NEWS BY CABLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3348, 15 May 1918, Page 36

NEWS BY CABLE.

COLONIALS! MARRYING- ENGLISH GIRLS.

Mr A. Kendall, M.P., in an article in the Star, protests against Army Regulations preventing parents and relatives of English girls from obtaining the girls' soldier suitors' records from the dominions. He asserts that ho has been informed that some hundreds of women to-day do not know whether. thej' are married or single. Mr Rendall adds: ' : The nullity of bigamous marriages can only be established by expensive proceedings. Legislation might effect something, but the High Commissioners of the dominions will not move, while tho War Office says it is not its business." Mr Rendall says the regulations should enable a man to produce his record, and if he refuses tho inference will be plain. Sir Thomas Mackenzie, replying to Mr Rondall's charges, said that only 12 inquiries had been made of his department over a period of 12 months for information about soldiers, and in- every case the fullest information was given. GOOD ADVICE. Speaking at the Newspapers' Press Fund dinner, Sir T Mackenzie urged public men to visit the dominions instead of remaining at homo in smug contented ignorance of such vital questions as tho future of the late German colonics in the Pacific. If tho Empire is to be kept together, it must bring to its councils men who voice the aspirations of the peoples of the dominions, the importance of which public men should realise. Germany had been allowed to get a grip on the throats of the dominions and almost strangle them. BONNET ROUGE TRIAL. The caso for the prosecution in the Bonnet Rouge case has closed. It is expected that at least 100 witnesses will be called for the defence. M. Marchand, an interpreter, gave evidence that the German Press Bureau had spent £12,500,000 in two years upon a journalistic offensive, particularly in Switzerland and Denmark, from which countries the Press Bureau engineered the propaganda which had produced such disastrous results in Italy and Russia. M. Marchand added that between May, 1916, and August, 1917, fully 100 articles in the Bonnet Rouge were republished in the infamous Gazette des Ardennes, a daily paper published in Northern Franco by Germany to undermine the morale of tho French in the occupied districts. DEPLORABLE CONDITION OF CHINA. A prolonged civil war, of which there is no prospect of an early termination, is imposing on people throughout the country indescribable hardships. Meantime, 10 provinces are infested with brigands, in bands varying from hundreds to thousands, who pillage, murder, kidnap, and seizo trains. The local authorities are inert and helpless. The Government continuously ignores popular petitions, and war, for which the leaders' personal animosities and ambitions are mainly responsible, continues. BY-ELECTIONS. The Exeter by-election, rendered necessary by the elevation of Mr Duke, K.C., to the Court of Appeal, resulted in Sir Robert Newman being returned unopposed. The by-elections for Hereford South resulted: Purely, Coalitionist, 3260; Preece, Farmers' Candidate, 1784. INCREASED POSTAL RATES. The House of Common's carried the second reading of a Bill authorising the increased postal rates foreshadowed in the Budget. The Postmaster-general estimates that the extra letter charge (gd) to tho dominions and colonies will produce £140,000 per annum. The increased letter rates will not apply to soldiers serving abroad. FREE CHURCHES AND UNION. Tho Congregational Union has approved of tho scheme for the federation of Free Churches drawn up by a conference of evangelical Free Churches, recommending a constitution based upon federal union, and a declaratory statement of common faith and practice. SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONALISTS. Addressing his constituents at Smithfield, Mr "Hertzog declared that their enemies wished the Nationalists to indulge in disorders and so give the authorities a pretext for chasing and killing the burghers. Ho warned them seriously against violence, and deprecated an active Republican propaganda as unnecessary, since the bulk of the. Dutch were already Nationalists at

Dcait, winks tlio English were too deeply concerned with the war. Ho denounced the idea of an Empire Parliament, and maintained that if, as Ministers asserted, tho British Parliament had any authority over the South African Union, then seligovemment was a farce. AMERICAN WHEAT. Tho United States Agricultural Department forecasts tho winter wheat yield at 572,000,000 bushels, as cojnpared with 413,000,000 bushels from tho last winter, crop. VARIOUS ITEMS. Over 3000 Chinese were lost in a collision off Hankow, when tho steamer Kiang Kwan was sunk by the Chinese gunboat Chutai. Tho latter had on board tho premier (Tuan Chi-Jui), who was on his way to visit the commander of the Northern transports. The collision also wrecked tho gunboat, which was beached. The Press Bureau reports, that the Colonial Office has appointed a committee to inquire into tho preservation of the whaling industry, and to investigate the economic and scientific possibilities of the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the South Shctlands, and Graham Land. The police at Oporto have discovered a plot against tho Government. Numerous arrests have been made, and a number of bombs seized. It is 'believed that tho plotters intended to make trouble during the recent elections, when they were frustrated, but hoped to make a new coup at the proclamation of the President's re-elec-tion yesterday. AUSTRALIAN NEWS. A conference of the State Premiers has opened. One of the chief subjects for discussion is the relation of tho States with tho commonwealth on financial and other matters which tho ' war has accentuated, with a view to greater unity of interest and action. The Federal Cabinet has approved of the introduction of legislation providing for preferential voting for elections for the House of Representatives. It is also considering Proportional Representation for tho Senate, also the restoration of tho postal vote. The Federal Postmaster-general is considering tho advisability of increasing postago and telegraphic rates. He said that if an additional penny stamp should bo decided upon, it would bo in the form of a war tax stamp. Tho lettergram system would be subjected to a radical readjustment, because it was undermining legitimate telegraphic business. The New Slouth Wales Cabinet has appointed four lay representatives on the Board of Trade, two each representing Capital and Labour. The Licensed Victuallers' Association has decided to place Australian whisky on the market at a oyjc enabling it to bo : sixpence per nobbier. The death lias occurred from pneumonia of Mr George Elmsh'e." Leader of the Victorian Parliamentary Labour Party.