GENERAL CABLES.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 June 1920, Page 8

GENERAL CABLES.

Bj Tirana.— Press Assn.—Copyright. In view of the wheat shortage in Australia the conference of the Labor Party resolved in favor of suspending the Imperial Government wheat contract till the end of the year. A number of mills are shortening hands owing to the want of gristing supplies. Indi.cations point to a decline in the recent high prices ruling for tea. Two leading firms announce a reduction by 3d (Ccr lb. For some time rice has been practically unprocurable. The position has been relieved by the annual shipment.

Washington reports that the AngloJapanese negotiations to renew the alliance have not yet started. It is authoritatively stated that only the preliminary discussion has taken place. The Japanese favor the revision 'of the treaty in the near future, but it is stated that Britain is facing too many urgent problems to revise the alliance. General Rodolfo Herrera has arrived at Mexico City bringing documentary evidence proving that Carranza committed suicide when he saw himself abandoned by his followers. The bubonic plague at Vera Cruz appears to be waning. Only four new case? arc reported, with three dead since. After much alarm the city is regaining tranquility. • In the House of Commons Mr. Wilson stated that an invitation to consider the practicability of Imperial preference had been sent to all the colonies and protectorates, except those precluded from doing so by international agreements or in which preference- was already enforced or impracticable. The replies hitherto received included Hongkong and Sierra Leone, both of which considered preference unnecessary, and Cyprus, where legislation in this connection was read and passed. Serious outbreaks are reported in Mesopotamia. A party of tribesmen, led by Sherifian officers, attacked Telafar, seizing the Government officials, including' two British officers. A number of the inhabitants were also killed. The crews of two armored cars, who visited Telafar the next day, arc reported, to have been captured and murdered. A punitiive column is being cent from Mosul.

Delhi reports thatt Parer and Mcintosh arc uncertain, when thev will resume their flight to Australia. They are waiting at Per.ang for spare parts. They are proceeding to Singapore on Saturday on aerial survey work.

The British Government is completing postal arrangements with Bt.isia through Kras'-in. The French Government opposes this, considering it to be a recognition of the Soviet.

Topliss, Wio was shot in the Cumberland highlands, has boon definitely identilied. It U suggested that, ne is also the perpetrator of three recent nntraced crimes the murder of Nurse Shore in a Hastings train in January; the murder of Hoarse, and his housekeeper,, near Fruro; and the murder of Constable Kelly at Acton. Vienna reports that a demonstration at Gratz against the high prices of food resulted in rioting, during which the police fired'on tiie crowd, killing bis. The New ■'South Wales Labor Conference recommended that sufficient men and women shouJr! be appointed to the Legislative Council to give the Government a majority in the Chamber. General rain has again fallen over the pastern half of New South Wales, and the wheat area has benefited. The aviators Matthews and Kay, who abandoned their flight from London to Australia after crushing at Bali, have arrived at Sydney by steamer. The Queensland Government has decided to guarantee farmers eight shillings a bushel for the wheat crop during the coming season. Unions appearing before the Basic Wage Commission in Sydney are claiming an annual basic wage of £625 for a man, his wife and three children under fourteen years of age. A Warsaw communique states: Between the Dvina and Borisoff our coun-ter-offensive is developing satisfactorily and the Bolsheviks are retreating in disorder leaving a considerable number of prisoners and materials. Desertions from the Bolsheviks are increasing. Bolslievik attacks on the bridgeheads at Kicff were severely repulsed. Arrangements have been made for Mr. Justice Ewing, of Tasmania, to act as Royal Commissioner to inquire into the cases of tbe dozen imprisoned Industrial Workers of the World, with wide powers, to review old and new evidence, and to decide whether the convictions ean be sustained, or whether the sentences are excessive.

JjOTtl Hai<r, addressing the British National Association for the Employment of Ex-soldiers, attacked tlie trade unions for their selfish ohstinacv which for the principles, and even the very existence of trade unionism from obprevented thousands of men who fought taining employment.