NEWS AND NOTES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4607, 9 October 1934, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES

Damage estimated by the management at £IOO,OOO, was caused by a fire which destroyed the flour mills at Bridgewater. The building, which was of three storeys, was completely gutted.

A report has been received at Thursday Island that a station dwelling on Haggerstein Island, 125 miles from Thursday Island, was looted by men from a Japanese sampan, carrying a crew of 38, which visited the island on September 5, when the men in charge of the station were visiting a neighbouring island for their monthly supplies.

Driven ashore by a strong wind on Saturday, the Danish motor ship Victoria (4454 tons) is now fast oh the rocks near the entrance to the "back stairs" passage east of Porpoise Head (South Australia).

Official quarters in Belgium .state that if Australia does not submit acceptable proposals in connection with the tariff on glass exports from Belgium by October 20, Belgium will prohibit imports of Australian meat and barley.

Turkish coastal batteries opened fire on two French destroyers which were steaming in the Symrna Gulf. The destroyers returned the fire. The French Embassy is demanding an explanation.

Treasure-hunters are seeking the gold which the British ship Hussar was supposed to be carrying when she sank in East River in 1780. It is now reported that they have found the timbers of the vessel.

Four human skeletons, believed to be more than 100,000 years old, have been discovered in a cave near Nazareth, below the most ancient palaeolithic level. The skeletons are described by Professor Allbright, director of the American School of Oriental Research as being undoubtedly a missing link in the evolution of mankind.

Signor Mussolini by a masterly stroke, has arranged the secret engagement of the Archduke Otto of Austria to Princess Maria, youngest daughter of the King of Italy. This will not be announced until the disturbances in Austria have been overcome and the way is clear for the restoration of Otto to the throne.

The British challenger for the America Cup, the yacht Endeavour, has left Providence, Rhode Island, for Gosport, England. She was towed by Mr. T. O. M. Sopwith's other yacht Vita.

' Frau Worth, wife of a Socialist exMayor of Langewiesen, hanged herself in her prison cell at Grafentohna. She and her daughter were placed in "preventive custody" in 1933, when it was ascertained that her husband had gone abroad. They were kept at a concentration camp at Badsuleda as hostages until the authorities separated them on April 1.

The Irish Free State has organised a "flying squad" of 30 armed detectives to deal with the organised campaign of obstruction to prevent the auctioning of cattle seized from farmers who have not paid their land annuities. Trees have been felled on roads, telephone wires cut and trains delayed.

A wave of revolt, accompanied by general strikes, fierce fighting and much bloodshed, is sweeping throughout Spain. The chief centre seems to have been in Catalonia, where an abortive attempt was made to set up an independent republic. The rising was only suppressed by the bombardment of the headquarters of the rebels, headed by the President of the State, who surrendered to the army commander oh whose support he had relied to prosecute the establishment of a republic.

Some unusual features of the political thought of the Dominion are being brought to light by the "straw ballot" being .organised by the political paper "National Opinion," and the interim analysis on the hundreds of votes already received shows that the public are indicating a greater preference for Coalition than for Labour, the votes being in the relation of 11 to 7. An interesting fact is that the Labour votes have been creeping up steadily as nearly all the early votes were in favour of Coalition. Among the classifications of occupations of people who have voted heavily for Labour are accountants, clerical workers, managers, merchants, teachers and married women. So far, more votes have been received from farmers in favour of Labour tha'n for any other classification under the Labour.