NEWS BY CABLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 40

NEWS BY CABLE.

- The purchase of the New Zealand memorial sites in France and Belgium has been completed. The tenders ' for Messines and Gravestafe were more favourable than for Longueval, and the saving thus effected will permit an extra. £2OO to he spent on the Gallipoli memorial, on which work has been temporarily suspended owing to the present situation. LORD OF THE ISLES. Lord Leverhulme lias raised a hornets’ nest in the Scottish Highlands by assuming the title of “Western Isles” in connection with his recently-received viscoiuitcy. The Gaelic Society at Inverness adopted a resolution expressing disapproval of Lord Leverlnilme’s action in encroaching on the dignity of ail ancient title —that of “Lord of the Isles” —which is borne by the King, and stating that his action is also an offence to Scottish sentiment. The resolution expressed the hope that Lord Leverhulme will change his title to one more in keeping with present-day conditions. GALLANTRY REWARDED. The Hamburg-America Line has presented silver watches to all the seamen on the Kinfauns Castle (Union Castle line) in recognition of their heroism in saving the passengers and crew of the Hammonia. Each officer received a pair of Zeiss binoculars and a silver cigarette case. [The Kinfauns Castle rescued 330 passengers from the Hammonia in September last. Lleavy seas prevailed at the time, and the work of transferring the people from the sinking German liner was attended by great difficulty and danger. Captain Day, who commanded the Kinfauns Castle, was taken prisoner by one of the German U boats during the war.] KING’S PROCTOR INTERVENES. The King’s Proctor intervened against making absolute a decree nisi which was granted to Lady Maxwell Wiltshire, who as Lilian Birtles toured Australia in “Kismet.” The King’s Proctor alleged that Lady Willshire had lived with George William Higgs at several addresses between April and November. 1921. No answer was offered, and the decree nisi was rescinded. SCHOOLBOY STABS HIMSELF. An extraordinary story of a Blueeoat boy stabbing himself was revealed at the inquest on Vivian Tanner, 14 years of age. Evidence was given that a bead boy remonstrated with Tanner for unfair line umpiring in a school match, and kicked him. Another boy also kicked Tanner. The latter went to his locker, and a few minutes later he appeared with a knife sticking in his breast. He went to the head boy and said: “You made me do it; you have killed me.” He died in 15 minutes. The position of the wound is consistent with the theory that the boy intended to only wound himself and to create a sensation, and the jury returned a verdict to this effect, adding that there was no more ragging than normally went on in public schools. HUGE LOTTERY SUGGESTED. The French Chamber of Deputies rejected the Minister of Finance’s proposal to increase taxes 20 per cent, as a means of finding an outlet from the financial impasse. Deputy Dessin suggested a monster lottery to bring £160,000,000 to the State coffers, with tickets costing £4, with several prizes of £40,000, and numerous prizes of £4O. HISTORIC CHART BRINGS £IOBO. Captain Cook’s naval chart of the St. Lawrence River realised £IOBO at Christie’s. 1 ne chart was a duplicate of an original made primarily to assist general Wolfe’s operations. and formerly belonged to Admiral Panshawe Martin. Its destination is unknown. The Admiralty has the other copy. POSITION AT MEMBL. It is stated that at the request of the Ambassadors’ Conference in Paris, Lithuania has intervened to maintain an armistice m Memei. A conference at Heydekrug of representatives of all the districts around Memei resolved to support the new Government in Memei, and to unite with Lithuania on the basis of local autonomy. INTERNATIONAL COURT. The first example in history of sovereign States arraigning a sovereign State before tile international Court has occurred in connection with an application filed by Britain, France, Italy and Japan against Germany concerning the latter’s refusal to permit a British vessel free access to the Kiel Canal in 1921, in accordance with the Peace Treaty. A MONSTER GUN. The largest gun ever cast in France has been completed at the Rueil Arsenal. It is 70ft- long and weighs, with its carriage, 230 tons. It will be used for coastal defence, and is expected to hurl a 420-kilogramme shell over SO kilometers. NEW HOBBY FO R.MEN. “Th is delicate petit point piece of tapestry is the work of my husband,” said Lady Geraldine Hoare at the Burlington House exhibition of needlework by Mr Henry Hoare, the well-known banker. The latter explained how he took up wool work as a relief from banking cares. He used to do elaborate accounts in his spare time. It was really waste of time. He admitted that though at first be thought wool work was a fool’s game, he now thinks there is nothing so restful. He has begun an ambitious panel, which is likely to occupy him for five years. “Many of my men friends have taken up this work —soldiers, stockbrokers, and heads of Government departments —and are showing great skill with the needle,” he said. RIFLE SHOOTING. At the annual meeting of the Army Rifle Association the chairman stated that the competition for the King’s Medal for the best shot in the army at Home or overseas would be revived at the 1923 meeting, but in a form designed to overcome the difficulties formerly encountered in awarding the medal owing to the varying shooting conditions in the different parts of the Empire. In future there will be six medals —one each for Britain. India, Canada, South

Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Earl Haig is responsible for the revival of the competition. SMOTHERED BY CATS. At an inquest in Essex into the death of a 10-weeks-old baby, which died from asphyxia caused by cats lying on its face, the mother said that she left the child in its perambulator in a porch. Later she saw two cats jump out of the perambulator. The coroner remarked that the cats must have been attracted by the warmth of the child’s body. A SPIRITUALIST’S WILL. The court has ruled that the bequest of £3OOO to the Loudon Spiritualistic Alliance to establish a training college for mediums was invalid. It held that a bequest to be good must be shown to be for the public benefit. The Spiritualist Alliance had failed to supply evidence on this point worthy of the name, but had merely offered vague expressions of opinion. BRITISH NATIONAL DEBT. A AA riite Paper shows that the National Debt at March 31, T 922 amounted to £7,742,528,147, _ makin g a net increase in gross liabilities for the year of £108,377,815. GENERAL ITEMS. The Revolutionary Committee has issued a decree calling m the gold. Already £4,000,000 has been exchanged for bank notes. M. Cnlogeropoulos (ex-Premier of Greece), M. Tsaldaris, and 31. Rallis (ex-Ministers) have been released under the amnesty granted to political offenders by the Revolutionaries. A novel method of overcoming the chaos resulting from the fluctuation of the mark has been adopted in the Polish new Income Tax Bill, which bases the assessment on the average price of wheat. As a German troupe took the stage at the Olympia Music Hall, Paris, ICO persons from (he audience advanced to the stage and protested against the employment of Germans when 80 per cent, of the French music-hall artists were unemployed. The Seismograph at Georgetown University, U.S.A., registered an exceptionally severe earthquake, which lasted for three hours, and is estimated to have been 2500 miles distant. Mr Ramsay MacDonald, speaking at Glasgow, said that in view of the great inconvenience of the rent muddle in Glasgow, he would suggest an agreement between the owners and the tenants, to be followed by retrospective legislation. He would propose the reference of the whole of the Ruhr trouble to the League of Nations or to The Hague Tribunal. Max Nordau, the well-known writer, died in extreme poverty, owing to the French Government having confiscated his property during the war. His only means of subsistence was a small salary from the newspaper Le Rarion, at Buenos Aires, which came regularly though M. Nordau had been unable to write for 18 months. The Westminster Gazette states that the King is contemplating the installation of a loud-speaking wireless set at Buckingham Palace, enabling him to address 1,000,000 people assembled in the neighbouring parks. The Duke of Westminster is leasing as ground landlord a property in Pimlico for tlie erction of tenement houses. He stipulates in each lease that all the accommodation in the house shall be reserved for people with children Owing to the high taxation Lord Armstrong is closing Cragside, his famous Northumberland seat. He will live in a cottage in the grounds. Lord Armstrong inherited £1.250,000 from his great-uncle in 1900. Colonel E. Turner Meade, who is buying remounts in Canada for the. British Government, is sailing by the Niagara for Australia. He states that the War Office is preparing for any eventuality. Spain is eagerly awaiting the return of Spanish prisoners held by the Moors, who are to be liberated on January 27. feenor Eehe Varrieta, the Basque millionaire, went to Morocco in his yacht with a ransom of £165 OCC in silver, weighing 25 tons, and arranged for the release of the Spaniards. When dancing gaily at a fancy-dress ball at Crawley, Sussex, 12 children and their dancing mistress collapsed, less _ than an hour after entering the hall, trom S OS poisoning due to a radiator. lhey were hurried to their homes in motor cars, and the ball was broken up. . Kisses costing £IO,COO were the subject of a debate in the Hungarian Parliament. Five Hungarian Customs officials crossed the Rumanian border to visit their sweethearts in frontier villages. The Rumanian officials became frightened, and ordered a partial mobilisation at a cost of £IO,WO, which Rumania is charging to Hungary.