CABLE BREVITIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 October 1946, Page 8

CABLE BREVITIES

Pilgrimage Dy Air. Eighteen pilgrims left by air for Mecca and Medina. They, are the first to fly from India to the Holy Land. — Karachi, October 14. Atlantic Air Record. . • , s The United States .aircraft, Pacusan Dreamboat is. taking off v ,a‘tBa.m. G.M.T. to-morrow, aimirig at an elapsed time of. Hi hours, to. establish a new Paris-New York, record. The Dreamboat is attempting fo better the record held by a Constellation by three hours' —-Paris, October 14. Simplification of Travel The British and French Governments have agreed to abolish .visas for travel between France and the United Kingdom.,Reuter’s, correspondent, which. suggested the abolition to France, is contemplating making similar proposals, to othei.- neighbouring European countries,. notably .Belgium and Holland. —Paris, October 13. Flour Scandal in France. The police stated that more than 60 bakers are implicated in a flour scandal which the Minister of Food disclosed in a campaign against the black market. Five of those accused were arrested after the discovery that thousands of tons of flour were being diverted to the black market. They are threatened with possibly the death penalty, under the law which the French Government passed last week. —Paris, October 12.

Heat in Sydney. Sydney last night suffered the hottest October night since recordings were first taken in 1859. The minimum temperature was 74.3 degrees, registered at 11 p.m. It was also the highest minimum' temperature recorded for any month since January 19, 1937, when a minimum temperature of 76.4 degrees was registered. The temperature climbed again today, although the sky was overcast. A cool change is expected late this afternoon. —Sydney, October 14.

Medical Reports on Murderer The Home Secretary (Mr Chuter Ede) during the week-end considered medical reports on' the mental condition of Norman Heath, the former Royal Air Force pilot, who will be hanged at Bentonville prison on October 16 for the murder of two women, unless a last-minute reprieve is'granted. Heath continues to refuse to see his parents. His only visitor is his lawyer. He spends most of his time playing poker and chess with the warders. —London, October 13. Plane Cuts Car in Half.

A Lockheed Constellation airliner proceeding to a . maintenance base at Newcastle, Delaware, after a flight from Paris, overshot the landing field, careered across a highway, and cut a motor-car in halves. It then burst into flames on a farm half a mile away. The crew of seven, including a hostess scrambled from the aeroplane before the fire broke, out. There were no passengers aboard. The motorist was sent to hospital with shock and abrasions.— New York, October 12.

Restrictions on Travellers “The abolition of visas for travellers between Britain and France .is only the first result of the campaign by the Foreign Secretary’(Mr Ernest Bevin) to simplify travel, says , the “Sunday Express.’ “The Government is prepared to abolish the permit system for nationals of . any country prepared-to do the same for Britons. Britain also wants'the United Nations to call an international conference to discuss a world-wide abolition of restrictions. Britain aims at getting rid bf passports. as well as visas.—London, October 12.

Hero Worship in Japan The United States, occupation authorities suppressed an edition of the English language Nippon Times for reprinting Jiji Shimpo’s leading article which denied that General MacArthur was a living god and urged the Japanese to forget hero worship. Brigadier-General Charles Willoughby, headquarters intelligence chief, said that he acted on his own responsibility when he ordered the removal of the article, which, was banned under an order prohibiting remarks derogatory to the occupation officials. It originally escaped the censor “because of human error.” — Tokio, October 14. Land Reform in Japan.

The Japanese Diet has approved a land reform bill which is expected to open 5,000,000 acres to 3,500,000 lenant farmers. It bans absentee land holdings and limits the holdings of resident non-farming owners to two and a half acres, as well as restricting farming .owners . to seven and a half acres. General MacArthur described the law as “one of the most important milestones reached in Japan, in the creation of an economically stable and politically democratic society.”—Tokio, October 12.

Passengers’ Fortunate Escape A Douglas DC 4 crashed near Groveton, Virginia, in a thick fdg, but the 27 aboard escaped serious injury. The aircraft, bound from Miami to New York, apparently hit a timber pile and struck a 2300-volt high tension power line. It burst into flames, and the wind blew the flames away from the escape hatch, through which most of the passengers crawled. One passenger is said to have lost 25,000 dollars in cash. A stewardess coolly and methodically checked off the passenger list as the travellers escaped from the aeroplane.—New York, October 12. Communists and Java The Dutch Minister of War, Lieut.Colonel Fievez, has banned the Communist newspaper, “Die Waarh'ied” (The Truth) from the army barracks, says an Associated Press correspondent at The Hague. Colonel Fievez said that a certain' group of soldiers was carrying out the suggestion of the paper, thus rendering themselves liable to punishment. The correspondent says: “Colonel Fievez was apparently alluding to the 'Communist newspaper’s campaign for the cessation of Dutch troop transport to Indonesia, which has led to desertions.”—London, October 12. British Policy Attacked. Scathingly criticising “the horrible mess we are making in Germany,”. Lord Beveridge, who recently toured Gel-many, in a speech at Derby termed the conditions of life for the German people intolerable. “The maintenance of this zone with starving and, hating pensioners on our hands is costing £80,000,000 a year arid costing more than that in our reputation for democracy, tolerance, justice, and honour,” he said. Lord Beveridge added that the Allies were going back in victory on what they had said in war. No Liberal Government would have signed the Potsdam Agreement fox’ forcibly lowering the standard of life in Germany and the destruction of her industry.—London, October 12.