NEWS BY CABLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3897, 20 November 1928, Page 49

NEWS BY CABLE.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

PARIS, November 17.

M. Boncour has resigned from the French delegation to the League of Nations.

THE FRENCH CHAMBER. PARIS, November .16.

The Chamber passed a vote of confidence in M. Poincare bv 335 votes to 147.

ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS. LONDON, November 18. The newspapers are not publishing on the morning or evening of December 2526.

SOVIET STEAMER SINKS. BUCHAREST, November 12. The Soviet steamer Kornoemore sprang a leak in the Black Sea and sank. Forty persons were drowned. Only one lifeboat was launched.

SHAFTESBURY THEATRE.

LONDON, November 15.

Mr E. J. Carroll has joined the ranks of the West End producers of musical comedy, and “ Lucky Girl ” was staged at. the Shaftesbury ~ Theatre last night.

THE GERMAN NAVY.

BERLIN, November 16.

The Reichstag rejected the Socialist motion to abandon the building of the 10,000-ton cruiser by 255 votes to 203.

INFLAMMATORY SPEECH.

CAIRO,

-November 15.

Teweik Diab, editor if the Opposition newspaper Wadninnil, has been arrested on a charge of having made an inflammatory speech at a Wafd meeting.

AN ANTI-WAR PACT.

DELHI, November 14.

The Kabul press announces that in response to an invitation by the United States through the French Government, the Afghan Government has signed an anti-war pact.

CANADIAN TRADE. OTTAWA, November 16. Canada’s . total trade increased by 200,000,000 dpllars in seven months to the period ended October 31, compared with the corresponding period of 1927. The total value oi the exports was 787,000,000 dollars, and that of the imports 737,000,000 dollars. -

THE NIAGARA DELAYEDVANCOUVER, November 14. Huge batches of mail matter for the Antipodes delayed the sailing of the Niagara from noon till 4 o’clock. A big party of Australians who are returning from Europe are on board.

EARL HAIG STATUE.

RUGBY, November 14.

.The Government has decided that the most suitable site for the proposed statue of Earl Haig is the centre of Whitehall, between the Cenotaph and Trafalgar square.

VALUABLE PICTURES.

AMSTERDAM, November 13.

The pictures of Marczell Denemes, the famous Budapest art collector, were sold by auction. On the first day the canvases realised £125,000, including £14,500 for El Greco’s “ Immaculate Conception.”

INCREASE OF CAPITAL.

BERLIN, November 15.

A meeting of the North German Lloyd Company approved of an increase of capital by 35,000,000 marks on ordinary shares and 1,000,000 marks on preference shares, the former being issued in New York.

BRITISH UNEMPLOYED.

RUGBY, November 14,

The Ministry of Labour return shows that, there were nearly 25,000 fewer persons unemployed last week than in the previous week. The men, women, anc boys registered as unemployed now number 1,349,000.

EARL OF BIRKENHEAD.

LONDON, November 15.

The Earl of Birkenhead has signed a contract with the new weekly, Britannia, to write exclusively for it for a number of years. Since his resignation there has been considerable speculation as to which newspaper would secure his much-sought-after journalistic service. JOURNALISTS WHO FELL. •. RUGBY, November 12. The memorial to journalists who fell in the Great War was unveiled at the Institute of Journalists during the weekend by Major-general Sir Fabian Ware (permanent vice-preisident of the Imperial War Graves Commission), who is an exjournalist. Over 3500 journalists joined the forces; and 500' were killed.

The memorial bears an inscription chosen by Mr Rudyard Kipling, which reads: “We have served our day.”

INDIAN AGITATOR. DELHI, November 17

Lala Lajpat Rai, a leading agitator in the Punjab, aged 20, has died. His Indian medical adviser alleges that his death was undoubtedly due to rough handling by the police at Lahore station on the arrival of the Simon Commission. The incident may lead to a big agitation and an untoward political situation. CHINESE PIRATES. SHANGHAI, November 16. A Peking telegram reports that Miss Grace Mann, a Baptist missionary, was shot dead by bandits on the 12th inst., while journeying from Taiyuanfu (the capital of Shansi province) to Sinchow. The deceased was an Englishwoman. The Peking Legation authorities are in vestigating.

