, of Wellington, who also designed the King George issue of New Zealand postage stamps.

Reticulation work is in progress on the North Shore in connection with the Waitemata Power Board's electrification scheme. Poles have been delivered along the tram route at Takapuna and to many of the side streets and in Northcote. The erection of these was commenced in Milford Road on Wednesday, and good progress is being**' made. Another gang will shortly be started on this area. Accompanied by the engineer (Mr. W. P. Gauvain), a visit was paid yesterday by Messrs W. R. T. Leighton (chairman), A. E. Greenslade, and M. E. Thompson, member 3 of the Works Committee of the Power Board, and over forty of the undressed poles were rejected as unsuitable for erection in the side streets of Takapuna. At Henderson a gang of men is employed erecting poles, and at New Lynn two men are engaged in wiring. Poles and' equipment are arriving in satisfactoryquantities, and the work of reticulation is to be pushed ahead with all possible expedition.

Bobbed hair arid short skirts are getting some of our married ladies into unexpected situations. Most of them like to be taken for a year or two younger than the almanac says, but there is a limit to this sort of thing. The other evening a lady who lives in an Auckland suburb arrived home rather annoyed and said: "Here, how old do I really look?" She was told that op an affidavit her age would be assessed at porbably twenty-five. "Well, this is what the tram conductor gave mc," she said, and threw on the table a child's ticket for the first section. As a matter of fact she is petite, girlish in figure, has bobbed hair, and wears the fashionable short skirt. Moreover she admitted she was not looking up when she held out sixpence to the conductor. When she found in her; hand fivepence Change and a half-ticket, she nearly wept. She, a married woman for at least two years, to be taken for a chit 0 - a cr'rl— —! However, she bottled up her indignation until she got home and then told her folk how she had been insulted. "All right," said the husband, "we'll go down to the theatre on Wednesday, and see if we can get the ticket office to insult you again in the

same way."

An Auckland lawyer bought a house in Parnell the other day. Before he moved in, his son, who was making a childish tour of inspection, found a revolver, complete with case, underneath the house. The father, acquainted with the remarkable discovery, remembered the law about unregistered arms, and informed the police. "Bring it in, tnaA the officials, and the lawyer said that he would, when he moved into the house. But he didn't, for when he went to get the weapon he found that it had disappeared. All that was left of it was the case.

A narrow escape from drowning was experienced by a young whitebait fisher while standing on one of the crossbeams underneath the wharf on a recent morning (relates the "Grey River Argus"). His net pole snapped suddenly, and he was precipitated into the water. The coat he was wearing became entangled round his head, and he would undoubtedly have been drowned had it not been for a fellow fisherman, Mr. A. Lees, who gallantly plunged in to his rescue. The lad was brought ashore little the worse for his ducking.

"The great curse which affects the dairying industry in New Zealand to-day does not lie at Home at all—it is in the milking sheds of this country," said Mr. G. Roberts, when speaking as a representative of the Otago factory managers at the farewell to Mr. A. C. Ross, of the New Zealand Dairy Division, held recently ' (reports the "Otago Daily Times"). "The quality is cursed by filth," he added, "but if the Government took the matter up it could remedy the fault in a month. I am satisfied that the. secret of the quality of Danish butter lies in the fact that the cow byres in Denmark are as clean as the dwelling houses."

An unusual case came before the Wai* roa Court when two Maori youths were charged with using a bow and arrow in a public place (reports the Napier "Telegraph"). The police stated that the accused were not content with shooting their arrows at birds, and began to fire them at passing motor cars, and in one case, while a lady was driving, it was only by a narrow shave that serious consequences were averted. The presiding justices administered a sharp warning, accompanied with a fine of 27/ each.

It is claimed by some of the workers in connection with the Tecent electionin Waitemata that at one booth four electors recorded their votes whose total combined ages was 376 years, a record which they believe would be very hard to beat in any other booth around Auckland.

Edendale's new picture theatre will be erected at the Edendale tram termiinus, and not in New NoTth Road between Gladstone Road and Woodward Road, as mentioned in Wednesday's "Star." "Hie theatre plans which made it possible to seat 700 people, have been altered to make provision for 850 patrons.

"I am endeavouring to assist the witness," said Mr- D. Seymour during the hearing of t*ie alleged libel action in the Supreme Court yesterday, when interrupted by opposing counsel while asking an involved question. Sir John Findlay: "That is whj__we all try to do, but it is against the rules, you know." (Laughter.)

To-day 100 seamen, 50 from the Matakana and 56 from the Waimana, who were sentenced to imprisonment during the overseas seamen's strike at Auckland, were released from Mount Eden. This leaves about 180 seamen still in prison, their sentences having in some cases extended to three months.

"I am afraid this witness is not as acute " began Mr. Seymour during the examination of one of his witnesses in the alleged libel action at the Supreme Court yesterday, when Sir John Findlay cut in: "As you want him to be." (Laughter.)

The average life of a horse would be between 15 and 20 years, but "Ben," one of the horses owned by the Auckland Trotting Club, and now finishing his days in idleness at Alexandra Park, is an advanced veteran. He is now 33 years old, and for 27 years has pulled the roller at the Epsom Trotting track.