NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 March 1921, Page 4

NEWS BY MAIL.

10 PR INC E AND THE LA B EL. LONDON, Jan. 7. j “During my recent tour 1 realised,” j declared the Prime of Wales yes ter- j day, “that we were in danger of losing l our hold on certain markets in the Do-! minions in which we formerly were supreme and from which we are graduL ally being ousted by loreign competiL tj. n. | Bin quite sure, however, that the danger is only temporary and that ’■ it xvill pass.” 'K He cast a critical eye over many of C the 100,000 samples of foreign manu- 1 d factored goods collected by the department. Remarking upon the attractiveness of some of the loreign labels, the Prince said with a smile that these were perhaps the best, tiling about the s', articles they decorated. He also examined two travelling sample showeases prepared tor the exhibition ol British goods in the Dominions. TOWN OFFICIAL, GIRL AND MONEY. t- PARIS, Jan. 7. r. The New Year audit of books in ' e French business houses and municipal departments is bringing the usual mini- | 1, her of defaulting cashiers and officials, j v- Every day the Paris newspapers report. the disappearance of some responsible! e- official and the fact that so many thorn R sand pounds have disappeared from his safe. h The city of Versailles has lost one of 10 its officials, who lias vanished, with his pretty fair-haired typist and about 1, 912,000 of municipal funds. o LIONS WAKE PARIS HOTELS. 10 PARIS, Jan. 7. o ]•’,,(■ several nights past guests at the big Paris hotels around the Place Yenid dome, have been awakened in the middle >y of the night by a strange, lugubrious, 5. sinister sound, halt a cough, half a 1. groan, totally unlike the confused 111 noises of engine whistles and siren hooting that make up the nocturnal d' symphony of Paris. A big game hunter, ll ' spending the night there on his way to England, sat up suddenly in bed last night with the exclamation “Lions!” It is a troupe of performing lions at the Nouveau Cirque, which have been disturbing Central Paris with theii roaring. 11'c seaplanes TO attack >» battleships. re ie LONDON, January 18. i: The Atlantic Fleet yesterday left Port1* land for exercise at sea and a cruise to lr Spanish ports, under C. E. Madden. It is the largest force which '• v has been assembled at one port in Bri--10 j tisli waters since demobilisation, but owing to the absence of various units ’ s j does not compare with the fleets asa , semi Jed in pre-war days. j The. largest force ever collected in l > , peace was the fleet of 493 warships, of " which 24 were capital ships (battleships J of Dreadnought type or battle-cruisers) *■ Compared with this the Atlantic fleet of 1921 makes a poor show, though its units are of great power. Ir 1 There wer,» in all yesterday rather more than 100 vessels. 10 of them capU ital ships, 5 light cruisers, 8 destroyer leaders, and 04 destroyers. Each of the battleships and light cruisers had with ' her a drifter for dealing with mines, one of the innovations which the war has brought. j On the way down Channel yesterday attacks were to be delivered by L class / submarines of our latest types and seaplanes with the object of testing the I value of the battleships. i PANAMA CANAL TOLLS. i NEW YORK, January 18. Despatches from Washington, ipparentlv inspired from Republican sources states that Mr Warren O. Harding when he assumes office as President xx'll o take up with Great Britain the question of the exemption of American coastwise shipping from Panama Canal tolls. » Diplomatic negotiations, it is added, xvill be resumed at the point where they ( l wore loft txvo administrations ago, j s when proposals to ignore the Hay-Paun- „ cofote treaty (concluded between Bri- ” tain and the F.S. to facilitate the con- , striiction of the canal) were abandoned after their denunciation in tli e Senate hy Mr Eliliu Root. k Strong pressure is coming from the v Republicans in the direction of keep,j ing Mr Harding to his election pledge to secure exemption for coastwise ships, but it is understood that Senator Borah and Senator Kenyon, who xvill lead x the fight in the Senate will do nothing } till after Britain has been approached diplomatically.