OVERNIGHT CABLES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18939, 9 December 1929, Page 7

OVERNIGHT CABLES.

(United Press Assn. —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) United States Cabinet. NEW YORK, December 7. Mr Patrick J. Hurley, of Oklahoma, has been selected Secretary of War, in place of the late Mr J. W. Good. Obituary. LONDON, December 7. The death has occurred of General Sir Charles Carmichael Monro, Bart. G.C.8., G.C.5.1., at the age of sixtynine years. Sir Charles Monro had a distinguished military career, since he joined the army in 1879. His service included campaigns in many lands. He was in command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in 1915, when he had the New Zealand Division under his charge at Gallipoli. Later he went to France in command of an Army Corps. After the war he held the positions of Commander-in-Chief in Indian and Governor of Gibraltar. Gift from the British Legion. LONDON, December 7. The British Legion is sending to the Australian Ex-Servicemen’s League and the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association, as souvenirs, replicas of the immense Victoria Crosses made of Flanders poppies, which decorated the tables at the recent dinner to holders of the Victoria Cross. Polish Diet. WARSAW, December 7. Pandemonium raged in Parliament late last night, after a vote of no-con-fidence in the Government had been carried by 246 votes to 120. This was the culmination of the feud between the President, Marshal Pilsudski, and the Speaker. Though all day armed guards, equipped with gas masks, were outside Parliament House, there was no disorder till the Government was defeated. Then the Communists, whose earlier no-confidence motion was rejected, hooted and yelled on the announcement of the adverse vote. They sang the Communist anthem, and waved a red banner. The Speaker was powerless, and left the chair. All the members filed out without noise, except the Ministerialists, who remained and cheered Marshal Pilsudski. It is surmised that the President has now no course but to reconstruct his Ministry. Young Plan. BERLIN, December 7. The Nationalists hail Dr Schacht’s pronouncement with delight as scoring a point in their campaign against the ratification of the Young Plan. The Government has issued a communique condemning the memorandum as a dangerous interference in State affairs. It declared that the Chancellor would submit the whole financial programme to a vote of confidence ni the Reichstag. Dr Schacht, President of the Reichsbank, is credited with a startling statement that the Young Plan was unworkable and the alterations made at The Hague had falsified the intentions of the experts. Capital Punishment. RUGBY, December 6. The House of Commons agreed to set up a select committee to consider the question of capital punishment in cases tried by civil courts in time of peace. The committee will report whether another penalty, and if so of what nature, should be substituted for the sentence of death in such cases where that sentence is now prescribed by law. Non-Corrosive Metal. RUGBY, December 6. An important advance in the construction of British flying boats is being made by the substitution of a special stainless steel plating, which resists s'alt water corrosion, for duraliron, which has hitherto been used, and which is susceptible to the action of salt water. English steel-makers and flying-boat constructors have co-operated in the research work to evolve the right quality of steel, and the apparatus to work it successfully. Hence forward, British flying-boats will be indestructible by corrosion, and will not require the constant repainting needed by other marine vessels. League of Nations. RUGBY, December 6. The Foreign Office has been informed by the Secretary of the League of Nations that the meeting of the League Council has been fixed for January 13, instead of January 20. The change of plan has followed as a result of Signor Grandi’s representations that Italy’s convenience would be met by antedating the meeting so that it would not overlap the meeting in London of the Five Power Naval Conference, which is due to open on January 21. The Foreign Secretary, Mr Arthur Henderson, wall attend the meeting of the League Council as British representative. Aeroplane Crash. SYDNEY, December 8. An Air Force pilot, Rex Walker, aged twenty-five, was doing the last of a series of jov-flights yesterday when his Moth aeroplane crashed from four hundred feet near Mascot Aerodrome Walker suffered concussion and severe abrasions. Ilis passenger, a lady named Irene de Luca, aged twenty-eight, had a fractured skull and is in a critical condition.