CANADIAN LUMBER. V ANCOUVER November 13.

British interests have purchased a controlling interest in the Western Lumber Company, paying General A. D. M‘Rae, M.P., approximately 2,000,000 d<sll 3 for his holdings in all the western lumber companies. The new owners intend to seek trade with Australia.

BRITISH ELECTIONS.

LONDON, November 12.

Tire Daily Express states that there is a secret plan on foot to finance prohibition candidates in 40 constituencies at the general election. The decision is the result of the heartening success in America. “ Pussyfoot ” Johnson will come to England to give support, while campaign funds are expected from America.

THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

RUGBY, November 16.

The court of directors of the Bank of, England have agreed to recommend to the proprietors in April next that Mr Montague Norman be -re-elected governor for the ensuing year. Mr Norman will thus be re-elected for his tenth consecutive year of governorship, an event without precedent.

SIR RONALD ROSS.

LONDON, November 13.

Lady Houston has purchased Sir Ronald Ross’s documents relating to his discoveries concerning malaria, which have enabled him to save millions of lives, for £2OOO. The national conscience was-shocked a month ago when the Daily Mail announced that Sir Ronald 4 Ross

-vas impelled to sell the papers owing to lack of public gratitude of his work.

THE FRENCH NAVY.

LONDON, November 13.

'Die Paris correspondent of The Times states that two extended naval cruises in 1929 have been announced by the Minister of Marine. The most modern ships will be sent, the Du Quesne going round Africa, while the Tourville, starting in the spring, will include the New Hebrides and Australia and'New Zealand in her itinerary.

RUSSIAN PEASANTS.

LONDON, November 12.

A British United Press message from Moscow states that as a result of the Soviet drive to find new lands to distribute among the peasantry, 60 semi-feudal estates, ruled by wild nomads and Kirchiz Kazaks, in Central Asia, have been seized. The Kazaks, puzzled by the Soviet’s challenge to their invincibility, are stoutly resisting the attempts at nationalisation.

DEATH OF CENTENARIAN. LONDON, November 14.

The death is announced of Mrs Eleanor Tylden, aged 105, who resided near Sandringham. On her hundredth birthday, , she was visited by Queen Mary and Queen Alexandra, and the Queens of Norway, Spain, and Rumania. She had remarkable talents, memorising the whole of the Psalms accurately. She related century-old happenings correctly.

PREHISTORIC ANIMAL. LONDON, November 16.

The fossilised remains of a plesiosaurus, a three-eyed reptilian monster which roamed England 100,000,000 to 200,000,000 years ago, has been found in a limestone quarry at Harbury, Warwickshire, close to the spot where similar remains were discovered in February. The creature which has now been unearthed had a neck 26 feet long.

SO VIET. FOOD SUPPLIES

MOSCOW, November 15.

Several millions are destitute in the Ukraine owing to the failure of the crops. According to a message from the Ukrainian Government, 732,000 families, most of whom are peasant householders, are in despair, and the authorities are feeding 225,000 children. Acts of violence against Communists are reported in many villages? and the class struggle is intensifying.

CANADIAN DESTROYERS. '- OTTAWA, November 13. Replying to the request of the Alberta section Of the Canadian Labour Party that the Government should abandon its plan to purchase two new destroyers,

Commander Hose (Director of Naval Services) stated that the vessels were replacements and not additions. They would replace the obsolete Patriot and Patrician.' The vessels are to be of a defensive character, with a 5000-mile endurance limit. FUTURE OF LABRADOR. ST. JOHN’S (Newfoundland) Nov. 16. The Prime Minister (Mr Squires) regards as “entirely absurd” the suggestion that any portion of Labrador, which is now under the jurisdiction of Newfoundland, should be transferred to ths United States. In reference to the previous report regarding the sale, Mr Squires said that no one had any authority to speak on his behalf or for his party, which ■would organise a new Government in a few days.

ANTARCTIC EXPLORER.

LONDON, November 15.

Su geon-Captain Edward Atkinson, a participant in Captain Scott’s Antarctic expedition in 1912, was married at Glasgow to Miss Mary Hunter. He led the relief party from the base ship Discovery, which found Scott and his comrades dead in a tent. He won the Albert Medal in 1918 for heroic rescue work when the monitor Clatton, laden with explosives, caught fire off Dover, and was torpedoed to save the town.

