Around The World

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 May 1949, Page 7

Around The World

Pakistan-Egyptian Trade , Egypt and Pakistan signed a xrade agreement last night.—Karachi, May 23.

Noted Composer Dead The death is reported from Vienna of Hans Pfitzner, the 80-year-old German composer. Pfitzner was one of the outstanding personalities in Europe s inusical life. His compositions included numerous operas.—London, May 22.

Finnish Ministers Pardoned Finland's war-time Prime Minister. Mr Vaino Tanner, and the war-time Finance Minister, Mr Edvin Linkomies, who were imprisoned in 1945 for having led the country into war, have been pardoned by the President (Mr J. K. paasikivi). The President has also pardoned Mr Eero Kivimaeki, formei Minister in Berlin. Mr Tanner and Mr Linkomies were already on parole. —Helsinki. May 23.

Chonic Illness In U.S.A. A national commission has been formed to combat “this nation's daily disaster” —chronic illness. The 30member body held its first meeting yesterday to map out a course of action and studies designed to ease the burden on lingering sickness on an estimated total of 25,000,000 victims and on the country as a whole, The objectives include the promotion of research for lessening the toll of such ailments as heart disease, mental illness, arthritis, asthma, tuberculosis, and cancer. — New York, May 22.

Answer To Prayer While a prayer for more rain was being offered at a special service by the River Arun at Wieborough Green, in Sussex, last night, rain fell so heavily that the rest of the service had to be “held in the church. Earlier, a special Rogation service was held in the village church. After emphasising the need for more home-grown food, the Bishop of Chichester (Dr G. K. Bell) led the congregation to a nearby farm. Prayers t were offered in a meadow, by growing corn, in the farm buildings, and then by the river.— London, May 23.

Blind N.Z. Girls Go To Sydney Two young and attractive girls, both blind, arrived by flying-boat from New Zealand today to work in a Sydnej’’ corset factory. They are Miss Elizabeth Smart and Miss Jean Cramp, both of Parnell, Auckland. Miss Smart, is a soprano, hopes to sing on the radio in Sydney. Miss Cramp has her diploma in elocution. The girls have known each other since childhood, and both were born on the same day. They had been working in an Auckland corset factory, and had saved for years with the idea of coming to Sydney.— Sydney, May 23. Rules Of Warfare

Sixty nations have for the last month been revising the rules for any new war and not a voice has been raised in anger. Russia, which pointedly ignored the conference for five months after receiving an invitation, has been conspicuous in these latest discussions, with its 22-member delegation supporting every humanitarian

improvement and suggesting new ones In several committees, the „ have been going over old convention, for the protection of war victuns and working out the articles of a new convention for the protection oi civiha . • —Geneva. Maj’’ 22.

U.S. Government Subsidies The United States paid 15.000.000,000 dollars m , dir . ect sidles to farmers and busmessmei during the last 15 years ItJW pay out another 500,000,000 dollars bj Ju • 1, 1950. Figures disclosed for the nrst time by the Budget Bureau today show that the largest share of these subsidies has gone to the farmers, who will have received about 10,881,000,000 dollais b June 30. The biggest single item was 4 973.000.000 dollars for coil conservation. The amounts listed do not include a number of Government pi flgrammes involving some form m Federal aid, such as grants to States, pension relief funds, payments to foreign Governments, loans, and loan guarantees.—Washington, May 22.

British Meat Production , The National-Farmers’ Union, whicn recently suggested to the British Government that allocations of importea feeding stuffs should be increased bj 2,250,000 tons in order to stimulate tne production of pig meat, has now been informed by the Ministry of Agriculture that an extra allocation of dOO,UUU tons of pig food will be permitted ovei a period of 12 months. The allowance for farrowing sows will be increased from Bcwt to 9cwt from July 1, and tne bonus ration will be trebled from September 1. The farmers consider that an extra 500,000 tons of feeding stuffs will enable them to increase the production of pig meat by from 50,000 to 80.000 tons in 12 months.—London. May 23.

George Cross Awarded Mr Roylance Wilson, of Lord Howe Island, has been awarded the George Cross for his part in the rescue of two survivors of a Royal Australian An Force Catalina flying-boat, wnicn crashed on the .island on September 28, 1948, Mr W. E. Davis, who assisted m the rescue, has been awarded the British Empire Medal. The citation says that Mr Wilson, who was the first to arrive at the scene of the crash, displayed great coolness exceptional courage in rushing to the tail of the aircraft. which was blazing fiercely, and in dragging one man clear. With the assistance of Mr Davis, he then rescued another man. Within a few seconds, the second petrol tank of the aircraft exploded.—Canberra, May 23.

Attack On Bandits Recent murders of Hong Kong police on the boarders of the colonj r were avenged during the week-end, when the gang responsible was annihilated by Chinese Nationalist forces in Shuiwai, a. village on the Chinese side of the border. Acting on information supplied by the Hong Kong police, the Chinese soldiers surrounded the bandit village, and after a spirited battle, killed three bandits, including the leader, and captured a number of others, including a woman intelligence officer. While the battle was in progress the Hong Kong police manned key points along the border to prevent

the cans from escaping into British terriioiy in the bandits’ houses wera discovered arms which were l ecent 1} stolen from Hong Kong border posts.—

British Labour Party The executive of the British Labom Partv has not only instructed Labom members of Parliament and Parliamentary candidates that they must no make unauthorised promises duun o the General Election campaign, hut it nas issued a black list of 14 Communist oi Communist - controlled organisations with which Labour members and candidates are told that they must not cooperate. The list is headed by the Biitish Communist Party, and it also includes dhe British Soviet Society, th World Federation ot Democratic Youth., the University Labour Federation, the International Youth Council of Britain, and the Women’s International Democratic Federation. Members of any oi the organisations included on the black list are declared ineligible for membership of the Labour Party. London, May 22.

Implacable May Be Scuttled Negotiations which have been going on for some time between the London County Council and the Board of Admiralty over the disposal of the famous old wooden ship of the line Implacable have broken down, and it is now possible that the ship will be taken to sea and scuttled. The Implacable, which was launched in 1800 and was captured at Trafalgar as the DuguayTrouin, is the oldest warship afloat. She was condemned in 1908, but was saved from destruction by the personal intervention of King Edward VII. She is now lying in Portsmouth harbour, but her timbers have rotted to such an extent that unless she is either repaired or removed she may sink at her anchorage, and obstruct the harbour. _ The Admiralty estimates that to repair the timber alone would cost £200,000, in addition to a further heavy outlay for docking.—London, May 22.

Strike Of Italian Farm Workers A 16-year-old farm worker was seriously ’ wounded when masked men with automatic rifles opene'd fire on six peasants working on a farm near Cremona. The shooting occurred after the peasants had refused to obey the masked men’s order to join the nationwide farm workers’ strike. After it had been reported that striking farm workers were intimidating farm hands who wanted to continue working, the Minister of the. Interior (Mr Mario Scelba) said that the Government would take steps to guarantee “freedom to work.’’ The secretary of the Communistdominated General Confederation of Labour said that, the strike, which was’ caused by “the landowners’ stubbornness” about a national wages agreement, must continue, although care would still be taken of stock and dairy animals. —Rome, May 22.