NEWS BY CABLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3488, 18 January 1921, Page 36

NEWS BY CABLE.

SLUMP IN SHIPPING. Lloyd’s Register shows that the merchant tonnage being built in the United Kingdom at the end of the year totalled 3,708,916 tons, which is a decrease compared with the September tonnage. The vessels commenced during the last quarter totalled 139,000 tons below the average of the previous six quarters. Owing to the decreased industrial demand as a result of the shipping slump, 60 vessels are indefinitely laid up on Tyneside. Dozens a# others have left for foreign ports to layup. THE CONSUMERS’ COUNCIL. The British Consumers’ Council demands the creation of a Food Ministry. It alleges that tlie whole attitude of the Government is primarily in the interests of traders, whose influence is paramount in Parliament. The council expresses the opinion that the proposed decontrol of "wheat is fraught with the gravest danger of fomenting speculation. CLIMBING MOUNT EVEREST. The Royal Geographical Society is organising an attempt to climb Mount Everest with the assistance of the Tibetan Government, which hitherto lias prevented any white man from going within 40 miles of the mountain’s base. A recomiaisanee party will be sent out this year with an aeroplane to explore the approaches, map out the ground, and make a photographic analysis. The mountain partv will probably go to Tibet in 1922. AN UNRULY MEETING. A rowdy meeting of Labourites shouted down Mr Clynes, crying “Traitor! We want a revolution,” and singing the “Red Flag.” Many unemployed were present, and after great disorder the “International” was sung, followed by cries “We want the Soviet.” Finally Mr Clynes refused to submit to further indignity. Other speakers similarly failed to gain a hearing, and the hall was cleared by turning out the lights. A MILLIONAIRE’S WILL. Mr Frank W. Woclworth, a New York merchant millionaire, in a 200-word will, made 30 years ago, bequeathed his entire fortune, which has now been appraised at 27,000,000d01, to his wife, who has been judged mentally incompetent. Mr Woolworth was a poor man when he made his will, and was earning lOdol when he was married. MURDER SENTENCE QUASHED. A curious decision was given by the Berlin Criminal Court, which quashed a sentence of 28 months’ imprisonment imposed on Lieutenant Vogel in connection with the murders of Herr Liebkneclit and Rosa Luxembourg, on the grounds that the law subsequently passed exempted those guilty of offences committed for the purpose of preventing high treason. Vogel escaped to Holland and never served his sentence. BRITISH NATIONAL DEBT. A White Paper which has been issued shows that the total British national deadweight debt is £7,831.000.000, compared with £7.431,000,000 last year and £651.000,000 in 1915. PANAMA CANAL ZONE. The Government of Panama has sent a vigorous Note to the United States protesting against the seizure of a small tract of ground east of Colon by American officers for the defence of (lie Panama Canal. The incident recalls Mr Roosevelt’s encouragement. as the result of which the Panama Republic was created. Mr Roosevelt quickly recognised Panama, which immediately ceded to the United States the canal tract, which Colombia had refused to grant.. PORT FOR DOMINION TRADE. The Mayor of Portsmouth headed tho deputation to the High Commissioners with

