WIDE-WORLD NEWS OF THE WEEK

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21281, 28 September 1934, Page 1 (Supplement)

WIDE-WORLD NEWS OF THE WEEK

AMERICAN TEXTILE STRIKE ENDS National Recovery Administration It is good news that the strike in the American factories making cotton, silk, and various other materials has officially come lo an end, though there is said to be some trouble in the south still. When the men went back to work on Monday the strike had already lasted three weeks and had involved hundreds of thousands of workers. To understand the cause of the strike it is necessary to look back to 1932 when America was suffering desperately from the depression; there were millions of men out of work, the wages of those who still had jobs were drastically cut down, and fewer goods were being produced for smaller prices. Then, in the early part of 1933, President Roosevelt planned a great national recovery campaign and set up a body of men under General Johnson to work it. This was known as the National Recovery Administration, or the N.R.A. Its chief work was the drawing up of codes for the different industries and these codes determined the wages to be paid to all the workers in the industry and the hours they were to work. The aim of the codes was to give more people work by shortening the hours that each one was employed and by forbidding children to work at all. They tried, too, to raise prices by giving higher wages and so increasing the amount of money which people had to spend. Also the workers in each industry were encouraged to belong to unions which would, in future, negotiate with the factory owners about the conditions of work in the industry. In England and New Zealand these Trade Unions have been in existence for a long time, but there were very few in America because generally the men belonged to company unions organised by the factory owners instead of by the men themselves. These codes now regulate the working of two and a half million American firms and these fly the Blue Eagle flag, which shows that they are working under the N.R.A. Things have not, however, always gone smoothly between the N.R.A. and the industries. It was the dissatisfaction with their code and, it seems, a particular dislike of the administration of General Johnson, which caused the strike. As is generally the case, the settlement (which was brought about by a group of men working for President Roosevelt) is a compromise. It does not promise the men the higher wages or the abolition of the company unions which they were asking for; but it has set up a board of three, one to represent the employers, one to represent the workers, and one impartial person, to discuss these matters and to settle disputes in future. AMERICA'S CUP The America's Cup has been won by America for the 16th time in 83 years. The Rainbow, the American yacht owned by Mr H. S. Vanderbilt, won four races, and the English challenger, Mr T. O. M. Sopwith's Endeavour, won two.

SIR CHARLES KINGSFORDSMITH To Take Part in Air Race Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith has at last received an American certificate of airworthiness for his racing aeroplane, and though there is a hitch at the moment, it seems certain that he will be granted an Australian certificate which will enable him to compete in the Melbourne Centenary air race. The race committee insisted that all aeroplanes flying in the race should have these certificates as a guarantee that even with the heavy loads of petrol they will carry they will be safe. Sir Charles now intends to leave Australia to fly to England next week-end. It is probable, even though he will not hurry, that he will break the existing record on this flight, for his aeroplane, the Lady Southern Cross, is about twice as fast as any other aeroplane that has ever flown over the route in this direction.

It is thought that Sir Charles, who has the finest flying record in the world, has a better chance of winning the race than any of the other competitors. His aeroplane is very fast, and has a long range, so that he will not have to waste time making frequent landings. He knows the route between England and Australia better than any other man in the world, which will be a great advantage to him. His co-pilot, Captain P. G. Taylor, is not only a good pilot, but a firstrate navigator. He has crossed the Tasman as navigator of the Southern Cross and the Faith in Australia several times. Most New Zealanders will hope that Sir Charles will win the race, for that would make his career one that could hardly be equalled. He himself thinks that he has a good chance. • "I won't guarantee to win the race," he said when he was last in New Zealand, "but I will guarantee to make the winner hurry."

TYPHOON IN JAPAN Charming Old Cities Destroyed The typhoon is a heavy wind which blows from the Philippine Islands over to Japan in the autumn. Last week Japan suffered from a tremendously strong one which reached a rate of nearly 200 miles an hour on the top of Mount Fujiyama and about 150 at Osaka, the great manufacturing town in the south. Hundreds-of people were killed as buildings were blown down; ships were wrecked, trains .overturned, while the coast was flooded by a great tidal wave which followed the wind. The towns which suffered most were those on the Inland Sea— Osaka and Kobe—and Kyoto, which is a little way inland from Kobe. The sea, encircled by the three islands, Hondo, Kiushiu, and Skikoku, is generally most beautiful and not unlike the scenes shown in many Japanese pictures of wooded bays with fir trees bending low over the water and the white sails of fishing boats arranging themselves in ever-changing patterns against the blue sea. Even more saddening than the plight of the citizens of Osaka, who are said to be completely cut off from the rest of the country, without electricity or transport, is the destruction in the beautiful old cities. The great modern factories of Osaka can ba replaced, but never the temples of Kyoto. This city, which is known as the place of the thousand temples, has in it some of the most beautiful buildings in Japan and wonderful gardens which have taken hundreds of years to make. MAKOGAI Pleasant Home for Lepers Among the most beautiful of the 250 islands that form the Fiji group is the little island of Makogai, where several hundreds of lepers of varying races are nursed, and many cured, of the disease that until recent years made the lives of so many tropical people an utter misery. Makogai, which is about 2j miles long and a mile and a-ha" broad, is a typical coral island. The shore is fringed by tall coconut palms, always bent over slightly whether there is a wind or not. There are brilliant beaches of white coral sand at the edge of a sea so blue that at first sight one is disinclined to believe there was ever anything of that colour outside a paint box. A little way out there is a coral reef over which the big Pacific combers break steadily in a burst of white. The South Sea islanders are possibly the most naturally happy people in the world. At work or at play they are always singing, and generally stop only to laugh or to eat. They are extremely fond of their own particular homes on their own particular islands, and the home sickness of the newcomers who arrive at the hospital is the saddest thing about the island. A treatment has been evolved which gives a remarkable number of complete cures for leprosy, and no patient is long at Makogai before he has become impressed with the idea that he will soon r;o home healthy again. There is, therefore, in the life of the patients a happiness thcA is a valuable part of the treatment. >