BRITISH & FOREIGN ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 March 1921, Page 2

BRITISH & FOREIGN ITEMS.

t BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSN., COPYRIGHT. AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. :> NEW TYPE OF, AEROPLANE. 1 LONDON, March 3. A new type of aeroplane is being j. built to the order of the Government. . It lias a long, light, slender hull, capj able of riding waves, carrying, riding 3 lights, anchors, and foghorns. , Tlie craft is capable of accompanying a fleet to sea for months, and does not require a mother ship. ■> A huge life-saving parachute lias 1 been patented. It is designed to lift - from a disahied aeroplane cabin the 1 entire complement of passengers. It - is workable a few feet from the ground, .and is operated by the pilot.' j A BRITISH APPOINTMENT. ! LONDON, March 4. Air Balfour has appointed Captain the Hon W. G. A. Ormbsy Gore, Coalition Unionist member of the House qf ’ Commons for Stafford, to represent the British Empire on the Mandates Committee of the League of Nations. Captain Ormsby Gore’s travels have given him experience of all the mandated territories concerned. AUSTRALIAN FRUIT SLUMP. LONDON, March 4 English merchants are declining to consider forward shipments of Australian fruits at any price under the existing conditions. According to a prominent Australian importer, small sales are taking place locally at about 10s a dozen tins from the warehouses, equivalent to under half the 1920 opening price. -In many instances half the contents are unopened as they are unfit for human consumption. Regarding jams, 1 varieties costing 15s are offering at (is ' ■a dozen. There are no sales of these. Saleable varieties are being detrimentally affected by the disgraceful get-iip and bad condition of the tins. .Meanwhile the Queensland agency are unable to dispose of pine applies for the reasons that there is no coring, and they are not properly sliced or packed. Suitable fruit, such as Queensland pines, cost higher prices than Hawaiian fruits. Mr Ashbolt. partner of Jones and Co., confirms Mr Hunter’s attack on the canning firms made on February 21. England, he says, will not he a buyer unless the Australian article be improved. : The Australian agents are actually i being compelled to sell Californian products, owing to the unpopularity of Australian sorts. California has 10 grades, and Australia only one, and .sometimes two. She makes no reference <o th 6 size of the fruit, or the ripeness, i colour and attributes. There is an undue percentage of puffed and blown < tins from Australia, due to their not i being thoroughly boiled in Australia i and to bacteria germinating during the ; passage in the tropics. \ t CATHEDRAL TOWER ROBBED. <c PARIS, March 4. < Thieves climbed the tower of Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris, and cuf away a section of the lightning con doctor, containing most valuable pla< inum and copper. ARGENTINE PROTECTIVE TAR IF? \ BUENOS AIRES, .March 4 C Legislation providing for an increase ] in the tariff oil North American pro-1 i ducts lias been introduced in the Cham-' Dor of Deputies. I ; r RENEWED BLOCKADE. 1

PARIS, .March i. A correspondent advises that Prance's lreadnoughts have coaled and nnur ioned at Toulon and are ready to join he British blockade and to occupy Limburg. A WAR, TRAGEDY. GENEVA, -March 1. A pathetic, war itragedy has been isclosed, in which a father’s kiss led ) his sons execution. David Block, lsatian, deserted from the German rmy in 1915, and joined Marshal Rein's army in which die was employed i all aviator owing to his extensive uiwledge of German territory. Block lided scores of times behind the Goran lines, but always escaped. In the oni'li of the armistice his motor exuded and Block was captured, his identy was suspected, but Block strenuisly denied it. The captors then roujglit his aged father at midglu to the lad’s bedroom. The filler, not guessing the plot showed at lie recognised his son. The aviar said: “i don’t know this man,” it the father, still not realising the nation, embraced and kissed the lad, to broke down under the ordeal and nfessed his identity. He was inlineitely taken out and shot. The body s just been discovered in a garden, d was reinterml with military hours. COALITION SEAT LOST. , LONDON, March 5. ' \ bye-election at Kirkcaldy has been d. It was necessitated by G. Dalillj’s resignation. It resulted: 'oin Kennedy (Labour), 11,674. VI r Lockhart (C’oalition-Liheral) 199. LONDON, March 3. Ir Patrick Joseph Hannon has been lined unopposed for Moseley elecite. *’ .: r TV JAPANESE ROYAL TOUR. n tl YOKOHAMA, March I. gi rince Hirohito has sailed for EngI. VORCE DECREES ANNULLED. Ti LONDON, March 1. ■" nc iscussions in the House of Com- t -e s on file Public Prosecutors esti- g 0 is, it was elicited that the King’s elf tor had intervened in 88 divorces sot lg the year. A decree nisi grant- cit as rescinded in each case. IXJI