OSCAR SLATER CASE.

LONDON, November 13.

In the House of Commons Sir John Gilmour, Secretary for Scotland, in answer to questions, said that the Government did not intend to add to the £6OOO already paid to Oscar Slater. Mr H. Day (Labour) : “ Are you aware that it cost him nearly that sum to obtain an inquiry and to conduct his case?”

Sir John Gilmour: “I do not know the amount of his costs.”

THE SINGAPORE BASE.

LONDON, November 14.

Mr C. M. Headlam, in answer to a question in the House of Commons with reference to the Singapore contractors buying plant from America, said that the Admiralty had laid down the rule that when contractors purchase plant henceforth it would insist on the opportunity of judging whether the British'' tender was acceptable. The contractors had undertaken to invite British tenders for all further plant.

GERMAN REPARATIONS.

BERLIN, November 16.

The German Government has now received separate replies from the British, French, Belgian, and. ' Italian Governments to the proposal to convene a coin-

mission to determine the final reparations settlement.

The British and French replies indicate an acceptance of Germany’s standpoint—that the sommission should be composed of independent experts in continual touch with the respective States.

NEW PRAYER BOOK. LONDON, November 12.

The Church Assembly agreed to the publication of the 1928 Prayer Book, to be prefaced by a note dealing with the book’s history and position, explicitly stating that the publication neither directly nor indirectly implies authorisation for church use. The Archbishop of York explained that the publication was due to the book still exciting general interest. It must always specially interest students of the church's history ; therefore it ought to be acces Bible.

BRITISH TARIFF.

MONTREAL, November 13

Interviewed to-day, Sir Austen Chamberlain said: “The policy of the Conservative Party is that wherever there is duty there should be preference, and at the next elections I am convinced that the party will certainly refrain from proposing any new duties on foodstuffs. • The idea, therefore, of any new preference on Canadian wheat must be abandoned unless and until a great jehange looms over our people. At the present moment it would be impossible to carry such a proposal. (Therefore it is unwise to revive it. OBITUARY. PARIS, November 11. The death 'is announced at Nice of M. Alexander Trcpoff, who was for a few weeks during the war time Premier of Rusia. MELBOURNE, November 15. The death is announced of Sir. Walter Manifold, a former president of the Victorian Legislative Council and a prominent pastoralist, aged 79. HELSINGFORS, November 15. The death is announced of Admiral Oscar Starck, aged 82, who commanded the Russian Navy in the defence of Port Arthur, THE WINE TRADE. LONDON, November 15. In reference to the depression in the wine trade and the unfair competition of grape juice, the -winegrowers and Agentsgeneral agree that steps should be taken to stop the duty evasion. The winegrowers suggest a reduction in duty on Empire wines to a flat rate of 2s. The Agents-general have cabled to their Governments accordingly. They are not acting till they receive replies. It is understoodl that the States have been urged to approach the Federal Government with a view to concerted action in dealing with the Imperial Government.

CABLES AND WIRELESS. LONDON, November 16

A short machinery Bill has been circulated in the House of Commons sanctioning, as from April 1 last, the sale of the Pacific-West Indies Imperial cables to the Communications Company, in terms of the Imperial Wireless Conference’s recommendations.

As far as Britain is concerned, the capital purchase sum will be paid by the Treasury. The company will also pay annuities in repayment of the Pacific Cable Loan. The Pacific Cable Board will be dissolved on a day fixed by Order-in-Council.

TOWER HILL MEMORIAL. LONDON, November 13.

The Queen, for the first time, will unveil a war memorial. This is being erected at Tower Hill on behalf of the Empire Governments in memory of 12,086 officers and men of the merchant navy and fishing fleets who have no grave but the sea. It is an imposing monument, consisting of a vaulted stone corridor 64 feet long, with three bays in which the names of the dead are inscribed on bronze panels under the names of their ships. It is expected that the ceremony will take place on December 12.

POLAR EXPEDITION. LONDON, November 12.

