NEWS AND NOTES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4953, 9 February 1937, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES

“The People,” a London paper, hints that Mr. Ramsay MacDonald may resign his post of Lord President of the Council in the National Ministry and join Sir Herbert Samuel (Liberal) in forming a new party, to be called the Progressive Party, rallying the Centre opinion of the country.

In view of the growing success of the whaling industry, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and the Bureau of Fisheries have sanctioned operation, as from the 1938-39 season in the Antarctic, of three new whalers.

The Dutch Government has not received a direct assurance that Herr Hitler is prepared to guarantee Holland's neutrality in wartime, according to a statement made by the Foreign Minister, Dr. A. de Gnaeff, in Parliament.

Raj Kumar Prafulla Bhanjdo, 31-year-old widower of the Maharanee of the little State of Bastar, inconsolable owing to the death last year of his beautiful 26-year-old wife, is advertising for a large island where he desires to retire from the world, reports the Calcutta correspondent of the Daily Mail.

Well-informed circles at Whitehall gave a representative of the Australian Associated Press an emphatic denial of the suggestion in the provincial Press that the German Ambassador, Herr von Ribbentrop, was conducting propaganda against the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Eden, also that he had sought to influence the appointment of the new Ambassador to Berlin.

With New Zealand butter selling at 88s on the London market the New Zealand Government on its guaranteed price to the farmer is losing 2ld a lb, according to a New Zealand exporter, who was connected with the trade for many years.

The Mayor of Cannes told a “Sunday Referee” correspondent that he expects the Duke of Windsor and Mrs. Simpson to marry there early in May. Reports from Vienna, however, state that the marriage will be at the British Legation there on May 2.

The £3,000,000 battleship Malaya, which left Devonport on December 31, after a three years’ refit, costing £1,000,000, collided in thick fog off Oporto with the Dutch steamer Kertosono (7323 tons) on Sunday night. The Admiralty states that the Malaya is remaining with the Kertosono until the latter is safe, and will then go to Portsmouth for repairs.

The Japanese Economic Federation has decided to send; a mission composed of important business men to England. Their duty will be not only to adjust the relations between the countries, but to try and establish an understanding respecting Japan’s trade with the Dominions.

Officials describe as an invention a report in the Nazi newspaper “Angriff” that serious disturbances have broken out in Moscow. “Angriff” alleged that students shouted, “Down with Stalin,” and that many of them were shot down. British Press correspondents support the Moscow denial.

The newspaper, • “The People,” says that the British Government, at the Imperial Conference, will request £10,000,000 from the Dominions for defence. Britain, the paper states, will also ask Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa to build up their own navies, air forces and armies to a strength enabling them to defend their own territory and leave a surplus to help the Mother Country.

One couple in Christchurch will remember the infantile paralysis outbreak of 1936-37 for many years to come, though, fortunately, their experience was a happy one in the end. Their child, a toddler, was dressed for a day’s outing in the country and was carried out to their motor car. On arrival at their destination, the child toppled over each time it was placed on its feet. This unusual happening upset not only the child, but the parents, whose minds instantly became fearful of the disease. No time was ‘wasted in making a hurried dash back to the city and summoning a doctor. The doctor had wasted a visit, however, because before his arrival the anxious mother found that both the child's legs were through only one leg of the rompers. The question now arises: Did father dress the baby?