NEWS BY CABLE AND MAIL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 15714, 4 January 1922, Page 10

NEWS BY CABLE AND MAIL.

-PUBLICANS LEVY FINKS ON CUSTOMERS. "VIENNA, • Oct. s.—ln several districts of Czeeho-Slovakia. a. now method of lighting alcoholism has been established. The polite are. punishing publichoiise owners for every mail he coming drunk at. their premises. Barmen are..*now* watching, customer* to sec whether they are keeping' within Unpermitted limits, and the publicans intend [overcoming difficulties by nuking customers who are known to drink too well for advance deposits equal to the amount of drunkard's line.

DUKE FORCED TO ABANDON ADDRESS. LONDON, Nov. 14.—The Duke of Devonshire was fciven an extremely hostile reception, when attempting to address a League of Nations meeting at ChisWiek, and it was impossible for him to speak. Tito animus against him was ostensibly inspired by his being a land owner in that district, although it was obvious that, the disturbance had been carefully organised by a. section of the community, which regularly practises disorder at public meetings.

STRADTVARIUS BEATEN BY THE MODERNS. A PARIS CONSERVATOIRE TEST. PARIS, Nov. 4.—An interesting test of old and modern violins took place at the Conservatoire here last night.

A violinist nlayed in turn in complete darkness six old violins, among them being- a. Stradivariusi and a Gtiadagnini and six of the best modern makes, the order being decided by lot, and the player being -unaware upon which instrument he was playing. The audience then decided bv vote which wag the best instrument. Two modern violins came first with 1090 and 1004 votes resnectivelv, then the Stradivarius with 1000, and tbo Guadagnini with 822 votes.

STREETS WITHOUT HORSES. PARIS, Oe-t. 17.—At certain hours fof the day the Grand Boulevards, the Avenue do I'Opera and, indeed, the loading commercial thoroughfares of Paris, may soon be closed to horses. Indeed, only motor traction will be allowed in this no-horse area. This measure, which is being considered by the Prefect of Police, is due to the many obstacles met with" by 'animaldrawn voliicVs. Insurance companies long Mf-o refused to insure horses engaged in Paris traffic, and this is now spreading to automobiles. Exorbitant rates are being charged by insurance eomna-'ios when taking a policy against motor-car mishaps.

MILITARY TRAINING. AUSTR VI T A PREP V RRD WHILE flTtjNnS HELD THE LUXE 1 . SYDNEY, Pec. 20. Tint the postwar necessity for military .training has hi one way or another come in for a lot of unfair criticism was the principal note struck bv Lieutenant-Colonel Bundock, of the 7th A.E.A. Brigade, at -the 17th battalion re-union dinner last- night. "There are those,'' bo said, ''who would decry the present system on the grounds .that the Australian troops achieved great things without very much training. "But the fact is usually lost sight of that, "while Australia was preparing to take her part in the great struggle, others were holding the line. "Next time there may be no one to hold the line for us. Wo may, be called •upon to enter into the buftfhess right awav."

HIGH VALUE OF THE SWISS FRANC. "THE RUIN OF SWITZERLAND." GENEVA, Nov. 16.—While some countries aro suffering because their paper money is worth next to nothing abroad, Switzerland is suffering because hers l is worth far more, than its face value abroad. I asked several of the leading bankers here to explain this phenomenon (telegraphs a correspondent) and their replies may be- condensed aa follows : Swti/.erland has bad nothing to do with the Swiss frano being in such demand. Other countries especially Italy, Germany, France, and even Austria, are buying necessaries in •South America and the L'nited States, and paying for thein in Swiss francs. In short, the demand for the Swiss franc • exceeds; the supply, and has long done bo, which of course makes it rise in value. Moreover all these countries with low exchanges have been using their Swiss stock to pay their bills abroad. It has been suggested that Switzerland should greatly increase her bank / "note circulation, so as to bring down the value of Swiss; money, but a conference of financial experts just convened in Berne by the Government rejected, this solution on several grounds, notably that it would diminish' Switzerland's credit and artificially raise the cost of living by inflating prices. The solution of a foreign clearing-house is also rejected. The fact is that Switzerland's money has been selected without her consent and without her having been consulted, by several countries with much-depreci-ated exchange, as a medium of payment. Thus German and Austrian commercial firms, particularly the former, •have for some time past frequently sent out their invoices calculated in Swiss •francs. The Swiss themselves can and do buy goods in foreign markets,, Knit cannot sell their own manufactures, Decause Germany and the other countries on Switzerland's frontiers can work and produce so very much more cheaply. Even Great Britain lights shy of buying ffwiss goods now because the shilling is worth only about a franc, whereas a franc normally is worth not quite lOd. Financiers, indeed, look upon the continued high value of the Swiss frano as ::.,.., boding the ruin of Switzerland. Meantime the Swiss Government's deficit for 1921 is expected to be 150,000,000 francs, to. which must be added e0.C00.000 francs deficit of the State railways—altogether 230,000,000 francs in a single year. It is no wonder that a. feeling of tension should prevail here.

