VARIOUS CABLES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10301, 2 August 1911, Page 6

VARIOUS CABLES.

LABOUR TROUBLES

(Received August 1, 8.35 a.m.) HOBART, August 1. The carters' and drivers' strike is extending, and practically all branches of trade are affected. _ : Merchants are compelled to drive their own carts to the waterside The workers refused to handle fruit, though carted to the wnarl by tha mcharists themselves. SYDNEY, 'August 1. The taking of evidence from employers before the. Shortage of Labour Commission has concluded. On behalf of the employees, witnesses .stated that there was lost time through the slackness of employment, though some admitted that there were no unemployed. BRISBANE, August 1. The Adelaide Shipping Company's office staff at Cairns placed a cargo of sugar on board the steamer Mintaro. The crew would not help. A large crowd of strikers quietly watched the proceedings. A number of mills are continuing crushing.

MINERAL EXPORTS.

(Received Tuesday, 8.35 a.m.)

SYDNEY, Tuesday. The value of New South Wales' exports of silver, silverlead,-copper, tin. and coal for the half year amounted to £3,659,000, being an increase of £579,000 as compared with the same period last year.

WHOLESALE POISONING,

(Received August 1, 9.20 a.m.)

VIENNA, July 31. Nurse Gerzan's motive for wholesale poisoning was to rid wives of unwanted husbands. ; The husband of a woman named Levais recently died. Hence suspicion was aroused. Poison was discovered in Gerzan's I house. : Accused stated that she used it toispraying vines.

AVIATION

(Received August 1, 9.20 a.m.)

PARIS, July 31. The aviator Beaumont has won £20,440 this year. Vedrines won £BOOO, Garros" £6OOO, and Vidarfc £4OOO.

WEALTH OF FRANCE

(Received August 1, 9.20 a.m.)

PARIS ,July 30. M. Edmund Thery estimates that the wealth of France in 1892 was £9,680,000,000 sterling,' and in 1908 was £11,591,000,000. The value of agricultural land decreased from £3,434,000,000 to £3,377,000,000.

THE SPEAKER ABUSED

(Received August 1, 9.20 a.m.) LONDON, July 31. Mr J. Pointer, Labour member for the Attercliffe division' of, Sheffield, writing to a Labour newspaper, accused the speaker of being a miserable and pitiable failure in. dealing, with Mr Asquith's shouting-down. The Right Hon. Lieut.-Col. Sir M. Lookwood, Unionist member for Eppirig, raised a question on a point of order in the House of Commons. Mr Pointer then apologised, and withdrew his statement.

DROUGHT IN INDIA

(Received August 1, 9.20 a.m.) LONDON, July 31. Renter's Simla correspondent states that half of India is suffering from drought, and the crops are withering. In all the central provinces and the Punjaub, the monsoon continues fitful.

THE "SPOOK" INTERVIEW

(Received August 1, 9.20 a.m.) MELBOURNE, August 1. Mr Hughes has received the following cable from Mr Fisher:— "Mr Stead's report of his interview with myself, as cabled by yourself, is grotesque. I saw him for a few minutes hurriedly, and said what I have, stated hundrads of times in public speeches in Australia and the United Kingdom—namely, that our objective was the world's peace, our policy effective ; dafence, and our aim the unity or the Empire. AH these would be best attained by trusting His Majesty's Governments in the United Kingdom and the Dominions to givo I tho best advice as responsible Ministers'of a family of nations." Mr Hughes, commenting upon the message, said that when Mr Fisher calls Mr Stead's reported interview grotesque, he cramps into one word every epithet of ridicule, denunciation, and contempt that every fairminded man must feel towards one who vilified him'. The attack has but served to heighten Mr Fisher's reputation, and Mr Fisher has amply warranted our expressed belief in the absurdity of attributing such statements to him.