Category: 100 Years Ago

21 JANUARY 1925

The Indian Legislature was opened by Lord Reading, who after dealing with the economic and financial situation of the country and with the programme for the session, defended the special measures taken by him for the suppression of terrorism in Bengal.

It has been found impossible to hold a special meeting of the Imperial Conference in London in March to discuss the Geneva Protocol, and the Colonial Office announces that an endeavour will be made by correspondence to arrive at a common conclusion on the issues involved.

The Russo-Japanese negotiations have been concluded, and a Treaty was to be signed at Peking last night.

In the German Reichstag, Herr Breitscheid, on behalf of the Socialists, attacked the new Government, and his remarks evoked angry protests from members of the Right.

Loud applause greeted an announcement by M. Herriot in the French Chamber that the King of Spain had decided not to prosecute Señor Blasco Ibanez, the novelist.

Viscount Cecil, at a sitting of the Opium Conference at Geneva, withdrew an allegation he had made that the consumption of the drug per capita was greater in America than in India.

20 JANUARY 1925

Mr Hughes, the United States Secretary of State, says that the Paris Agreement imposes no obligation, legally or morally, on the United States, and that the country remains as free from commitment to European matters as ever.

The new German Cabinet were introduced to the Reichstag by Dr Luther, the Chancellor, who stated that the laws which had been enforced as the result of the London Agreement would be loyally carried out. He protested against the non-evacuation of the Cologne zone.

The Egyptian elections have been postponed—the primary elections until February 4, and the actual election of Deputies on March 12—owing to unavoidable delay in completing the lists. Secessions from the Zaghlulist party continue. Sir Geoffrey Archer’s announcement that a Sudanese defence force is to be formed immediately meets with a mixed reception in the Egyptian Press.

Interesting archæological finds have been made by the Boston-Harvard Expedition which has been working for several years in the vicinity of the Giz Pyramids.

Two British flying officers have been killed in aeroplane accidents in Palestine and Egypt.

The Danish Society of Naval Lieutenants are protesting against the present Danish Government’s scheme for the disarmament of the country.

Five lives were lost in an explosion which occurred in Kirkstyle Colliery, Kilmarnock.

Five men and a woman were detained by the New Scotland Yard in connection with an alleged plot to blow up British warships.

19 JANUARY 1925

Trotsky’s quarrels with the Russian Communist Executive have led to his dismissal from the post of President of the Revolutionary War Council.

Mr Harvey, former American Ambassador in London, in an article in a Washington newspaper on the results of the Paris Financial Conference, says Mr Coolidge has been trapped by the intriguing diplomats of Europe.

A Paris telegram announces the death of General Lanrezac, who commanded the Fifth French Army at the Battle of Mons.

Five persons were killed and three injured in a railway accident near Dijon.

Captain John Middleton, an ex-officer of the Black Watch, was found dead from a gunshot wound in his father’s house at Baldarroch, near Murthly, Perthshire. His father, Major Middleton, who is over 70 years of age, has been taken into custody by the police in connection with the tragedy.

The Hon. Cwyneth Erica Morgan, Lord Tredegar’s daughter, has been missing for several weeks from the time she unexpectedly left the house of friends at Wimbledon with whom she had been staying.

Dr John Fraser, formerly Commissioner in Lunacy for Scotland, who met with an accident in Princes Street a week ago, died in Edinburgh yesterday. He was in his eightieth year.

The death is announced of Mr Samuel Storey, a well-known North of England newspaper owner and former M.P. for Sunderland.

18 JANUARY 1925

It was suggested that Liberal MP Henry Hadyn Jones should stand down as the party’s candidate in his constituency to allow Herbert Asquith to stand.

Sir Henry Duke, who was created a Peer in the New Year’s Honours List, will take the title of Lord Merrivale.

Glamorgan County Council announced that it was embarking on a £400,000 road scheme.

17 JANUARY 1925

A General Conference on the question of Inter-Allied debts is regarded as certain. The British Government, it is authoritatively stated, adheres to the principle of the Balfour Note as the basis of the policy it will develop in its reply to the French Memorandum lately received.

The Paris Press, in commenting on the formation of the new German Cabinet, lays stress on the reactionary character of Dr Luther’s Ministry.

In the French Chamber M. Herriot, the Premier, was questioned by a Communist Deputy with regard to the prosecution of Señor Blasco Ibanez, the Spanish novelist, on account of his pamphlet attacking King Alfonso. M. Herriot replied that he must see that the law was respected.

The Conference of the Baltic States opened at Helsingfors. The Soviet Press says that the formation of a Baltic Alliance should be regarded as a hostile action towards Russia, particularly if Poland participated.

A Cairo message with reference to the Egyptian elections says that the recent resignations from the party have caused a distinct feeling of nervousness and uneasiness in the ranks of the Zaghlulists.

The President of the Board of Trade, speaking at Bradford, said that while in the past few months the adverse balance of trade was excessive, there were a great many factors that made a pessimistic judgement too bad. There would not have been an appreciation of exchange if their adverse balance represented a growing debt.

16 JANUARY 1925

A new German Cabinet has been formed, with Dr Luther as Chancellor and Herr Stresemann as Foreign Minister.

Correspondence between M. Clementel and Mr Churchill has been issued by the Foreign Office. In his letter of January 10, M. Clementel indicates the desire of the French Government to resume a friendly examination of the unsolved problem of inter-Allied debts, and asks whether the British Government adhere to the principles set out in their previous Notes, in particular the Curzon Note of August 11, 1923. Mr Churchill, replying on January 13, promises that the British Government “will endeavour to send an answer which will place the French Government in a position to present us with definite proposals,” and repeats “that the Balfour Note remains for us a dominating guide of principle.”

