NEWS BY CABLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3610, 22 May 1923, Page 40

NEWS BY CABLE.

JAPAN’S SURPLUS POPULATION. Lecturing before the Janan Society in London, a Japanese professor (Mr Hishinuma) said that the cramped population ot Japan had caused her anxiety, and she naturally cast her eyes towards the thinly-populated areas of North and South America, Canada, and Australia as places to which to send her surplus population, which would turn the wilderness into rice and wheat fields and hives of industry. Japan would, however, limit the number of immigrants in order not to disturb peace with her neighbours. lie concluded: “Unless some of the Western nations awake from their mistaken attitude towards the Eastern nations a struggle between East and West will bo i'll' outcome, and it will involve the whole of humanity in the most disastrous war ever seen.” WAR MEMORIAL UNVEILED. M. Poincare, in unvailing a war memorial, referred to Mr Lloyds George’s speech. He said that B ranee would always be grateful to those who came and fought in the common cause on French soil, but she insisted upon the Allies being grateful to B ranee. The Allied dead, of whom the majority were French, had barred the way to Calais and London, as well as to Paris. BOLSHEVIST MURDER PLOT. The Lemberg police have discovered a plot by the Ukrainian Bolshevists to assassinate Marshal Foch, who is touring Poland. Thirty arrests have been made. TITE TAXI-CAB MURDER. Alexander Campbell Mason, aged 22, a cabinetmaker, with no fixed place of abode, was charged at the Brixton Police Station late on Monday with the wilful murder of Dickie, the taxi driver. He will appear at the Lambeth Police Courth to-day. Mason was one of the two men detained. The other is still under detention. The Daily Express’s Southampton representative states that icebergs will stop the ocean greyhound races this summer. So many have been reported in the North Atlantic that trans-Atlantic liners have been ordered to follow an extra southerly course, taking them south of the line which icebergs are known to reach. The average length of this course will be 3190 nautical miles. The Aquitania, which arrived on Monday, covered 3242 miles. FIRE ON THE RUAPEHU. An exciting fire occurred on board the Ruapehu, which was lying in dry dock at Blackwall Two thousand tons of ammonia in the ship’s hold ignited. Firemen with gas masks succeeded in recovering two of the crew, who were lying in an unconscious condition owing to inhaling the fumes. Meanwhile 15 motor engines, with 100 firemen, arrived on the scene. The fire burned furiously for four hours, but the brigades prevented the vessel from becoming entirely involved after completely flooding the steamer. LOURDES MIRACLES. The party of £OO persons who went to Lourdes has returned to London. Kathleen O’Flaherty, aged 12, who suffered from hip disease, and had never walked without crutches and wore body splints, left those behind at Lourdes, and now needs neither. Miss O’Dwyer, v. ho went away in a stretcher, stepped from the train unaided on her return. A priest said: “It. is quite possible that Kathleen made a special effort. We cannot say how long she mav remained cured.” A DRAMATIC DEATH. When charged at Geneva with poisoning his wife in order to obtain her insurance money, a man named Strumer ended a long speech in his own defence with the words: “May almighty God kill me if I am guilty.” He then fell senseless in the dock and clicd. A doctor attributed death to. cerebral agitation. The Judge remarked: “The accused has gone before a better and higher Judge.” PLAGUE OF FLIES. A poisonous fly named chumbatz, which is similar to the American buffalo gnat, is appearing in cloudlike swarms along the Danube. Already it has been responsible for the death of 215.000 cattle. Several people who were bitten died from bloodpoisoning. The Danube has not experienced such a serious plague for two centuries. SEEKING FOR DIAMONDS. A romantic story of diamond digging in the unexplored hinterland of British Guiana is revealed in the adventures of bliss Gwen Richardson, of Melbourne, who is now in command of an expedition searching for diamond fields known only to the natives of the country. Mis 9 Richardson has devoted months to the study of mining for diamonds. Before sailing she received hundreds of letters from romantically inclined Britishers anxious to search for diamonds, and to protect a charming lady among the perils of the vi il del ness. Miss Richardson refused offers of assistance until the Governor of British Guiana

protested against her encountering alone a multitude of dangers. She then consented to be accompanied bv a woman companion, anti by a black maid, who sleeps all night at the tent door. GENERAL ITEMS. An early trial will be made in France of a jockeyless horse race controlled by wireless telephones affixed to the saddles of the horses, which will be trained to obey voice signals with instruments on the saddles transmitted from the grand stand. During a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal the British India Company’s steamer Okara, of 5291 tons, wirelessed that she was sinking. A n exhaustive search has been mane since, but it failed to disclose any signs of tho missing steamer. Betting has been permitted for the first time on any Swedish racehorse at .Tagersro Tho Diet has many times discussed the subject, and lias always hitherto refused to allow betting wh ch it considered immoral. Mrs Phoebe Stabler, whose bronze figuie of a child is attracting attention at the Royal Academy, has been admitted to mein bersliip in the Royal Society of British Sculptors. The only other woman memnci is Miss Flora Kendrick. One hundred Brazilian rebels were killed and many wounded white retreating before the Stale t#oops in the Rio Grande district. The Government forces suffered 'nsignilicant losses. Tho Italian Minister of Finance states that the Mussdlini Government has reduced Italy’s deficit irom four milliards of lire to 1,187,000 lire. The military expenditure has been reduced to three milliards of lire, including 200, (XX),COO for aviation and 26,000,000 for the Fascist army. Mr E. S. Montagu has relinquished politics, and is going into business. He will join one of the Barnato Joel groups, which are chiofiy identffied with mining interests in S-outh Africa. . When the liner Minnehaha arrived at Plymouth from New York 17 bags of mails were missing, the contents of some of tie bags which contaioea registered letters were found on the deevs A Londoner named Thomas IJelahund, said to be usually as gentle as a lamb, but subject to occasional fierce _ fits of temper, under the influence of which he used to make growling noises, went suddenly white with rage and stabbed a 14-year-old girl, who declined to return his affections. He then drank poison, but is likely to recover. The girl’s wound is not serious. The Karl of Strrdbrcke’s daugnter, Lady Fleasancc Elizabeth Rous, was married to Mr Owen M’Kenna, of Shorts, Lanarkshire, at the local Roman Catholic Churcir. Lloyd's Sunday News slates that the bridegroom is a wireless operator on a P. and O. liner, and he first met and became engaged to his bride on his ship. Unnerved by a doctor’s description of wounds and of transfusion of blood, as related at a murder trial at Glasgow, a woman juror twice fainted. The. accused killed his sweetheart’s uncle after his sweetheart had told him that the uncle took ad ■vantage of liei* when she was eight years old. The prisoner was sentenced to five years* imprisonment for homicide.