BRITISH a FOREIGN ITEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 17 January 1921, Page 3

BRITISH a FOREIGN ITEMS

BV TELEGRAPH —PRESS, ASSN., COPYRIGHT.

> AFFAIRS IN INDIA. LONDON, January 15. Tho official Government of India is imposing further 'restriction on the export of coal owing to labour troubles and the deficiency of railway waggons causing a shortage. No bunker coal is to be sent to Aden after the end of January, or to Colombo after the end aprif March. ATTEMPT to BURN OIL STORES. LONDON, Jan. 15. Three constables frustrated a carefully planned attempt to set fiire. to the Vacuum Oil Company’s depot at Wandsworth, in which there were 60,000 barrels containing 2,500,000 gallons of oil. Three men were see(n loitering at on Friday in the vicinity of the depot. When challenged, they fir- _ c d several shots with revolvers but did not injure the police. A dozen other men had scaled the wall of the depot by means of a rope ladddr. These ran out on hearing the shots, and the police pursued them, but all ©scaped, except Winifred Kenney, a clerk, who was charged with attempted murder and arson. The police found in the depot a large quantity of cotton, waste ready fpr settin. alight. Oil was also liking from a dozen barrels, in which holes had been pierced. It is believed that Sinn Fciners are Responsible. THE NEW CABINET. (Received This Day at 9.45 a.m.) > * PARIS, January 16. Besides the Premiership, M. Brand assumes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 'The newspapers greet Briand’s Seventh Ministry with brevity and satisfaction and comment on the fact that -e has remained silent since 191 1. . The “Matin” after remarking that the crisis would have been serious had it been prolonged, Refers to the co-op.•-ration of M./ Briand and Lloyd George in 1916 in connection with the economic agreements, which served as the basis of the political understanding between France and Britain. SUFFERING AUSTRIA. (Received This Day at 9.45 a.m.) PARIS, January 16. Reports via Berlin state the postal 3tr<ke including telegraphs and telephones, is general in Austria. It is also persistently rumoitjred that a Soviet Government have been jjonned in Vienna. CHOCOLATE DEALERS FINED. (Received This Dny at 12.20 p.m.) COPENHAGEN, January 15. The Danish profitdering Committee decided that Danish chocolate factories should be collectively fined one nyljdlion kroner, for charging an excessive for chocolates. The factoi ies agreed to pay the fine and avert a prosecution.

THE NAVAL CONTROVERSY

UNITED service telegrams

(Received This Day at 1.2.20 !> "i '

LONDON, Jan 16. Admiral Sir Percy Scott continuing the naval controversy in the press, says he believes the advantage in the next naval war will be in the means of defence, rather than attack. He sees no reason why a torpedo should not be evolved, which no battleship could withstand. Scottt considers every nation

will have at important ports, various ■"means of defence. He concludes with a

cryptic hint of a new weapon which he describes as a gun that “shoots out of both ends.”

INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS

“ THE TIMES ” SERVICE

(Received this dav at 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 15

The “Times” publishes the first of a series of articles hy Mr Arthur Shadwell, written after a tour of the industrial areas. He closely analyses the revolutionary movement in Britain and finds there is a maze of activity, but IftHc cohesion. Individualism is rampart among the communistic societies. Although London is the headquarters, the chief stronghold is Clyde, whero thre is explosive material and prodigious circulation of literature. Moderates think acute unemployment may prove a match to the powder magazine. Moreover sixty thousand Sinn Fei tiers drill regularly in Glasgow in their own halls. Mr Shadwell does not find .much of the extremist) tendency among the genuine unionists. Indeed the Bolshevik stock has fallen heavily in Britain and on the continent. He welcomes the activities of labour colleges with their full-time tutors and'strong propaganda influence, Because he is convinced that only passion stands for bloody revolution, while reason makes for reform. Mr Shadwell is convinced that the trend of events (amongst all excepting the passionate extreme left Hi ay be to trust the Labour Party in

GLOOMY labor outlook. / UNITED SERVICE TELEGRAMS. (Received This Day at 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 10. The week-end sees a. great accession to the unemployed ranks, the complete or partial closing of more works rendering idle an additional one hundred thousand. Short time notices posted in the Government docks and arsenal, caused turbulent excitement. Mass meetings strongly condemned the Government action. The Sunday newspapers view the situation .gloomily. . Garvin in the “Observer” nttri- ' butes the position to the crushing load -J 0 f taxation, which must be lightened by hook or by crook. Mr Blatchford denounces toe Government labour proposal for meeting unemployment as simply political quackery. Some papers foresee an early general election unless the Government evolves a bold policy, or reconstruction.