NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 August 1919, Page 9

NEWS BY MAIL.

3500 WAR-BLINDED FRENCHMEN. Now York, Mny 10. The annual report of the committee for men blinded in battle shows nearly £'lo,ooo raised in America last .year to aid the re-education of blind French soldiers. The committee has five "lighthouses" operating in Franca, where instructions are given. The committee estimated that France's "war-blind' 1 number close to "500, which exceeds those of England and the United States combined. WIRELESS GRAMAPHONE. 'New York, April 29. _ Music played in the United States dirij giMe 04 was transmtted by wireless for several miles through the air and reproduced by megapfyonic transmitters to the crowds in "Victory Way," New \ York. The dirigible ascended from the naval station at Rockaway Point, and flew over the city. The music was caught, at the wireless station and transmitted by wire to the "Victory Way," where more than 100 sound-magnifying instruments made the music audible to many thousand persons. THE MISSING WORD. HOW WAR MIGHT HAVE BEEN AVERTED. Paris, June 18. A Berlin message states that Prince Lichnowsk}' (German Ambassador in London when war broke out), comments on the declaration of Herr Bernstein. Prince Lichnowsky said: "A word from Bethmann-Hollweg would have prevented the catastrophe by inducing the Kaiser to accept my proposition for English mediation, but that, word was not Bpokcn." NEW SALONIKA A MODEL CITY. Salonika. April 24. Mr. Thomas Mawson, the British architect who is directing the reconstruction of towns and villages in Eastern Macedonia, destroyed by the Bulgarians during the invasion, has contributed two • articles to the Balkan News, a British newspaper published here, in which he pays a tribute to the efforts of Greece to rebuild Salonika. ■ The work of rebuilding, writes Mr. Mawson, is being very actively pursued. ■ and according to the new plans of rc--1 construction Salonika promises to be- " come a model city, even in comparison' | With British and American towns. HOME FOR LOST CROWNS. I , I ANOTHER KING SEEKS A SWISS REFUGE. Geneva, April 1">. A telegram received this evening from ' Prague states that the c>:-K:ng of Bavaria lias requested the Swiss federal, authorities' permission to reside in this country. It now only requires the ex Kaiser to settle here in order to have all the retired heads of the Central Powers gathered in Switzerland, and thus ',< increase, the cost of liring. DIAMOND SOLD FOR £45,000. London, April 15. The soft blue and white diamond, weighing about 300 carats (uncut), founl in the .l:iger.".fo!)tein mini' near lumber ley early in January, was sold in London last month tor C45.U00 to Messrs de ITaan, diamond cutter, Paris. BRITAIN'S GIFT TO AFRICA. Capetown, May 21. Amidst ringing cheers in the House o' Assembly, Mr. K. Burton, Minister of Railways, communicated a cable from General Botha that the Imperial Government had given to the Union Government railway materials to the value of C 500,000 free for national aervic; rendered. NOT THE LAST WAR. Loudon, May 20. Describing as "idle twaddle and a dream of molly coddles," the belief that any covenant will protect, the world from future wars, Major-General Leonard Wood in a speech to the returned troops at Detroit last evening, said: "If America wants peace she must always be ready to light for it. Pacifists tell you lies, he continued, "when they say war as an institution is dead. Don't listen to molly coddies. Be a citizen of common sense. The world is tired of war only for the time being. This war has simply been a lesson that war will go on. The lesson is that we may not always have somebody to hold the line while we get ready, and that, since war is undesirable, when we go in again we must bo ready to go in' quickly." * TWO-INCH STEEL X-RAYED. London, May 20. An X-rays photograph of the interior of the carburetter of an aeroplane engine, siiowing a block in the petrol feed, was one of many interesting exhibits at the Boyal Society, when a joint meet, ing of the Routgen and Faraday Societies discussed radio-metallograph. It is now possible to take "photographs through two inches of hard steel, and to , detect flaws in castings of turbine propeller shafts, aeroplane engines, and new alloys. A difference in thickness of a ] 200 th part of an inch is revealed in a i steel casting two or three inches in , ( thickness by X-rays photography. Professor Bragg, F.R.S., showed X-rays photographs of various mechanisms in which flaws were detected without talc- . ing the intricate parts to pieces. So perfect is the picture made by the rays i that the _ most delicate structure of'a ( fresh cherry blossom was shown. j AMERCAN TRUST KEEPS UP MEAT 1 PRICES. , New York, May 12. 1 A Washington message says* it is ( learned that, after a series of closed con- j ferenees, the big packers have succeeded in keeping off the market 2114.000,0001b < of army moat, bought by the Army 6V i partment but no longer needed. ' The < War Department called in reprcsenta- t fives of the five biggest packing com- ( panics for advice as to the method of t disposing of the surplus without affect- 1 ing meat prices in the United States. c The enormous stores represent two years' t ' output. The packers protested against c turning it loose on the market, and re- ] commended ids export to famine-stricken A Europe. If this was impracticable, they 'i urged it should be turned over to the t packers for their disposal, they to retain \ control over prices. c (Another message .says the. surplus p estimated at 100.000,000 'cans of beef and d 50,000,0001b. of bacon, will be gold for q export a