LATE CABLES

Evening Star, Issue 18160, 28 December 1922, Page 6

LATE CABLES

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LABOR REFORM MOVEMENT. SYDNEY, December 28. (Received December 28, at 11.55 a.m.) The Labor loaders’ appeal for reform has been received favorably by many unions, but members of the executive of the Labor Party interpret it as a thrust at them. BRISBANE TRAMWAYS. BRISBANE, December 28. (Received December 28, at 11.55 a.m.J The! tramways will be transferred to the Government on January 1. FRENCH WARSHIPS. BRISBANE, December 23. (Received December 28. at 11.55 a m.) The French battle cruisers .Jules Michelet and Victor Hugo have arrived. Admiral Gilly explained that the mission was an economic one, as wmll as a military and naval mission. The French authorities have requested them to ascertain the possibilities of increasing trade with the colollies. MOSUL OIL FIELD. LAUSANNE, December 27. (Received December 28, at 12.30 p.m.) Lord Curzon, in a strongly-worded letter, plainly told the Turks that Britain was not prepared to surrender to any foreign country the Mosul district (Mesopotamia). Britain was willing to coneider a modification of its northern frontier only. Lord Curzon argues that it is to the advantage of the population of Mosul to be included within the northern mandatory, and he flatly refuses to allow it to be attached to Anatolia. Lord Curzon concluded by saying that no good can accrue through any further discussion of tbs subject.—A. and N.Z. Cable. WOOD-ALCOHOL VICTIMS. NEW YORK, December 27. (P.eceived December 28, at 12.30 p.m.) The death roll from the Chistmas woodIcohol poisonings now totals twelve.— A. and N.Z. Cable. THE BRAKPAN SENTENCES. A MINISTERIAL STATEMENT. CAPE TOWN, December 27. (P.eceived December 28, at noon.) The Minister of the Interior (Hon. P. Duncan), in his first Ministerial utterance on the subject of the Brakpan cases, said that the Government had decided to commute the sentences, not because it did not recognise the terrible nature of the crimes, but Decause it felt that the men were not personally guilty_of the murders, and because they were misled and did not understand what they were doing. But ho wished to say very seriously that South Africa could not go on like this. She could not go on having revolutions every few years. "We are a small people," said the Minister, “but we have to maintain our European civilisation, and if we are to fight amongst each other every few vears our civilisation will die.”—A. and K.Z. Cable. INDIAN ASPIRATIONS. DELHI, December 27. (Received December 28, at 12.55 p.m.; Mr Sastri. in his presidential address to the National Liberal Federation, otherwise the Moderate Congress, at Nagpore, paid a tribute to Mr E. S. Montague (late Secretary for India), and expressed regret at the sinister intrigue which bad deprived him of office. Referring to the Indianisation of the Civil Service, Mr Sastri declared that if recruitment from Britain was possible only at a greatly enhanced 1 cost, representatives of the people would be reluctantly compelled to recommend the cessation of recruitment. He declared that it was indisputable that the straitened state of Indian finances was largely due to the inordinately bloated expenditure on the army. He «Kged the need of retrenchment and the Indianisation of officers. Dealing with his visit to the dominions, Mr Sastri said that in three countries he visited ho saw no insuperable barrier in the way of the Indian people similar to that reported to exist in South Africa. He considered that no risks need be apprehended from granting full automony to the Indian provinces, and concluded: " We believe in thj iJeaJa of the British commonwealth, cherish our connection therewith, and trust that our equal partnership therein, which is admitted in theory, will soon be translated into fact." »—Reuter. FREIGHT REDUCTIONS. LONDON, December 27. (Received December 28, at 1.55 p.m.) The shipping companies, including the Commonwealth Line, will reduco the outward freight to Australia by 5s per ton, on both weight and measurement, as from January 1, 1923.—A. and N.Z. Cable. GERMAN REPARATIONS. LONDON, December 27. ■ (Received December 28, at 1.35 p.m.) The ‘Daily Telegraph’s ’ Paris correspondent attaches importance to a decision by the Reparations Commission, Sir John Bradbury alono dissenting, to declare Germany a defaulter in respect to timber and telegraph poles ordered by Prance under the agreement for. reparations in kind. The correspondent points out that the effect of the decision will be a notification of Germany's "voluntary 'default to the Allied Powers, which on the eve of the Prime Ministers' meeting will servo as a pretext if any other Power wishes to taka exception to Germany's action. The amount involved is only_ £BO,OOO, but a majority of the Commission is seizing an opportunity to demonstrate Germany’s determination not to pay. ‘Le Temps,’ in declaring that Germany’s wealthy classes refused to contribute to the reparations, points out that, while the German tax on coal for lie current financial year ought, to have realised' £6,000,000,000, only £850,000,000 was collected for the first seven months of the year. While a forced loan should have provided £50,000,000, it only brought in £200,000, and cannot possibly result in more than £5,000,000. The German Government is incapable of making pay those who ought to pay the most. Prance cannot therefore trust anything but realities. While these are being achieved she is forced to agree to a moratorium, and she c*n only cnoose e tween accepting ruin or pledges. Franco will, as a matter of feet, accept pledges.—A. and N.Z. Cable.