THE UNITED STATES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 18

THE UNITED STATES.

FATALITY ON DESTROYER. VANCOUVER, July 2. During a test practice in firing torpedoes, at Neivport, Rhode Island, five lives were lost on board the U.S. destroyer Williamson on Saturday. The accident was due to the flooding of the stokehold with steam and boiling water. Three other members of the crew were severely and probably fatally scalded. COURT’S CURIOUS ORDER. NEW YORK, June 28. Geraldine Farrar, the famous operatic singer, who is now well known as a cinematograph artist, has been granted the divorce for which she applied, the decree to become final in three months. The court forbade her husband, Lou Tellegen, to re-marry. BRITISH QUOTA EXCEEDED. NEW YORK, July 16. Britain’s immigration quota for July of 15,468 is nearly exhausted, and over 1000 British newcomers who are already here or are due in the next 10 days at various American ports will be detained and probably deported unless prevision can be made to hold them over until August. The immigration officials declare that efforts will be made to admit as many of the British arrivals as possible under the tourist arrangements. July 22. Some idea of the problem set the United States in coping with the enforcement of the immigration law can be gained from the fact that 28.000 immigrants have been admitted to Ellis Island alone during the first three weeks of July. A hundred inspectors worked day and night subjecting the incomers to a minute examination. Twelve hundred immigrants, a considerable number of whom arc British, have been detained pending the decision of the Washington authorities on their case. The larger number of these will be deported. Owing to the large numbers of arrivals and tho limited accommodation, many immigrants suffer great discomforts especially recently during the pioloriged heat spell, despite the efforts of officials to reduce suffering to a minimum. THE ESTIMATED SURPLUS. WASHINGTON, July 18. The Treasury Department announces that the expenditure for the 1923 fiscal vear in the army and navy will total 725 000,000dol, or 205,000,000d0l less than the’ 1922 total. The Government s expenditure for 1923 will amount to 3 697,000,000d01. It is estimated that there will be a surplus of 310,000,000d01. FR ANCO-AMERICAN TREATY RENEWED. WASHINGTON, July 20. The Franco - American Arbitration Treaty, 1908, has been renewed for another period of five years. THE CHESTER CONCESSION. WASHINGTON, July 19. The State Department, in answering the National Popular Government League’s questions concerning the Chester concession, denied that the concessionaires had been given moral political assurances that in the event of a dispute the United States Government would be bound to defend the validity of the concession. The reply asserts that the United States Government took no part in the negotiations, and concerns itself only with the maintenance of the open door policy. The league’s membership includes eminent educationists, lawyers, Labour leaders, aiid publicists, all of whom regard this denial as being the most sweeping and explicit which the State Department has made.