Sir Hubert Wilkins sent the following wireless message from Deception Island on November IQ, via Port Stanley: “ Our American monoplane, the Los Angeles, with which Lieutenant Eilson flew over the North Pole, was to-day the first complete aeroplane to touch Antarctic soil on Deception Island. She entered the harbour on November G and was moored at the beach with six seven inch hawsers to withstand the customary November storms, but so far fine weather prevails, enabling everyone, from the captain to the mess boy, to busy themselves during every waking hour.”

NOBEL PEACE PRIZES. STOCKHOLM, November 13. The Nobel prize for literature in 1927 was awarded to Professor Henri Bergson. Tim 1928 prize was awarded to Sigrid Undset, the Norwegian woman novelist.

Professor Bergson was elected a inember of the French Academy in 1914. He is one of the greatest of living philosophers. He has held many im° portant professorships since 1881, and was a professor at the College of France. Among his books, which have given rise

to much discfission, are “ Matter and Memory,” “ daughter,” and a noteworthy analysis of evolution.

POWER FOR SCOTLAND. RUGBY, November 13. A syndicate has been formed to establish an important hydro-electric power scheme involving a capital of several millions in the Galloway district of south-western Scotland. An electricity board will control the scheme, which will include five power stations. The River Dee will be the principal waterway to be harnessed, but all lochs, including Loch Doon and its tributaries, are, according to reports, to be utilised. It is proposed that the electrical power generated shall be carried to the industrial centres, absorbing the existing small organisations.

MARRIAGES IN ITALY. LONDON, November 12. The Rome correspondent of The Tinies states, in connection with x the Bill doubling the tax on bachelors which is now before the Senate, that Signor Mussolini complains that even in Italy the number of marriages is diminishing in spite of the Government’s various social and moral nducements to marriage. He says he does not expect the new Bill will make bachelors terminate their state of isolation, but it will at least make them financially assist the Government’s social policy. Only unmarriageable men, permanently unable to work, the inmates of poorhouses and hospitals, will be .exempted from this tax.

FORD PRODUCTS. LONDON, November 13.

Mr Henry Ford announces the flotation of a company with £7,000,000 capital to acquire various Ford companies in Britain and Europe, which already have assets of £7,000,000 and the net profits of which for six years exceed £1,000,000 a year. The company will acquire the manufacturing and selling rights of all Ford products in the British Isles and on the Continent, excluding Russia, and in Africa, excluding British possessions, and will have the temporary right to sell Fordston tractors throughout the world. It is expected that the development will result in the export of 165,000 cars and tractors from Britain annually.

DAMAGES IN DIVORCE. LONDON, November 13. Dr Gordon Hackeny, a former intimate friend and professional attendant, was ordered by the Divorce Court to pay iocOt) to Howart Willis, an auctioneer, bf Birmingham, for adultery with Mrs Willis, who i s a daughter of Sir William Butler, whose marriage settlement on her was £4OOO annual! v

Mr Justice ‘Hill said that he had the utmost difficulty in assessing such a loss. The breaking up of his home did not deprive the husband of his benefits under the settlement. The wealth and position of the co-respendent did not matter. The injury was just as great whether caused by king or beggar. When a man lost a loving wife the damage was not expressible in cash.

VENUS AND MARS. LONI ON, November IG. That life may exist on both Venus and Mars is the conclusion of Dr A. S. Eddington, professor of astronomy at Cambridge University, in his latest publication. He says that Venus, so far as is known, would be well adapted for life similar to ours.

As regards Mars, Dr Eddington says that the two essentials, air and water, are both present. The scanty Martian atmosphere is thinner than the earth's, but it is nevertheless adequate. It has been proved to contain oxygen. If animal life exists on that mysterious planet it is probably a different form of life from ours, as Mars has every appearance of being a planet long past its prime.

SOUTH AFRICAN TRADE. CAPETOWN, November 16. The Government has yielded to the request to publish “ the most favoured ’ nation treaty with Germany. An important qualification provides in respect to goods now specifically enumerated in South African legislation that the German Reich may not claim the minimum rates of- rebates which are at present granted on products from Britain and the dominions, but any privileges granted to sister dominions in the future must extend to Germany. The favoured nation clause excludes favours given to adjoining territories or to a third State by virtue of Customs union or consequent agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and mutual protection. ARMISTICE DAY. RUGBY, November 12. Tlie King and Queen, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of York, last night attended a huge Armistice Dav festival for ex-servicemen at the Albert Hall, and were enthusiastically greeted by an audience of 10,000 The great gathering sang old songs and hymns and listened to addresses. including one -from Admiral of the Fie"t Earl jellicoe.

