THE COST OF WAR.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 May 1917, Page 3

THE COST OF WAR.

Australia’s Big Payments

(Australia & N.Z. Cable Association)

(Received May 22, at-11.45 a.m.) Melbourne, May 22

Treasury retails show that exelusive of payments made to the Imperial Governments on behalf of the Commonwealth, Austral a a war expenditure is four million lyThe total oust of the war this year jg approximately £78,300,000 and the amount owing to the Imperial Government for war dißbutsementS thirty-two miliionr. French Honors. (Received May 22, at 12.50 p.m.) London, May 21 President Poincaire has awarded honors eb fellows: — Cross of the Legion of Honor to Major Whitehorr, of Auckland Mounted R fl -s. The War Cross to Corporal J. Powell, of Wellington Mounted R ; fles* Military Medals to Sergeant J‘ Simpkins, of Auckl-.nd Mounted R flee, and Trooper T. Roit, of Wellington Mounted R/fles. Aiding Serbia.

London, May 16 Ssrbia to day, after three years of war back and forth across rs territory, lies practically in ruing and even when the invader is fij-il'y dr von oat and peace re-established, much work will have to be done to rehabilitate the country.

Schools, dispensaries, banks, factorise must all be built, and started going ; seeds, farm stock and implements mat be provided for the rural population} roads and bridges repaired and various activities and organisations restarted.

The British Relief Committee is bravely wrestling with this problem although it exoerianoea the greatest difficulty in financing the immediate work of keeping soul and body together of the refugees from Serbia.

Imperial Conference. (Raeeived May 22, at 12.30 p.m.) ' y . London, May 21 Lord.Haroourt, in a letter to a oor respondent, warmly approves cf th annual meeting of the Imperial Cabi net. He olaims it is practically an Identical proposal to that made by the Dominion Governments in 1912. It may still be found that the annual attendance of tho Prime Ministers of snch distrnt Dominions as Australia vnd New Zealand is inconvenient, and It is possible that continuous representation by another Minister, duly accredited, would meet the difficulty.

Help for Homeless lews, Auckland, May 18 His Excellency the Governor (the Earl of Liverpool) has received the ■' following cablegram from the High Commissioner“ Egypt— During the Passover the entire Jewish population of Jaffa was expelled towards the nortfartheir homes and property were sacked and the population in flight was robbed with the connivance of the Turkish authorities. The Jews who resisted were pillaged and hanged. Thousands are wandering helplesily on the roads, starving. The overcrowding of the colonies is increasing the misery and disease. Masses of young Jewß iu Jerusalem were deported northwards, but their destination is nnknown. A forcible evacuation nf the colonies is imminent. The British authorities favour the constitution of a special local committee to obtain further funds for the relief of the Jewish population, whose plight is lamentable. Remit funds immediately to Professor Weizmann of Manchester, for the special committee, care of General Headquarters, Cairo.” A special meeting of the committee of the Auckland Hebrew Congregation is to be held to raise funds for re lief. Slavery in German East Africa-

London, May 16 The Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society has issued an appeal to the Secretary of State for the Colonies to declare by Proclamation the freedom of the 186,000 slaves in the territory kaown till recently as the German East African Protectorate. The publication of the appeal has been sanctioned by the Colomal

Office. It Bhows that a resolution was submitted to tb'e German Reichstag oa March 19, 1914, asking that the complete emancipation of these slaves should take place by January 1, 1920. The existence of the system of forced labor had been admitted by Dr Solf, German Colonial Secretary. But the resolution was resisted because the slaves were “domestic slaves,” because “if ft slave could establish ill-treat-ment be thereby secured his liberty,” and because of the cost of compensating the owners. The appeal issued by the society quotas Lord Cromer as having said that domestic slavery “is only one degree less hateful than the abominable traffic in slaves.” It submits that it would be “a grave departure from modern British Colonial practice to maintain a system from which men and women could only escape by establishing physical ill-treatment, or by making a monetary payment,”