NEWS BY CABLE AND MAIL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16623, 16 April 1928, Page 10

NEWS BY CABLE AND MAIL

GREEK TORPEDO BOAT FOUNDERS ATHENS, March 12. Tho Greek torpedo boat Panormos struck a rock and foundered while making for tho Island of Angina last night. No lives were lost. The commander at-' tempted to commit suicide with his revolver. The boat had been caught in a storm and its steering gear damaged before ,it foundered.

FASCISTS BAN BARGAINING. ~ROME, March 17. An age-lon;,' Roman custom was abolished recently when Premier Mussolini added bargaining to the already formidably long list of "don't*." In future, every article exposed for sale in any shop must bear a clearly marked price." Tho shopkeeper is not allowed to ask more or accept less for any reason whatsoever.

PURITY OF PORT WINE. LISBON. Fab. 20. Nearly 2000 wine growers from the Douro port wine district arrived here and marched in procession to thank the Government for its order prohibiting the entrance into the area of any wine except port, thus ensuring the purify of the exported wine. Of Portugal's port wine export 68 per eent. goes to England.

BIG NITRATE DEAL. SANTIAGO (Chili), Mar. 3. The. largest nitrate transaction of recent years is indicated by the announcement* of the. will of the late Senor Frederico. Santa Maria, which direct:; the disposal of 55 per cent, of the shares in the Alianza Nitrate Go., valued at 22,000,000 pesos (about £4,400,000). The proceeds of the sale will be devoted to the building of a. technical school and many other public institutions at Valparaiso.

RUINED FARMER. LONDON, Feb. 26. The desperate straits to which agriculturists in Cambridgeshire are reduced is shown by the position of the estate of a well-known farmer who died recently. According to his friends he was worth about £70,000 on a valuation in 1919, but when his creditors met last week it was found that his estate- was not sufficient to pay 10s in the £. Ho was one of the best farmers in England, said a friend to a reporter, and' he farmed 2000 acres.

TOO LAZY TO 00 FOR DOLE. STRATFORD, Eng., March 17. The dolo of 255. which the British Government weekly distributes to each unemployed person, apparently holds no appeal for ono work less man hero. The man's mother recently complained that, although her son had been living with her for several years, lie failed to privo her umy money. She told the judge that her sop. was "too lazy to get up and go for the dole." The probation officer was instructed to-see to it that the'son collected his bounty each week and turned it over to his mother.

£IO,OOO SWINDLE BY TELEGRAPH CLERK. RIGA, Feb. 20. The Moscow Gazette reports the arrest of a. clever gang of (swindlers led by a former Confidential telegraph operator at Saratov. This man stole a telegraph instrument which he attached to wires in tho suburbs of the town and telegraphed false transfers of money to various cities which were collected by his accomplices. Bv this means he swindled the Moscow State Bank of nearly £IO,OOO.

STOWAWAYS SUFFOCATE D. TOKIO, Feb. 20. Tho bodies of &ix Japanese who attempted to smuggle themselves into tho United States were found in the hold of the Tahiko Maru., which arrived from Seattle on Friday. The ship's cook confessed to hiding them in the hold on December 20 when tho ship sailed for Seattle. From brief notes tho men left, it was believed that they suffocated before the ship left Yokohama, after which the cook became frightened and kept their death a secret until the ship returned to Japan.

NEW RULING AFFECTS MILLIONS OF TENANTS SUB-LET BOOMS RETAINED BY LONDON MAN WHEN EJECTION ORDERED LONDON, Jan. 31. It is estimated that 3,000,000 people in London alone, are affeetcd by a new interpretation of tho Rent Restriction Act, laid down by the Court of Appeal. The court held that ;i statu- j tory tenant was entitled to sub-let; parts of his house. The appellant was William Russell, an omnibus inspector, who had sub-lot rooms from a house, tenant. The tenant was; legally ejected for nan-payment of rent, but Russell contended he was entitled to retain the room and this contention was upheld by the court. BRITAIN AND GERMANY SET AIRSHIP PACE BOTH COUNTRIES MAKING PROGRESS—HELIUM AIDS U.S. PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 31.

Great Britain and Germany are forging ahead of the United States in dirigible construction, Lieut.-Com-mander Clius. E. Rosondahl, commander of the dirigible Los Angelea, asserted in a radio address. Such construction in the United States was at a standstill, while Germany was building dirigibles at, Fredorieksiiaven, birthplace of the. Los Angeles, by popular subscription.