Earl ’dlicoe struck the predominant note of a remarkable gathering in the following passage:—“Let us pledge ourselves to keep alive the spirit of comradeship and self-sacrifice in the years to come, all standing shoulder to shoulder working unceasingly for peace and for the common -good of Britain and the Em-

pire, and ever remember the needs of the survivors, the disabled, and the widows and orphans. ’’

CURE FOR EPILEPSY.

CAPETOWN, November 14. The director of the famous Port Elizabeth Snake Park (Mr Fitzsimmons) has perfected a vaccine from snake venoms which he claims is an infallible cure for epilepsy. Its efficacy is stated to have been proved. Several doctors are working on the theory. An epileptic Canadian backwoodsman years ago recovered after having been bitten by a rattlesnake. Mr Fitzsimmons has analysed many varieties of venoms exerting pathological effects on the nervous and vascular bystem. A local epileptic has not suffered a seizure since he was inoculated 21 months ago. Other cases throughout the country have been cured. It is claimed that the vaccine exercises remarkable rejuvenating effects on the nerves, blood, and muscles.

EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS. ROME, November 16.

The Pope gave an audience to Caccia Dominione, who has just returned from Australia. Caccia Dominione glowingly described the stirring and impressive scenes in connection with the Eucharistic Congress in Sydney, and said he had never seen a more beautiful ecclesiastical pageant than Cardinal Ceretti led to St. Mary’s Cathedral, which is the religious and artistic glory of Australia. Half a million people crammed into Hyde Park and the adjacent streets, and it was an extraordinary spectacle. The piety and zeal of the clergy was most edifying. Kneeling women wept with emotion, and Catholic and Protestant alike felt that they owned one God and prostrated themselves in allegiance. The Pope expressed the deepest satisfaction. He said that his beloved Australian children, had given him one of the greatest joys of tlie year. •

HOUSING IN LONDON.

RUGBY, November 12

A report issued to-day shows that the London County Council had spent £28,500,000 on housing up to the end of last March. Of this total over £22,600,000 was in respect to assisted schemes, and the total number of houses and flats provided by the council, apart from cubicles in lodging houses, was 36,500. Last year alone over £2,600,000 was expended on housing, including the provision of over 9000 houses and flats, ihe Exchequer subsidy on this outlay was over £500,000, and £300,000 was forthcoming from rates and other sources. The London County Council Housing Committee recommends that the State subsidy should not be reduced, and that it would be equitable for higher rates of grant to be fixed in respect of block dwellings in or near the central areas of London, -as compared withhouses on outlying cottage estates.

FAMINE IN RUSSIA, tr LONDON. November 13. How the Soviet is exploiting the famine to assist the propaganda in favour of Communism is described by the Russian correspondent of The Times, who relates events that have happened in the Caucasus, where bread is most scarce and there are long queues at the bakers’ shops from morning to evening. Several hundred children in an orphanage at Batum aged from-seven to 10, went to bed hungry The following day a Soviet official lectured to the orphans, explaining that the famine necessitated praying to God for food and water. The children at first were incredulous, but after being foodless for another day many prayed After 36 hours of starvation all prayed fruitlessly. Finally, after the third day, the official returned and, said that as God had not answered their prayers it might be useful to pray to Lenin, who was the Russian god. The children accordingly prayed to Lenin, after which food was mysteriously produced. J

_DR SUN YAT-SEN. PEKING, November 12. „ The anniversary of Dr Sun Yat-sen’s birthday, which was recently added 'to the rapidly-growing list of Chinese national holidays, was celebrated with a display of official enthusiasm here to-day, when the city was decked with the Kuomintang colours and a crowd of about 6000 attended an open-air meeting at which inspiring speeches were made by the Kuomintang leaders. Despite the strenuous efforts of the Kuomintang propaganda experts, no great amount of popular fervour was noticeable, Jor which the prevailing business depression and the unusually cold weather were probably jointly responsible. Thousands who heretofore had lived fairly comfortably have been reduced almost to’ pauperism as a result of the transfer of the capital to Nanking, and they are now largely preoccupied with the problem of scraping somehow through what threatens to be an exceedingly hard winter for the bulk of tjie population.

