MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 December 1923, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

—— iCSriIALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE AHSOCI/kTOWz ORIENT LINE FINANCES. LONDON, December 19. Presiding at a meeting of the Orient Steam Navagation Company, Sir Kenneth Anderson said that the volume of outward cargo had shown ail improvement in the last 18 months; but rates were on a lower level, and the total number of despatches of all lines engaged in the Australian trade remained far in excess of its requirements. Though the mail steamers continued to run with a fairly full cargo, intermediate steamers fared hadlv.

Compared with 1922. the passenger traffic had been fairly satisfactory lor first-class, but second-class showed a noticeable falling off.

He ragarded the proposed air ms;! service between Britain and Egypt not as a competitor, hut as a proper complement to steamships, providing exceptional facilities for that proportion of mails and passengers requiring express transit.

The company, financially, was ,n a strong position, and the character of the new ships building was an earnest of the intention not to sta.nl si.-H. They had the resources ne •css-uy to meet the requirements of trade, and had everv intention of doing so to tho full. BANKING AIER HER. LONDON. D'-ember 'SL The latest big fusion . f baiiisiuk interests is the North ef Scotland ami Midland Banks, which have entered into a provisional agiwu •at 11 dor which the Midland offers 11 fully paid 50s shares for every four North of Scotland I’2o partly paid shares. I’he North of Scotland Bank will retain its name and continue its separate existence. NEW I.ADY Al.r.’S IDEAS. LONDON, December 19. I.adv Tcrringlon. addressing a group of memlieis in the House of Commons > said: "i really think it was the wo-' men who |ut me iu. L know the men were veiy kind, because T was kissed bv dozens hut- it was not so much a ' question of being kissed as of changing their opinions." She added that she was determined, if she got a chance, to introduce a hill enfranchising women of tho age of twenty-one, instead of thirty.

SISTER’S SUICIDE. .MOSCOW, December 20. A young poet, Yaldislor Kovalevsky has been set free amid cheers of a crowded Court, although ho pleaded guilty to helping his sister to commit suicide. Kovalevsky said he gave hwA sister opium because she was going mad. lie thought it- hotter that she should die than become a lunatic. Tho brother and sister had been loving companions since childhood, and embraced for the last time. The girl drunk poison and fell into a death sleep. Vladisor then informed an asylum doctor of his act. At the trial he offered to suffer any punishment but said he acted for love. The public prosecutor said the poet had no right to decide the question of life and death. Only the public wero competent to make such a decision.

MR MASSEY CRITICISED

LONDON, December 20. The “Daily Chronicle” editorially pprotests against attempts being made by Mr Baldwin’s supporters to . save the projected preference taws oil the ground of a continuity of Imperial policy. It declares : “Mr Baldwin’s offer was necessarily conditional on the approval of the British Parliament. Wo are sorry to see Mr Massey had the unwisdom to support an argument, which in the mouths of the British exponents cannot he regarded seriously. We respect Mr Massey and his Dominion much more, and sympathise with any j disappointment the Dominion may feci about the British peoples’ rejection of the tariff policy; but frankly, the only way io avoid such a disappointment is that their statesman should avoid raising the tariff question at the Imperial conference. GIFT TO UNIVERSITY. HfINBON, December 20. Tiie Roekfeller trustees liitve givens* £50,000 in Edinburgh University to erect a clinical laboratory and a pleto endowment of a .professor of sur-

TRADE COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. MR. ELMSLIK’S ADVICE. (Received this dav at 10.-15 a.m.) LONDON, Dee. 20. Mr. Klmslie (N.Z. Trade Commissioner) in a report on New Zealand trade, says that while the outlook is encouraging it is still too early to speak confidently of future prospects, sincu some of the effects ot post-war inflation have not yet been fully felt. The prosperity of the Dominion in the near future must depend on the world vitl-' ties of dairy produce, meat and wool. It is not safe to assume that values have yet been reduced to a sound economic level. Mr. Klmslie discusses whether land values in New Zealand are still too high, hut points out that it is noteworthy that the highest prices at recent land sales were paid by farmers of long experinee of what land can produce. With a skilful man the value of dairy land can he greatly increased. Even at the present low prices for produce the Dominion is buying approximately on the same scale as in 1015. The nViti-h can only obtain a further share of New Zealand’s trade by adapt-_ ing the designs of their manufactures to suit New Zealand requirements and organising selling met hods to meet foreign competition on equal terms. The tariff preference given British goods is so considerable, and the d«x sire to trade within the Empire*!-, genuine, that if British firms take tho trouble to establish a personal touch with the New Zealand market, foreign goods can be practically excluded. FRENCH PENSIONS BILL. PARTS, December 20. The Chamber of Deputies unanimously passed tiie Civil Pensions Bill. CHANGE OF NAME. (Received this dav at 10.10 a.m.) CAPETOWN. Dee. 20. Congress of the responsible Government Party at Salisbury recided to change the name to Rhodesian Party. It also resolved that under the party's constitution, negotiations for an alliance with the Rhodesian Labour Party lie entered into not later than tll!‘ 15th of January next,