JAPAN'S WORRIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24869, 15 April 1944, Page 7

JAPAN'S WORRIES

SUPPLIES AND LABOUR EXPECTED AIR ATTACKS (Reed. 6.10 p.m.) LONDON, April 14 The Japanese Government has announced increasingly serious falls in output of lumber, coal and labour. One official announcement links the coal shortage with the lack of labour. The Ministry of Munitions has been empowered to requisition labour for the mines. In an attempt to solve the labour shortage in the aircraft industry the Ministry of Munitions plans to hare small parts manufactured by the piecework system in Japanese homes. The Government is passing emergency measures to meet expected air attacks on the mainland of Japan. All communication. facilities not deemed necessary to the war effort will be eliminated or put to more important use. The Government has requisitioned ail telephone equipment, including switchboards. In Japanese-controlled Shanghai th® occupation authorities have ordered a permanent blackout. All amusement centres have been closed. Chungking reports a huge increase in burglaries, kidnappings and murders in Shanghai since the regulations went into effect. LUNCHEON IN TOKYO RUSSIANS ENTERTAINED (Reed. 8.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 14 The Tokyo official radio states that the Japanese Foreign Minister, Shigemitsu, entertained the Russian Ambassador, M. Malek, and members of the Soviet Embassy staff, at a luncheon in Tokyo to mark the third anniversary of the Russo-Japanese neutrality pact. The luncheon was a token expression of appreciation of the great services which the Soviet officials rendered during the negotiations on the fisheries pact and the Sakhalin protocol. ADULTERATED WHISKY MANY MIDDLESEX OFFENCES (Reed. 7.10 p.m.) LONDON, April 14 Middlesex County Council inspectors, who for the past three months have been conducting an energetic campaign to check publicans who are diluting whisky, discovered that at least one publican in every five is guilty of this offence. The chief inspector said that when he began official tests he found flagrant adulteration in four of the first six public houses he visited. More than 50 Middlesex licensees have since been successfully prosecuted. The chief inspector added that bottles of well-known proprietary brands of whisky were adulterated before Being offered for sale in the bar. FOUR BABIES DBS MISTAKE IN HOSPITAL (Reed. 8.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 14 Four babies have died in a hospital in New London, Connecticut, as a result of a hospital employee's mistake in mixing boric acid instead of dextrose in feeding formulas. Twenty additional babies have been affected, some of them seriously. HAWAII JURISDICTION (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) HONOLULU, April 14 Federal Judge Metzjjer has ruled that martial law no longer exists in Hawaii and the military Governor is without lawful authority. The decision : resulted from a habeas corpus case in which his release from prison was sought by a civilian navy yard worker who had been imprisoned for assault. MINERS' AGREEMENT LONDON. April 13 The national delegates to the Miners' Federation Conference, on a card vote, agreed by 512,000 to 97,000, to accept the Government's four-year wages plan. The agreement provides for output and stability in industry The Exchange Telegraph - r > v - the dee--gates' acceptance is taken us. a vote of confidence in the miners'' leaders.