BRITISH & FOREIGN NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 13 February 1925, Page 2

BRITISH & FOREIGN NEWS

LATEST CABLE NEWS

[Reuters Telegrams.] THE NAVAL ESTIMATES. LONDON, February 11. The “Daily Express” says: Mr Churchill (Chancellor of the Exechequer) won over Cabinet to his view of naval estimates though the Sea Lords stubbornly held out for an increase of ten millions in the estimates instead of live tuilions, which Mr Churchill was willing to grant. Mr Bridgemau (First Lord of the Admiralty) and Mr Amery (Colonial Secretary) hacked up the Admiralty, but Mr Churchill carried his point, thus obviating the possibility of his following his father, the late Lord Randolph Churchill “into the wihhierness.”

A reduction of at least sixpence in the income tax is now assured. BRITAIN’S ARMY. THE TERRITORIAL SCHEME. LONDON, February 11. Britain, in the next war, will not need to recruit a Kitchener Army when regulars and territorials are exhausted. Sir L. Worthing ton-Eva ns (Secretary for War) in the presence of General Gavan and other Army chiefs made this important announcement at the London Territorial Association. lie outlined a scheme which the. Army Council is formulating, by which, in the- event of a crisis the Territorial Army will he required to duplicate itself down to the smallest detail. This pronouncement gives the territorials a new status, and removes the ambiguity of the position which was keenly felt during the Great Mar. Sir L. Worthington-Evans said he regretted the raihvaymen’s opposition to the proposed supplementary reserve force. He hoped that fuller information would change the raihvaymen’s attitude. He said the Government desired to make preparations to carry out a settled policy and that in the event of war. the ‘terriforiols will he the sole means of extending the army thus duplicating itself and producing fourteen fighting divisions with communication troops. The present Regular Army he said, was much smaller than in 1914. Whenever it was necessary to supplement the forces, the burden and the honour would fall on the territorials, who were now forty thousand under their strength.

N.Z. MILITARY UNITS. LONDON, February 11. The King has approved of the New Zealand Veterinary Corps being allied with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps and likewise of the alliance of the Wellington Coast Infantry Regiment to the Hampshire Regiment, and the Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast Regiment to the Durham Light Infantry.

ITALIAN TROOPS ON EGYPTIAN FRONTIER. LONDON, Fob. 12. The “Daily Mail’s” Cairo corrcsponedut reports the activity of Italian troops on the western frontier of Egypt which is causing anxiety. Ihe Italian legation says the troops are only preventing the Seuuussi tribesmen from imparting arms. British officers have left hurriedly to investigate. .

BY AIR TO INDIA. CALCUTTA, Feh. 12. Sir S. Bruckner (British Director of Civil Aviation) left to-dav for Benares, on route to Delhi, where he will consult the Government of India with rgard to the Air Service between Britain and India. THE SIRDAR’S MURDER. CONFESSION REPORTED. CAIRO, February 12. It transpires that two of .those arrested on February 2 are Alxl. HI Hamid Anaynt of the Student Teachers’ Training College, and his brother Abd. El Fattali Anaynt, a student at the Royal School of Law. The latter has admitted that he took part in the attack oil {lie Sirdar, and he gave the mimes of others connected with the outrage, including his brother.

LONDON, February 11. The House of Commons has authorised" the Government to pay to the .Soudan Government, for benevolent purposes, the balance of the half a million sterling fine received from the Egyptian Government iu accordance with the demands made oil Egypt by Britain at the time of the Sirdar’s murder. The other payments out of the line have been forty thousand nterling t:> Lady Stack, three thousand to Captain Campbell (aide do camp) who was injured at the time of the attack; and lij.-e thousand p|uiial.s to Fred March, the chauffeur, who drove the Sirdar’.; car.

SECURITY OF EUROPE. THE LATEST SCHEME. LONDON, February 12. The “Morning Post” editorially discussing persistent rumours circulating in London, Paris and Berlin to the effect that Germany is willing to participate in a security scheme for Europe, says: “Before France and Britain can meet Germany, they must be agreed concerning their own aims. Moreover, Mr Chamberlain must know what the attitude of the Dominions is to be towards the European problem as a whole. After that there must, firstly, fie an assurance that Chancellor Luther’s Government is aide to earrv cut such a policy, which would he hound to meet with the opposition of the extreme Rightists and Leftists. Secondly, the duration of any scheme must be a con,id Table period of years.” The “Daily Express,” viewing tlio same subject from a different angle, declares: “Air Chamberlain (Secretary for Foreign Affairs) is proposing, ap- : arentlv without much active resistance from the other members of the Government, to negotiate some kind of r military pact with France, ill order 10 secure the defence of the Fren -It frontier against Germany. He is approaching tin military and naval authorities with a view of gaining tliet: utp-p-irt for this policy, and is advancing- the argument that the defence of me Channel ports is a matter of national interest. -1 The “Daily Express” in an editorial >1 ilies that British opinion is opposed 0 smh a compact, while it says: “The inter Dominions will dsnpprove in the strongest manner of the military comnitinents wherein Air CliatnSerlain is locking to entangle us.-'

GREECE APPEALS. GENEVA. February 11. The Greek Government has appealed to the League of Nations in regard to the expulsion of the Greek Patriarch from Turkey, which it declares infringes the convention for the bxjchauge of populations, and also infringes other agreements, and creates a situation involving a risk affecting tlio Turko-Grcek relations. FATAL WEDDING. LONDON, Feb. 12. A man named Crossman. a miner, aged 13, who became annoyed at not being invited to a friend’s wedding, purcahsod a gun. Hiding iu a hedge, lie fired at tho bridal procession, killing the bridegroom and his brother. When he was preparing to shoot again, he was arrested.