Cable Jottings

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 839, 6 December 1929, Page 9

Cable Jottings

FIRE IN NEW SOUTH WALKS.— Four business premises were burned at Walgott, New South Wales, yesterday. The damage is estimated at £25,000. NAVAL BUILDING EXPERT. —The Admiralty has announced that Mr. A. Johns, deputy-director of naval construction. has been appointed director of naval construction in succession to Sir William Berry, who has retired. SITE OF BANNOCKBURN.—-The site of the Battle of Bannockburn, near Stirling, where in 1314 the Scottish Army of King Robert the Bruce gained a victory over the Army of King Edward 11. of England, is to be preserved as a national park. AIRWAY ACCIDENTS—The British Under-Secretary for Air. Mr. F. Montague, stated in the House of Commons that since the establishment >f Imperial Airways, Limited, in 1923, it had had five fatal accidents, in which 19 passengers and nine employees and •>ne civil servant were killed. LORD BYNG’S ILLNESS. —Although Viscount Byng is still very weak after lis recent illness, it is expected that he will be well enough to leave London on a convalescent trip to South Vfrica on December 20. His doctors anticipate that ultimately he will make a complete recovery. OLYMPIC GAMES. —The British Olympic Council debated the problem <>f broken time, and - unanimously de* ided that no competitor who had received any payment or compensation for loss of salary directly or indirectly, •fr in any guise whatever, should be permitted to compete in future Olympic Games. LAW ABOUT FRAUD—In the House «»( Commons the President of the Board of Trade. Mr. W. Graham, *aid he would consider any practicable proposals to make impossible the fraudulent duplication and triplication of share issues. It was already punishable with penal servitude under the Forgery Act. NEW GOVERNOR - GENERAL. — The Governor-General designate of New Zealand. Lord Bledisloe, says he fears it will be impossible for him to sail for New Zealand, ns arranged earlier, with the farmers’ party on January 17. Lord Bledisloe was busy at the War Office on Wednesday selecting his aides-de-camp. SINGAPORE BASE.—In the House of Commons, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. A. V. Alexander, in answer to a question, said Britain’s liability for expenidture on the Singapore bases was only limited by the contributions lrorn the Dominions and Colonies. Any additional expenditure must be borne by Britain. LOAD-LINE OF SHIPS.—The report of the committee on the load-lines of merchant ships has been received by the British Board of Trade, and in accordance with its recommendations is proposed to summon as soon as possible an international conference, "ith the object of getting an international agreement on the subject. SILENT ISLAND. — No news has been received for six weeks from the Hand of St. Paul (midway between Africa and Australia) on which a French fishing company has established a colony of 120 persons. Wireless communication has failed. The steamer Euripides, which sailed from < apetown for Fremantle on December -• will call at St. Pauls. LAWS OF DOMINIONS—The conference on the operation of Dominion legislation and merchant shipping legislation was concluded in London. A unanimous report has been made and in accordance with the terms of reference has been submittd to the respective Governments. The publication °f this report must- be deferred until ♦'very Government has had a good opportunity of considering it. UPROAR IN REICHSTAG- —There were violent scenes in the German Reichstag when the Minister of the Interior, Herr Severing, proposed the first reading of the Bill for the Protection of the Republic. The Communists called 11e.rr Severing “bloodbound” and “murderer.” Twenty-four ♦feputien were suspended. A Bill was t'lso introduced to make the party that propose* & I'ieuieuut pay for it.