GENERAL CABLES.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 July 1921, Page 7

GENERAL CABLES.

ENGINEERS’ WAGES. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, June 29. The engineers’ ballot resulted in 257,531 votes against and 125,014 in favor of the reduction scheme. The parties are conferring on the new situation. INDIAN FOREST FIRES. Delhi, June 29. A United Provinces Government official communique, regarding recent incendiary forest fixes in the Kumaon Division, shows that a quarter of a million acres have been destroyed. The destruction is particularly serious in the resin area, the yield from which will be only one-fourth of last year’s. The communique states that there is ample evidence that the perpetrators were incited to incendiarism by non-co-operators as a direct challenge to the Government to relax? control over the forest. —Reuter.

STOLEN PICTURE RECOVERED.

Rome, June 28. An altar piece by Botticelli, stolen from the Church of St. Felice, at Florence, was recovered in a sensational manner. A detective, posing as a wealthy French picture buyer, got in touch with the thief and arranged to buy the picture if brought in a cab to a public square.

When the thief came in the cab he found a party of police, instead of the buyer. His accomplice inside the cab and the cabman opened fire with revolvers and a sharp fight ensued, in which the thieves escaped, leaving the picture unharmed in the cab.