a view of enlisting financial aid from the overseas dominions in developing Langston Harbour into a port entirely devoted to the trade of the Dominions. It was stated that the proposed cost would be £4.000,000 to £5,000.000, and that the contributions of the Dominions would not be heavy. The High Commissioners are submitting the scheme to their Governments. AUSTRIA’S CHILDREN. The Daily Chronicle’s Vienna correspondent states that 35,000 Austrian children were sent abroad during 1919 to be nourished; in 1920 the number sent abroad increased to 124,000, Switzerland taking 34,000, Holland 28,000, Germany 16,000, Denmark 13,000, and England 1000. Sweden, Italy, Norway, and other European countries also participated. SWINDLE IN BOSTON. Another fraudulent scheme, promising to assume the proportions of the Ponzi swindle, has been revealed in Boston. The authorities have begun investigating a banking syndicate dealing in options on German marks. The concern sold options at two cents each; it did not deal with the mark itself. The options proved not redeemable and fraudulent. It is estimated that at least 5000 persons have been swindled, and that the sum involved is more than 5,000,000d01. GENERAL ITEMS. The French Government has purchased a portion of the Verdun sector as an historic site. Charles Leonard, a prominent pioneer leader of the Transvaal Reform movement, dropped dead. The French War Office is appointing a High Commissioner to reorganise the army. Mr Griffith Boscawen is cutting down the agricultural estimates by £2,000,000. The Commonwealth financial experts report that the money market is steadily improving. D’Annunzio has decided to stay at Fiume as a private citizen. He will probably be elected Chief of the State. Countess Darifcora Grando (a Portuguese) was tragically killed through falling 2Qoft from the campanile of Westminster Cathedral, London. British woollen cloth manufacturers are reducing their prices by 23 per yard, and are asking merchants to pass on the reductions to retailers. The London pictorial dailies are raising their _ prices to lid on January 24. It is practically certain that all the other penny dailies will follow suit. Tokio telegrams state that Japan’s exports in 1920 reached a total value of 1,928,864,000 yen, and the imports 2,320,712,000 yen. Women jurors were summoned for the first time at the Old Bailey, London, on the 11th. Several pleaded to bo excused on the ground of nervousness and unsuitability. Mr Coghlan has published a cablegram from Mr Storey (New South Wales Premier) stating that the latter is not coming to London for the purpose of borrowing. Ilerr Hugo Stinnes (the millionaire newspaper proprietor) has acquired extensive forest areas on the Baltic coast for pulp for his 60 newspapers. A service is being established between India and Canada. The Government steamer Canadian Inventor is sailing for Calcutta with a cargo of creosote and timber. The Prince of Wales appeals to the Empire to subscribe £200,00 to place the Boy Scout Association on a sound financial basis. Donations should be sent to St. James’s Palace. As the result of the decision to withdraw the British troops from the Persian frontier, all tho European women and children will evacuate Teheran in February. Mrs Mildred Sandys, a New Zealander, has obtained a. decree against her husband —Mr George Sandys, an ex-member of the British House of Commons —on the ground of misconduct. French physicians refuse to attend the International Congress on Comparative Pathology at Rome until the German professors disavow the manifesto of 1914 and Germany’s war crimes. Owing to a glut in coal stocks, the Scottish coal masters are abandoning the fixed prices for exported coal, and are resuming the pre-war competitive system. More coal is being produced in Scotland than can be marketed. The British Association of Chambers of Commerce rejected a motion in favour of the compulsory marking of foreign goods entering the United Kingdom. The speakers said it would prejudice re-export arid might react unfavourably abroad. The Official Receiver announces the early payment of a 2s dividend on deposits on current account in Farrow’s Bank, totalling nearly £4,000,000, and that probably the assets will yield another dividend of about Is. The Venizelist organ Patris announces that M. Venizelos has definitely abandoned Greek politics while King Constantine reigns. King Constantine can. therefore, abandon hope of inducing M. Venizelos to return. The Prince of Wales has consented to the publication of an authoritative illustrated record of his Canadian and Australasian tours. It is to be sold exclusively in the interests of the blind ex-service men at St. Dunstan's. It is reported that China and Japan have settled the Nikolaevsk incident, in which several hundred Japanese were killed. The Chinese Government and the officers of the warship which fired on the Japanese will apologise and pay 30,000 yen compensation to the families of the Japanese killed. The Young Men’s Christian Association Red Triangle League, London, has opened an overseas hotel at King’s Cross for people arriving from and departing for the Dominions. It will serve as a reception and clearing house. The hotel provides 30 beds. Voluntary lady workers from overseas will be in charge of the musical and social activities. The Association of British Chambers of Commerce passed a resolution in favour of reversion to the Imperial penny postage as conducive to the social, economic, and financial welfare of tho Empire. The association never was of opinion that it was economically possible if there was a loss of bureaucratic post office control. The motion by the Nottingham Chamber of Commerce urging the Government to negotiate with the Commonwealth Government with a view to reducing the Australian tariff on footwear was rejected by the Associated Chambers. The speakers emphasised the imprudence of the Home Government interfering with Dominion fiscal arrangements. The Commonwealth Emigration Office is marking time awaiting instructions from

