NEWS BY CABLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3755, 2 March 1926, Page 53

NEWS BY CABLE.

RECOVERY OP THE FRANC. LONDON, February 22. The French frano haa recovered to 133.9, believed because of the improved political situation. FASCISM IN BELGIUM. BRUSSELS, February 24. The Labour Party is creating a workers’ defence force, and is appealing for funds to fight the Fascisti. SONOMA LOSES~PROPELLOR. SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 25. The Ocean : ** liner Sonoma, bound for Australia, dropped her starboard propellor 600 miles out. fcflie is returning. BASIC WAGE FOR TASMANIA. MELBOURNE, February 24. In the Arbitration Court Sir John Quick fixed the basic wage for Tasmania at 13s lOd per day. The unions claimed 14s per day. DUELLING IN REICHSWEHR. BANNED. BERLIN, February 22. The Reichstag passed a law making duelling among Reichswehr officers punishable by dismissal from the service. BELGIUM AND THE SOVIET. LONDON, February 22. A Brussels message states that the Belgian Foreign Minister is reconsider- , ing a resumption of commercial rela-' tions with the Soviet. FREE STATE BY-ELECTION. LONDON, February 22. The Liescoflaly by-election (Irish Free State) resulted: Mr Dwyer (oGvernment) ... 19,345. Mr Art O’Connor (Republican) 18,523. DAME HARRIETTE RUSSELL’S WILL. LONDON, February 25. Dame Harriette Russell, of Chelsea, widow of Sir William Russell, formerly Minister of Defence in New Zealand, left £6164. BLAZING A TRAIL. CAPETOWN, February 27. Mr Alan Cobham has left on his Teturn journey. He is carrying many letters, including one from the Earl of Athlone to King George. * THE LINCOLN MURDER. LONDON. February 27. The Home Secretary (Sir W. JoynsonHicks) declined to interfere with the death sentence passed on John Lincoln, aged 23, for the shooting of Edward Chas. A NEW SENATOR. ADELAIDE, February 24. Mr J. M'Lachlan was elected at a joint sitting of both Houses to fill the Senate vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Benny. NEW SOUTH WALES MINERAL OUTPUT. SYDNEY, February 23. The State mineral output for 1925 is valued at £19,108,991, being £485.903 in excess of the previous year, and constitutes a record. TOWER OF MUSSOLINI. ROME, February 23. Tlie Fascist Institute at Milan, in utilising the Government’s grant of £2,000,000, proposes to erect a tower higher than Eiffel Tower called Mussolini, in memory | of the war dead. ANOTHER LIBERAL DEFECTION. LONDON, February 22. Mr Hilton Young has written to the Earl of Oxford announcing that his resignation is due to the Liberals’ new Socialistic land policy. THE HAMPTON TRAGEDY. MELBOURNE, February 26. Douglas Robertson who was convicted of the manslaughter of Mr Almeid manager of the Commercial Bank at Hampton, *}U9fxiaogi.Tdan .sauo.f gx °1 poouopios sum with hard labour. THE JAVA MURDER. WELTEVREDEN, Feb. 25. One of the arrested hotel boys is reported to have fully confessed to the murder of Mrs Macfie. The reported confessions of the other accused are unfounded. GOLD STANDARD IN JAPAN. TOKIO, February 25. Mr Hamaguchi (Minister of Finance) stated officially that the Government does not intend to lift the gold embargo till the yen reaches par through natural healthy causes. CLOSING OF A CHURCH. MEXICO CITY, February 23. Many persons were wounded when the police and firemen dispersed a demonstration of Catholic women as a protest against the closing of the church. Leading society matrons headed the demonstration. ROMANCE OR BUSINESS! LONDON, February 23. How Viscount Lascelles faced a “romance or business” dilemma when courting Princess Mary is revealed by the Evening News apropos of the Royal typewriter incident. Viscount Lascelles haff just invested £26O,tXXJ to start big own typewriter factory when he discovered that he could not afford to marry as well as bear the cost of a vast manufacturing ex peri-

