CABLE BREVITIES Russia Ships Gold To United States

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 October 1947, Page 10

CABLE BREVITIES Russia Ships Gold To United States

Russia has shipped 11,000,000 dollars’ worth of gold to the United States within the last two months, to be applied to the credit of Poland, to whom Moscow recently extended a loan of 28,000,000 dollars.— rWashington, October 14.

Aircraft-Agent’s Visit. An inquiry into New Zealand’s civil and military aircraft requirements will be made by Mr S. H. M. Lloyd on behalf of the HawkerSiddeley aircraft group. He will arrive in New Zealand on November 23 from Sydney and will stay at least 10 days.—Sydney, Oct. 15.

South Africa’s Native Problem The Prime Minister of South Africa (General Smuts) has announced proposals for giving the natives more opportunity of administering their own affairs, including a degree of financial responsibility hitherto unknown. —Pretoria, October 14.

Conference,Postponed The proposed conference of Dominion Prime Ministers will not be held at the' time of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Mountbatten, as neither Mr Chifley, of Australia nor Mr Fraser, of New Zealand, will be able to attend, although their Governments will be represented at the wedding.—London, October 14. • A.F.L. Blames Soviet

The convention of the American Federation of Labour tonight blamed Russia for “the prevailing dangerous international tensions,” and for treating the United States “as if Russia were already at war against the American people.” The convention also called for abolition of the veto in the United Nations. It endorsed the Marshall Plan for Europe. It approved a proposal for establishing an interAmerican Federation of Labour, which would oppose any Communistcontrolled unions in Latin America. —San Francisco, October 14.

Scottish Shipyards Scottish shipyards expect to launch 100,000 gross tons of new shipping during the next three months, including the 34,000-to.n Caronia, the largest ship under construction in the world today. This will bring the contribution of the Scottish shipbuilders to 40 per cent, of the national shipbuilding total for the year, which is now estimated to reach approximately 1,000,000 tons, or 250,000 tons less than the target set in the Government White Paper. At the moment over 200 ships, 60 of which are for foreign owners, are under construction in Scottish yards.—London, October 14.

Dollar Imports By Australia Import licences already issued for essential and semi-essential goods from the dollar areas exceeded the dollars available to Australia from the pool, said the Prime Minister (Mr Chifley) in the House of Representatives at Canberra today. He told members that the factors operating against Australia were that Australian wool was not being bought in the United States at the same rate as last year, and that the value of many American commodities for which import licences had been granted was rising rapidly. It was not possible to give a clear indication of what Australia’s dollar expenditure would be for the current financial year.—Canberra, October 15.

Montgomery In Coal Pit Field-Marshal Lord Montgomery, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, yesterday discarded his battledress and beret, put on a miner’s overalls and helmet, and spent two hours underground inspecting the workings at the Thorseby and Mansfield collieries in Nottinghamshire. Addressing the miners after his visit to the pits, Field-Marshal Montgomery said that mining seemed to him very much like a military operation. “You have the same human material,” he said, “and my experience is that what you can can get out of that material depends entirely on the man at the top. If you can give men trust and confidence you can get anything out of them.” —London, October 14. Lord Passfield

“No mere recital of the Webbs’ deeds would convey an adequate idea of their influence,” says the Manchester Guardian in a leading article on the death c Lord Passfield, better known as Sidney Webb. “For a quarter of a century their house was a meeting place for most of the keenest intellects in Liberal and Labour politics. Few coming out of it were quite the •same as they went in. Sidney Webb must be ranked as one of the most formative thinkers in British politics since the death of John' Stuart Mill.” The Daily Herald, saluting Lord Passfield as “one of the great pioneers of Socialism,” says: “His industry was phenomenal. World Socialism will proudly acknowledge its debts to his devoted efforts and towering intellect.”—London, October 14.