NEWS BY CABLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3624, 28 August 1923, Page 40

NEWS BY CABLE.

THE LAURENTIU’S GOLD. Nearly the whole of (he £S,<XX),OCO worth of bullion which was sunk with the Laurence when she was torpedoed in Januarv, 1917, off Lough Swilly, has been recovered, the ship lies nearly 120 ft below the surface. Admiralty divers have been occupied for three years in recovering the bars of gold and silver specie. In 1921 treasure worth £600,000 had been recovered, but the bullion raised this year is worth nearly £2,000,CQ0. It .is expected that by the end of September the last of the geld will be raised. The Admirably will then issue a report on this amazing diving teat. The bullion was consigned to American bankers. BRITAIN’S MEAT SUPPLY. The United Department of Agriculture’s marketing specialist, on returning from a study of the meat situation in Europe, declared that lower cost cf production in the Argentine and increased domestic production are the chief reasons why American beef is no longer an important source of supply for Britain. He also asserted that Australia and New Zealand will not be of as much importance as the Argentine as feeders of Britain. FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT. A telegram from Warsaw states that a train which was derailed at Rozanka fell into a river. Fifty persons were killed and 100 were injured. The victims of the railway accident were mostly Jews, who were emigrating to America. (Many were drowned, and a large number were dashed to pieces. A CAIRO SENSATION. Princess Abbas Halim, formerly Miss Harrington, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy Englishman, was found dead at her husband’s Alexandria residence after a shot had been heard in her room. It is stated that she was cleaning a revolver. The police are conducting the most minute inquiries. The Prince and Princess were leaving for Europe in the afternoon. HARVESTERS FOR CANADA. The Canadian-Pacific Railway Company denied the accusation of the French language newspapers that thousands of Englishmen, who at© being brought over for harvesting, are mostly destitute and may become public charges. The railway company replied that all the immigrants would be given work with the ultimate purpose of making them colonists in Western Canada. The company remarks that its special steamship rates caused 7000 persons to emigrate, whereas only a few hundred were originally required. Nevertheless, the railway company asserts that all will be admitted and sent to farm lands, thus stemming the emigration westward by Canadians from the maritime provinces. BRITISH CABINET CHANGES. The Daily Express understands that the appointment of Mr Neville Chamberlain as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sir W. Joynson-Hicks as Minister of Health will be announced immediately. Mr Reginald M'Kenna will withdraw his acceptance of the Chancellorship of the Exchequer. partly owing to the difficulty of finding a seat in the House of Commons. INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE. The Council of the League of Nations at its next meeting will discuss a scheme submitted by the Italian Red Cross for an intetrnational organisation to assist in relieving people who are overcome by disaster. Tlie idea at the basis of the proposal is that of inter-governmental cooperation on an insurance basis. It envisages the contribution by Governments in advance of money which will be used through the various Bed Cross Societies for giving relief in any important, disaster wilhin the territory of a participating Government. Enemas is is laid upon the promptitude of relief rather than its scale. INCOME TAX WORRIES. A Wandsworth coroner, in returning a verdict of suicide in the case of a man who was fo ind hanging at Richmond, said that suicide was committed as the result of an unsound mind due to worry consequent on the deceased's inability to pay his income tax. In the pari insomnia and intoxication had been the main causes of suicide, but worry over the payment of income tax was now a frequent cause. HENS AID THE FARMER. The British poultry farmers’ output has been doubled since 1913. The imports of eggs have declined from 2.900,000,00© a year before the war to 1.700.000,G00 in ' 1921. local production making uo the difference. An expert declares that the general farmer has realised that poultry keeping is a,n important side-line, and many farms which formerly were barely paying, are now kept successful through poultry. The expert points out that Britain's climatic conditions are excellent for poultry and egg production, and Britain ou*ht to be an exporter and not an importer of both poultry and eggs. BURIED IN ICE. Three tourists were buried alive in thousands of tons of ice at St. Pierre d'Albignv. in the Department of Savioe, France, "through the collapse of an ice grotto which was one of the sights of the district. _ ..... The cave is situated In a ravine in which the snow from the surrounding heights of the alpine foothills is frozen during the winter into enormous masses of ice which does not thaw even in the hottest summer. A party of 13 entered the cave, and when the roof collapsed a woman and two men were entombed behind an ice wall many feet thick. One body has been recovered, and the ice is being dynamited to release the others. CHURCH ROOF COLLAPSES. Three hundred villages in the Province of Salamanca, Spain, climbed on to the roof of a church to witness a privately-organised bull fight. Tlie structure collapsed, and all were buried beneath the debris. Four persons are dead, ten ar dying, 30 have broken legs and arms, and 53 are Icm seriously injured.