ment. The money was withdrawn, and the typewriter did not reach the market. CANADIAN GOVERNMENT LOAN. NEW YORK, February 24. The over-subscription of the Canadian Government 40,(XX),000 dollars 10-year bond flotation in the United States was announced at noon to-day, two hours after the books were opened by the syndicate which under wrote the issue. THE COMMONWEALTH LINE. MELBOURNE, February *A. In the House of Representatives Mr 9. M. Bruce stated that 43 vessels of the Commonwealth Line so far had been disposed of. Originally they cost £5,640,601, and the price realised was £1,220,677. SYRIA AND MOROCCO. PARIS, February 27. Despite M. Painleve’s opposition the Chamber by 264 votes to 246 adopted a Socialist amendment reducing the credits for Syria and Morocco bv 1,000,000 francs with a view to terminating operations in both countries as soon as possible. MASSACRE OF MOSLEMS. ROME, February 25. The Syrian representatives have communicated to the Mandates Commission which is sitting here a telegram from Cairo stating that the Armenians massacred 600 Moslems in the Meidan quarter of Damascus and burned 2CO houses and shops. COMPULSORY VOTING. LONDON, February 25. Lord Burnham has given notice of a question in the House of Lords asking whether the Government will create a Select Committee to inquire into the desirableness of adopting the system of compulsory voting. THE SINGAPORE BASE. LONDON, February 24. In the House of Commons Major L. Hore-Belisha (Lib.) asked whether in view of the economies made in the strength of the Fleet it was still proposed to continue the expenditure on the Singapore base. Mr W. C. Bridgeman (First Lord of the Admiralty) replied in the affirmative. MAGNETIC DISTURBANCE. SYDNEY, February 25. A magnetic submarine disturbance, similar to that experienced recently, occurred in the Indian Ocean yesterday and disorganised the cable services, which are only now beginning to ~et back to normal. The disturbance, as was the case with the previous one was due to sun spots. JAPANESE NAVY. TOKIO, February 25. The Lower House passed the Budget. Admiral Takarabe stated that the naval replacement programme involving an expenditure of 320.000,000 yen had uot been given up, but owing t the present economic condition of the country it had been postponed pending an improvement. FRONTIER INCIDENT. ~~ GENEVA, February 27. Lithuania has requested the intervention of the League in the matter of the alleged Polish violation of the frontier recently, notwithstanding the Polish delegates denial of the Lithuanian allegations and an officials Warsaw telegram describing the incident as closed. CANCER RESEARCH. LONDON. February 23. Sir George Newman, introducinr the Health Ministry’s report on cancer of the breast, points out that investigations confirmed the belief that marriage and child-bearing, instead of favouring cancer, was actually a preventative. Investigations in Holland, Italy and England proved that mortality was greater among spinsters. FRONTIER INCIDENT. WARSAW, February 23. A Lithuanian desire to annoy Poland on the eve of the League meeting at Geneva is advanced as the explanation of a frontier incident, in which Lithuanian guards allegedly forcibly occupied a Polish forest. Shots were exchanged, and no casualties resulted, but the Poles captured eight Lithuanians. A LABOUR EXPULSION. LONDON, February 23. Because he advocated close LiberalLabour co-operation in the House of Commons, the Independent Labour Party expelled Mr Ben Spoor, the chief Whip of Mr Ramsay MacDonald’s Government. He says that the Socialists have attacked him for daring to think for hitnself. It has become an unpardonable gin to voice one’s opinions, and a crime to tell the truth. MAIL ROBBERS AT WORK. SYDNEY, February 24. A gang of mail robbers is again at work. It has been discovered that 70 registered letters containing money and jewellery have beori abstracted from the Parcels Post Office in the city. The thieves froced a door while the staff was having a meal during the early hours of the morning. The value of the letters is so far unknown. COAL MINE ON FIRE. . BRISBANE, February 26. The Abcrdare Extended coal mine. at Bundamba is. on fire. The .minerp escaped shortly, after the outbreak. The mine is belching huge clouds of smoke and the outbreak is so severe as to prevent an in-

vestigation. Hundreds of miners are waiting on the surface or an opportunity to descend to the flames. NOTE FORGEI^S. BUDAPEST, February 24. * The report of the Parliamentary Committee, which investigated the forgeries, concluded, regarding the political aspect of the affair, that neither the Government nor any member of the National Assembly was in any way connected with the crime, which the Government has done its utmost to clear up. BROKEN HILL MINES. SYDNEY, February 27. At Broken Hill, because of the drought, half-time is now being worked at the mines with the water which the Government is making available. All trains will cease running after Sunday night, and the employees