MOTHER COUNTRy.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 January 1917, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRy.

THE WAR LOAM: ENORMOUS SUBSCRIPTIONS' ' j EXPECTED. Received Jan. 11, 7.40 p.m. London, Jan. 10. further extensive dealings in the Victors' war loan were transacted at £9S 7s6d to £99. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's [statement is awaited with most intense | interest. All the indications point to I the probability ot an enormous number of subscriptions. DISPOSAL OF WOOL. EXPORT TRADE FAVORED Received Jan 11, 5.50 p.m. London, Jan. 10. The Chairman of the Wool Exports Committee states that the Director of Army Contracts has devised a scheme to keep down British :onsumption and keep up foreign exchanges. The export trade is to have priority ovei the home trade in buying the surplus of colonial and British wools after Army needs are satisfied.

ACCELERATING SHIPBUILDING. ENERGETIC DIRECTOR'S SYSTEM. PRACTICAL SOLUTION OP PROBLEM. Received Jan. 11, 5.55 p.m. London, Jan. 10. S'y Joseph Maclay, Shipping Controller, has begun hi;. ,vork energetically. He has arranged for 4 rapid acceleration in the construction of new tonnage,'and every shipyard on the East nnd West Coast will shortly hf. working at its utmost capacity. Additional labor will he made available, especially for ships nearing completion. Passenger boats now" being .-onstructed will he utilised wholly for cargo purpose?. Another immense prospect of construction is afforded by the fact that many 01 the vessels of great tonnage to be used as naval auxiliaries will be standardised ships of simple design, constructed with the utmost rapidity, and, when commissioned, they will .release more than an equal number of merchantmen now in the naval service.

It is expected that piecework will be introduced as a war measure throughout the shipyards, as it is found that pieceworkers produce 50 per, cent, more than day-workers. CULTIVATION OF SPARE LAND. THE KING GIVES A LEAD. Received Jan. 11, S p.m. London, Jan. 10. Mr. Lloyd George's Golf Club at Walton Heath has allotted five acres for potato-sowing. The King, has consented to a scheme of cultivation 01 cereal and fodder crops at Richmond and Bushy Parks. It is hoped his example will stimulate land-ownerf to increase food supplies. Motor ploughs will immediately he available. Smaller allotments have Veen chosen at Kensington 3ardens and Regent's and Hyde Parks for vegetables suited to the London atmosphere and soil. THE WAR POLICY. INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT SET London, Jan. 10. A political correspondent states that Mr. Lloyd George has constituted an Intelligence Department, for .he purpose of making special investigations into different aspects ol the war policy. HINDENBURG'S AIMS. I ___ CRUSHING RUSSIA. London, Jan. 10. Colonel Repington, discussing the 1017 campaign, says that Marshal vor. Hindenhurg will probably adopt defensive tactics on the west front, lessening German inferiority by massing vast supplies of heavy gun. and men. He still aims at crushing Russia. His present intention is to secure the Sereth and Pruth lines, and the Danube mouths, and to shorten his lines after the Roumanian campaign, giving him more reserves to use where desired. An attractive German programme would be to seize the Lower Danube and send submarines into the Black Seu, thus affecting' the Armenian and Eastern Mediterranean campaigns. Russia must prepare an anvil for the German hammer in 1917,' and make her plans accordingly. The economic stranglehold may also impel the Aastro-Gerraan navies to make a united desperate effort to break out and attack our sea line:*.

FIRE AT HOSPITAL London, Jan. 10. The New Zealand Hospital at Weybridge has been partially burnt. The patients were removed safely. THE ROME CONFERENCE. ■ London, Jan. 10. it is announced that General Sir William Robertson, General Miles, Sir Francis Elliott, and Earl Granville participated in the Borne Conference. ' ■ .; ; MINISTERS' SALARIES. '," . - 'Received Jan. 11, 8 p.n".. LonJon, Jan. lu. The Ministry arc pooling their Sgloxkß, >he jtveiage. being £SOOQ.