Commander Rosendahl told of the two huge commercial airships under construction by Great Britain, Both of these, lie said, would be twice the size of the Lbs Angeles. They would have a gas capacity of live billion cubic feet each, a cruising radius of 4000 miles and could carry 100 passengers, in addition to the crew and cargo. Representatives of the British Government, the speaker said, were in the United States and Canada completing arrangements for flights in these airships next summer. These would be able to cross the Atlantic in two and one-half days, he said. "The United States, however," tho commander added, "has one big advantage, a virtual monopoly of helium gas, the greatest factor in safety of operation. Our construction programme will be slow but, eventually, should be highly productive of .results, both from a commercial and military standpoint."

EARTHQUAKE IN PERSIA. TEHERAN, Persia, March 14. The feast of Ranmzan, during which the people remain awake the most of the night) was believed to have prevented a largo loss of life when two earthquakes shook the Newhandan and Sisteu districts. Although a. tliousand houses wcro destroyed and as many anore damaged in one village, only four persons were killed and one seriously injured.

ITALY'S GROWING POPULATION ROME, March 5. Although the birth rate in Italy is slightly decreasing, the excess of births over deaths still reaches' almost 600,000 yearly. To-day's bulletin of the Central Institute of Statistics shows that the increase of population, which was 400.000 in 1926, rose to 444,000 in 1927. It is calculated that if this proportionati« increase is maintained Italy's population will be more than doubled in half a century.

CHEAPER PLATINUM CLAIM JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 21. Mr. John Eklund and Mr. 1). Enzlin, mining' engineers, claim to have discovered an amalgamation process for the recovery of platinum from oxide ores, which would enable- South Africa to supply the world's platinum requirements at an approximate price of £4 per ounce lor refined platinum. Experiments with ores which have not hitherto proved amenable to treatment have yielded up to 82 per cent. The present price of platinum is about £l3 an ounce.

FOUR- AMERICANS SHOT. CALEXICO .(Call, March 6. Four Americans who had been arrested on a charge of highway robbery were shot and killed by a posse of Mexican officials on Saturday during a. tight on the Tijuana road', following their escape from gaol. Three of the men are alleged to have been deserters from the United States Navy. Tlie bodies are to remain in Mexico pending an investigation. The men are reported to have shot their way out- of gaol, leaving the watchman dead and two officials wounded.

£240,000,000 FOR MOTOR-CARS U.S..FIRM'S RECORD TRADE XEW~YORK, Fob. 18. It is officially announced that the net earnings of the General Motors Corporation during 1927, amounted to £47,000,000, surpassing the highest peacetime earnings ever reported previously by any American business enterprise. ' The total business done amounted; to £240.000,000, representing an increase of £42.000,000 over 1926. Of the total earnings £46,000,000 is credited to the common stock, being an equivalent of £2 16s per share.

GALLANT RESCUE QF WOMAN. HAMILTON (Bermuda!, Feb. 20. In a stormy sea the wife of Judge Rossor, of Atlanta, Ga., was washed overboard as a. tender was taking 100 passengers back to the new Cunard liner California, preparatory to leaving for New York. R. C. Iliggius. of NewYork, jumped into the sea and rescued her as the ship turned searchlights on the woman. Tho sea Was so turbulent the tender was unable to reach the California with the passengers, and was obliged to bring them back to the Island. The sailing for New York, therefore, was delayed a day.

STOCK EXCHANGE OF ANCIENT ROME LONDON, Feb. 28. The Times reports the discovery of a very important relic in Imperial Rome. Excavations in Rome conducted by tho Italian archaeologist, Signer Corrado lticci, have revealed a large and apparently well-preserved building near the Forum of Trajan. It is a building of three storeys, with 12 shops on tho ground floor, and on the third floor a, hall '4sft. high which served as a Stock Exchange. The Times says the Italian Government will deserve the consratulations of all visitors to Rome on'this unexpected excavation.

11-FOOT BABIES! ZOO'S NEW GIRAFFES SOUTHAMPTON, Feb. 21. A pair of young Rhodesian giraffes, which arrived hero to-day en route for tho London Zoo, have consumed 240 bottles of milk and 301 b. of treacle sugar during their 6000-mile voyage in the Union Castle liner Balmoral Castle. They were slung ashore in crates 12ft. high and placed on the lorry which took thorn to London by a route specially selected to obviate'passing under _ any bridges. The male specimen was slightly older than his female, companion, but neither exceeded two vears in ago. Thev stand about lift. Aim in height, but when thev reach maluritv, at the are of seven years, thev will have added another 7ft. to their stature.