BRITISH & FOREIGN ITEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 4 July 1921, Page 3

BRITISH & FOREIGN ITEMS

JTJ«TRM*MN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. JAPANESE PURCHASES. (Received This Day at 9.40 a.in.) WASHINGTON, July 1. Government Agents have discovered that Japanese paid three million dol- *•**■'• l ars for lands around Maiiganillo, on the Mexican coast, and are negotiating for the purchase of immense agriculture tracts and fishing rights. They are spending fifteen million dollars in Lower Californian Peninsula.

AMERICAN TARIFF. (Received This Day at 8 a.in.) LONDON, July 2. A permanent Tariff Rill was introduce 1 in the House. No official estimate of revenue was made but members of the Committee expect seven hundred million dollars annually, more than double the amount produced by the Paxne-AW-rieh law. The wool schedule in the neelaw shows material reductions in many instances. Hose and gloves are taxed thirty per cent ad valorem additional; clothing twenty cents per pound and twenty-five per cent ad valorem Knit fabrics twenty-five cents and twenty pci cent. Lumber schedule is ns original drawn for cut- to pieces. The Commit tee heeded a Republican appeal to keen the. finished lumbered schedule as originally drawn on the free list, hut taxed shingle. The free list includes » printing paper, wood pulp, lenthei. harness, agricultural implements. Duty is raided on the great hulk of im ports already taxed. The Committee reverses the decision by putting thirtyfive cents on fuel oil. Retaliatory proposals are dropped hut if any country taxes free list goods, the President may negotiate for the removal, failing which he can declare equal duty on products from such country. The hill also promises machinery for three years control of dye importations, WORLD’S WAR EXPENDITURE (Received This Dav at 8 a.m.) LONDON, July 2. Mr Hughes, in an article in the Sunday Pictorial points out the world’s expenditure for military and naval purposes in 1920 greatly exceeded a thousand millions sterling. The world was looking for peace, but actually spend- , ing moro upon war and warlike preparations than in 1918. If disarmament is not an attainable ideal at pro- . sent, the limitation of armaments ayd settlement of disputes hv peaceable means are goals that we might surely attain. lion Lloyd George has said Britain is ready to discuss a limitation of armaments with America, and othergreat powers. Mr Harding’s recent speeches hold out a hope that sonic arrangement may he arrived at. He cannot believe other nations will lag bell red if. Britain and America show they are resolved to translate words inLo actions.

AMERICA AND ARMAMENTS

(Received This Day at 8 a.m.) WASHINGTON, June 30

(Delayed). Mr Harding made an appeal to Congress for an expression favourable to the limitation of armaments throtiglr an international, agreement. I am vastly more concerned over the favourable attitude of Congress than the form of expression, he wrote to the House Republican leader, Mr Mondell. His desire was granted this afternoon, when Mr Borah’s amended Navy Bill authorising the President to invite Britain nnd Japan to confer and enter into an agreement reducing naval programmes annually for five years, to an extent to be ngreed upon, was adopted by 330 votes to four.

AN AIR SPECTACLE

(■Received This Day at 8 a.m.) LONDON, July 2

Huge crowds at Hendon aviation grounds includfng tlie King and Quee/i imd several Dominion Premiers, witnessed the Royal Air Force ' aerial pageant wherein one hundred aeroplanes and some of the most famous airmen, some of whom have thirty to forty war victories to their credit, participated. Airship R3JI directed the traffic by means of wireless to motorcyclists, who disentangled any blocks. Some astonishing aerial feats were performed including duels between aeroplanes travelling at If>o miles an hour.

A BOMBSHELL. “ THE TIMES ” SERVICE. (Received This Day at 9.40 a.m.) LONDON, July 1. The Lord Chancellor’s statement that the Anglo-Japanese Treaty unless denounced, continues automatiaclly, came as a bombshell. The Foreign Office has been criticised for permitting the Conference to remain in ignorance Speeches on the subject were made in the belief that the renewal was a matter of urgency, not brooking ;lelav. Had the Dominions been frankly informed before the departure of their Prime Ministers, there would have been saved a vast amount of public, political and press misunderstanding, speculation and heartburning all over the world. The tardy* recognition of the true position modifies the whole character of the Conference. The fact that the Treaty does not need renewal and cannot immediately lie annulled removes the Premiers most anxious preoccupations, fn a year’s time the whole matter may be viewed from a totally different standpoint. Impojjtant questions remain for the Conference hut the Chancellor’s discovery alters the whole angle-dominions attitude towards the largest international problem.

ITALIAN AGREEMENT. ROME, July 11. Faieists and Socialists have reached an agreement to cease hostilities.

CABLE NEWS.