will be given other employment or the opportunity of taking their annual leave. The brewery has been compelled to close down, and the employees are idle. CORPORATION EMPLOYMENT. SYDNEY, February 25. The Finance Committee of the City Council resolved that in future employment should be subject to nomination by aldermen, with preference to city residents. Financial membership u a union is made compulsory, a stipulation which the Reform aldermen strongly opposed, on the ground that it would lead to abuses and increase the army of aldermanic hangers-on BRITISH ENGINEERS. LONDON, February 27. The Engineers and Allied Employers’ National Federation will post lock-out notices on March 5 to be operative on March 13 in all federated establishments in consequence of the strike of a section of the London engineers and labourers over wages and their refusal to work with non-unionists. The engineering union refuses to recognise the strikers’ action. MEAT FOR THE ARMY. LONDON, February 24. It is officially stated that the whole of a War Office meat contract has been awarded to Swift’s Australian Meat Export Company. It is understood that the amount is roughly £30,000. This is the first time Australia has been awarded a whole contract, which amounts to 150,000.000 twelve-ounce tins, compared with 300,000 tins which Australia secured in 1925. NEW PREMIER FOR SASKATCHEWAN VANCOUVER. February 25.’ Mr J. G. Gardiner has been chosen Premier of Saskatchewan in succession to Mr C. A Dunning who has resigned to enter the Federal Cabinet Mr Gardiner has been Minister of Highways and Minister in charge of the Bureau of Labour and Industries since 1922. He was selected by a convention of the Liberal Party of the province. ARSENIC IN APPLES. LONDON. February 25. Mr W. G. Nicholson, M.P., addressing th« London Provincial Fruit Buyers’ Association, complained that the arsenic scare was hampering the imports of colonial fruit. Mr Peter Wilson, chairman of the gathering, also described the scaremongers as making a mountain out of a molehill, as the reports of arsenic poisoning from eating app’es were without foundation. THE GOLDSMITH’S ART. LONDON, February 24. The gold and silver trade of Britain is at present so stagnant that the Goldsmith’s Company has started a scheme for improving the design of domestic plate. It has organised a competition among workers for the design of racing cups and trophies, and is inviting other designers to submit original models of domestic plate for inspection by an eminent board of judges, promising to place orders for the completion of the selected designs in porcious metals. LEGAL RIDDLES. LONDON, February 23. A Privy Council judgment in the case of the Attorney-General of Alberta versus Mrs Cook, has decided questions which have exercised international lawyers for generations The first question was whether a wife judicially separated from her husband may acquire another domicile, and the second, whether a wife mav obtain a divorce upon sufficiently legal grounds prevailing there, although the husband is not domiciled there. The Privy Council answered both questions in the negative. ISLANDS SHIPPING CONTRACT. MELBOURNE, February 23. The Burns Philp Company’s contract for the Pacific Islands shipping at a subsidy of £50,000 per annum expired at the end of January last, but is being continued pending inquiries as to the cost and advisability of extending the service to Melbourne, instead of to Sydney. Shippers complain that under present conditions they are placed at a decided disadvantage compared with the Sydney traders, and could develop a profitable trade with the Islands if Melbourne was made the terminal port. TAKING THE VEIL. BRUSSELS, February 26, Overcome by emotion at the ceremony of her daughter taking the veil at Douvers, near Cap, Madame van de Vyvere collapsed on the floor of the convent chapel and died immediately. She was accompanied by her husrand, who yesterday severed .hus long connection with the Belgian Cabinet, resigning from the Ministry of Agriculture. His departure is widely regretted because M. Van de Vyvere was

