MISCELLANEOUS.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 November 1925, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

Australia & N.Z. Cable Association.]

FOUND INSANE. LONDON, Nov. 7

AVrefold Brown was found not guilty, but insane, and was ordered to lie detained during tlio King’s pleasure. Brown continually interrupted the: trial with foolish statements, declaring lie lmd received many titles, including that of the Prince of Wales.

betting controversy. LONDON. Nov. 7

Canon Peter (Been of .Manchester, was the central figure in an interesting betting controversy. Green asserted that British bookmakers take Id) millions annually from bettors pockets, f.jonc! Phillips, a well-known London bookmaker promptly denied this. He offered to give £ 100 sterling to charity if Green could .substantiate the statement. Both parties have now agreed to put their evidence before a chartered accountant and accept his decision. Breen commenced showing the _ total bookmakers in Britain were sixteen thousand, ami the income tax author'ities after inspecting the of 1731 credit bookmakers. found their net profits were £1.042,000 which was only 3.1 per cent gross profits, so the gross profits of 1731 bookmakers was £3,047,000. He asked what do the remaining 14,268 bookmakers make if they only averaged £6OO a week. The total gross profits would be ninety six million, but it is impossible to believe £OOO a week were the real profits, as tlie inland revenue estimates the gross betting turnover at 417 million annually. Probably the average net income of each bookmaker would be seven hundred a year.

V I I I'dE COXCKHX. I .OXBOX, Xov. 7. I’. Coates profits were £3.6ob.fi!>!> and a dividend ol 17! per cent. tor the vear is declared and £l.l 13.000 brought forward. FRENCH FINANCE. LOXTIOX. Xovomber b. The “Daily express’s" Paris correspondent says: Placards headed “ The Republic means bankruptcy,” were secretly posted in many parts of Paris and the provincial cities last night. The Government urgently telegraphed the police throughout the country to destroy the notices, and try to trace the authors, and has already begun legal proceedings against unknown persons for conspiring against the credit of the State.

This coincides with the franc s fat ext fall.

The paper “ L’l ntraiisigeant.” tonight declared: “The Paris Bourse is boiling, is delirious, with an accentuated rush to lniv foreign stock.’’ The "Daily Express” adds: The rise in sterling and in dollar shares in Paris is nothing short of phenomenal. This, together with the drop in the franc, is partly traceable to the fact that the margin of inflation lias nearly been reached. The Bank of France's weeklv statement shows that its advances to the State have increased bv I tbO million francs and the note circulation bv 1320 millions since October 20. The ml per " Lo Matin” for days past, has published a series of anonymous financial articles which have attracted the widest attention. To-day it says the country must be told the truth immediately, namely, that the Stale cannot continue to pay interest on certain classes of bonds. 'I be internal debt, it says, can be funded without either new taxation or inflation. This appeal for partial repudiation is sure to lie widely opposed. At it is doubtful whether the Government will live long enough to introduce its financial scheme. - ’

AN APPEAL REJECTED. LONDON. Xov. r,

In rejecting an appeal against sentence for the Malabar Hill murder, Bombay, the Privy Council reiterated in dealing with criminal appeals from the Dominions that they did not act

t:.s a Court of Criminal Appeal, and would not interfere with the course of criminal proceedings unless it were

s’g-v ii that by disregard ol the forms i.f legal | rotes, c.r of violation of principals of natural juslii-e a substantial injustice was done Tbe Privy Council found these conditions did not apply to the present ease.

SUVA, Nov. 7. Sailed Suva for Auckland. LABOUR CO.AIBINE. LONDON. Nov. 6. British Labour has taken a further step to form a combine more numerous than the former Triple Alliance. Executives of the miners, railway-men, transport workers, locomotive, engineers and firemen, electrical trade union. and amalgamated engineering union representing four million workers have agreed to draft a constitution of a new alliance. guaranteeing mutual assitaiieo. firstly to defend hours and wages standards, secondly, to promote and defend any vital principle. A possible hitch due to the ra i 1 way men’s attitude suggesting a fusion of allied unions in the same trade should he a condition of their entering the alliaiire. When the meeting of executives reje: ted the railway-men’s proposal. Air Thomas intimated the railway-men’s union would reconsider their attitude to the proposal.

THAMES NAA’TGATtON. LONDON, Nov. 6. Port of Loudon pilots are alarmed at the mud dredged from the docks in tbe Upper reaches of the Thames being dumped into Black Deep Reach, forty miles below Gravesend. They declare the channel is shoaling and becoming dangerous to navigation, and within live years the Thames will he closed, unless the mud is dumped elsewhere.

SYRIAN AFFAIRS. BAGHDAD. Nov. 0. Rebels have surrounded Homs Hama, and Aleppo. The French are arming Armenian refugees to fight the insurgents. Syrian notables are appealing to tbe League of Nations demanding the execution of General Sarrail. as a murderer.

PERSIAN RECOGNITION. LONDON, Nor. G. I lir British Minister in Teheran has informed Rita. Khan that the Brilisli Ooi ernenint provisionally recognises the new regime, provided the now Government recognises and complies with its prederos ors obligations to Britain.

ALLIANCE, RESOLUTION. WELLINGTON, Nov. 7. The standing committee of the New Zealand Alliance has passed a resolution in wliieh it afi’rms that the time has come when the quest ion of State Control should he eliminated from the ballot paper at the licensing poll, and that the people should lie given an opportunity of stating their opinion on a straight out. two issue ballot paper, Prohibition v. Continuance.

SNOW AT ASHBURTON. ASHBURTON. November 7. Snow fell in the country last night, ranging from four to five inches at .Methven and other parts of the high country, to a fairly heavy sprinkle in the borough. To-day is gloriously line.