the Government. Meanwhile Senator Millen is calling a conference of Agents-General to discuss proposals regarding the unification of the Emigration Departments in London, and the co-operation of the Agents-General with the Commonwealth. Official: The Government of India is imposing further restrictions on the export of coal owing to labour troubles and the deficiency of railway waggons causing a shortage. No bunker coal will be sent to Aden after the end of January, or to Colombo after the end of March. Immediately following- upon the Senate’s action in limiting the standing army of the United States to 150,000 men, Air Harding announced that he was opposed to compulsory military training, but at an early date the new administration would establish a comprehensive system of voluntary training of 100,000 men yearly. The civil. Governor of Valencia, Gpain, was returning from the theatre when his carriage was fired on, there being a volley of 30 revolver shots. The carriage was riddled, but the Governor miraculously escaped. A, policeman and a child were seriously injured. The perpetrators decamped. No arrests were made. AUSTRALIAN NEWS. West Australian elections will be held in March. Three persons were drowned at. Stanhope, Victoria, while bathing in the irrigation channel. The New South Wales Cabinet has agreed to finance the New Zealand tour ol tlip State Orchestra. Mr D. R. Hall, the New South Wales recalled Agent-general, arrived in the Orsova. It is stated that he will probably seek legal redress for an alleged breach of contract. John Baddeloy and Albert Willis have issued writs claiming £SOOO damages tor alleged libel against the Melbourne Argus newspaper. The alleged libel was contained in an article in connection with the stewards’ strike. A fire at Ulverstone, Tasmania, destroyed the Town Hall, three shops, and a furniture warehouse. The damage is estimated at £12,000. The Federal Government proposes introducing the Estimates in an amended form in future to enable the Taxation Commissioners to refrain from claiming taxation from visitors. The weather is swelteringly hot. The temperature in many places in the country in New South Wales registered above lOOdeg in the shade on the 11th inst. Southern States also suffered from a neat wave. Last year there were 1430 petitions for divorce in New South Wales, thus easily constituting a record. Six hundred were held over for the new law term. Certificates involving £17,000,000 were paid to Victorian farmers on Friday by the Wheat Board, this being the first payment of 2s 6cl per bushel. The South Australian Prices Commission lias reduced the price of flour by £1 —to £2O a ton —and the price of bread to 6d a loaf.

The Union Company of New Zealand lias issued a writ claiming £12,000 for the salvage of the American vessel Inca by the Cosmos. The writ was nailed to tho mast in accordance with the usual custom. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle laid the foundation stone at Brisbane of the first Spiritualistic Church in Australia, which is costing £lo.o*oo.

As a result of the congestion caused by the shortage of ships to export wheat, the New South Wales Government has stopped deliveries of grain from the country. The entrance to Newcastle Harbour is to be deepened by several feet. A rock-drilling plant commenced work on Saturday. The New South Wales Navigation Office warns mariners to exercise care when passing the port. A fire destroyed the Economic Stores, one

of tho chief drapery businesses in Perth, and a chemist’s shop. An adjoining cafe was also severely damaged. At one time the fire threatened to destroy the whole block, which is in the heart of the city. The damage is estimated at £IOO,OOO. During 1920 the export of coal from Newcastle, New South Wales, exceeded the previous year’s total by 1,250,000 tons, the totals being' 4,253,000 tons, valued at £3,795,000, for 1920, as against 2,953,000 tons, valued at £2,383,000. for 1919. Of 4,000,000 tons exported, 2,839,000 tons were shipped to the other States and to New Zealand. The remainder went to 31 countries overseas. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle explained that the cablegram referring to press boycott applied to Melbourne, where the Argus boycotted him, and the Age and the Herald treated him little better. He was favourably impressed by the high tide of spiritual life in Sydney, and more than pleased with the wonderful sympathy and appreciation shown in New Zeaand. Tho York street, Sydney, merchants are embarrassed at the celerity with which English manufacturers are filling Australian orders. This state of affairs is without precedent since 1914, and has resulted in the flooding of the local market with goods purchased at high prices, thus preventing any reduction in local prices until the supplies arc exhausted. It must also result in a cessation of the placing of further orders in England for an extended period. INCREASE OF CANCER. The New South Wales statistics for 1920 show that the births totalled 22,500, and the deaths 9500, showing that the birth-rate is impoving compared with previous years’ figures. The great proportion of the deaths were accounted for by heart disease, pneumonia, and cancer. The last named continues to increase. It is officially estimated that 20 per cent, of tho middle-aged people died of cancer in some form or other. INDIANS LEAVING FIJI. The Rev. Mr Small, a Methodist missionary at Fiji, states that the exodus of Indians i'rorn Fiji during the past year assumed considerable proportions, and continues at an increasing rate. One steamer recently carried 1600 adults and SCO children back to India. The exodus was partly due to political agitation. Several agitators from India visited the islands, their mission being to represent or misrepresent things to tho Indians.