a valuable lyinke between the Conservative and Democratic sections of the Catholic group and contributed to the stability of several Governments in times of crisis. OBITUARY. LONDON, February 25. The death is announced’of 9ir Francis Lloyd who was with the Suakin Expedition in 1885, was in the battle of Haskeen and the Nile Expedition, the battle of Khartoum, and South Africa. He retired from active service in 1920, and since then has been a commissioner of the Duke of Yorq’s Royal Military School. February 26. The death is announced at Monte Carlo of Lady Zaharoff, the wife of Sir Basil Zaharoff, the banker who established the chair of aviation in London, and was attached to the Imperial College of Science. RUSSIAN CROWN GEMS. MOSCOW, February 23. A group of French jewellers outbid international competition for a parcel of Russian jewels, including the diamond crown of the ex Czarina, diadems, bracelets, loose diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires. The purchase price was £603,000. The sale was conducted at th. instance of the Soviet Finance Commissariat The sum exceeded the bid of the British and American group of jewellers by £28,000. It is most likely that the crown will be broken up unless a wealthy purchaser is found willing to preserve it as an Imperial relic. TEST TUBE EXPLODES. LONDON, February 23. The Daily Mail’s Geneva correspondent reveals that while M Spahlinger was recently experimenting, a test tube, containing millions of tubercular bacilli, exploded in his face, filling the air with its deadly contents. The assistants rushed from the laboratory, but M. Spahlinger remained in the infected atmosphere until he had placed his priceless cultures in safety. His health has since been causing anxiety, and he is now recuperating on the Riviera, and has postponed his promised experiments upon cattle at Crewe to the end of March. LATE SHIPPING STRIKE. LONDON, February 26. Mr Havelock Wilson has instituted an appeal for help for the dependents of the seamen who were concerned in the recent shipping strike, more especially those who left their ships in dominion ports, resulting in over 5000 families being deprived of the means of support. Mr Wilson asserts that the strikers in Sydnr were assured that funds would be provided for their wives and families. Many of these wives and children are still without support. The committee of King George’s Fund has given £4OOO and the Seamen’s Union £IOOO. IMPROVED STOCK-BREEDING METHODS. SYDNEY, February 23. The Royal Agricultural Society is making a definite move in the direction of organising efforts for improvement in animal breeding. The council has selected Dr G. F. Finlay, of Sydney University, who has spent a considerable period in the leading centres abroad, studying animal genetics, to deliver lectures at the forthcoming Easter show on animal breeding. Subsequently he is to undertake the organisation of a campaign in the same direction amongst breeders. Dr Finlay is a New Zealander by birth. MUNICIPAL ELECTRICAL SUPPLIES. SYDNEY, February 23. On a purely party vote the Labour Aldermen carried through a committee of the City Council a proposal that the Council should enter into competition with the retail tradesmen in the supply of electrical equipment for domestic and industrial use, that the apparatus purchased from the Council be installed and the repairs be done free of charge by the Council’s workmen. Charges were made by Aidermen that owing to the operations of an alleged electrical supply ring profits ranging from 60 to 500 per cent, were being made under the existing system. MAROONED. PARIS, February 27. Two ragged and half-starved men are marooned in a lighthouse off the Finisterre coast. One has been on duty since February 12 and the other since January 14. The usual period is 10 days. The motor working the revolving light has broken down and an almost unrecognisable glow is the only warning to shipping approaching the coast. Several attempts to relieve the men and ’and food have been frustrated by the wild seas. The authorities are most anxious concerning the fate of vessels using that section of the sea and the safety of the marooned men. BRITISH FILMS. LONDON, February 22. The Daily Express announces the Board of Trade’s policy towards the film trade. A British film-making studio will he established, probably at Brighton. If at the end of tho year great developments have not been reached in the production of British films the Government will not help the scheme financially, but will continue to encourage it. The Government will legislate, making it illegal for kinemas to tie themselves to American combines by the block system of bookings. Kinemas will also be compelled to book a fixed percentage of British films. ROYALTY ASSAILED. OTTAWA, February 23.. On the ground that its articles were libellous towards the Royal Family the Minister of Customs (Mr J. Boivin) had an order issued banning tho importation into Canada of Liberty, an American