AN ACTRESS’S STORY.

LONDON, November 14

Society is interested in a strange story told by Gwenneth Annering a West End actress,''in an action for damages in Mi' Justice M'Cardie’s Court. She sued Captain Turner-Coles, a member of the Carlton Club, for assault during a motor car ride after a New Year’s Day dance.The plaintiff gave evidence that TurnerColes was married, but said that he' was divorcing his wife, and promised to marry her. After a lover’s quarrel in the motor car, he turned her out on a snow-covered

road, though she was in evening dress, then locked her up in a garage, beat and bruised her, and tore her dress,'causing her to collapse.

Sir Patrick Hastings, cross-examining the plaintiff on behalf of the defence, suggested that she was drunk, and also that the purpose of the action was to cause agony to Captain and Mrs Turner-Coles. Turner-Coles, in evidence, said that plaintiff threw herself on the snow, and slashed him in the face. She was intoxicated.

The jury gave a verdict in favour of the defendant.

BOUVET ISLAND.

RUGBY", November 15

The Norwegian Minister in London has been informed that the British Government is prepared to waive its claim to Bouvet Island, and will raise no objection to its annexation by Norway. Bouvet is a small island, five miles by four, in the Antarctic Ocean, and one of the most isolated groups of islands in the world. Within a radius of 1000 nautical miles there is no other land. It was first sighted bv the Frenchman, Captain Bouvet, in 1739, and has frequently been rediscovered, notably by an Englishman, Captain Norris, in 1825. when the British flag was hoisted upon it. The island has never been inhabited, and has been sei dom approached by vessels. Norwegians landed there a year or so ago, and it is understood that they wish to use it as a whaling depot. OSLO, November 15. The decision concerning Bouvet Island is hailed as proof of British fair play and sense of justice. The press empha-' sises its importance as a permanent whaling base, and an Antarctic wireless station will shortly be constructed. NEW ZEALAND BUTTER. LONDON, November 12. Sir John Russell, the well-known agricultural expert, gave a luncheon at the Savoy Hotel. The guests included Sir James Parr. Sir John Russell, in describing his recent tour, declared that New Zealand's natural conditions were unexcelled for dairying. Two matters to which attention should be directed were, first, a reduction in the price of land, and second, an improvement in the productivity of individual cows. New Zealand butter, he said, because the standard was very strictly maintained, was most popular in Britain. A recent conference of British milk suppliers, which was called to consider over-production, rejected the proposal to establish a butter factory because “ everybody prefers New Zealand butter.” The selling organisation returned to the New Zealand farmer from 75 to 86 per cent; of the price paid in England. The English dairy farmer received 50 per cent, of the price of his milk 10 miles from his farm. New Zealand’s experimental farms were doing valuable work, and should receive every assistance from the Government.

ELECTRICAL POWER

LONDON, November 14.

The Daily Mail states that if the claims are substantiated for the new patent (which the Government is closely investigating) all the present ideas about the manufacture, distribution, and employment of electricity may become obsolete.

The inventor is Mr William Harrison, of St. Helens. He contends that he has established, contrary to all previous theories, that electricity can be amplified. This means that his apparatus, for a trifling cost, will convert a small quantity of low-power electricity into a relatively unlimited supply of current at a high voltage, which, as the Daily Mail points out, is tantamount to perpetual motion in the electrical sense. It is stated that an average-sized villa has been illuminated over a period of months from a small accumulator of the size of an ordinary ■wireless lowtension battery attached to Mr Harrison’s apparatus. For the existing electrical installations Mr Harrison's machine, when plugged into the socket nearest the lamp holder, will light half a dozen 100 watt 200 volt lamps for the cost of the original one.

GENERAL BOOTH. LONDON, November 12. The Daily News understands that General Booth's condition is unchanged, necessitating his retirement. _ The announcement of his successor is expected in a few davs.

November 14.

The Daily Express says that General Booth has deposited the name of his successor with his solicitors in a sealed envelope. The High Council of the Army, however, is prepared to fight the issue of the principal office, which it claims is in no sense hereditary; it should be elective. The council points out that- under the present conditions General Booth, apart from being the spiritual chief, holds on behalf or the Army £30,000,000 in property throughout the world, including £1,040,000 in Australia and New Zealand, of which he is__tlie. sole trustee.

