LATE CABLES

Evening Star, Issue 17920, 16 March 1922, Page 9

LATE CABLES

?rc-S3 Association—By Telegraph—Copyright,

POSITION IN SOUTH AFRICA.

ORDER BEING RESTORED,

CAPE TOWN, March 15.

(Received March 16, at 12.10 p.m.) Indications that tho situation is becoming normal are afforded by the fact that the Government’s restrictions on railway traffic to Johannesburg have been withdrawn. . . , .The situation at Pretoria remains quiet. The local Town Council’s resolution conderailing lawlessness and supporting Government was much appreciated, _ The boilermakers and moulders in the railway shops, who struck on Monday in sympathy with tbo Johannesburg men, took a ballot, which resulted in a majority against continuing the strike. Another significant fact is that tho mines are restarting work as local conditions permit. At'tho East Rand Proprietary mine 250 men offered, and 100 were engaged. . . • Refugees from Fordsbnrg give graphic details of t!m .conditions there while the Bods wore in charge. Most of the plateglass windows in the principal stares were smashed. Wholesale looting followed the Fordsbnrg battle, and it was still m progress when the clearing np of the Jcppc area commenced. The chief difficulty was_ not so much the strength of tlm Reds as the awkward conditions in dealing with barricaded streets and houses. A house-to-house search is being continued iho damage to property through tho Fomsbur<- bombardment 'was nob so serious as was° anticipated. Only that portion of tne town in tho neighborhood of tbo market square suffered! severely. The square was heavily entrenched all round, but when the bombardment commenced the Beds showed no eagerness to occupy the trenches. Firing was done mostly fioni neighboring houses.—A. and N.Z. Cable. (Received March 16. at 12.30 p.m.)

Tho reason why the Market square garrison in Fordsbnrg did mot surrender when the other groups of Reds hoisted the white flag was that Percy Fisher, a noted extremist of great influence, threatened to shoot anyone who attempted to surrender. Ho was shot dead while fighting. Commandant Klopper and sixty men of tho garrison immediately gave in. —A. and N.Z. Cable. Tho old Industrial Federation, _as distinct from tho augmented executive, announces to-night: (1) That tho general strike is null and void; (2) that tho augmented executive should call off tho mining strike; (3) that complicity in tho revolution bo repudiated.—Reuter. (Received March 16, at 1.5 p.m.)

In a lew short hours, through the genius of General Smuts, Johannesburg was transformed from a city of poisonous Red warfare to a town of peace. Everyone is talking business as usual. Voluminous evidence exists of a Bolshevik plot. It is stated that the revelations will bo astonishing. —Reuter.

TROUBLE WITH INDIAN TRIBESMEN.

POLICE COMPELLED TO FIRE,

DELHI, .March 15, (Received March 16, at 12.30 p.m.)

Tribesmen infected by the Non-co-operation propaganda in tlio Rajput and native States bordering Bombay are causing trouble. A British officer with a small police force was sent to investigate. He ordered the natives to surrender their arras. They refused to comply, and tho police wore compelled to fire in selfdefence, killing twenty and wounding twenty-nine tribesmen.—A. and N.Z. ■Cable.

PERSIAN OILFIELDS.

TEHERAN, March 15. (Received March 15, at 12.30 p.m.)

The Government has received £200,000 in advance from Washington against future oil royalties, indicating that tho Standard and Anglo-Persian Companies have readied an agreement regarding conflicting interests in tho Persian oilfield.— A. and N.Z. Cable.

PITCAIRN ISLAND.

SYDNEY, March 16. (Received March 15, at 1.5 p.m.)

.Sir Cecil Eodwoli, reporting on hie visit ,to Pitcairn Island when en route to London, said that ho saw no signs of degeneracy among the islanders, which was alleged to bo noticeable there. Possibly former observers were prejudiced by tho theory that intermarriage inevitably resulted in degeneration. He believed that this was by no means the case where the original stock was sound. The population was now eighty-eight males and cighty-ono females. There were no grounds for fear over the population. Tho islanders would (welcome a few agricultural families.