CABLE BREVITIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 September 1946, Page 8

CABLE BREVITIES

Syrian Religious Sect Rebels. IL is officially announced that Syrian troops and gendarmes, after a three-hour battle with rebel forces arrested Sleimane Mourched, leader of the Alawite religious sect, on charges of “rebellion and pretending to Divine authority.” Two gendarmes and 12 .rebels were killed during the engagement.—Damascus, September 15. State of Queen Victoria. The Japanese have produced from the Osaka arsenal a bronze statue of Queen Victoria which was looted from Hong Kong. The Crown and the right, arm were missing when .Allied headquarters received the statue, which was demanded by British authorities in Hong Kong. Bronze statues of a frock-coated man and a pair of lions were also recovered. — Tokio. September 16. U.S. Divorce Rate. Tire United States had a record divorce year in 1945, more than 502,000 being granted, a 25 per cent, increase over 1944, which was the previous peak year. T,he divorces represented 31 per cent, of the marriages during 1945. The divorce rate, which has nearly doubled since 1937, has increased practically uninterruptedly since the first statistics were compiled in 1906, when the number was 72,062. —Washington, Sept. 15. Brewers’ Supplies Cut. Brewers’ supplies are to be cut by one-quarter from October, when the position will be again reviewed. Captain A. J. Dyer, chairman of the London Board of Licensed Victuallers, said the cut would be very serious for the small publicans, many of whom might not be able to pay their way. They are at present getting only 40 to 50 per cent, of the normal spirits supply and 20 per cent, of the wine supply, and now beer supplies are to be cut by one-quarter. The board will protest to the Ministry of Food. —London, September 16. Australian’s Sight Restored.

Almost blind, Mr. W. Spooner, of Melbourne, aged 58, left. Sydney last ■May for New York in a desperate' bid to regain his eyesight by undergoing a corneal grafting operation. He returned to-day with the sight of one eye 'fully restored and claims to be the oldest person to whom a cornea has been successfully grafted and the only Australian whose sight has been successfully restored by such an operation. A famous Spanish doctor, Ramon Castroviejo, grafted into Mr, Spooner’s right eye the cornea of a man Who had died six hours previously. Mr. Spooner will return, to America next year for an operation to the left eye.—Sydney, Sept. 16.