TAKE UP GAGE FOR KITCHENER

LORD ESHER'S CRITICISM OF THE GREAT COMMANDER VIGOROUSLY ATTACKED.

FA'G ASSIGNS HTM CHIEF CREDIT FOR VICTORY OVER GERMANY. LONDON, Nov. 18.—L ; eut-General Sir Henry M. Lawson, a soldier who served with distinction in tha Egyptian and South African campaigns,, takes strong exception to the current issue of the Twentieth Century to Lord Esher's summing up on Lord Kitchener in his recently publ'shed hook. Lord Esher's conclusion was that- Kitchener had been tremendously overrated, both as a soldier and administrator. In the view of Sir Henry Lawson, Kitchener did wibrc than any other to defeat the enemy, even though he did not live to see that defeat achieved. He is able to quote Earl Haig on this point. The British field-marshal said: "Who can doubt but for this man and his work Germany would have boon victorious. Perhaps the victory would have come to us sooner had he been with ns to the end." I

In disoroof of the Esher theory that Lord 1 Kitchener was no longer (ho strong, far-seeing, vigorous man he had been years before, General Lawson quotes the fact that one distinguished soldier after another argued with him and strove to convince him that his plain—the plan that was to bloom in Kitchener's army—was an impracticable one. The Cabinet was not witb him, bnt Kitchener stuck to his guns and eventually forced the scheme upon his colleagues. He blames the Cabinet in

the years preceding the Great War for its failure to consult Kitchener who, in a letter to Lord Ercnch three weeks after the outbreak of war, said:—-"'Had I been consulted in military matters during the last three years 1 would have done everything in my power to prevent the present state of things in which the country finds itself."

Blackwood's also contains an article defending Kitchener against, what itconsiders an attempt to blacken his memory. Kitchener, it says, did nut. possess (lie qualities necessary for success in politics. He had spent bis life in serving bis country. He did not stop to gang" pressure or accommodate divided opinions. The mere aspect of t wenty-three middle-class, middle-aged, or elderly civilians pretending to conduct a war appalled him .... It was iiot Lord Kitchener's business from 1914 onwards to conciliate the politicians. It was his duty to create an army which the politicians had neither the wish nor the capacity to create.

TOO MUCH STRIFE IN POLITICAL MATTERS.

TORONTO, Oct. 22.—Sir George Eosfer, addressing a large body of students of Toronto University, urged them in take an interest in public'affairs, but deplored the strife in political matters. "The older I glow," lie said, "the more I realise the lack of co-operation between our political parties is reacting upon Canadian life, socially, morally and spiritually in a hurtful manner.

WIRELESS CO-OPERATION. PARIS, Oct. 17.—An agreement has been arrived at. whereby the four principal wireless telegraph companies of the British Empire, France, Germany, and the United States will in future co-oper-ate in the full development of scientific technical improvements of wireless telegraph services throughout the world. A comprehensive arrangement baa been made which will prevent the wasteful use of the relatively few wave lengths available for lonp distance communication.

