LATEST CABLE NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 14 June 1923, Page 2

LATEST CABLE NEWS

BRITISH S FOREIGN ITEMS.

AUSTRALIAN ANI) N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. IMPERIAL DEFENCE. DEMOCRATIC CONTROL. LONDON, June 12. Field Marshal Sir AVilliam Robertson presided at the reading cf General Sir Frederick Maurice’s paper at the Colonial Institute on ‘‘Present Problems or Imperial Defence,” in tho course of which the writer says: “The day has passed wi.cn tho Empire’s foreign policy can bo adequately controlled by tlie British Foreign Offico alone. Tho first stop in Imperial defence is an agreement as to policy, and the next 't stop is an agreement as to plans. Just as the dominions’ statesmen should have u voice in our foreign policy, so their soldiers, sailors and airmen should have «i voice in the preparation of Imperial defence plans.” .Sir F’. Maurice says ho desiies to see ti.e General Staff a. reality. Such a body should not have executive authority, and it would not connote any interference with the dominions in the control of their own forces, but should ensure timely common forethought. “The sanest defensive policy,” he adds, “is to devote ourselves to the development of Empire resources and to shun all avoidable commitments as we would a plague.” He believed that it would be in the best. interests of the Empire to give active support to the League of Nations. The improvement of wireless, and of air traffic were prime factors in Imperial defence, to bring a united Empire closely together. BRITISH FOOD TAXES.

LONDON, June 13. Jn i lie House of Commons in committee on the Finance Bill, an amendment was moved by 3fr Hay (Labour) to exempt 'dried fruits from tho additional customs duties proposed to bo imposed under the Bill. The amendment was defeated by 249 to 165. Sir 3Y. Joynson Hicks said they could not abandon this duty, which yielded £1,800,1X10 a year. He said it involved a charge of only sixpence per year for each family in the country.

TYPHOON DISASTER. MAXIIjA, Juno 12. A typhoon, which swept Samar Island has killed thirteen persons and has reduced thousands of homeless natives to tho verge of starvation. All their houses were blown down. THE 31A1DAX SUNK. LONDON, Juno 12. A telegram from Port Sudan reports the .steamer Maidau has sunk. The passengers are proceeding to their destinations in tho steamer AA’arwicksliire. DRAMATIC INCIDENT. (Received this day at 8.30 a.m.) LONDON, Juno 13. The Prince of 3Vales at Birmingham was inspecting eighteen hundred men of tho British Legion when a dramatic episode occurred. A tall, lank ex-sol-dier named AVestley suddenly darted from the crowd and presented his pension eaid. He asked the Prince to personally investigate why his pension was suddenly stopped in November for an unknown reason. The Prince handed the card trr Admiral Halsey' and promised the ox-soldier that- he would make inquiries. The man then quietly went hack to the crowd. AVestley stated that be cannot work owing to the war strain. He and his wife and two children are living ill one roofti on poor relief, though he served for four years in the machine gun corps. AIR-MEN BURNED TO DEATH.

A. LEAP FOR LIFE. (Received this day at 8.30 a.m.) PARIS, Juno 13. Military airmen taking part in a sham bombing raid at Nancy met with a terrible death owing to the machine being set on fire in the air hv one of its own bombs. The plane carried a number of light bombs attached to parachutes which are used to light up the targets before the explosive is dropped. These were fitted with screws which fired the fuse, thus freeing the parachute. One of these screws was set in motion, apparently, by the action of the air. The aeroplane lest its equilibrium, caught fire and plunged to earth in flames. The pilot was burned to death, hut the bomber, with his clothes ablaze, leaped from tile aeroplane before it crashed. He was severely burned but it is hoped that the desperate leap saved his life. PRINCESS CHRISTIAN’S WORK TRIBUTE!). (Received this day at 9.25 a.m.) LONDON, June 13. The House of Commons passed ail address to the King expressing sympathy in connection with the death of Princess Christian. Representatives of all parties paid a warm tribute to her life’s work in ministering to the poor and .suffering. BRITISH AND FRENCH COMBINE. (Received this day at 9.45 a.m.) LONDON, June 13. According to the “Daily Express Lausanne correspondent, representatives of the Leslie Urquhart group of British and French banks and the Turkish Minister of Commerce will shortly sign an agreement establishing a combine, with a capital of a million sterling, to control the Turkish import and export trade. The combine includes all the largest Turkish firms, particularly the tobacco, oil producers, and bank syndicates. Angora is anxious to develop Turkey's foreign trade and is giving the combine almost monopolistic privileges.

THE DISEASES OF MAN. HOW LONG SHOULD WE LIVE. Received this day at 9.25 a.m.) LONDON, June 13. Mr Leonard Williams, a Harley St. Specialist, made refreshing anil original comments upon illness when addressing the AUlwyeh Club on physiological efficiency. He saidlf we get illness we should not be pitied as victims, but condemned as fools. “Martyr to rheumatism” was just as fantastic a phrase as “martyr to delirium tremens” would be. Me must learn to divest ourselves of the idea that there is something that is heaven sent an dinevitable about illness in a greater and a less degree, but clnofly greater. All diseaso was preventable if one estimated the average life of the lower animals in relation to the time taken to reach maturity. The normal life span of a man ought to he 120 to 140 years. When a man attained maturity it was his duty to maintain that physical state as long as possible, but instead he generally set out to impair it as fast as possible and when he has thus urgently summoned every imaginable microbe to reside tyithin him he seeks our sympathy,