NEWS AND NOTES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4957, 18 February 1937, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES

. Thieves, who, it is believed, hid behind mummies in the GraecoRoman Museum, Alexandria, before its closing, stole during the night a large part of the collection of jewels and coins presented by the late King Fuad. -::

British and German representatives met. at the Foreign Office t§ negotiate a naval agreement. No fceriious divergence of opinion was revealed and a draft is being prepared.

The French Government is strengthening the Spanish frontier guards in readiness for banning volunteers for the Spanish civil " war. Foreigners under General Franco, says a Paris report, are estimated as follows:—30,000 Italians, 25,000 Germans, 25,000 Moors, and 5000 Others. i.

Pink posters an pillars in Berlin announced that three more men had been executed in the Ploetsensee prison by the headman's axe, making six within 48 hours. They included Johannes Eggert, aged 39, who was alleged to have been a leading Communist and propagandist until 1935. Sentences are passed by the People's Court in secret.

The extent of Britain's aerial rearmament is revealed in a written reply in the House of Commons by the Under-Secretry for Air,' Sir Philip Sassoon. He stated that contracts worth £67,122,000 were placed in the year ended December 31.

A conference has opened at the Board of Trade to consider a move to save Britain's oil supply by reverting from oil to coal for certain classes of shipping. It is pointed out that 47 per cent, of the merchant ships depend on oil, : including a large number of tramp ships. The entire combatant Navy uses oil exclusively, and the Royal .Air Force and a great part of the Army depend on oil for mobility. I%f

The "Morning Post" •s|ys the Defence Estimates for 1937-38 will show a vast increase on the expenditure in 1936-37. They are expected to be approximately as 4 follows: Navy, £110,000,000 to £120,000,000; Air Force, £50,000,000; Army, £57,000,000. ; f.

The Australian ComonWealth Minister of Defence, Sir Archibald Parkhill, states that no complaints indicating discontent in the Navy are at present before the Navalr.Board, but full inquiries are being .jmade into cases of damage to equipment which the Boards considered were acts of individual unbalanced and aggrieved persons.'

Preaching in St. Mary's Cathedral at Sydney at a High Mass marking the opening of the 1937 law term, Father P. J. Murphy observed that there was an obligation upon Roman Catholic members of the legal profession to refuse "to have hand, act or part" in divorce proceedings. "As Catholics,'' he continued; "you cannot countenance anything so vile as marriage being considered merely a private contract between a man and a woman which can be dissolved if the law thinks well."

Furs and diamonds are in great demand in London. Buyers from all over the world bid eagerly at the London fur sales, prices being 10 to 15 per cent, higher than a year ago, and the best since the depression.