weekly magazine, which published an article allegedly misrepresenting the life of the iate Queen Alexandra and in a subseque* t issue an article of a similar natuie cono/fning the Prince of Wales. The order which is peimanent, is bnsod on the section of the Customs Act whi.h prohibits the importation of obscene literature. THE IMPERIAL NAVY. LONDON, February 23. Sir Newton Moore, in the House of Commons, asked Mr J. C. C. Davidson (Financial Secretary of the Admiralty) the value of the contracts new being carried out in Britain, and what contributions the dominions and colonies were making towards the British Navy. Mr Davidson said that Australia had let contracts here for two cruisers (£4,200,000) and two submarines (£700,000). New Zealand was at present spending £600,000, India was contributing £IOO,OOO, and Hongkong had given £250,000 towards the Singapore base. ASSISTING INDUSTRY. LONDON, February 23. The sitting of the House of Commons extended until the early hours of the morning when a resolution was carried approving of an extension of the duration of the Trade Facilities Act, under which trade credits totalling £63,000,000 were given to the end of 1925. The total available credits have n»w been increased to £75,000,000 but Mr Ronald M'Neill (Financial Secretary to the Treasury) on behalf of the Government said he hoped soon to be able to dispense with this unsound legislation. The Labourites strongly advocated the granting of credits to Russia which the Government opposes. A NEW KLONDYKE. LONDON, February 24. The Daily News states that 12,000 semi-starved gold-seekers are feverishly working in a new Klondyke, on the banks of the River Aldan, one of the remotest and wildest regions in North-eastern Siberia, 300 miles from the railway. The Soviet estimates that there is a ton of gold to every 15 square miles, in a total area of 6000 square miles. The Soviet has removed all Japanese and Koreans, and*has decreed that the fields must be worked exclusively by Russians, who are forced to sell the gold dust and nuggets to the Soviet for 76s per ounce. Aeroplanes are conveying limited supplies of foodstuffs. CHURCH AND STATE. ROME, February 23. The Pope, in a letter to his Cardinal Secretary of State, emphasises the fact that because the prelates were invited to and participated in the Commission to revise ecclesiastical legislation, which Parliament will shortly ratify, it does not imply that the reform was carried out in agreement with the Holy See, although the Pope admits that the legislation constitutes an improvement, He affirms that nobody possesses the right to legislate ecclesiastically without direct agreement with the Vatican, nor is it possible to give the Catholic Church in Italy a legal status until the removal of the iniquitous conditions in which the Holy See and the Roman pontiffs find themselves. DAIRY PRODUCE. SYDNEY, February 25. At a meeting of the Dairy Produce Control Board reports "ere received of decreased production of butter and cheese in all the States. There was still, however, an exportable surplus in Queensland and New South Wales, but if the adverse weather continued for many weeks all the production would have to be reserved to meet home consumption. The board decided to revoke the order previously made to withhold 25 per cent, of butter from export to the United Kingdom. It was further resolved to make an order for the shipment of butter to the United Kingdom, spreading the despatches over a period of four weeks. All butter withheld in January is to be shipped immediately, and the balance in three weekly instalments, from March 6 to March 27. ICE FOR THE HOME. LONDON, February 25. A remarkable invention was demonstrated to doctors and scientists at the Savoy Hotel. By turning on an electric switch a continuous supply of ice was produced. This should solve the problem of domestic refrigeration, as three kilowatt hours of electricity daily, and 120 gallons of water, costing 3d daily make enough for a household ice safe. This safe had three shoves of different, temperatures, suitable for various produce. Sir Arbuthnot Lane described the invention as an important contribution to the public health. The basic idea is the application