OVERNIGHT CABLES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18546, 21 August 1928, Page 3

OVERNIGHT CABLES.

(United Press Assn.—By ITectrio Telegraph.—Copyright.) Trade Union Congress. j LONDON, August 19. At the diamond jubilee of the Laj hour Party, which will be celebrated at j the Trade Union Congress at Swan- > sea in September, the principal consideration will be given to Lord Mel- ( chett's report oh the joint conference [ between employers and employees. . The report raises the issue of industrial co-operation in opposition to the . theory of class war which appeared to hold sway in the councils and unions before the events of the' past two years brought disillusionment. A very large favourable majority is anticipated for the General Council’s policy. It is this new tendency to industrial co-operation that is important, particularly the proposal of the Transport General Workers’ Union for an inquiry into the constitution of the General Council itself. The resolution welcomes the growing authority of the General Council in the trade union movement.. A bolder resolution, to create “speedy reorganisation ” in the trade union movement, will be submitted by the Amalgamated Engineering Union.— Times Cables. Signing Peace Pact. LONDON, August 19. With Mr F. B. Kellogg on board a liner and Dr Stresemann’s definite announcement that he will sign the pact, any lingering doubts as to the full dress character of the Peace Pact ceremony have been dispelled. Sir Austen Chamberlain will be the only notable absentee. The signing will take place in the afternoon in the CJqck Hall at the Quai d'Orsai. The signatories will be:—For Britain, Northern Ireland and such parts of the Empire as are not separately represented on the League of Nations, Lord Cushendun; for the United States, Mr Kellogg; for France, M. Briand; for Germany, Dr Stresemann; for Australia, Senator A. J. M’Lachlan; for Canada, Mr W. Mackenzie King; for South Africa, the High Commissioner, Mr J. S. Smit; for New Zealand, Sir James Parr; for the Irish Free State, Mr P. M’Gilligan, Foreign Minister; for Belgium, M. Paul Hymans, Foreign Minister; for Japan, Count Oshida; for Poland, M. Zaleski, Foreign Minister; for Czecho-Slovakia, Dr Benes. Italy alone has not yet notified who her representative will be.—Australian Press Association. Sydney Graft Charges. SYDNEY, August 20. The session of the Royal Commission inquiring into the City Council’s coal contracts was continued to-day. Knox Macafee, outside manager of Byrne’s, Ltd., gave evidence that he was asked by Johnston, a former mana ger of the firm, to sign vouchers for the payment of special commission on coal contracts with the City Council. Witness never received a farthing of that money. Johnston appeared to be living far above his income.—Australian Press Association. Huge Liquor Plant. VANCOUVER, August 19. The police at Memphis have discovered a bootlegging headquarters on a greater scale than anything heretofore known in America. A liquor plant capable of an output of ten thousand gallons weekly was located on a fortified island lying in the Mississippi River, sixty miles from Memphis. Virtually all the five hundred negro inhabitants are held,-in a state of slavery and are unable to leave. The only visitors are armed rum-runners, who handle the liquor business on a tremendous scale.-—United Service. Cricket Records. RUGBY, August 19. W. R. Hammond, the young Gloucestershire cricketer, gave an illustration of his great all-round ability yesterday. Playing against Worcestershire at Cheltenham, he secured nine wickets for 23 runs and caught the tenth batsman, with the result that Worcestershire were all out for 35, which, is the lowest score of the season in a county match. ; In the match against Surrey on the 1 same ground, which ended on the previous day in an easy victory for Gloucestershire, Hammond scored two separate hundreds, made ten catches, and secured one wicket.—British Official ; Wireless. Home Rule for India. DELHI, August 20. < . Two members of the All India Assembly tabled motions demanding that < full dominion status be granted to India immediately.—Times Cables. • Last week a committee representing . all parties in India, including the Swarajists, drafted a constitution demanding full dominion status under the title, the Commonwealth of India. Manchurian Revolt. TOKIO, August 20. The Government denies the charges . from Moscow that Japan is inciting the

