NEWS FROM OVERSEAS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 12, 28 December 1928, Page 5

NEWS FROM OVERSEAS

LATE CABLES IN BRIEF. French War Pensioners.—Two and a half million persons, or more than six per cent of the population of France, are still pensioners. Of these 625,000 are widows owing to the war and there are nearly 1,000,000 disabled soldiers and sailors. Tho Parliamentary vote in 1929 will be for £42.000,000 widows to receive £l2 annually plus £7 per child. A bill is being introduced into the Chamber of Deputies to admit the presumption that 400,000 of the wartime missing are dead and also providing that in future ware those missing for two years shall legally be regarded as dead and their wives eligible to remarry. Suggested New Chinese Capital.— New proposals are afoot again to change China’s capital. Sianfu. the capital of Shensi province is suggested. The reasons given are that Nanking is not sufficiently central and that it is too open to the risk of bombardment by foreign warships. I British Trade Mission’s Report; An official trade mission, which recently concluded an 18,000-mile tour of the Near East and Africa to inquire into the possibilities of the export of piece goods, recommends the formation of a single export-selling organisation with headquarters at Bombay. An Adelaide Mystery. The body of Gustaf Lindholm, aged 55, clad only in singlet, with bloodstains on the head, was found lying in the doorway of his house at Adelaide. Murder is suspected, as it appears that Lindholm had been struck on his head. Three men have been arrested for drunkenness, and they are being held pending further inquiry. Child's Body Found; Joyce Cooper, aged four, who wandered away from her home at Perth on Christmas Eve, has been found dead by a constable and a tracker at the foot of the Stirling ranges, four miles away. Twentyone trackers, fourteen mounted nolice, and one hundred men scoured the bush al] night and on Christmas Day. The country is very rugged, and it is believed that the child died on Wednesday. Mine Tragedy; Two miners were killed and 21 injured in an overwinding accident at Robinson Deep, South Africa yesterday. The cage crashed into th e platform nt [he top of the headgear, where a safety device held it until help came. The force of the sudden stop caused the injuries. Two Europeans are in a critical condition with fractured spines. Synthetic Alcohol: Sensible Heat Distillation has erected a demonstration plant for the operation of the “Pittart” process for the producing of synthetic alcohol from L and L brown mal. The process is already in operation in France and America.

Clyde Yards’ Busy Years The Clydeside shipbuilding and engineering yards has had the busiest year since 1920. There were launched 229 vessels of a gross tonnage of 601,918, compared with 274 vessels of 462,513 tons last year. The machinery aggregated 705,762 horse-power, compared with 647,878 last year. Croats and Serbs: The bitterness between the Croatians and Serbs, which has increased greatly in the past few weeks, claimed another victim on Tuesday night with an attack resulting in severe injury to one of Serbia’s crack detectives, Alfred Granner, who was shot four times, in a cloak room of the Cafe Corso. Zagreb. Who fired the shots is still a mystery, as the assassin escaped in the excitement, and only the most vague clues were given the police by waiters and guests. Hoiborn Explosion; Percy Thrower, a post office linesman, referred to in the message in connection with the Hoiborn aas explosion, has died in hospital. fThe linesman descended a manhole to connect a blower with an electric switch. A few minutes later a sheet of flame rushed up. The man managed to scramble out, but he was terribly burned. This is the only fatality reported as a result of tho explosion.] German Shipping.— Germany, who has already re-enterod the Australian shipping trade, is now ‘ putting a steamer on the Hong Kong-New Guinea run, this partially restoring her pre-war service from Rabaul to tho East. Musicians on Strike.—Tho Musicians’ Union at Hobart has declared black the Theatre Royal, where a play headed by Muriel Starr is running, because tho management installed an automatic gramophone in place of an orchestra. The theatre employees ceased work and pickets endeavoured to dissuade the public from patronising the show, which, however, continues with volunteer attendants and scene shifters. The strikers pre chagrined by the public’s full-house support of “tinned music.” Coat of Arms Incident.— Special inquiries in Rome reveal that so far no official report has been received, regarding the Queensland Coat of Arms incident (see page 6). A representative of the Italian Foreign Office stated that the Government would certainly protest if the official report from its representative showed that there were grounds for such a protest.