of the law of the partial pressure of gases, discovered by Dr J. P. Dalton. The invention has been sold to an American syndicate for £500,000 in addition to royalties. The«inventors are two young students of Stockholm University. CRIME IN N.S. WALES. SYDNEY, February 25. The annual report of the New South Wales Police Department for the year 1925, tabled in the Assembly, shows that there has been an increase both with respect to serious crimes and the total number of cases for all classes of offences. The more serious offences during 1925 numbered 605 more than the total for the previoqp year, and the aggregate number of cases under all headings increased by 4276. Serious crimes totalled 8126. One of the principal increases recorded was in offences against girls, the increase beiiv 29. The amount of crime committed by persons of tender years is still serious and increasing. The criminal statistics for the metropolitan district showed a net increase of 819,

l>i:t t!?«ve is a notable doorcase, totalling 1J56. in the offences* against good order. THE TAUNGS SKULL. LONDON, February 23 P:A.fc.'sor Sir Arthur Keith, lecturing on the Taungs skul, discovered by Profe.su Raymond Part, an Australian, said ) the geological evidence excluded .it /•uni any place in the line of man’s ancestors. It was an anthropoid ape of the most interesting kind. It was a young animal, the teeth being those of the milk eet The first of the permanent set was in process of cutting. This was larger than those of the chimpanzee. When an adult form was discovered it would have jaws larger than those of an adult chimpanzee. Professor Keith declared that the Taungs skull was entombed in limestone of the pleistocene period, when early forms of mankind were already evolved. The discovery was only important i. throwing light upon history of man’s nearest living relative—namely, the great African anthropoids. FATAL AIR CRASH. PARIS, February 24. Witnesses of Callott’s crash state that the pilot made a contract with a foreign kineinatograph firm to fly twice under Eiffel Tower while a parachutist was flung from the second platform of the tower after the aeroplane’s second passage. A search is now being made for the kinematographer and the parachutist, who disappeared after the accident. Cal lott was under orders not to attempt the flight, which, was against the regulations. A group of kinema operators filmed the whole incident. There was ample room for the aeroplane to pass through the base, but it requires a careful manoeuvre to avoid the wires, anchored in concrete beds 200yds from the tower. February 26. An inquiry has been opened to discover the persons who encouraged the airman Collot in his fatal stunt. They will be charged with manslaughter. VISCOUNT ALLENBY. HONOLULU, February 26. Peace time honours were accorded Viscount Allenby in an all-day programme of entertainment which started with the arrival of the Aorangi from Auckland and continued till her departure for Vancouver late to-night. Viscount Allenby declined to discuss international matters such as disarmament. He said, however: “I believe and hope that the friendship between the British Empire and the United States is growing firmer every day. The United States and the British Empire have common ideals and there is no reason why the two nations should not continue their traditional friendship in the future.” CARETAKER’S SELF-SACRIFICE. LONDON, February 27. An extraordinary story of the self-sacri-fice of a city caretaker aged 80 is behind a gift of £IOO to St. Mark’s Hospital for cancer. The caretaker asked permission to be present at the hoard meeting and walked in holding a Bank of England note. He refused to give his name and handing the note to the secretary he said: “It has taken me 20 years to save this. The hospital saved my life. I’ve been putting pennies away ever since. I kept a special little box which I did not touch for a year. I would then count the money and bank it. You cannot imagine my joy when I found that there was a whole £IOO. It is th© biggest event of my life. My .wif© did not know until last night.” AUSTRALIAN BUTTER, OTTAWA, February 25. Mr J. A. Robb (Minister of Finance) announced in the House of Commons today that Australian butter imported into Canada would be liable to a dumping duty when the import prices were lower than the homo consumption values. The Customs Act provides that no dumping duty eliall exceed 15 per