GENERAL CABLES

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 130, 26 February 1925, Page 9

GENERAL CABLES

SUPPRESSED POEMS OF BAUDELAIRE FRENCH LITERARY PROBLEM By Telegraph.—Press i ssociationCopybight. The Minister of Justice is facing a curious literary problem. Charles Pierre Batidelaire, theipoet, in 1857, was fined 300 francs and forced to suppress six poems in the first edition of “Fleurs Du Mai.” The Minister of Justice today received a deputation from the Baudelaire Society demanding the revocation of the judgment. Since 1857 the authorities had been prosecuting booksellers for advertising copies for sale with the six poems therein, though publishers were at full liberty to print the poems without calling attention to them. The Baudelaire Society says that this procedure is folly, and also asks that the poet’s reputation be freed from the stigma.

The death is reported of Herr Branting, ex-Premier of Sweden. —Reuter.

In the House of Commons Mr. Austen Chamberlain announced that the Government at, present was not sending an. Ambassador to Moscow. It was desirable to await fresh developments. —Sydney “Sun” z Cable.

Nokraslii Bey, Under-Secretary ' for the Interior in the' Z&ghlul Government, who was 'detained in connection with the inquiry into the murder of the Sirdar, has been released, a Reuter message , from Cairo states.

The New South Wales Cabinet has decided that the special session, of Parliament will commence on March 24. The only measure in sight at present is the Ne Temere Bill, which will be introduced without amendment.

The strikers at the Perdriau rubber works, New South Wales, are conducting the strike in a novel manner, holding swimming sports meetings by_ day and dances and concerts at night. They state that' they/ will thoroughly enjoy the period of idleness. j

The Income Tax Commissioners at Leeds upheld a thousand pounds assessment on a man described as a professional plaver of pitch and toss, on the ground that the profits even in the case of illegal callings are Hable for assessment. ; -

The Victorian Railway Classiffication Board has reduced the basic wage for railwav employees from 13s. lid. to il3s. Bd. a day, thereby effecting a saying of £70,000 a year. Ihe. rate claimed by the Victorian Railway Union was 16s. 9d. a day.

It is stated that the Queensland Control of Cane Prices Board, in view of the serious position created by the over-production of sugar in the State, estimated at 100,000 tons, has decided not to make any further assignments of new .land for 'the present.

At a meeting in Sydney _ of those interested in motor-cycle racing, it was decided to approach motor-cycling bodies throughout Australia and New Zealand with a view to forming an Australasian Motor Cycling Association with the object of better control and improvement of the sport generally.

The Federal Prime Minister, Mr. Bruce, has announced that the Government has decided to make a further attempt to dispose of the plantations at Rabaul taken from the Germans during the war. The plantations will be offered for sale within the next two months.

The Colonial Office states that 11,851 Jews immigrated into Palestine in 1924, while 2037 emigrated, a net increase of 9814, compared with 3788 in 1923. The immigration has somewhat changed in character in the 'past months, a large proportion of immigrants being people with means. A substantial number are founding new industries, and there is practically no Jewish unemployment.—Reuter.

Detectives in Madrid, while searching in [J I6 underworld for a muchwanted thief, entered a house in which lay a supposed corpse on a bier surrounded bv four candles. A detective noticing the eyelids of the “corpse” twitching, uncovered the body and discovered the fugitive, who was simulating death in order to escape the police. The man was arrested.

The strike situation at Shanghai is easier, according to .'a Reuter message from Peking. Intimidation has stopped. Two mills, employing. 7000 hands, decided to resume. It is reported that the strikers have reduced their demands to applying for the cessation of assaults by overseers and the reinstatement of all employees without victimisation. The demand for increased pay has been dropped.

At a conference of representatives of local governing bodies interested in the supply of electricity from the Sydney City Council, at which about twentyeight councils were; represented, a motion was carried that the conference considered that the generation and distribution of electricity within the metropolitan area other than what was required bv the Railway and Tramway Department could best be handled by municipal enterprise without Government interference.

A flower-seller at Bergamo was surprised to find a baby girl a year old lying in' a small box. A message pinned to her clothing read: “Goodbye, darling, we are too poor to keep you,” A number of people wanted to adopt the baby, so the Mayor of Bergamo decided to arrange a lottery, with the baby as the prize. The winners proved to be an elderly, childless couple. The subscriptions to the lottery, have been banked as the child’s “dot.” Her Christian name henceforth will be Lotteria.