ARMING MERCHANTMEN.

Mataura Ensign, 25 April 1913, Page 7

ARMING MERCHANTMEN.

LONDON, April 24. In conformity with Hon. Winston Churchill's (First Lord of the Admiralty) Naval Statement made in March last a number of steamers of various lines are being armed. ] The Royal Mail Company's Argon, " which will sail to-morrow, is equipped ] with two guns. I

ej CHINA'S NEW PARLIAMENT.

i LONDON, April 28. < f The Primate and the National Free < Church Council have agreed to comply { e with China's request for prayers for i the success of the new Parliament. t

EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS. I \ il

MALTA, April 21 .« Ten thousand people attended the ) opening of the Eucharistic Congress, j'

r WORLD OF LABOR. !j

NEW SOUTH WALES MINERS. |« * |l SYDNEY, April 24. , s * The Southern mineowners declined * the invitation of the Miners' Associa- * tion, made through Hon. A. C. Car-j* 1 michael (Minister for Labor), for a con- ,* ference, pointing out that as the men * had previously refused to resume, work \ no good could result from a conference. ". THE ZEALANDIA'S''FIREMEN. j SYDNEY, April 24. c 1 The strike on the steamer Zealandia * continues in spite of the efforts of the | f - executive of the Seamen' 9 Union to set- \r. - tie the trouble. i ( 1 A meeting of members of the union |, took the matter out of the hands of the I executive. The union decided that the j j vessel should not be manned, and the j wharf was picketed. \

0 ONLY UNSINKABLE SHIP. '',

MELBOURNE, April 24. Speaking at the luncheon on board i the new 'Union Steam Ship liner Nia- ] gara, Hon. F. G. Tudor (Minister for 1 Customs) said that he and Hon. F. M. j B. Fisher (New Zealand Minister for ] Customs) had not yet completed their I reciprocity negotiations. He hoped that < when Hon. G. E. Foster (Canadian Minister for Customs) arrived within a < few days they would be able to come < to a satisfactory arrangement. Mr Fisher (New Zealand) declared that the Niagara was one of the, looms . which vere weavitig a more lasting understanding between the peoples of ihe ' overseas dominions. New Zoalanders desired a better understanding, more trade and more commerce. Sir James Mills (managing'director of the Union Steam Ship Company). replying, said that' though the Can-adian-Australasian line was under the I control of the Union Company it was ! a cosmopolitan affair, because there was, now as much Australian as New Zealand money in the Union Company. The more Australia and New Zealand worked together the better it would be for the Anglo-Saxons of these dominions. The Niagara was the largest colonial-owned ship afloat. Though she was now coal-drvien, 3he would on reaching Vancouver h.av«. filled her 5000-ton oil fuel tanks and be rendered unsinkahle. She was the only unsinkable ship afloat. Captain Gibbs stated that the opinion on the Clyde was that nothing on the same level as the Niagara had ever left Britain. ARRIVAL AT SYDNEY. SYDNEY, April 34. The Niagara has arrived here and has evoked much interest among shippers. She is one of the most palatial and up-to-date steamers ever seen in Australia. i