cent, ad valorem. WASHINGTON, February 25. Following on an announcement that the Tariff Commission had completed the butler investigation, Minnesota members of the Horse of Representatives to-day predicted (hat Mr Coolidge would soon issue a proclamation increasing the butter tariff by 50 per cent. SYDNEY, February 26. At the session of the Dairy Produce Control Board to-day it was stated that the total exports of butter from Australia this season to February 13 amounted to 33,665 tons, compared with 43,497 tons for the corresponding period of last year. WASHINGTON, February 26. President Coolidge has received the Tariff Commission’s butter report, but he will not act on it until the minority report has also been received. EMPIRE SETTLEMENT. LONDON, February 22. In the House of Commons a series of Suesbions on migration elicited replies that uring 1925 there were 38,666 migrants from Britain to Canada ; 35,006 to Australia ; 11,730 to New Zealand, and 7004 to South Africa. Other statistics based on the balance of Britishers outwards over inwards for the Years 1911 and 1924 respectively were: "Canada 134,765 and 464,469; Australia 66,337 and 28,156; and New Zealand 9432 and 8836. Reporting on the ex-service men’s land settlement scheme the Committee on National Expenditure estimates the Government’s loss at March 31 at £3,500,000. Added to this the loss on revaluation in 3926 will probably be between 40 and 50 per cent., making £6.000,000, or a total of £9,500,000, representing an average of £550 per tenant. In the House of Commons Mr H. Day {Labour) asked Mr L. S. Amery (Secretary foT the Dominions), if, in view of the inadequacy of tho Imperial grants to sett-

lers in New Zealand, any action were contemplated to ensure successful settlement. Mr Amery replied that New Zealand was not willing to enter into a land settlement agreement, therefore the question of settlers’ allowance did not arise. HHACKLETON’S FRIEND. LONDON, February 22. The court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim in the Rowett case. The court said that the words ‘‘bona fide onerous holders” were more or less meaningless in English law, but a Scottish lawyer gave evidence that “onerous” had a clear technical meaning in Scottish law for “valuable consideration.” Plaintiffs had failed to estal lish their claim on this. The manner in which Mr John Q. Rowett, the friend and financial supporter of the late Sir Ernest Shackleton, met his death was the subject of an investigation in the Chancery Division in an action in which Messrs Rowett, Leakey, and Co., a city firm of which the deceased was managing director, sued the Scottish Provident Institution to recover £30,000 in respect of policies which Mr Rowett took out. The defendants, who denied within six months of the date the policies which exempts them from payment in the event of an assured committing suicide within six months of the date the policies are taken out. The clause, however, provides that such suicide shall not affect the interests of bona fide onerous holders. Counsel for plaintiffs agreed that it was an English contract, and he objected to Scottish lawyers deposing in regard to the meaning of the phrase “onerous holders.” ROMANCE OF A RAPHAEL. LONDON, February 25 The romance of a painting purchased for £25 from London dealers under the belief that it was a copy of Raphael, but subsequently turned out to bo a genuine old master, valued at £20,000, was related by Lady Robert Thomas in a claim against one of Lloyd’s underwriters for payment on an insurance policy on the picture, which was destroyed by fire at the Thomas home, Anglesey. Sir Robert Thomas gave evidence that he valued the picture greatly because of its romantic history. When purchasing it he told the dealer to renovate it. The, dealer later communicated with Sir Rob-' vrt Thomas, offering to give him £SOO to release him from the bargain. Sir Robert Thomas subsequently compensated the dealer to the extent of £IOO. He regarded the picture as the most valuable of bis possesions. When he was absent the picture was always removed to a room where someone was constantly in attendance. The defence maintained that the picture destroyed was not the one insured. Further, when the insurance was effected .it was not revealed that Sir Robert Thomas had bought a copy of a Raphael for £25. It was also maintained that the picture was merely a reproduction. The hearing was adjourned.

