AMERICAN CABLE NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 19 April 1927, Page 3

AMERICAN CABLE NEWS

[Australian & N.Z. Cablo Association.]

EXTRAORDINARY FIRE RESULT. NEW YORK. April 13.

Thousands of employees Mere held prisoners in office buildings, when lifts stopped, 1500 telephones Mere put out of commission, and many stores Mere forced to close, when a lire broke out in a new subway excavation. There ivere 43 telephone cables also disabled when tlie wires caught fire at a crossing- Five central office cables and other cables carrying electricity 1" many of the largest office buildings were burned, causing lifts to stop suddenly mid way between (lie floors Many business houses Mere closed fov the day due to the tie up of others which sent messengers for food, which M'as hoisted to M'indows by ropes. Squads of labourers Mere set to Murk to repair the damage, but it is expected to take considerable time to resume tlie service.

POLITICS AND CHURCH. NEAV YORK. April 17

An incident, of outstanding political importance in America lias occurred with the publication of a letter from Governor Smith, who is most prominently mentioned as a candidate Tor Democratic nomination for the presidency, relative to the attitude and position of the Human Catholic Church to the state. A noted attorney, Charles Marshall, in an open letter published in the “ Atlantic Monthly,” a lc» ling magazine, intimated non-Homan Catho lie Americans believed there was a conflict between religious loyalty to the church and partiotic loyalty to the American Government. Smith answering in the same magazine, declared himself a devout Roman Catholic, hut that lie recognises no power in the Church to interfere with the operation of the Constitution of the United States or the enforcement of the law of the land. Smith defended the church against attacks on this ground, declaring its position is similar to other religious sects. The letter is expected by his friends to ho a. final, authoritative answer to a so-called whispering campaign against him as a presidential aspirant.

AMERICAN FLOODS. NEW YORK. April IS

Floods fas cabled on April 16th) have now inundated extensive fertile areas bordering the Mississippi river. Twen-ty-two thousand inhabitants are refugees. Rail traffic in many places is paralysed. Hundreds of militia men and volunteers are doing duty. Considerable suffering accompanies the flood. Three hundred persons were huddled together on a high knoll in a peadi orchard at Bluff. Arkansas, without food and scantily attired- while the waters flowed over their farms and homes. Similar situations are reported at Hughes, Arkansas, and various sections in south-eastern Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Large numbers of