BRITISH FOREIGN ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 April 1924, Page 2

BRITISH FOREIGN ITEMS.

aCSTRALIAN AND NZ. caulk association LONDON DRUG SCANDAL. LONDON, Arpil 11 A Chinese known as the brilliant Cluing, lias had a sentence of fifteen » months’ gaol passed on him at Old Bailey, for being in possession of cocaine. The sentence ends an amazing episode in the fight in Scotland Yard against the traffickers in dope. Recently Chang carried on a Chinese restaurant, in Regent Street, wiheh was a rendezvous for Bohemian London, and was the scene ol regular cocaine parties. A series of scandals resulted in certain disclosures at an inquest held oil a young dancer named Freda Kempton who died Iroin »u overdose of cocaine alter paying Chang’s restaurant a visit. These di .coveries forced Chang to shift into Limehouse. Although a number of Chinese in his employ were arrested for trafficking with women in cocaine, Chang himself eluded prosecution till he was apprehended in Limehouse, where the discovery of a small parcel of cocaine in a secret hiding place convicted him. A chorus girl, Violet Bayne, made a statement that she had asked Cluing for cocaine in a restaurant in LimeLouse, and shortly afterwards a hand came over a wall and gave her a packet. She put money in the hand, but did not see the face. The Recorder, in imposing sentence, said that girls must he protected from ,«■ the soul-destroying drug, and society must lie purged.

WEMBLEY WORKERS. LONDON, April 11 Thousands of drenched Wembley workers massed in the Stadium and decided to raise tl;eir embargo on overtime. They cheered Mr J. Thomas’s appeal to them to show the world what British workmen were able to accomplish under deplorable conditions. > The workers shouted: "We will finish it by April 21. Mr Thomas, iii addressing the workers at Wembley, thanked them on behalf of the Cabinet and the country IV,r their decision to remove the embargo oil ovetime. He said that the recent strike had caused the Government anxiety because it undoubtedly had retarded, the progress of the Exhibition. Therefore he took the responsibility of asking the Trade I nion Officials to relax their overtime rule, ns regards the Exhibition which had got to he a success, if only because it meant much to the British working classes. COST OF UNFINISHED SHIPS. , LONDON, April 11. Tl ie Treasury report on tho- Navy accounts reveal that Britain paid £1,121.000 in the year 1922-21 as compensation for the cancellation of warships contracts, consequent on the Washington agreement.

SOt'TH.VMPTOX STRIKE. LOXDOX. April 14. An interesting incident of the Southampton strike is the departure of the Mauretania for Cherbourg where she ; "ill fie extensively repaired by British workmen. The liner has been idle for two months, under the Union ban. The owners secretly mobilised the requisite workmen, who, unknown to the Union 1 pickets, boarded the vessel at the dead of night. Then, early in the morning, , five Dutch tugs towed the liner to sea.