Mr. Wood, the Minister of Agriculture, at Stockton, said no agricultural policy was worth anything that could not on its face carry a reasonable guarantee of its own permanence. He deplored the fact that the workers refused to enter the proposed Conference, for it was an opportunity for them stating their own case which was not likely to recur in the lifetime of any of them.

Investigations regarding the disappearance of Miss Elsie Cameron took a sensational turn. Scotland Yard officers, in the course of digging operations at the farm of Mr Norman Thorne, the missing girl’s fiancé, came upon a suit-case containing a woman’s clothing, a pair of eyeglasses, and a chain bag, and later they discovered a body in three sections. Mr Thorne was detained by the police.

Evidence was given before the Commission on Food Prices by a Liverpool grain statistician and on behalf of the National Association of Flour Importers.

15 JANUARY 1925

The Inter-Allied agreement on war claims was formally ratified before the dispersal of the Paris Conference delegations. In the closing speeches emphasis was laid on the spirit of accommodation and goodwill shown by the Powers concerned. This, it was urged, encouraged hope of a settlement of outstanding post-war problems.

During Tuesday night’s storm the London steamer Cardiff Hall, 3994 tons, foundered off the south coast of Ireland, and all on board were lost.

The steam flat Bankhall, belonging to Messrs Lever Brothers, sank in the Mersey. The captain and the engineer were drowned.

In Edinburgh and district much damage was done by the gale. The Rivers Tay, Lyon, and Spey were in heavy flood, and between Newtonmore and Kincraig for a distance of nine miles fields were under water.

Two men were killed and several injured in an explosion at an oil fuel station at Port Victoria, near Sheerness.

At the inquest on the victims of the Croydon air disaster there were several sensational incidents. The Coroner held that certain allegations that witnesses had been tampered with was not proved.

The Minister of Labour, speaking in Glasgow on the industrial outlook, said he thought light could be seen at the end of the tunnel, but it required the co-operation of all parties to enable industry to get right through the tunnel and out at last to a place in the sun.

14 JANUARY 1925

The final report of the financial experts at the Paris Conference will be placed before a concluding plenary session to-day. Ratification of the agreement by all the delegations is expected. France, it is reported, will sign unconditionally.

The White House contradicts reports that the change in the American Foreign Secretaryship would lead to modification of the foreign policy followed by Mr Hughes at the State Department. It is added that United States policy with regard to Russia will remain unchanged as long as conditions continue as they are.

A Melbourne telegram states that the Federal Parliament may be summoned to deal with the shipping strike.

A Berlin-Cologne express collided in dense fog with a stationary train at Herne, in Westphalia. Twenty-three of the passengers in the stationary train were killed, and 50 were injured. Three persons were killed and several injured in a similar accident at Hettingen, in the Ruhr.

Sixteen lives have been lost by the foundering of the Tyneside vessel John Harrison. The chief engineer resided in Ayr.

It was announced by Mr David Kirkwood that the Secretary for Scotland had decided to appoint a Commission to inquire into the Clydebank rent dispute. Further evictions took place at Clydebank in the morning, when a number of Pressmen were attacked by an unruly mob.

13 JANUARY 1925

Details are given of the settlement effected at Paris by the delegates of the major Allied Powers and recommended for final endorsement by the full session of the Conference today. Satisfaction was expressed at Washington’s acceptance of the agreement between Colonel Logan and Mr. Winston Churchill for the collection of war claims.

There is much speculation in Washington as to the cause of Mr Hughes’s resignation. It is suggested that Mr Coolidge and Mr Hughes have differed on some major issue in foreign policy—possibly the recognition of the Soviet.

Dr Luther’s efforts to form a Cabinet have failed through the reluctance of the Centre party to alter their standpoint.

Proposals for the expansion of the Royal Air Force are announced.

Statistics issued by the Commissioners of Prisons show decreased admissions in 1924. On the question of the habitual petty offender, especially elderly women, it is suggested that some kind of detention home would be the most appropriate treatment.

Lord Weir, in a broadcast talk from Glasgow, referred to the question of steel houses, and replied to recent criticism.

Railwaymen at a meeting at Chester resolved that 24 hours’ notice be given to the Railway Companies demanding the withdrawal of the Army Order relating to the Supplementary Reserve so far as it affects railwaymen.

A Bill forbidding Government officials to belong to secret societies has been introduced in the Italian Chamber.

12 JANUARY 1925

On all the main questions before the Inter-Allied Conference in Paris agreement has been reached by the delegates of the Great Powers. Confidence is felt that this result will be confirmed by the full Conference tomorrow.

Following the failure of Dr Marx to form a Government, the President of the Reich has asked Dr Luther to assume the task.

Mr Hughes, the United States Secretary of State, has resigned.

Mr Stephen Walsh, the Secretary for War who signed the Army Order constituting the technical reserve, has declared that the Order is explicit, and that members of the Reserve will not be called out in aid of the civil power.

Evidence as to the activities of M. N. Roy, an agent of the Third International, is contained in the judgment of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in the revolutionary conspiracy case.

Mr A. J. Cook, secretary of the Miners’ Federation [ad], stated that if the Government passed an Eight Hour Day Act the men would refuse to operate it.

The return published by the Mines Department for the quarter ending last September shows a further reduction in the output per person per shift. A debit balance of £78,452 is shown in the quarter’s working of Scottish mines.

The death is announced of Lord Pentland of Blyth, a former Secretary for Scotland and Governor of Madras.