BRITISH & FOREIGN ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 January 1924, Page 3

BRITISH & FOREIGN ITEMS.

LATEST CABLE NEWS

lUBTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION FOR RESTORATION OF FRANC. PARIS. Jau. 17. t ie- l'.ink ol i-’rar.ee ii • s raised ihe discount rale one half per c-eiil. lo six. Cabinet decided that , v. n h a vi u to tln- restoration of the franc, to introduee a Bill authorizing I lie suspension of the importation of rwnunudi--1 n-s not i-onv-pi.-nding with national necessities.

srcAi: ro.MiiiNK. i;o.\T)o\. Jim. 17. '1 lif "Dully Kxpress" meat (plantitics ol' siiKir arc held in hooded u arehmises in I.nndiju. though ihcrc is :i shortlife on llie regular iiinriiet. Forty thousand unis ol relined siiear are liciiHj; kept, in store lor liiplicr prices, The principal syndicate mi In thirty thousand tons ol’ hooded snear.

under control of a Spanish millionaire, who i' fi recognised dealer. Speenlatoi's’ .shipments of from Coni r:i! Kurope have stopped onion; to tho freezing of the Kibe. causing a further stringency. It. is estimated if the syndicates sold non' they would make a profit of four bundled thousand -1--r----ling. Till-; .MI NT, It S’ lUU/)T.

Tlhvc are certainly heavy buying order; fiom Amsterdam. The news of the rapid profits spread quieklv and jobbers "ere lui.-y long alter the i sun I hours. RECONSTRUCTION frauds. enquiry being tiled. (Received this dav at tb In a.m.) LONDON. January 17. The “Daily Chronicle's" Paris <ni-i-espoiulnet says an eipdemic of frauds in connection with the ieconstriu-t imi of tin. devastated mens ua.- reveacld by t!-e Parliameiilayv Commission. One textile firm at Lille defrauded the Tronsiirv of two bundled million francs, a mining company dishonestly profited In the extent ol am tiler two hundred million, and a sugar refinery profited li>- seveiiiv millions. Extensive Bauds at Dunkirk, with the tollusion of public officials, brought in eight hundred n illioii.-.

The method "a- to divert large consignments of sheet iron, intended for rebuilding and which was sent to Calais. Boulogne and Dunkirk an:! ihence shipped overseas where it was sold at an immense profit. The frauds include several cargoes et sheet iron surreptitiously stopped to Japan alter the earthquake. An inquiry has been opened.