November 15.

The Salvation Army headquarters has issued a statement to the effect that the High Council has been summoned to meet in London early in January. Tlie statement regrets the gravity of General Booth’s condition, but declares that the Army’s working will be entirely unaffected, as every arrangement exists for the efficient maintenance of its world-

wide, operations. All the discussions regarding supposed claimants for the generalship are premature, if not absurd. There are neither claimants nor candidates, as the matter can only be decided when a vacancy arises.

THE SOVIET’S LATEST. LONDON, November 16. Tlie Riga correspondent of The Times states that the Soviet Central Executive held a conference at Moscow to consider the political secretariat’s programme for rousing the coloured races in South Africa and other British dominions and in America, and to decide what part the affiliated trades unions should plav in this direction.

The conference adopted t>he proposals and decided immediately to begin to put the scheme in operation through agents residing in England and other parts of the British Empire and America. It was decided to seek financial support in countries outside Russia. A novel plan of raising money abroad by the sale of tokens of international solidarity was adopted.

The first step will be the printing of the tokens, of a total value of £20,000 for sale in sterling, dollars, marks, and francs. Ihe conference further decided to appoint a committee of international negro workers to be attached to the Red Internationals. Colonial sections of local native committees are to be established as earlv as possible, especially in South Africa, the West Indies, and the United Staves. Periodical conferences will be summoned to enable the local committees to confer with Russian Communist organisations. °

THE HOUR OF DECLINE. LONDON, November 14. Though he pays a glowing tribute to the British soldiers in his book, “ Britain and the War,” General Huguet who was head of the French Mission at the British headquarters at the outbieak of war, holds the bitterest views of the “ uncongenial English, whose overthrow would have been generally welcomed throughout the world with a sigh of relief. She has accumulated against her so much distrust, antipathy, and, sometimes, violent resentment that it is arguable whether the present state of affairs can exist much longer. There are various signs that she has reached the summit of her power and that the hour of decline will soon strike. When Germany s day of revenge arrives, England will side with the country in which her interests lie. France sees her original ally not only cheating her of the fruits of victory, but siding with the enemy and sometimes advocating enemy interests.”

General Huguet alleges that Britain’s post-war dealings with France, were of a markedly aggressive and patently dishonest character. He attributes this originally to the vehement, craftv, and unscrupulous Lloyd George, but others, though more dispassionate, temperate and courteous, had not changed in essentials. He accused the “sour, impetuous, sullen, ill-tempered General French of failure to turn the battle of the Marne into a success which would have ended the war.” He describes a dramatic interview between Marshal Foch and Lord-French at the Battle of Ypres, where the latter suggested a retreat. Marshal loch replied: “The Germans will follow you to the sea. It would be the beginning of a debacle. Whether you go or not, I stand. Would you leave me alone?” Lord French yielded, and sent orders suggested by Marshal Foch to Sir Douglas Haig.

General Huguet alleges that Lord Kitchener once proposed to replace Lord French with Sir lan Hamilton.

From all accounts, some of the more enthusiastic Napier radio fans had the unusual experience, on a recent morning, about a quarter to 8, of hearing the members of the English cricket team, who had enjoyed a good night’s rest and were anticipating the beakfast bacon and eggs, wishing “ Good-night ” to their wives, families,-and friends thousands of miles away (reports an exchange). And it was a good-night that arrived just about the time the little ones were abed. During the week-end, broadcasting touched a new phase, and Englishmen who had just finished their evening dinner heard, from the lips of their cricketers in Australia, greetings sent as a southern sun was coming over the horizon. Each member of the team spoke his little piece, that of Harold Larwood being perhaps the freest and breeziest. Different countyisms were distinctly noticeable in the remarks, and it was evident that the speakers had been warned to conclude with a “ Good-night,” for each did so, and was accorded a round of applause from those gathered in the Sydney studio of 2FC. The whole broadcast was received in England, according to a message from London’s SSW, but an attempt to relay it back again to Australia was not successful.

“ I shall have two partners for my next drama.” “ Coward! ” —Nagels Lustige Welt, Berlin.