BIG GATHERING

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 139, 12 June 1912, Page 7

BIG GATHERING

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCb CONGRESS IN LONDON THREE HUNDRED DELEGATES. By Teleirnph.— Press Association.— Copyri|b*« (Received June 12, 9 a.m.) LONDON, 11th Juno. The Chambers of Commerce Congress has been opened at the Guildhall. There are three hundred delegates, including forty-two representing Australia and 1 Now Zealand, Among those prctont ar« Sir George- Reid (High Commissioner for Australia), Sir John Taverner (Agent-General for Victoria), Sir John M'Call '(Agent-General for Tasmania), and. the Hon. J. G. Jenkins (formerly Premier of South Australia, and later Agent-.General for that State). The Prime Minister (the Right- Hon. H. H. Aequith) welcomed the delegates oh behalf of the Government. Lord Desborough, in his presidential address, gay© detailed results of resolutions passed by the Sydney Congress, including those dealing with the questions: of wireless telegraphy, parcels post, and! cable rates. Mr. R. Ji Alcock, of Melbourne, seconded the Toronto Board of Tra.d©*s resolution in favour of an All Red cable. The motion was carried by a, large majority. [Mr. Asquith.is honorary president, of the congress and Lord Desborough the working president. There is a very distinguished list of honorary vice-presi-dents, including past and. present Ministers associated with the Colonial Office, India Office, Board of Trade, and other departments of the Government which are more particularly connected with commercial affairs. The list includes the Duke of Argyll, the Marquis of Lansdowne. the Earl of Aberdeen, and! Earl Grey, all former Governors-General of, Canada; Lord Tennyson, an ex-Governor-General of Australia; the Earl of Selborne and Viscount Milner, both ex-High .Commissioners of South Africa ; two ex- Viceroys of India in tho Sersons of Lord Lansdowne and Lord! lurzon/ several former State Governors in Australia; Sir George Reid, Higk Commiaskmcr for the Commonwealth : Sir Richard Solomon, High Commissioner for the Union of South' Africa; Sir William Hall-Jones, High Commissioner for New Zealand; Sir Chat-lea Tupper, the veteran Canadian statesman, and many more, so that there is a most representative roll of vice-presidents with experience of every phase of Imperial, commercial, and political activity. 6 The organisation of the congress was earned! out under the direction of the British. Imperial Council of Commerce, on which, the leading chambers of commerce of the Empire are represented. Among subjects eet down for discussion are one of Indian origin on the subject of the competition of prison labour with private industry, penny postage throughout the Empire, the "all-British" cable, improvement of telegraphic communication with the West Indies, double income tax in the Dominions and at Home on. investments, and commercial arbitration, preferential trade within the Empire, National Defences, Emigration, • and Panama Canal.] LOSS BY DROUGHT — AN ESTIMATE. By Telegraph.- Press Association —Copyright (Received June 12, 1 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. A pastoral expert estimates that fiv« million sheep perished in New South Wales during the drought just ended. Others will probably succumb to weakness. This represents a shortage of 190,000 bales of wool, of a value of £2,280,000, to which £870,000 has to be added for the loss of lambs. COAL AND OIL IN PAPUA INFERIOR IN QUALITY, By 'Xeleemph.— Presg Association.— Copyright. (Received June 12, 1 p.m. ' # % SYDNEY, This Day. An expedition to the Kikoripurari coal finds in TPapua reports that the seam is narrow and of inferior quality. Owing to the natural features and other obstacles, the find is of little commercial value. Immense petroleum deposits, with great possibilities, were discovered.