Barga rebellion, in which nomads of the Helumpuir district of North-West ManJchuria are fighting Hei Lung-kiang bro--1 vincial forces as a result of the agita- \ tion by agents of the Mongolian Soviets, and dissatisfaction on account of increased taxation, following the death of Marshal .C hang Tso-liu. The Japanese Press considers that the Moscow charges are absurd, stating that, the Soviet is attempting to draw a red herring across the trail of its own provocative agents. The latest reports state that, the Chinese forces are restoring order.. Twenty-eight houses Were burned at Nojiri, a summer resort. No foreigners were injured.—Times Cables. Thibetan Rebels. DELHI, August 20. The Thibetan Government, thanks Jo modern equipment, is gradually triumphing over the rebels, though some are reported as still determined not to surrender, owing to fear of punishment.—Times Cables. In a revolt in the Poto district cl Thibet, it was reported cn August 7 that the rebels were fiercelv resisting They had appealed to the British in India to assist them and were considering appealing to the Chinese. German Naval Plans. LONDON, August 19. Berlin correspondent of “The Times" reports that the Deutsche Works have received an official con tract to start work at their Kiel ship yard with an armoured cruiser, the first of four armoured ten thousandtonners with which it is proposed, within the provisions of the Versailles Peace Treaty, to replace four of the six old battle ships left to Germany.

Simultaneously with this comes news of the “acquittal’ 4 by their party, though not without reprimand, of the Chancellor, Dr Mueller, and other Socialists Ministers for concurring in the decision.

However, the last has not been hear ] of the question, as the Communists in tend to seek a referendum. The tech-

nical arguments for armoured ten thou-sand-tonners are open to doubt, and there is more than a suspicion that considerations of prestige played at least as important a part as considerations of national defence in drafting the naval programme. Some experts ask whether it is worth while to build big vessels of doubtful utility, at the expense of smaller craft that might be much more valuable to German 3* in present-day conditions. The whole controversy is a precious gift to the Communists. Nothing is easier for them than to point out the discrepancy between the Cabinet’s decision and the wild denunciations of cruiser-building in which the Socialists indulged in their election campaign. The referendum scheme cannot fail to embarrass the Government and the Socialists represented in it.—Times Cables. Corner Imprisoned. SYDNEY, August 20. Reginald Myers was to-day sentenced to three years' imprisonment for uttering and possessing counterfeit coins. Prisoner denied the police statement that he had admitted making £IOOO worth in the past two years, and alleged that he had been subjected to third degree methods. The Judge remarked that the prisoner had a bad record and that the counterfeiting was evidently the work of an expert.—Australian Press Association. Hoover Attacked. NEW YORK, August 19. Doctor Nicholas Murray Butler, president of the Columbia University and a lifelong Republican, who is considered in many quarters to be a possible future presidential candidate for that party, has addressed a letter to the editor of the “New York Times" iu which he expresses complete disapproval of the stand taken by Mr Hoover regarding prohibition and the attitude of the United States towards its naval programme, in connection with the projects for world peace.

Dr Butler announced as wholly fallacious Mr Hoover’s statement that a strong navy would be a factor for the preservation of peace. “What sort of a mind and nature is it which can, at this stage of the world’s history, deliberately find a basis for respect, in force, rather than in justice?” he asks. Of prohibition he says: “The Eighteenth Amendment is an alien unnaturalised invader of the Constitution which must be deported by the people." Dr Butler’s letters are believed to be likely to become notable in the campaign on account of his prominence in Republican circles.—Australian Press Association. Trans-Atlantic Flight. OTTAWA, August 19. Late on Sunday, the aeroplane in which Bert Hassell and two companions are making a three-stage hop from America to Sweden had not been reported by any of the Government wireless stations that were listening for signals In the event of all going well, the aviators were expected to arrive in Greenland on Sunday morning.Australian Press Association—United. Service.’ Steamer Reported Lost. PANAMA CITY, August 19. Reports that the steamer William M’Kinney has been lost with fourteen men in a storm on the Californian coast were confirmed to-da}’ when the motor-ship Santos arrived and reported the loss of her second officer, who was washed overboard by a heavy sea on the Californian coast. The William M’Kinney is five days overdue at Balboa, cn route from New York to San Pedro.—Australian Press Association—United Service.