CANADIAN BANK FAILS. The Heine Bank of Canada at Toronto, with deposits totalling 21,000,000d01, has suspended payment. WAR ON ALCOHOL. The Minister of the Interior, at Copenhagen, opened the 17th International Congress against alcoholism. There were 600 delegates present, including Mr A. J. Volstead, the author of the United States Prohibition Act. ENGLISH FARMERS IN SOUTH AFRICA. In opening the Transvaal' Agricultural Congress at Pretoria General Smuts said that the Government was considering the establishment of meat extract factories for the utilisation of inferior cattle. He paid a glowing tribute to the excellent work of the English farmers as being one of the most valuable elements ever introduced into the life of South Africa. He said he wanted many more of them. WOMEN FIGHT WITH KNIVES. Louise Morheim and Marie Stephan, of Nancy, France, having both fallen in love with a local hairdresser, decided after frequent quarrels to fight a duel to the death, the survivor lo have the hairdresser. The women, accompanied by their seconds, went to a quiet spot. Roth stripped oil their blouses and faced each other, gripping knives. For some seconds they revolved slowly round each other. Then thev both make a spring- and stabbed each other. Bleeding profusely, they fought on till both collapsed. They were then taken to hospital where they occupy adjoining beds. A JAPANESE TRAGEDY. A newly-constructed submarine sank during her trial trip at Kobe, Japan. Eleven of* the crew were saved. It is now stated that 130 dock hands aboard were lost. CARBONISING SMALL COAL. Professor Ullinyivortb, of the South Wales School of Mines, claims to have produced by the low temperature carbonisation, of small coal what is practically artificial anthracite. This is calculated to revolutionise the coal and patent fuel trades, and would enable the utilisation of vast quantities of small coal which are now wasted. GENERAL ITEMS. Owing to- financial difficulties Robert Til iitch ford's paper, the Clarion, has ceased publication. Czechc-Slovatia has signed a commercial treaty with France. The Australian liner Boonah collided with a yacht- near Dumbarton. Two women from the yacht fell into the river, but were rescued. The Croatian Republican deputies have decided to sever relations with Belgrade and to take diplomatic action in foreign countries for the purpose of separating from Jugo-Slavra. The Daily Chronicle understands that Lord Crewe is desirous of retiring from the position of British Ambassador in France. The Chronicle also believes that Sir Auckland Gedaes will not return to Washington.

The Russian Foreign Office lias- sent a third Note to Britain protesting against Stefansson hoisting the British flag on Wrange! Island as a violation of Russia’s foreign rights. A factory m Naples, which was engaged ill printing bauk notes for the banks at Naples and Sicily, was burnt to the ground. All the machinery and many millions of notes were destroyed.

Seven skulls and many bones were found 7ft below the surface by workmen excavating near the Marble Arch, which is adjacent to the site of the famous Tyburn tree, where highwaymen and other robbers were hanged in the “good old days.” M. Ciieron (French Minister of AericuK ture) announces that the French harvest will be abundant. It will probably total 79.090.C00 quintals, excluding Algeria, thus making it unnecessary to buy abroad, provided that bread is not wasted. The Earl of Powis. who owns about rO.OOO acres in the British Isles, told a gathering of his tenantry in Shropshire that he had given liis estate there to his son. Viscount Clive, because of heavy taxation. He felt, he said, that he had to make a sacrifice to reta'n the estate in the family. Dame Clara Butt's elder son Roy died following an operation for meningitis. He was 20 years of age, and had just left Eton to go to Oxford. He promised to be a brilliant cricketer Cuba has completed the payment of its 10,000,C00d0l war-time debt to the United states, thereby gaining the distinction of being the first nation in the world to discharge its war obligations. Sir Joshua Reynolds's picture, "The Young Fortune-lelier,” and his portrait ‘‘The Viscountess Crosbie.” two of Britain s greatest pictures, have been sold by Lord Glencoe Tier to an American connoiseur. It is reported that the price was over £IOII,OOO The production of Mr D. W. Griffith’s film ‘The Birth of a Nation” has been forbidden in Franca an the ground that, rt might cause public disorder. The embargo is the result of the colour question. French rights m the Picture cost £20.000. The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland has affirmed the County Court Judge’s dismissal of Viscount Massereene’a claim for £90.000 compensation for the burning of Antrim Castle. His Lordship decided that the fire was not malicious. He regretted the des+ruction of an historic building.