NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 September 1928, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL.

CAPTURED GEM SMUGGLERS. WARSAW, July 24. An international gang of 42 diamond smugglers has been arrested on the, premises of tlie Diamond Dealers’ Association at Warsaw. When the police arrived the panicstricken smugglers had recourse to all sorts of means to get rid of tile jewels, throwing them to the floor, through the windows, hiding them under t ihe carpets and behind -pictures, and swallowing them. The smugglers attempt's to bribe the police with enormous sums failed.

More than 1.500 carats of the finest diamonds wore seized, and all the smugglers have been sent to prison.

SUPPOSED RED PLOT. MONTREAL, July 24. Dramatic suggestions of Soviet plotting and secret communications sent from a hidden wireless station near Quebec, Paris, mid London, were heard to-day in a Quebec court. Arsen Noiiia, a 21-yenrs-old Russian, described as one of the best wireless operators in the Dominion, pleaded guilty to tlie theft- of a wireless instrument and to the illegal possession of a large quantity of dynamite. His father, aged 64, pleaded not guilty to si mil ill* charges.

The arrests will, it is believed, solve a mystery which has troubled Canadian wireless experts for many months.

Canadian and United States wireless stations recently experienced seijsms interferences. The trouble willfinally traced to the Quebec district. The Provincial police made investigations. and found at an isolated spot near Sillery Cove one of the most powerful and fully equipped wireless stations in the country. The apparatus was seized and later identified as having been stolen from the Canadian Marconi Company. Detectives searched Ncina’s house and found under a pile of rubbish oOR of dynamite and two boxes of deton a tors. "Further investigation led to the belief that the younger Neinn was i» communication with the capitals, o, Europe, and that Sillery Cove win I possibly the distribution point of I viet instructions to secret agents in I Canada and the United States.

' THE MAN OF DESTINY. LAHORE, July 24. Sir Ziilfiqnr Ali Khan, one of tho most influential Muliommeduns in tlie world, and a member of the Indian Legislative Assembly, contributes to the Civil and Military Gazette a remarkable exposure of tho Soviet campaign against tho British Empire In Asia and declares that King Amumillah of Afghanistan is now a man of destiny, holding the keys of pence and war in his hands',

110 writes: “Any hasty action or false step may precipitate a conflagration in and beyond Asia that may reduce tho seats of jhiodcrn civilisation to ashes. ‘•King Amamilbih stands between two clashing principals. In the Northern is stronghold cjf relentless Communism and jii tlie South an old-ngp citadel of Capitalism.

“Let Afghanistan stand aside and the world will witness an impact of forces drowning States and societies in a deluge of barbarism. RUSSIA’S MENTALITY. “Islam does not sanction Communism or tolerate savagery perpetrated in the inline of Socialism, hut tho Russian mentality which aimed at destroying the Moslem States remains •.inchanged. Sir Ziilfiqnr points out that other nations possess influence stronger than that of the British in countries like Afghanistan and says: “British diplomats should probe tho reason why tho Eoastern States seek the help of technical advisors from other European nations and ignore tho British. Those who are aware of the undying malevolence of the Soviet towards tho British' know' that the fate of Western Europe depends on the struggle between Moscow and Asia.” King Omanulluli visited Soviet Russia after three weeks’ stay in England last spring. He surprised the Soviet leaders by his refusal to countenance anti-British propaganda.