CABLEGRAMS.

Western Star, 31 December 1923, Page 3

CABLEGRAMS.

LOST AT SEA. FATE OF FRENCH DIRIGIBLE. BODY OF COMMANDER Recovered. LONDON, December 30. ylt seems norir generally regretfully Assumed that the French dirigible Dixmude has been lost at sea, ( and that the report that the airship,was seen by natives over the Sahara, was erroneous. French warships have been ordered to. search in the neighbourhood of Sciacca, Northern Sicily, where the body of 1 Commander Dupiessis de Grenedan was found. A search of the shore proved fruitless. The ill-fated dirigible carried several distinguished passengers, including M. Yvon (French Director of Avia-

tion). ' , V A , British airship expert describes

the Dixmude ari 'a greyhound, very light, built for bombing, speed, and height, not for strength. The vessels designed for Admiral Burney’s Em-

pire service will be five times stronger. The expert believes that possibly the Dixmude was driven down to the sea., 1 though 'more likely the long, excessive - straggle in storms caused it to break in two.

/The ‘Star’s’ aeronautical correspondent stresses the commander’s inexperience and error of judgment in endeavouring to fight the gale instead of following the safer course of flying to ‘Malta or Rome, which ' could have been reached in a couple of hours.. ‘Verisimilitude’ is lent to tlie theeory that the Dixmude exploded over tlie Mediterranean by tlie fact that Commander M. Girenedan’s watch was stripped at 2.50, which time the stationmastpr at Sciacco and other railwaymen . stated they, saw a- light ' dVer the sea like two baloons? afire falling into the sea. ' Fishermen at , Sciacco 1 state that before discovering the body •of the Cbnunarider, they r found ’two wires in their nets, presumably belonging to y the etructure of the airship. It also 1 declared that on tlie night of the 22nd, the inhabitants saw rockets fired southward of San Marco. * ‘<Hher fishermen found wire in their ’ nets, it apparently being part of the wireless headpiece. FRANCE ON THE ALERT. HER “ MASSIVE DEFENSIVE ARMOUR.” \ v LONDON, December 30. ■ The ‘Nows of the: World,’ declaring that France is now welding with the greatest rapidity the joints of the l massive' defensive armour acquired; as the result of war aiul by treaties ■ altering the military and- political ■ perspective of out- that the Tangier Treaty transforms a vast area of Africa into the French Hinterland and' permits the passage of Franco-Spanieh troops enabling a short sea! route 18 miles to Tarifa instead 1 of a long Mediterranean voythus facilitating the passage of armies of Africans whereon France; depends in the. event of > a European war. The Franco’- Czecho - Slovak - Treaty further develops .the policy designed to prevent both German M'on-.. : archist restoration and: an Austro--1 German political union, thus ensuring France the support of Poland and thie Little Entente. in the event of war. In view of advent of a Labour • Government in ' Britain, France is anxious' to he able to oppose a revision of the Treaty of/-Versailles by . a solid Continental bloc which is new ■ possible, even if Italy and Britain oppose it. ! CZECHO-SLOVAKIA AS A BRIDGE. PARIS, December 28. That the alliance between France and Czech o-Slovakia may ■ eventually prove a bridge between Paris and .Moscow. is the opinion of a. number of: French newspapers which declare , that Di; Bennes, in the course of the negotiations, expressed the opinion' that, as Soviet Russia will shortly be recognised by a British Labour Government, France and Gzecho-Slovakia might immediately do likewise. FRANCE’S NEW TANK. WILL REVOLUTIONISE WARFARE. PARIS, December 30. France is testing with great secrecy a seventy-ton tank, moving twice ar, - 1 fast as the present one and capable of traversing all types of ground and fording rivers. ) , Experts declare it will revolutionise warfare. - RUSSIA TIMBER FOR ENGLAND. LONDON, December 30. ’ Three . steamers are unloading the 'first part of 50,000 tons of Russian timber, which has been purchased by three Grimsby firms. This is the - first arrival of Russian timber since 1914. , POWERFUL NEW AMERICAN GUN WASHINGTON, Dec. 29. The Army Ordnance Department announces that it lias perfected a guiC weighing 700,000 pounds, which ie capable of hurling a projectile of 1,500 pounds twenty-three miles. It is a fourteen-inch 50 calibre, and; I s mounted on a wheeled carriage, Capr able of transportation over railway tracks aiid is electrically controlled.

CORE OF. DISEASE

A.X IMPORTANT DISCO VERY: ,

'7 LONDON, December 30. , The ‘Daily Express’ says feseor Pfeiler, who claims to ’have "’’found a preventive sermn, for tlie.fpot and mouth disease, has also discovered means of cultivating invisible / nii•crobes .which cause measles, sqarlet fewer and ..other maladies. He believes that preventive vaccines can thus be prepared. ' ' .