U.S. WttL SPEND VAST SUM FOR VETERANS OF WAR. WASHINGTON, Oct. 22,—Former service men will cost the United States Government £4,000,000 within the next twenty-five years, declared Senator King. Utah, to-day. Most of this great sum, King said, would be paid out of the Treasury in some form of pension for the veterans of the war. Bonuses and various kinds of allowances and benefits will make up the remainder, he said. TO BE SPENT ON LITTLE CRIPPLES. PITTSBURG, Oct. 20.—Ernest A. Cutts. of Savannah, Ga., Imperial potentate of the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, told Shriners of this city last night that the organisation had pledged itself to the expenditure of £2,000,000 for the care and cure of crippled children, regardlessof color, creed or sex. ' Mr. Cutts said the Shriners intended to establish hospitals at Shreveport, La., Montreal, St Paul, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and one in some Pennsylvania city.

HOSTAGE'S EARS. ALLAHABAD, Oct. 26.—The successful expedition of Colonel Lock, during which two villages of the Wazirs have been destroyed, lias administered a severe check fo the kidnapping trade ore the North-West Frontier. This trade has been carried on by the Kabul Khel Wazirs on a strictly commercial basis. Their territory, which juts out between Koliat and Bannu, gives them a. strong strategic position.' The victim's family first receives a. demand for £SCO. If there is any delay in sending the money an ear—or perhaps two earsr— of the captive is send asi a reminder that the matter is urgent. This usually clinches the bargain.

NOT SO MUCH RUM RUNNING. NEW Y r OR.K, Oct, 21.—A quarter of a million' dollars' worth of drugs and whisky were seized after a desperate pitched battle when the White Star liner Orotic docked here to-dav.

ST. LOUIS, Oct, 21.—Federal prohibition agents yesterday seized large quantities of malt extract, hops, bottle cappers, crocks, siphons and other commodities which could be utilised in the manufacture of home brew in the store rooms of an importing company.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21.—Rum running on the Canadian border has been reduced almost 50 per cent., it wast announced last night by prohibition headquarters. ICO,OCO RENT SUITS IN NEW YORK. NEW YORK, Oct. 25.—New York and every other city in America is again, witnessing a. battle royal over the rent question between landlords and tenants. Leases expired on September 30, and no fewer than 100,000 suits have been filed in New York alone by one side or the other. Under the emergency law passed last year to meet the crisis caused by landlords increasing rents anywhere from 25 to 100 per cent., tenants are protected until November, 1022, unless the landlords can show. before the Courts Justifiable reason for any further demand. ,

Apartment house owners, however, are seeking- by every legal trick to get round the law, and have again demanded increases aa large as those insisted upon in 1920. Hence the numerous suits'. Landlords point to ever increasing assessmentsi and taxes and the continued war-time scale of wages in the building trades to justify their demands. Notwithstanding that, nearly 6,000,000 persons lack employment in the United States. Wages in some trades are as high asi ever. I Thus plasterers get £2 5s and plumbers £2 lOs a day. What worries) the community at large is that it profits nothing to bring down the cost of labor and commodities in the general interest if the landlord exacts all that is saved.

"OYSTER INFLUENZA" WORLDWIDE. EXPERT INOCIRY TNjfO STRANGE MALADY. LONDON, Oct. s.—An epidemic of a, mysterious character is attacking famous oyster beds all over the world. Expert scientists are at a loss to account for the malady .whioh is killing thousands of oysters. The French authorities, however, claim it to he a sort of "oyster influenza." Dr. Orion, who probably knows more about the biology of the oyster than any other British investigator, is again tackling the problem in the marine biological laboratories at Plymouth. ' Trouble first beg.au in this country in the autumn of 1920, when a mysterious outbreak occurred round Whitsable.. So many oysters were killed off that the Oyster Merchants' Association asked the Ministry of Fisheries to look into the matter. At the time it was thought that the cause of the trouble was the dumping of old sheila into the Thames estuary.