THE BRITISH NAVY. LONDON, February 27. The Navy Estimates for 1926 amount to £58,100,000 —a reduction of £2,400,000, compared with the current year, although the provision for new construction is increased from £7,235,000 to £9,083.000. Provision is made to carry on the new construction programme which was submitted to Parliament in July, 1925. It was originally intended that the floating dock for Singapore, which was included in this programme, should be provided by the reconstruction of the former German dock, tut experience has shown that this is impracticable, and, therefore, a new dock is being ordered. The change however will not mean any increase in the cost of the now construction for 1926. Though the new dock will cost more than the reconstruction of the ex-German dock the present indications arc that the total cost of the new construction programme will be less than previously estimated. The reduction in the total estimates is due to Admiralty economies. A portion is due to the adoption of a settled programme of new construction over a period of years and the ravourablt aspect of the political horizon. In a memorandum to the estimates Mr W. C. Bridgeman (First Lord of the Admiralty) remarks that the New Zealand Government is showing a lively interest in matters of naval maintaining two cruisers while a trawler is being fitted out for the New Zealand Government for service in mine-sweeping training and is expected to leave England about the end of February. CURIOUS WILL CASE. LONDON, February 24. An echo of the terrible aeroplane disaster on Christmas Eve, 1924, was heard in the Probate Court, when the Crown applied for letters of administration in the estate of Archibald Sproston, and a declaration that he left no widow. Sproston and his wife, and the former’s uncle, were killed in the crash. If the wife had survived her husband she would have been entitled to the estate. If Sproston had Survived his uncle he would have inherited £SOOO more. A model of the aeroplane was exhibited in the court, and also photographs of the actual wreckage. The evidence submitted showed that the bodies were all in a heap, the wife underneath, with a deep bone wound on the forehead, resulting in laceration of the lobe of the brain, sufficient to cause instantaneous death. The husband had a fractured pelvis, which would not necessarily cause immediate death. The doctor who was on the scene before y ie flames were subdued, gavo evidence that the woman’s tody was only likely to have bad life, but he found no heart beats. He could not say who had died first. Another doctor, who conducted the post mortem examination, repeated the opinion he expressed at the inquest, that the wife had predeceased her husband. The hearing was adjourned.

February 25. Mr Justice Merivale found for the Crown in the Sproston case. He held that the wife’s father had not substantiated the claim that the husband died first on which point the doctors expressed different opinions. TRANS-POLAR AVIATION. VANCOUVER, February 24. Captain Amundseu is confident of passing over the North Pole in an Italian dirigible of the semi-rigid typo from Spitsbergen to Point Barrow, Alaska, in May. He declared there was not the slightest doubt that he would made it. He would be flying in the Polar regions when the atmospheric conditions were ideal. Captain Amundsen doubts the existence of a great continent in the Polar region. So far as he was able to judge from his years of experience in exploration work he believed that the Pole was surrounded by a million square miles of water and an enormous field of ice. He deeply regretted that the Wilkins expedition had decided to use aeroplanes in its Polar flight. He believes that aeroplanes in their present stage of development are useless for polar work. With a dirigible there was no necessity for searching for non-existent landing places and there was a greater possibility of success. VANCOUVER. February 25. A telegram from Fairbanks, Alaska, states that Captain Wilkins’s transport supply expedition to Point Barrow by snow motor has been called off by the explorer. The motors which were used to haul the sledges broke down repeatedly, and in two weeks they were only able to negotiate 70 miles of the 700 mile trail to Point Barrow. Tt was obvious, therefore, that the supplies would not reach Point Barrow in time to be of assistance to the flight. Captain Wilkins said that the planes for the flight had arrived. The party will remain here for three weeks preparing the equipment and making test flights preparatory to the exploration flight, which takes place about March 21. It is likely that supplies will be carried to Point Barrow by aeroplane.