NAVAL CONFERENCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 January 1930, Page 6

NAVAL CONFERENCE.

BROADCASTING THE KING’S SPEECH. RUGBY. Jan. 1. The King’s Speech at the opening of the international 'Conference on naval disarmament in the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords, on January 21st, which will be broadcasted by wireless from all stations to British listeners, will also be heard :n many other parts of the world. The experimental short wave transmitter SSAV will be used primarily for reccfption throughout the Empire, through the International Broadcasting Union at 'Genejva. 'The British Broadcasting Corporation has offered facilities for relaying tho proceedings by telephone line from Savoy Hill or by wireless link from Daventry SXX, to broadcasting organisations throughout Europe. In. spite l of the inconvenient hour for American longitudes, the National Broadcasting Company of the United States is arranging to relay tho speech through its chain of stations. UNEMPLOYMENT IN PALESTINE. A REDUCTION REPORTED. RUGBY. Jan. 1. Tlie Colonial Office has issued a statement showing a satisfactory reduction of unemployment in Palestine. During the month of October unemployment among both Jews and Arabs decreased, notwithstanding the fact that nearly 800 working men and women entered tlie country. At the end of the month it was estimated that there were 700 Jews without employment, most of whom claim to belong to building trades. About half this number stated that they had lost their employment in consequence of the recent disturbance. The total number of Arabs unemployed at the end of October was estimated to lie 1600, of which more than a third belonged to building trades. In October, 1928, the figures were 1400, and 2500 for Jewish and non-Jewisli unemployed respectively. FLOODS AND WRECKS. DAMAGE AROUND ENGLAND. RUGBY, Dec. 31. Extensive flooding is reported from the upper parts of the Thames Valley and in North Wales and the neighbourhood of York. 'Plic River Ouse, at York, yesterday, reached its highest point for the past twenty-five years. Thousands of acres of land are flooded by the overflowing of the Ouse, the Derwent and tlie Foss rivers. Cottage property, .’buildings, and other premises on the banks of the Ouse have had their basements and grounds flooded, and Considerable alarm has been occasioned among the poorer classes at the rapid rate of the rise.

As a result of the week-end storm, much wreckage has been washed up at various parts of the English coast. A large ship’s boat was washed ashore yesterday, equipped with lifebelts and long ropes. It bore the name Tersonnef. There was nobody in the boat, the sails of which were torn. A derelict wooden vessel laden with timber and floating bottom up, drove ashore against the high cliffs at Scousburgh, in the Shetland Islands It was impossible to reach the wreck to ascertain the name of the ship, or whether there were any bodies on board.

A crippled three-masted mo for schooner from Hamburg was seen struggling round.the South Foreland during the gale in the Channel yesterday morning. The vessel was much damaged, but* declined assistance.

A NEW DECADE. RUGBY, January 1. Mr Ramsay MacDonald, the Prime Minister, has issued the following Now Year message to the nation: — “We are entering not only upon a new year but upon a new decade. The years from 1919 to 1929 have been arduous and difficult for the British people, and I hope that the period now oponng will be one of steady recovery and solid improvement. We have spent a long and weary time coping with the difficulties in which the war involved us, and we have not yet finished with that task. It is at least a good omen that our first piece of work this year will he the conference convened to try to reduce armaments and thus to render the peace of the world more secure for the future.”