Dr. Ovton made bacteriological and chemical tests, but without result beyond the negative one that the epidemic was not due to the dumping of shells. Later, the Dutch oyster fishei*ie», and then the French, reported that growers were losing oysters in a similar inexplicable manner. French scientists who investigated came to the conclusion that the oysters had suffered from a sort of influenza, caused by sharp change of temperature in the water over the beds. This summer English beds in the neighborhood of the Thames estuary have again been attacked, and reports to hand are that some of the American oyster beds are being depicted in the same mysterious way.

An official of the Ministry of Fisheries said it, should be made quite clear to the publio that this is not an oyster "scare." So far as the markets are concerned the season for oysters on the table is a particularly good one.

NINE YEARS' TRANCE. JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 16.—After being in a cataleptic trance for nine years, Anno Swanepoel lias awakened in possession of all her faculties. Her voice i.s weak but distinct, and when asked on awakening' what she would i like for breakfast she replied : "Sardines on toast." Many i'aith-healersi claim 1 credit, for the girl's recovery, but. there seems! no doubt that this was due. to the efforts of the,staff at the Riclfontcin Institution for the Chronic Sick. SHOPPING RESTORED IN PETRO- - LONDON, Oct. s.—The Soviet Government propose the abolition of all free distribution of goods, and intend in future to demand payment for food and clothing. Numerous private shops have been opened in Pelrograd, where almost everything can be purchased. Recently prices have fallen considerably; bread is 3,000 roubles a pound, butter 28,000 meat 15,000, and potatoes 650. Clothes continue to be expensive. A suit costs 1,500,000 roubles and a hat 800,000; 1,000,000 l-oubles equals about £8 (or about 500 to the penny). The average [>ay of a workman is now 5,000 to 9,000 a month.

PORTRAITS BY CINEMA, A revolution in the art of taking portraitsl has been made by the cinema, writes a. Daily Chronicle correspondent. Under the new conditions the child may move asi much as it likes, smile, play with its 1 toy, or grimace. The cinema camera elicits, a faithful film is taken ,and in due course there is a series of oictures showing the child as he lives and moves.

So popular have cinema-portraits become that parents are having whole reels taken of their children. Many enterprising, photographers in London suburbs take films for a moderate fee, while in: several of the larger seaside towns beach "portrait-artists" offer strips of film containing six photographs, all different, for 2s. 6d .

LLOYD GEORGE GOES TO BAPTIST CHURCH.

SPRINGFIELD, 111., October 20. Controversy over the religious affiliation of Mr. Uavid Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain, who has been claimed by both Disciples ol Christ, and Baptists, was settled to-day by Mr. Lloyd George himself, after the manner of a, Solomon choosing neither Ihe one nor the other, hut claiming them both.

In a letter responding to a query, the Prime Minister wrote that he \vas a member of the Disciples of Christ. but attended the Baptist. Church. The controversy was occasioned several months ano when loaal Baptists demurred at what tliey called presumption by the Congress of the Dis iples of Christ in claiming Llovd George as a member of that denomination.

HEAVY FREIGHT PILES UP IN . TUNNEL. THREE TRAINMEN AND HOBO LOSE LIVES. REVELSTROKE, Oct. 21.—One of the worst disasters in the history of the mountain division of the Canadian Pacific Railway occurred at 11 o'clock last night in the Pnllisci- tunnel, twelve miles east of Golden, resulting in the death of three trainmen and a man who was stealing a ride and the serious injury of two others. The accident took place when an eastbound freight in charge of Conductor John Broke, of Revelstrokc, drawn by two locomotive* and assisted by a pusher, ran into a rockslide in the tunnel which was about one hundred yards in lenjrth. Duo to the impact of the train against the rocks the locomotives appeared to have spread in tho tunnel, completely blocking traffic. It is considered' that traffic on the main lino will bo tied' up for from two to t hree days. All passenger and perishable' freight trains are being detoured from Calgary to tho Crows Nest, via Macleod, thenco up to Golden via the Kootenay Central. About three hours after the accident fire added to the horrors of tho situation, when the oil tank of one of the locomotives burst, throwing the burning oil over the debris. Four cars) were burned and four others badly damaged, i